Well, i'm back from Oulton Park, after competing in my first race meeting since my accident in June 2000. I am delighted to report that apart from not riding particuarly smoothly (its been a while) i did finish both my races, lapping quicker each lap.

Qualifying was terrible, the thumb operated electronic gearchanger, which i had transfered from my road-going Aprilia Mille to my mates race-going Aprilia Mille would only change up through the gears, not back down again.

So i just completed 3 laps, in the wet, all in 4th gear!

After 4 hours of fettling, Benny and Brown (my 'carer' at race meetings and the owner of the bike, respectively) got it working just 10 minutes before my 1st race (which luckily was after the lunch break, which bought us a bit
more time). By then it was dry, so we (they) changed wheels from wet weather tyres to intermediates.

Starting from 26th on the grid i made a 'novice' start and rode the first couple of laps somewhat iratically (braking too late, missing apex's, wrong gears out of coners). However, i began to tag onto a pack of 4 riders. As i concerntrated on reeling them in, my riding smoothed out a lot. One of the riders ahead was a friend who i used to race with, so it gave me a real incentive to pass him. By 3/4 distance i had passed all four riders, but with a clear track in from of me my smoothness disapeared again. One guy did come back past, but i ended up 18th out of 25 finishers.

I punched the air as i crossed the finish line and immediately felt exhausted. A combination of relief, lack of fitness & too tight leathers
(note to self - loose weight!) had knackered me out, but i was thrilled to finish and with a few behind me too.

Race 2, late in the day, saw everyone line up with either slick or intermediate tyres, but before the race could begin it poured down with
rain, so we had 20 minutes to change to wet weather tyres, which we did. It continued to rain very heavily throughout the race and i struggled to 'feel' my way around, but stuck at it. Starting the last lap, i took a glance
behind and saw just one racer behind me. I was determined not to finish last and I managed to maintain my placing and came home 19th. To my
surprise there were 24 finishers, so 5 behind me (each of them with two legs, as i recall!!!)

Mission acomplished. I was a little disapointed with number of little mistakes i was making, preventing me from being smooth, but i guess its to be expected. Oulton Park is a very undulating circuit and quite technical. Over the crests and rises the bike was leading me, as i struggled to move around on the bike to counteract the front wheel pawing the air. In two weeks time, at Silverstone, i shouldn't encounter this problem and a already looking forward to it.

All in all it was a good day. Carol, Katie and my Mum were there to support me, which was terrific. In the first race Mum was a bit anxious as three rides went down in front of me on lap one and she didn't see me come around,
but both she and Carol were looking for my old black and yellow leathers instead of my blue ones!

I got my licence signed by the organisers, which was another 'tick in the box' of achievements. I need 5 signatures to to upgrade to a National
licence, but with having my leg broken in September (after Silverstone and visiting the IOM to watch the Manx Grand Prix) i am only likely to get one more signature for a year or so, but its a start.

Thanks to everyone for their support over the past two years and to Carol for being so understanding.

Cheers,

Scott