Round 9, I missed round 8. Felt ok and was hoping for a good result. Course was a old bit of a park never used before and we were riding a lot on very bumpy ground. Tyre selection was questionable, there was some very solid stuff to race on but some very loose sandy soil in parts, a tiny bit of mud, tarmac, sand pit and gravel . I went with intermediates, I noticed some were on full muds and some even on file tyres.
I ran into a mate Glen and we talked tyres + pressures, we both were on inters but he was on a low pressure of 25 for the sand and soft stuff, I went for 40psi for speed on the firm stuff.
I felt crap on warm up, the course was effort everywhere no let up at all, no full on downhill for a rest. When the gun went I felt I was not firing on all pistons but noticed I was with my regulars so could not have been doing that bad. Start of lap 2 had me leading Mr Beardy, my now ever present nemesis from the last 2 rounds. I got a bit squirrelly in the sand pit and my chain came off. It came of the front and I threw it back on, only for it to come straight off as I pulled away. By the time I was sorted, I not last but very dam close. I went off mad as hell and picked off a few people very quickly and spotted my mate Glen with 3 others ahead. He usually comes in 10 places behind me so was sure I would soon catch him. Err no I didn't, it took me to lap 3 to get on his tail. Got my breath back then on a longish straight into the teeth of the wind I took all 4 ensuring I went passed so fast no one got on my tail.
I was then surprised to find myself on Mr Beardys tail and went past with ease, I mentioned I never expected to see him again after my mechanical, I'm sick mate was the dismal reply.
I soon realised I had gone way too far into the red and on lap 4 as I went through the sand pit Glen came roaring past, I was struggling through the sand at 5mph and he shot past like he was on a motorbike. I was sure I would get back to him but no he slowly pulled away.
By Lap 5 ( my last) I was not racing but just surviving and a few riders got passed me and I had no answer.
At the end I congratulated Glen and thought this must have been my worse result ever as I was several places behind him. I was surprised when the results came out, yes I was 5 places down on last week, not the 15-20 I was expecting. Glen had got his best result of the entire season!
Going to have to watch him next race as we look to be very much on a par if I don't get a mechanical next race.