848 Challenge, Cadwell New’s and Round Up!! – Team Afterdark News

Sorry for not putting this up at the time – but better late then never

Tim’s round up from TeamAfterdark blog:
https://www.teamafterdark.co.uk/blog/cadwell-news-and-round-up/

Right on to the good stuff! Saturday saw James turn out for qualifying at 12.05. Early stages saw him well up in the top ten but then he started to slip back and after a quick stop and debrief he went back out with 4 minutes left which left him only one flying lap, which nearly went to plan but a little mistake over the mountain saw him come home in 14th. Just to put into perspective there were 10 riders all within a second of each other.

We decided to change the gearing for race 1 as it seemed that James needed to hold the gears a bit longer on the fast parts of the circuit but it proved the wrong choice. Unfortunately the way the bike performed actually dropped a second off the lap time and James came home in 18th. Another lesson learnt!

For race 2 we went back to the qualifying gearing which worked perfectly. James had to start from 21st on the grid all the way back on row 7. The lights went out and he had a good start and started to work his way through the field. by the time they got to Park corner he was in about 16th. That’s when the trouble started, unfortunately 3 abreast doesn’t work into Park and James ended up worse of by being pushed onto the grass. Now he found himself stone bolt last and I would say about 2 seconds off the next rider on track. Well what happened next was a pleasure to watch. What we witnessed was a cool, calculated and really smooth ride through the pack. Lap by lap he started to pick the riders in front off and just kept his head down. The end result was a hard fought 15th and a point to go with it.

I have watched James have some great rides in the past but this one has got to be one of the best. A very mature ride. What makes it better is that he knocked nearly a second off his qualifying lap.

Another roller coaster of a weekend but we have come away on a huge high after a stunning last race. Bring on Donnington!!!!

Thanks to all our sponsors, supporters, friends and family for being there for us.

Also a big thank you  to James and team for making a great weekend!!!!