Despite the preparation I put in this Winter; with the new engine, telemetry changes and carb fine tuning, my first meeting at East Fortune didn’t go all according to plan.
After qualifying well and being on the front row, my first race left me with a 6th place finish, after wheelying off the line and then having gear selection problems.
After this the CDI unit broke in the second race when I was in Third place, moving forward on lap 3.

This ended my first meeting of the year and it was shortly after this, I got the opportunity to buy a Kawasaki ER6……35Kg lighter then the Hyosung !! …so I couldn’t say no. It’s the difference between 5th 6th positions and top 3.

Unfortunately something had to go, to provide the finances and I sold my RD 500. 4 days later I picked up a 2009 race prepared ER6 in Newcastle.

At east Fortune in July and first time on the new bike, in the wet, I got pole position in qualifying. My wet skills certainly seem to be good enough.
The first race was in the dry and was great, already I could feel the bike was keeping up with the others in my class, allowing me to slipstream and pass into corners.
My start was good, and the bike seemed to be easy to get off the line, however I couldn’t change gear without the clutch and this was adding perhaps 1 second to my lap times. Nevertheless I had a great race with some excellent dices with guys in my class and came home in a great 2nd place. This was proof that the new bike was going to work.

Unfortunately the bad weather put paid to further racing that weekend (first it was heavy rain, spray and glare on Saturday afternoon. Then it was very strong powerful gusting winds on Sunday). So my one race was all I got.

The end of July involved a trip down to Darlington and Croft’s flowing fast corners and 2.1mile circuit.
I had entered into both Minitwin and Thunderbike classes, the latter being mostly Ducati 1198s and RSV Milles, so it was more to get track time than to get good results. These bikes have over twice the horsepower of the ER.

It is 6 years since I raced at Croft. Last time I was here I got 2nd place in the Formula 400 class. I love the fast flowing corners.
I spent my first practice getting re-acquainted with the circuit, then in qualifying started to speed up. My times were still not so fast, so I qualified on row 4 for the minitwins and row 3 for the Thunderbike class.

My good starts helped me and I gained quite a few places into the first corner, in nearly every one of the 8 races I had on Saturday and Sunday.

It was physically very hard racing 4 races each day, but each race was better than the last, having lots of great dices with lots of other guys, many of whom are extremely good racers from North England and Scotland.

The bike was handling very well and although I felt I could go faster, it was still fast enough to get me 4 x 4th places in the minitwins class, with some fantastic racing and close fights.
In the Thunderbike class, I managed to get a best of 8th position….not bad considering the slight lack of power compared to the 1,000cc bikes and 1198’s……….

It was an extremely good weekend which left me knackered, as my last of the 8 races was immediately after the second last. So 2 days later I still have tired hands and sore muscles in my thighs from holding on……

Stuart McDonald has been spannering and so far this year we have made a great team. Its so enjoyable when you understand each other, giving more time to enjoy the atmosphere and socialise with all the other people we know in the paddock and watch some racing.

Thanks also to my sponsors:
Roemex Speciality Oilfield Chemicals
Freja Designer Dressmaking