After an enforced lay off of a couple of weekends due to inclement weather the Miller bandwagon rolled into West Mean Mx track on Sunday.
Another track that Row has never raced the 65 at and has never actually ridden around the whole track before (the auto group we raced in last year cuts out a loop)
Weather was chilly but the old currant bun showed itself half way through the morning and track conditions were near perfect.
Row went out for practice and progressed his way to the back of the group – he was like a slow thing on a slow day ! although he did pick it up on the 2nd lap and looked quite smooth and comfortable. He said afterwards that he didn’t know where the track went so it took it real easy.
Race 1
33 riders line up for the start, Row gets a reasonable gate on what is a very cut up start area. Gate drops and Row gets swamped into the first bend, he’s about 4th to last out and that’s pretty much where he stays, he pulls away from those behind him but doesn’t make much headway into catching those in front, a bit processional really, I can see that he is riding well within his comfort zone and despite myself I’m getting more and more annoyed as the laps go by, the race finishes and I meet him by the exit. I tell him what I think and ask him if something is wrong, he says that he was doing his best but I know he can go harder than that and tell him (don’t get the idea that I was ranting and raving, I always put this sort of stuff into positive encouragement) still he didn’t fall off which is good, we put it down to the fact that he hasn’t raced for 3 weeks.
29th place
Race2
We line up in about the same place and once he’s on the gate I look into his eyes and tell him to prove to me he really wants to do this, I wind him up as much as I can, by getting him to shout and scream – GO1 – Row gets the initial drop on most of them and is mid pack into the first corner, he gets overtaken on his way out but at least he is with a group who will drag him along. The group contains some of the auto racers from last year, I can see that he’s really trying now and a bit of a battle develops as they swap positions
I meet Row at the track exit and he gives me the thumbs up, that’s a little better although I still fell he’s not really on it, but I don’t want to keep on his case so I let it slide, he really enjoyed the race so that’s good enough.
28th place
RACE 3
We line up in the same place again, Row gets an excellent initial drop but has to get off the throttle as the bike goes skywards (time for me to gear it up a bit I think)
He’s once again with the same group having pretty much the same battles, but try as he might this time he can’t quite get to the rider he was racing against in the 2nd race, every lap Row would close the gap a little in one place only to lose it somewhere else, the race winds down and I make my way to the track exit “I tried everything I could to catch him dad” says Row “ but I just couldn’t get to him”, that’s good enough for me cause Row has done his best.
27th place
Looking back we had a good days racing Row competed all his races and practice with no offs (a first on this bike !), the 3 week layoff showed though, I was rather hoping that Row would make a step forward but looking at the results he’s about the same as the last meeting, I talked to Row and we agreed that he needs to race at every opportunity as it’s the only way the speed is going to come. I am now looking around for a meeting this coming Sunday ………
