Oulton Park New Era Round 5

I’d just taken delivery of my R6 from Co-Ordit, and this was to be my first meeting on it. I’d returned to Oulton Park after struggling to get to grips with the place the last time. Qualifying went well but I did struggle to get clean laps in with some more inexperienced riders unintentionally getting in the way. Luckily my 4th lap out was good enough for a front row start which saw me qualify 4th on the grid out of 42 entered riders.

Race 1 came and I got an awful start having never started on the R6 before I wished I’d practiced one beforehand! Anyway, I got a bad start and found myself in 8th going into turn 1. I quickly passed a couple on the run up to Shell but had gone for 4th when I clipped Ricky Simmonds and the front two got away. I managed to claim 3rd place after a race long battle and finish just 2 seconds behind John Simpson in 2nd place. I’d done a mid 1:46 which was a second faster than I’d gone on the Triumph so for a first race on part worn tyres I was happy enough.

Race 2 I got a flyer off the line having learnt from my earlier mistakes and was 2nd into old hall just infront of John Simpson and behind Ashlee Midwood. I made a mistake on the exit of Old Hall as I ran out of road and John Simpson got back through. I tried to go with the front pair but I lost the front going into the fast left before Shell hairpin and lost ground. I struggled all race with old tyres and had to just bring it home. I ended up losing 3rd to Mike Edwards and after a little battle with Alan Percival I had to settle for 4th.

All in all a good day was had I’d learnt how to ride the R6 although I did need to sort out the Akrapovic scraping on the floor and decking out which nearly caused me to crash on a few occasions, the suspension needed setting up and so did the slipper clutch. Other than these things though I felt confident that we’d got a solid base to build on for the rest of the year. The idea of the meeting was a shake down and it was ideal for what we wanted.

By: Sam Middlemas