Believe it or not I couldn't wait for Silverstone to come around, it's strange though because whilst I was so so keen to get there as soon as humanly possible to get back on track I was also trying to slow down going as much as possible too as physio and getting back into training after the crash took a little bit more than I'd expected, don't get me wrong, I drove up feeling almost new but living day to day and racing a superbike are quite different lol!!!
On the Thursday before the event the organisers treated Alex, James and myself to another play in the Nissan GTR's around the track and I have to say it was something I was looking forward to, bearing in mind that the track was wet I could not believe how hard you could drive the things, the grip was unreal and the whole thing while it only last about 15 minutes or so was good fun!!
Things got off to a bit of an iffy start on Friday morning, I was laying in bed sparko when I kind of wore a bit to what sounded like someone sand blasting the motorhome roof, as I came around more I realised it was raining HARD, all I could think was can we not have just one completely dry race weekend this year!!
Fridays first session was of course wet, a few guys went out initially but we sat the session out until the last 20 minutes as the lap times weren't great anyway, I ended up doing just 5 pr 6 laps for two reasons mainly, 1st I had a brand new bike because the other was written off at Assen and 2nd If I didn't ride and Sunday we got rain there'd be no more wet practice as the morning session was wet, the bike felt fine as a bike but our wet setting wasn't very good so I just did the laps and got a feel for the track knowing what we'd need to change but not doing it with 5 minutes or so to go in the session.
Fortunately the afternoon session whilst not perfect was pretty much dry, that gave us a chance to get some dry laps in, lap times weren't especially spectacular but with a few damp patches here and there and the fact it was only Friday afternoon I didn't want to be firing the bike at the scenery when the rest of the weekend was forecast dry!!
Saturday morning however, well thats a whole new story, the track was dry but pretty cool temperature wise, I waited a few minutes before heading out and as soon as the boys improved on their lap times from the previous day I headed out, my bike immediately felt much better than the day before, so much better in fact that my first flying lap was something like 1.5 or 2 seconds a lap faster!!, that fast in fact that when my lap time popped up on my dash I almost had to do a double take!!,my next lap was a bit off but then I was straight back into good lap times, I was +1.5 seconds per lap on everyone else and consistent too, but then, then it all went wrong, I approached the complex on another real good lap got through the left, perfect, accelerate out, perfect,close the throttle into Luffield then peel in, the next thing I know I'm in a whole world of pain laying in the gravel trap, basically as I chopped the throttle and flicked the bike in the rear of the bike decided to try to overtake the front then gripped flicking me HIGH over the high side and into the gravel, t not what you need!!!
Somehow straight after the crash I found myself instantly in the medical centre but from there on in the world seemed to hit the fast forward button, initially I didn't feel terrible, don't get me wrong I was hurt but seemed to have things under control but then, then I tried to stand up and put weight on my right leg, that's when it hit me, maybe like one of those taser gun things, a shock of lightning up through my groin and into my spine, it completely done me the 1st time it hit, the most intense sharp short pain ever, sat normally I couldn't really feel it, but my foot down again and BANG, there it was, this wasn't cool!!
Eventually after x rays etc on my pelvis and spine the medics after me pleading agreed to let me qualify, that fast forward thing I mentioned saw the pleading happen about 30 minutes before qualifying!!
My first qualifying lap was something else, I've never felt so useless on a bike, so sore, so tight, so painful just to move, fortunately though Q1 and 2 went ok, then I just had to bite the screen for the final effort and managed to produce a lap fast enough to qualify P2, I think it's fair to say that was a pretty good effort!!!
After savage amounts of physio, a half hour session on my turbo trainer and a hot bath in one of the team guys hotel room I got my head down for the night but the morning wasn't good, straight back to physio before morning warm up, just two or three laps in the warm up session then another load of physio and before I knew it I was sat on the grid ready for the start of race 1..
I managed a good start of P2 and lead through the Sthil power award, Alex as I fully expected passed me going into Stowe at the end of the back straight which for me was perfect, I know he has real good pace around that place so if I concentrated hard and tried to forget about how much I was hurting then I hoped I'd be able to go with him and maybe get dragged away from the rest of the guys, there was a point about half way maybe through the race where I started loosing a bit of concentration and making the odd mistake, I was starting to struggle on the bike, moving around and being mobile enough to catch slides or move my body into whatever positions necessary was getting hard, I couldn't help but think I CANNOT give up on this, this is a championship on the line here, fortunately for me whilst Alex was setting a bloody good pace I was able to go with him, that did eventually drag us both away from the rest and as soon as I saw his bike starting to move and slide about a bit I thought I'm gonna be there or thereabouts for this race, all of a sudden it was like a dose of painkiller in me!! That last lap was mega, Alex and I passed each other a couple of times then on the run to the line I got alongside him, we went through the final turn side by side, 5th gear pinned but I knew when not if my rear tyre spun I'd clip him so I had to roll slightly in order to not potentially take us both out and with that I lost to him by a 10th of a second, a result, a race, a finish that given the circumstances I was over the moon with, having watched him for a lot of laps I knew where we needed to improve my bike too so it was, podium, debrief, dinner, physio, power nap, race two!
Having somehow got the fastest lap in race one I started the 2nd race from Pole position, I got another great start, lead for a lap or 2, got passed by Alex, then back into the lead, then passed by Alex, then back to the lead, it seemed to me that my bike was slightly better due to the settings changes and after a few initial laps of discomfort I seemed to settle in real good, this time we made more of a race of things and I was really enjoying myself, my bike was working great it was just that Alex's strong points seemed to be my weak points and vice versa so when he pulled on me he pulled big then I had to work real hard to get back on him, I lead a bit towards the end of the race and knew it was going to be tough, having made a mistake on the last lap of the first race I really wanted the 2nd one to be better but both of us were on the limit, both having moments everywhere and before I knew it we were back I to Luffield and heading towards the final corner with Alex leading and protecting his line, I thought I'm gonna have to pull something pretty special to win it from here, then Alex dived into the final turn fairly tight to block me so I hung out, hit a late apex pinned to the throttle stop in 5th gear, spun a bit, lifted the bike and managed to JUST pip Alex to the line by 0.0012 of a second but the funny thing was as I Pulled the move I was so excited, so happy that I almost knew it'd got it, I celebrated immediately because to be honest it was such a big move that even if I hadn't won I was over the moon with my effort!!
Sure enough on the slowdown lap I saw I had the win, and saw the margin, I was ecstatic, as I rode back along the Brooklands straight I stopped to thank all the medics and physio staff that had done so so much for me since Saturday morning then as I got to Luffield the crowd erupted, I was so so happy and if you were amongst them then please accept my gratitude for all your support over the weekend.
I really gave it my all to try to keep this thing going, Brands is gonna be tough but if I have as much fun riding as the two showdown rounds we've had so far then you guys are in for a big treat if you're coming to the finale!!
For now though it's gonna be some full on physio sessions to try to get myself back in the best shape possible before brands hatch, hopefully see you there! take it easy guys and girls! Shakey #67
