Post Cadwell, BIG BOOOM...

Like a total dipstick I left the UK after our last round at Brands hatch having already typed out my Blog on my desktop but forgot to post the bloody thing and couldn’t get it again until we returned to the UK, well, as you’ll probably all know to well by now things haven’t exactly gone to plan since our return but before we get too involved with that I’ve got to say that what was supposed to be a bit of time out and a nice family holiday turned into an absolute full on training mission, in those 3 and a bit weeks I trained probably harder than I’ve ever trained in my life, 13 bicycle rides equaled 755 miles, that’ll give you an indication as to how much I trained, and that’s just cycling, that doesn’t include 3 or 4 10 km runs, a BSB test day at Donington and some swimming so I definitely both physically and mentally was right up for it by the time we got back, going for a BSB weekend would probably seem like a bit of time off lol!!!!

Onwards now to last weekend and looking back it actually started off pretty crap with a crap bank holiday traffic infested drive up to Cadwell Park, there is nothing worse than being sat going nowhere and I’m far from the most patient of people where that is concerned, it took something like 5 and a half hours to get there yet two days previous we got there to drop off the motorhome in just under 4, then to make matters worse where a mate of mine hadn’t plugged the motorhome in to the electric whilst storing it for me and the batteries were dead so nothing would work when I got there, that made me smile, not!!!

Right enough doom and gloom already, knowing that our rivals had all tested up at Cadwell very recently it was important that we tried to get up to speed as quick as possible and sure enough we came out strong, we had nearly a second a lap over the rest of the field for a good chunk of the session however Tommy fired in a new set of tyres towards the end and pipped us by a 10^th but we were right in the ball park from the word go so I was more than happy enough.. I had been hoping that it would stay dry, especially after the bad forecast and it did stay good, well for that first session anyway, I was certainly relieved to have woken up to that and to get some dry laps in, as you never know when it might suddenly change, that then makes it difficult if it is wet all the way through till race day and then it dries out especially as we knew the other guys had already been out for some dry track time.
 
Then it all went a bit wrong in the afternoon...

On my first proper flying lap in free practice two I went up through the Woodlands section, I had new tyres in that were perfectly scrubbed in and I was pushing on a bit, unfortunately just over the top of the crest I hit the brakes in my usual spot but locked the front tyre, luckily, well unluckily for me as the case would be you are already on left side of the track, I managed to catch it but in hindsight it was a terrible thing because if I had just lost it and crashed I would have gone straight on and been ok, but the bike gripped darted sharply to the left and went into the tyre wall and then after a head on flipped me big time over the handlebars.

The end result is I have managed to have a grade five dislocation of my left shoulder and torn the ligaments off my collarbone and sent it off out the back somewhere, amazingly with a grade 5 being really rare I never actually broke anything so I was incredibly lucky, after being assessed initially by the wonderful circuit medics I was then taken by air ambulance to Hull for further tests but to be honest we weren’t making much progress there so a call once again to the circuit medics and some hectic texts and calls by them on my behalf got us the chance to see Professor Lennard Funk in Manchester the following day, however, the circuit medics came to my motorhome after all their hard work that night, informed me I needed to be in Manchester around 11am the following day, left me some painkillers and headed off, well, that was great but I took the painkillers, slept like a baby and woke at 10-55am the next day!!!!! Talk about panic, I got up, brushed my teeth then me and my mate rushed over to Manchester, I was sat in the passenger seat thinking bloody hell this is like being in a real life Gran Turismo computer game but we made good time so I was happy, being sat in a car with your collarbone popping in and out really isn’t that much fun!!! We arrived to see the professor who after about 2 minutes said yeah we should definitely operate, I’ll do it this afternoon, with that before I knew it I was under the knife and job done, new ligaments attached to the ones I’d ripped out, pinned back together, some self taping screws and superglue (only joking!!)!!! That evening we headed back to the track at a rather more sedate pace than what we’d got to Manchester at and chilled out ready for hopefully another good nights sleep…  

The sleep situation was nowhere near as good that night but regardless I got to see and thank the circuit medics personally, done a bit of TV stuff then got packed up and headed home early to beat the bank holiday traffic, Now, I’m resting and I’m really hoping the Showdown might work for me this time, basically I’ve got just over three weeks to heal, you can rest assured I’ll do everything in my power to get as strong as possible as fast as possible and who knows, if I feel good enough I might even try to ride at Donington which would be cool. If I feel like I can win at Donington then I will come back and ride but if I don’t feel strong enough to ride then I will wait until Assen and the first round of the Showdown when we need to ride.  It is one of those need to basis things. I am doing everything I can between now and Donington to be strong and if I am strong enough then great but if not we will do Assen.

The funny thing is about the whole race weekend thing I really don’t think I got the chance to hurt too much, that may sound a bit daft but everything seemed that busy and blurry that things seemed to be happening before I’d even realized, yesterday however was a whole different ball game, I finally got to sleep in my own bed, chilled out but the following morning, BOOOOOM, it hit me like a train, I woke up pretty damn sore, quickly had some breakfast so I could take some painkillers then pretty much went back to bed where I ended up staying for most of the day, I guess all the time your still and sleeping your healing though so maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing, Thursday is when physio starts, step by step though…

I’ve got everything crossed that we’ll be back at near 100% by Assen as I haven’t come this far and worked this hard to give up on my 3^rd title now, I’ll let you all know how that’s going in my next Blog, but until then, keep the faith…. I HAVE!!!!!! 

Post Brands hatch!!

Well, what can I say, this is the blog I have been looking forward to writing all season, the one about our first double win for the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki team and cementing my place in the title shootout showdown and where better for that to happen than my home track Brands Hatch, even if I now get labeled as the Brands specialist lol ;-) typically me though it’s a week late coming but hey, what do I always say, better late than never right!!!???

I know I mentioned in my previous blog after the Oulton weekend that I was gutted not to have won there and both myself and the rest of the team left there really revved up and determined to turn things around, especially knowing the next round would be at Brands where there’s always a good turnout to support us and also with Tommy Hill doing such a good job at Oulton we didn’t need to be losing touch in the podium credits stakes!!

The Brands hatch GP weekends always start with the first day of practice on the Indy circuit, we all know why it has to be done that way but the official test was just a chance really for us to have a bit of a run around before the real work started on the full Grand Prix track, the two in some ways just don’t compare though, I’m actually not a massive fan of the indy circuit but the GP one, well, that’s a whole different kettle of fish, the first laps around there really make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up!!!

Practice and initial stages of qualifying went real well, we’d been in the mix all weekend but when my crew chief told me before the final qualifying session we would need a 1.25 second lap time to get pole and I wasn't sure it would be possible as we were riding really hard already doing mid to low 1.26’s, you can’t rest on anything though in this job so with one final attack I pushed as hard as I could and did a 1.25.8 to take Pole position, It put us in a good position for the first race but we knew Pole was one thing and racing for 18 laps (around 30 minutes) was another so we needed to keep pushing.

Race one felt great, after a great start I made a mistake on the first or second lap at Stirlings and Michael Laverty got by me, alI I wanted was to try and get some laps in and then settle into a decent rhythm, I spent a little bit of time getting past Michael but once I did first my pit board said Michael was there, then it changed to Haga then it changed to Brookes and I thought flipping hell give me a break!! After what seemed like almost an eternity It felt fantastic to win the first race at Brands Hatch even though I was more than a little bit aware Josh Brookes was all over us there at the end, I know you only need to win by the smallest margin possible but that was a little bit too close for comfort!!!

After wininng the first race I knew the second one was going to be difficult, for the 2^nd race I’d qualified 4^th which means the inside of row one and the camber down there is real steep so it’s usually real difficult to get a good start, especially in the wet however wet wasn’t a problem for once this weekend!! The 2^nd race was almost like a mirror image in some ways, in both races I got the lead pretty much straight away and I both races there were yellow flags out on the GP section on the 2^nd lap, I almost thought I was dreaming at one point!! 18 laps is a real long way with +.0 on your pit board, again the names changed about a little but at the end it was Josh and I going at it, we had a fantastic battle, colliding up at Druids with Josh trying some brave moves to force me into a mistake, I just tried to be as precise as possible and then I saw Josh alongside me down the straight finish line and I thought 'oh no, he then tried to pass around the outside at Paddock and I wanted to let off a little to not let him passed but I didn't want to run wide and ruin the drive up to Druids, but fortunately i held on and was able to push really hard for the last three laps which got the job of breaking him slightly done only then on the last lap I made a small mistake on the exit of Surttees which could’ve cost me as that’s the corner that leads out onto the all important back straight and then to make matters worse i missed a gear between Westfield and Sheene Curve and I thought that's it he’s going to do me now as I had seen plus zero on my pit board but fortunately I held it and crossed the line for a double win!!!

There are a few of us who were really fast last weekend, and indeed have been all year, three of us, Tommy, Josh and myself have all cemented our places in the showdown now and have everything to fight for but there’s a couple of others that are strong too, Haga and Laverty spring to mind immediately who will almost certainly end up in the Showdown so it’s going to be tough, none of us can give an inch right now and those all important podium credits are still up for grabs!!!

Brands put us in a good place, I got a decent start from pole position and then won both races even though Josh kept me honest, it’s critical now not to rest on our laureIs and continue pushing real hard in preparation for the Showdown.

We now have a bit of time off for the summer break, a month or so in fact so we’re off to our place in Spain to chill out for a bit, that and to absolutely hammer myself cycling around the local area, it’s great training, loads of the big cycling teams come down and spend time there so I’ll be doing my best to chase them down, hopefully they’ll all be knackered after the Tour so I might get half a chance ha ha!!!

Right one more thank you to all involved in my racing and hopefully it is onwards and upwards from here, talk to you all soon, take it easy, Shakey #67