I'm not going to lie, I started typing this Blog during the brands hatch weekend! I got all the way though to qualifying maybe whilst I was there keeping it up to date so I wouldn't have so much left to do once the season finished but then the races happened and I just couldn't bring myself to finish it until now...
What a difference 12 months makes.. That may sound like a bit of a strange way to start a Blog but it's exactly, and I mean exactly what I thought as I turned in to the main entrance at Brands hatch on Thursday afternoon.
Now that difference, it wasn't that I entered through the paddock entrance the year before it was the massive difference to my approach this year compared to last, no, I didn't brake late, hand brake turn into the track lol before you start thinking what on earth is he on about!!
Basically the difference is, 12 months ago, I'd left Silverstone, had a small points lead but almost drove myself cuckoo thinking so so much about everything to do with BSB, sleepless nights, I had a few, constant day dreams, they never stopped, time in the gym was spent wondering or hoping should I say that none of my competitors were training as hard, I wanted it and I wanted it bad but almost too bad as it completely engulfed my life, I was snappy, on edge and not at all happy, pressure which some people talk about in these situations was so heavy that when the saying he looks like he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders, I felt like I had the whole bloody galaxy on mine!!!
This year after Silverstone I left there in a good place, don't get me wrong I left on crutches which was far from ideal but I left there happy, really happy and let's be honest 1 point lead or 10 it didn't really matter, it was always going to be way too close to call so leaving Silverstone I left BSB full stop behind and got on with my life, I spent a lot of time going to physio, a lot of time with my family and a lot of time keeping a very watchful eye on our new puppy who obviously required lots and lots of attention, my body wasn't in a good place in terms of pain from the Assen and Silverstone crashes but my head, that was cool, getting back to the entrance to Brands hatch now and what that 10 days did for me was make me almost talk to myself or think out loud as I drove into the entrance "right then, that was a nice break, I guess this is where the Showdown starts" I said or thought at least with a smile on my face and I felt remarkably fresh and happy as I waited for the barrier to go up to let me in!!
From there on in the afternoon turned into a bit of a blur, tv, radio and photos etc saw the afternoon disappear in a flash, roll on Friday!!
Typically, and I mean typically Friday morning conditions were crap, I don't know if mother natures had some sort of BSB vendetta going on but it feels like just about every single first session we've had this year has start either wet or damp, like most with conditions being neither here nor there I sat out most of the session and literally did 2 or 3 laps at then end just to bed in a set of brake pads, talk about productive...not!!!!
For the afternoon session things finally started to dry up, conditions were ok, still a couple of tiny bits that were damp but the track was generally dry, my bike was working good, we obviously had our data from the brands hatch round in August but at the same time things have moved on a little since then too, we made a few little changes to the setting we started on throughout the session and towards the end threw a new pair of tyres at the job and despite a scrappy lap I did a time only 0.3 off of my qualifying time in August and was the only rider in the 1.25's 4 10th's clear of the rest, needless to say there was still a bit of work to be done but it was certainly a good start to what we hoped would be a dry weekend...
Unfortunately Mother Nature decided once again that it would be a good time to intervene, Saturday morning conditions were crap again, we went out and did some laps in order to have a direction by the time qualifying came around, the session went ok but I couldn't help but wish that things would dry out for qualifying..
Throughout qualifying it seemed the track was constantly changing and a combination of bright sun in places onto soaking wet tarmac made things even more tricky, we constantly throughout all three sessions had to change the bike to suit and eventually had a decent enough setting that enabled me to qualify on the front row of the grid in P2 which I was pretty happy about to say the least!!
Being a triple header weekend it seemed like no time whatsoever before we were ling up on the grid for race one, the conditions were horrible, it seemed that the one thing that nobody from the organisers, the fans, the teams or riders wanted was going to happen, there was a very strong chance that the championship after all the great racing we'd had could potentially be decided by a correct tyre choice.
As the lights went out I got a good start and lead into turn one, immediately I lost a place to Josh, I thought this was going to suit us better sitting in behind him and I just thought you crack on, to basically cut a long story short I ended up third, basically when the track was wet the bike was good but as conditions started drying up as the race went on the bike kind of went away from me, sitting in the post race press conference it was interesting listening to Josh and Alex, it seems Josh was in a similar situation to me, when the track was real wet his bike was great as was mine but as the track dried out a bit we both started to struggle, Alex however was the opposite, he sat behind me for the majority of the race initially struggling but as the track dried out his bike setting started working better, with a few laps to go he passed me and at that point in time there wasn't anything left in the locker to fight him with....
For morning warm up the next day we made some pretty big changes to the bike, fortunately it was proper wet unlike the day before so it was a good chance to find a proper wet setting, I ended that session P1 by nearly a second so whilst I was hoping it was going to be dry I guess full wet wouldn't be so bad either!
Typically the weather messed about, nearly drying up, the sun even making the odd appearance then it would pour hard for a few minutes and ruin everything again.
I started race 2 from 3rd place so still on the front row and again got another good start, conditions this time were, how can I say, a bit more sketchy, to the point that I actually went out on the sighting lap on intermediate tyres because I figured that if the rain held off towards the end of the race they'd come into their own, the only trouble was on the sighting lap the track was still pretty wet in places and intermediate tyres are basically slick ie dry tyres with a few cuts in them so you can probably imagine what that did grip wise lol, I sat on the grid to the last possible minute trying to make a tyre decision, if the rain held off maybe inters would work but if it rained again which looked fairly likely you'd be snookered, oh well, not like this race was important!!! In the end I semi gambled and went wet front intermediate rear, let's suck it and see....
Mother Nature or mother F****r as I was aptly naming her at the time was once again playing her part in between races, why on earth she couldn't just take a day off and leave the sunshine with us I'll never know!!
Once again I got a good start and lead into turn one, I was pretty steady on the way in and got passed fairly quickly by Josh, the 1st laps were awful, I mean awful, it was pretty much all I could do to stay on the bike, I got a sign on my pit board saying Lowes out and couldn't believe it, I was going backwards pretty rapidly and every section of the track was a battle, I felt like a cross between a blind man, a man with no feeling in his arms and hands and a complete circuit rookie riding around, I'd already dropped to 8th when half way around Druids the rear of the bike came round on me and this time there was no way of saving it and down I went, do you know what though at that point whilst I was obviously very annoyed I wasn't bothered, all I could think and I mean all I could think was please god let the last race be dry, let us battle head to head, I want to win this thing and sketchy conditions or a correct tyre choice shouldn't determine the outcome of what's been either way a fantastic season of racing....
So then, the final race of the year, rules definitely worked against me BIG TIME, Alex who crashed on the opening lap and never even set a lap time was 8th on the grid but with me being so useless in the 2nd race I was starting on the 7th row, they might just as well have put me back in Swanley lol, ironically Nori was back there too, the two of us sandwiched Jenny Tinmouth on the grid!!!
My prayers weren't answered at all weather wise. Again, the track was pretty wet, again a change of setting to try to get the best of both worlds from the bike, a bike that would hopefully be good if it stayed properly wet but wouldn't fall to pieces if it went damp rather than full wet, this was it baby, let's do this!!
Sitting there at the back of the grid I never had the slightest element of doubt, in fact if anything I was super positive, I wanted this 4th title and sure it wasn't going to be easy from where I was on the grid but hey if BSB was meant to be easy then you'd be able to collect tokens and post of for the title, I knew I had to just keep my nose clean for the 1st lap then make up as much time as possible as soon as possible, I had to beat Alex and Alex had to beat me, whoever did, well, you do the maths!! The lights went out and we were away, I got a good initial launch and was steady up into and through Paddock, I'd made quite a few places already but there was quite a lot of spray, I took no notice whatsoever of the riders I was passing, through the spray I just kept looking for that Blue number 22, rider after rider I kept passing and eventually I could see him in a bunch, lap after lap I got closer, my pace was real good and I was feeling confident, eventually I passed him and I thought to myself right concentrate, concentrate like you never concentrated before, come on, let's do this, a few laps later for the first time in the whole race I looked at my pit board and it said P2, it dawned on me then that the difference in points between 2nd and 3rd would make me champion, I never even knew we were that far up the order, I was thinking there would be another group further up the track, despite lapping faster and faster I wasn't breaking Alex, my pitboard just kept reading +0 Lowes, I had there horrible thoughts about Saturdays race where he sat behind then pulled the pin at the end, I knew though that I was doing all I could and concentrated on not making any mistakes, with a couple of laps to go Alex came past, at that point a question from a journalist after Saturdays race "if that was the last race on Sunday to determine the championship could you or would you have tried to go with Alex?" My answer, "what do you think in a very disgruntled tone, do you think I'd give it way!!!???"
Alex did up the pace but so did I, so much in fact that the pair of us lapped over a second a lap faster than eventual winner Josh Brooke's, I was on Alex and was far from done, on the last couple of laps we WERE both on the ABSOLUTE LIMIT, Alex was making tiny mistakes and so was I, I had a plan for the last lap, I knew where I could be strong but going up into Druids I got in a tiny bit hot and for a fraction of a second I lost the front and went slightly wide meaning I couldn't get back on the gas, my plan was still to have a to out the back of the track, I pushed really hard, in fact a little too hard into Surtees to make up some of the time I'd lost at Druids and again went a tiny bit wide, eventually Alex had enough to hold it together over the line and that was it, my dream 4th title gone.
I stopped with him at the bottom of Paddock hill to congratulate him and the 1st thing he said was Sorry!!! I laughed with him and said fair play mate, hats off, you did it today and I'm proud of you, I rode back to the pits gutted, absolutely gutted, if given this whole year my absolute all and a sketchy final day saw all that hard work go out of the window, I couldn't care less if I was 2nd or 10th, I f I haven't won I simply don't care.
My team were great in park ferme, I apologised and told them I truly couldn't have done more and my crew chief replied, mate, we couldn't have asked for more, great job.
I'd like to now thank everyone that's been involved this year, naming you all will put another 20 minutes on this already month or so overdue blog but you all know who you are! I'm actually going to sign off now! I'll fire up another Blog real soon, I promise, it's no excuse for this one being so late but it actually broke me finally typing this, I'm sat in a Costa thinking I can't believe I've finally finished this Blog, I've had little stabs at it ever since the season finished but every time I did I couldn't bring myself to type the bit about losing the title, here, finally it is, thanks everyone for taking the time to read it and despite scoring the most points again this year sorry to all my fans for not bringing home the prize, I can promise you hand on heart I tried!!!!
Take it easy guys and girls, talk to you soon Shakey #67
