Consistency Boosts Middlemas

Sam Middlemas continued his EMRA championship aspirations by taking two consistent third place finishes over the weekend at Mallory Park.

Before moving on to the next EMRA championship race Sam went testing a new rear shock at Donington Park on Tuesday, with advice from Brian Nicholson, he was able to lap the famous circuit with times good enough for the British Supersport grid and gaining valuable confidence for the up and coming race. A welcome sign to the weekend’s racing was support from long time family friend Pete Norman buying tyres for the red Triumph and Paul Treen Motors paying for the entry fees.

Before the race the Triumph mounted rider was third in the championship which paved his grid position for the weekend. In the opening race Sam made a well timed start from the lights and placed himself in second place into Gerrard’s Bend behind Paul Hughes. Throughout the opening lap Sam was putting the pressure on the leader whilst holding off stiff competition from behind, Lee Statham shot through but Sam responded that same lap with a pass at the hairpin which forced Statham to lift up.

Sam set his sights clearly upon Paul Hughes again, he describes, “Paul seemed to be making little mistakes and lost the front at the hairpin right in front of me gifting me the lead. I got my head down and led for a couple of laps and nearly highsided myself out the hairpin after the motor bogged and then powered itself into life like a 500GP bike but we got away with it.”

Whilst leading Sam was caught by a charging, on-form Michael Price who passed him for the lead. Sam tagged on to the back of Michael and was following him until a few back markers held him up giving the leader a chance to open up a gap.

The Triumph and Sam then came up on more slower riders and as he recounts, “I held second for much of the race until I caught a lot of back markers out of the hairpin and had no choice but to queue up into the bus stop when Lee came round the outside as I tried to stop hitting a lapper.”

With dropping back to third he gave chase and was faster on the exit of Gerard’s Bend but was unable to pass with having difficulty stopping and now combating a case of arm pump in the right forearm. Sam crossed the line in third place, he says of the closing stages, “I was on Lee's pace and having a good fight but I ran out of time and Lee's years of race craft and experience got the better of me and I ended up third. After looking at the time sheets I had set my best ever lap with a 56.4 so I was really pleased with that as I’d aimed to hit the 56's and didn't expect to be that far into them so soon.”

Sunday’s race was not without drama, on return to the paddock and an inspection by Paul Treen it was discovered that the motorcycle’s front discs had warped. This caused the difficulties under braking in the first race and the arm pump that had swelled Sam’s arm. With only one set of discs and panic rising, Matt Woolridge came to the rescue with a trip back to Nuneaton to collect a wheel with spare discs to enable the Sam back onto the grid for the second race.

Similar to the first race Sam took his third place spot on the grid after a sighting lap putting heavy braking on to get the new discs and pads to work together. When the lights went out and clutches released and throttles applied, Sam blitzed his way into the lead and a holeshot out of the first corner. He reveals, “I got one of my best ever starts and got the holeshot into Gerard’s Bend but on the exit I got a little too enthusiastic and span the rear up and it went sideways and chucked me out the seat flat out in fifth gear.”

Luckily he landed back down in the seat and continued his lead until Michael Nibblett passed into the entrance of Edwina’s, unfortunately Sam would go on to make a few costly mistakes and dropped down to third place when Lee Statham passed. The race was red flagged after a big crash near the Dunlop Esses.

After the days racing Sam moved up into second position in the championship trailing Lee Statham by 19 points. “All in all a good days racing, hopefully I’ll be winning again soon. I'm hoping to get a quickshifter sorted for the next meeting. I'm really getting used to the 675 now and I’m glad I rolled the dice a bit and bought one.”

Sam adds, “A Big thanks go out to Paul Treen and Pete Norman for the help with my funds this weekend. Also a Big thanks to Brian Nicholson for his words of advice and help on Tuesday that really sharpened me for the weekend. Also a massive thanks to Matt Woolridge for lending me his discs as it's kept me in the hunt for the title.”

By: Robin Goodwin