Donington Park MRO Stocksport 600

I entered the Donington race as a pre-season warm up for the BSB Superstock 600 series. I knew that quite a few of the BSB lads would be at this round and also knowing that MRO is usually a fast pace at the front I knew I’d have some good riders to use as a comparison this early in the season. Plus - I love Donington; it’s just a great great circuit.

I went out in qualifying and I felt OK, came into the pits where the team told me I was running 3rd. I went back out and probably backed off a little as it was only the first qualifying session, then came back and I was 9th! Oh dear, not good and a lot of work to do. The wind we were contending with though was just awful. To give you some idea, I was actually turning right all the way down the back straight out of Coppice and down the Dunlop bridge. I’d never experienced anything like it! They then cancelled the second qualifying session until the morning due to running out of time for the races which were Bemsee (BMCRC) club races - somehow they thought it made sense to cancel the second qualifying until the morning but still run the races. I have no idea why they worked to that logic but I believe that was a mistake.

Sunday raceday came and it was pure white snow on the ground! I didn’t think we’d be racing as I left my house for Donington but as I got closer to the circuit I noticed the snow was not so bad there! We went out for second qualifying in the sleet which was really a total waste of time. I was 4th fastest in that one but obviously the dry qualifying counted and I had to start 9th so had my work cut out.

In the first race I rode hard after a bad start on a drying circuit to get 6th position. I was struggling a lot with rear end grip but in the end it didn’t matter anyway as the team had mis-calculated the fuel and I was underweight after post race inspection and was therefore disqualified! I wasn’t impressed but these things happen and I was only there for the practice.

So to Race 2 and I was off to a slightly better start. I rode hard all race and was catching Steve Smith in front but I kept being re-passed by Ben Lightowler. He was really holding me up and breaking my rhythm. I got Ben on the last lap but made a mistake going into the final chicane and not only did Ben come back past but Jonathon Railton also nipped through and I ended up 4th.

All in all it was a freezing weekend but it was good to get back out there racing again.

By: Sam Middlemas