Tim Neave
It seems like a long time since I wrote my last column. I remember writing how I was looking forward to getting the chance to race my twin brother, Tom, for the first time this year at Brands Hatch in the final round of the British Superstock Championship. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to as only a few laps into free practice he jumped off his Gixer and landed in A&E (eventually). I’ll tell you what, if brains were dynamite, that lad wouldn’t have enough to blow his nose! His recovery is going quite well, but I’ll let him tell you all about that next month. I was racing the Aprilia RSV4 for EHA/IN Competition Racing and I had done a few tests beforehand which went well, so I was mega excited.
It was an awesome bike and the team were great but the deal we had with them meant that if I crashed, I’d end up having a massive crash damage bill so all weekend it was in the back of my mind. When it chucked it down with rain on Sunday and I saw tons of people crashing it brought it from the back of my mind to the front of my mind, and then I had a massive moment on the warm up lap so ended up riding really carefully in the race. In such a tough class, you’re never going to be competitive unless you’re giving 100 per cent, so it’s no real surprise that I came home in 15th place. It put a bit of a dampener on things and I found myself not really enjoying riding as I didn’t feel comfortable pushing as hard as I knew I could. And I’m usually quite good in the wet.
We did talk about doing something with Aprilia for 2019 but I have had an awesome offer from Morello Kawasaki to race a new ZX-10RR in British Superstock, so I signed for them at the NEC bike show. I’m really looking forward to getting cracking with some testing in the New Year. We are still working on getting some sponsorship together to help us get through the 2019 season though; I know we’ve got what it takes to be competitive but at the moment we are still not where we need to be budget-wise.
In the meantime, it’s quietened down a bit on the farm, so I’ve got myself some work with good friend and sponsor Steady, from Dales Sport Surfaces. I’ve been tarmacing this week – I’ve not done anything like this before but it’s actually alright. It’s a rare bunch of lads that I’m working with, but who am I to judge? I’ve left Tom and his crippled hand helping dad out on the farm. I’m hoping they haven’t managed to set anything on fire, between them!
Now it’s winter time I’m looking forward to getting out on the MX bikes, getting in the gym and getting back to full fitness. Trying to do a season in BSB is like having a second full time job sometimes, so it can be hard to find the time for that sort of thing. Speaking of a second job, we got the tarmac laid early today so I’m home before dad and Tom have finished. I’d better go and see if they need a hand…