Scarborough Gold Cup September 2004
Last race of the season, was one I have always wanted to take part in…The Gold Cup at Olivers Mount.
The circuit is set on a hill in Scarborough, which is a park and the road runs through the park. It runs from the bottom, anticlockwise up the hill (approx. 30m elevation) round the top and down again. With Three severe hairpins and a big jump, its quite a circuit at 3.8Km long.
Practice on Saturday was wet, but when I went out on the 400, it was drying well. Unfortunately the bike I borrowed from Graham Adkins at Mercury Exhausts expired with gear box problems on lap 2. So that was the end of the weekend for the ZXR 400.
The R6 was going well and the gearing was also pretty accurate as a guess.
My lap times came tumbling down and were as low as 1min 58secs by end of Saturday.
I was entered into the 600 race and the Superbike race which I managed to qualify for.
I was mid grid for the first leg of the 600 race and finished about 15th, In the Superbike race, there were only a few 600’s but I had a good race and although I was at the back, had a great time.
On Sunday I found out I had been given a race in te 600 B race and it turned out to be a good one. I battled with a guy for most of the race and reeled him in to pass him on lap 5 or 6. My times were quite good, although the strong wind was making all the lap times slower on the Sunday. I finished 2nd and even got some prize money.
In the Superbike race leg 2, I was going a bit better then on the Saturday and had a good run against Mike Horberry. I was level with him as we went over the big jump on lap 4, but had to roll back as there was nowhere to go!
He got away from me and I had to settle in a position behind him.
A great race anyway.
The final race for me was the 600, leg 2, where I was off the back row. I constantly got caught up in the starts and got boxed in every race, but nevertheless managed to pass a few guys on the first lap. On lap 2, I made a dash up the inside into the Memorial Corner and passed a guy, getting another couple of bikes at the bottom hairpin at both ends of the circuit.
This was definitely the best race of the weekend and I finished in 12th position.
It was a great end to a great season, culminating in some good finishes on a circuit I had never been to before.
Thanks to all the sponsors and everyone who supports the team.