16 April 2000: KDMC/IRsport 125 Championship, Knockhill
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Race 1: 6th / Race 2: 9th
Championship position: 6th=

Leaving Edinburgh at 6am on Sunday morning looked bleak; some snow was mixing with the rain and it was unbearably cold. That said, I was almost hoping for rain, seeing as pre-season practice had seen little in the way of dry track time.

As I arrived at Knockhill the track was damp and the rain was still trickling down; the dark clouds overhead didn't look like they were going anywhere fast, so I switched to the Dunlop wets and prepared the bike before signing on and going through scrutineering to check the bike for safety.

Of course, by the time the 125 practice session began, the track was nearly dry. I took it easy, not knowing exactly how the soft rain tyres would react to the dry patches on the track, doing ten laps before pulling in. The weather was still unpredictable, so I kept the tyres on and waited for the second practice, by which time the track was entirely dry. We were allowed four laps, and then the lunch break began.

The regular tyre service at the track was nowhere to be seen, so I would be running on last season's intermediates, somewhat the worse for wear. We started changing wheels again, and as I was preparing to mount the front one of the riders turned their generator off and I heard the final call for the first 125 race. They were starting early, and there was no time to heat the tyres. How nice.

Race One

On cold tyres past their best, I wasn't about to go barrelling into Knockhill's first corner, the downhill Duffus Dip. Starting on the second row, I came into Duffus in 12th position, allowing the tyres some time to heat up before passing some novice riders and chasing down the faster guys. Dicing with Brian Nicol and Rob Hush made for a great race, slowed slightly by the backmarkers of the Classic race that had started twenty seconds behind us. I would pass Nicol and Hush up the inside coming out of McIntyres, but the lack of space available meant they squeezed me up the inside of the next right hander before the chicane... and then I'd pass them again on the way out.

I could beat Nicol and Hush on corner speed through the bumpy hairpin before coming onto the front straight, but their bikes and lighter weight made for better top speed than me down the straight. However, through the twistier sections of the track I was able to make it stick before finally trading paint with Hush passing him out of the hairpin. From there on out it was a more lonely final two laps in which I just tried to keep my corner speed high, just passing some of the classic riders and maybe lapping a couple of the novices before taking sixth place.

Race Two

We had the tyres heated and the bike prepared well before the race and the weather was holding fairly steady; it was raining, but not enough to wet the track. I made another poor start, but immediately passed the slower riders ahead of me and started hunting down Brian Nicol, John Nicol and Rob Hush who were in a tight pack around most of the track. I was faster again through the twistier sections, but their tight formation made it hard to get by individually and I got impatient, pushing too hard in the approach to the chicane. Braking far too late, I locked up the back wheel in a downshift, sending it weaving around underneath me at the point when I'd rather be turning into the tight left-right chicane. Far more preferable was the option of running off onto the grass, which lost me probably around six seconds; I kept the gas on, pointed the bike back towards the asphalt and barely stopped to breathe.

The next lap was spent trying to shake the mud out of my tyres before making up time; a couple of smooth slides in the medium-speed turns were fun, but ultimately didn't get me round the corners that much quicker. I eventually took ninth place, leaving me in 6= position with Brian Nicol at the end of the weekend.

Thanks are due to Stuart Jones (who took first place in both 250 SuperSport races) for his engine work, Phil Snowdon for his support in the pits and to Ian Emberton Racing for the extended 2000-spec tailsection; moving around on the bike is a dream thanks to the extra couple of inches the tailsection affords me.

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