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https://www.teamafterdark.co.uk/blog/what-a-rollercoaster/Here is Tim’s report from the 1st Round at Brands Hatch.
An apology from me for not getting this done sooner but as you read on you will understand that my mind was on other things.
We woke up on Sunday morning to a damp track and James went out for a slippery shake down and felt good for the first race. We had a 2 o’clock race so the track was going to to have time to dry, which it did. Then 30 minutes before the race it started to drizzle and in no time the circuit was wet again. So we changed the wheels for the wets and we were ready to go.
James formed up on the grid and thanks to the lovely Carli from LS2 for doing a stunning job with the umbrella. The grid was cleared and now it was time for james to do the thing he loves the best and they set off on the 2 warm up laps. The lights went out and James got a great start and pulled up into second spot stalking the leader. Then a big crash at Graham Hill bend involving 4 riders brought the safety car out so the pack bunched up behind it. After 2 laps it came in and they were off again, James was still in second and looking comfortable but was losing a bit of grip and dropped back to 4th. Then it happened !!!!! He came over the line billowing smoke from the fairing, the clutch seal had given up and it was race over.
Well in actual fact its weekend over, after the enquiry by the technical officers and race control we have been excluded taking any further part in the meeting under the technical rules. Its was a blow to all of us but we respect the officials decision, the last thing we want is to put James in danger and riders around them.
So not the start we were really looking for but there are a lot of positives to take away from the weekend and we still have 7 rounds, 14 races, to go so all is not lost.
We hope that all the riders who suffered falls in the race are ok and will be back again at for the next round at Assen.
Lastly a big thank you to all our sponsors, friends and family for their support, you know how much you mean to us.
That is such a shame as it sounds as if he had a cracking start! Was planning on watching today on tv too. Roll on Assen
Glad you had a chance to meet the team Pete. Did you let them know who you were and mention the Forum?
I talked to James today and he is dissapointed but looking forward to Assen. Pity you’ll be underwater for Assen because one of the guys from work may have to drop out (I’ll know for sure next week).
A guy who I have known for years and is married to my cousins ex-wife came second in the 848 challenge at Brands,his name is Woolsey Coulter.He is doing the northwest this year too.His status in the race world back in the nineties was brilliant.He even beat Max Biagi back in the day in the european championships.great guy and rider at 46 years old.
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