It was only a week ago that we were black flagged in the final race at Castle Combe. With David Jnr working away in London all week it was a busy Saturday morning preparing our Kawasaki ER650 Supertwin for the Darley Moor meeting (alongside the usual domestic chores like clothes washing and mowing the lawns!)
We arrived at Darley slightly later than usual but still managed to bag our usual spot. After setting up and signing on, we went for a wander around the paddock and spent some time with Jorge Halliday (and dad) and then with Stuart Hall and Mike Gittings - who had spent the Saturday racing at Aintree.
Raceday Sunday started bright but a short rain shower arrived at 08:45 and then (fortunately) quickly went away, with a dry day to follow.
Heading out into qualifying, we were not feeling 100% comfortable on the bike, which resulted in a lack of commitment in the braking areas and a reduced corner entry speed. We only got two clear laps and put in a 1'03.51, which it turned out was good enough to put us in pole position for the morning races.
For the next few laps, we unfortunately became locked in a battle with Sound of Thunder rider Ian Robinson - which was entertaining but allowed Joe Walton to extend a 4-second lead by the time our battle with Ian ended and we had got into some clear track on lap 4. The rest of the race was spent attempting to close down Joe, which we almost managed to do - crossing the finishing line just 0.10 of a second behind him, taking second place, with Jack Petrie taking another third place. On the last lap of the race we also managed to match our Personal Best lap of 1'01.49 - proving how hard we were pushing!
At the halfway point in the Darley Moor season, the current championship positions are as follows:
FORMULA DARLEY - TOP 5
David Carson 52
Chris Moore 38
Joe Walton 22
Jamie Hodson 18
Jack Petrie 16
MINI SOUND OF THUNDER - TOP 5
David Carson 49
Joe Walton 33
Jack Petrie 22
Stuart Hall 18
Jamie Hodson 18
Our next event will be Darley Moor Round 5 on Sunday 13th August.