BROUGH
MANFEILD
ROUND TWO
As we prepared for round two at Manfeild
we set the goals to not just get on the
podium but to go up one more place in the
overall. The Friday of race weekend came
along and we made our way down to Feilding
and the Aldington’s once again - this time
without the big detour. We arrived and had a
big meal to building up the energy stores.
The next day was official practice day
and, as I had been to Manfeild before, I
thought the weekend would go well. But
after the first session I wasn’t feeling great
about everything and didn't have a lot
of confidence. We worked on it over the
sessions and managed to go a bit quicker and
by the end of the day my lap times were not
too far from the front guys.
Next morning qualifying was first up and
I got into a group of about five using each
other's slipstream to get the best lap times
possible. As I was caught up in the moment,
pushing really hard, I tucked the front putting
34 KIWI RIDER
me in the gravel. I was so frustrated with
myself, but Vege and my family made me feel
a lot better about the whole situation. We got
the bike back to its best and focused on why I
crashed and learnt from the mistake. After all
that drama I still ended up getting a decent
lap time and qualified 11th.
In Race 1 I got a good start jumping into 5th,
and as the race went on the corner I crashed
at took its toll on my psychologically. I was
extra cautious not to make the same mistake
and eventually shuffled back to 10th. To be
honest, I was really disappointed but you can
only learn from your mistakes.
Race 2 came along with the weather peaking
at around 30 degrees and in my leathers it
was sweltering. The lights went out and I got
a decent start slotting into 7th and, just as in
Race 1, I slowly dropped back to another 10th
as I crossed the line. The two 10th places put
me in 10th overall, which wasn't to my liking
at all.
>