Christian Iddon
He’s not been having the best of luck
The finishing sentiment of the last column was – ‘It’s all about keeping the ball rolling in this championship. Keep the momentum with these back to back rounds’. This is what I told you all was the key. Well, that aged badly – very, very badly indeed! It started out quite well. In actual fact, it was pretty damn good as I bagged another podium. It was podium number seven of the series, and it was a particularly good one because it came at Thruxton. Thruxton has been a bit of a nemesis track for me in the past – not ever from a lack of outright pace, but from struggling to keep a tyre lasting the distance. However, in the sprint race we did just that, and I also felt like I had the set-up to give me a good chance to repeat the podiums in the longer Sunday races.
It seemed as though I could do no wrong, but then it hit me. It hit me like a Kawasaki to the rear wheel... mainly because it was a Kawasaki to the rear wheel, and if you want to know how that feels, it feels pretty heavy and hard. While running very happily in second position, Lee Jackson managed to get himself in all kinds of out-of-shape and collected me in his incident. I gotta say I wasn’t really pissed at Lee – I know it wasn’t because he was riding stupid. He just made an error, which is something we all do. I was just pissed at the situation. It cost me the lead in the BSB championship and it was the very first time I actually fell off the Ducati (despite a couple of trips through the screen).
Never mind. Regroup and go again – but the final race of the weekend was a weather lottery. I played the tyre gamble well, but I never got the feeling I needed from the bike and it was my worst finishing result of the year, in 9th. I left far more bummed about my last race performance than the DNF.
Onward to Donington we went, and I was looking to get that ball rolling once more. I managed a fourth in the first race; it wasn’t a great result, but that ball was starting to roll until, just like the previous round, I was yet again collected by another rider and taken down. Just like before, I was wiped out of a second place slot, and it was the second time in four races that I suffered a DNF due to another rider. This time the situation was very different, but we all have our own views. The facts, however, remain the same and it was another no score.
Onto race three, and another bit of drizzle delayed the start and we were to go again under a ‘wet race’ procedure. After the sighting lap, I thought it was pretty dry, so I opted for a slick rear with an inter front. Turns out I was the only one that thought that, as none of my competitors went for the drier combo. It was a touch damp at the beginning, but I had once again hit the tyre gamble jackpot. Having successfully navigated the first few laps, the track was now dry and all that was left to do was to slowly bridge the gap to the leaders, pass them and take an amazing win. That was how it played out in my mind, at least... but it all went wrong when I folded the front at Craner curves (of which I am now a repeat member of the Craner club) and my race was done. It was my first crash (of my own doing) on the Ducati and my fifth DNF in eight races.
It’s pretty safe to say my ball has not exactly been rolling of late, but throughout the lot we haven’t been lacking any pace, so I’m pretty upbeat despite recent results and – as ever – we have another crazy packed schedule in the next month. I did have one spare weekend since we last spoke and I managed to shoehorn in my first stag do (yes, I plan more than one). We rented Thoresway Moto Park, which has recently been acquired by none other than Guy Martin, and what a place it is. He has big plans for the venue and it is going to be epic, but for now he let me and my mates run riot for the weekend. Funnily enough, we probably had the most fun on a little turn track we made in the paddock. It only had six corners but a race was planned before long, and with
a hastily made flag prepared (consisting of a T shirt attached to a stick), we all lined up ready to roll. For a split second I contemplated if I should be entering such a Wacky Races style event but I cast my doubts to one side and treated the five-lap dash against my mates, in a field on a track set out by old tyres and a sledge we found, like I had entered as a wildcard in the British MotoGP. Thankfully we got through the weekend pretty much unscathed, with only a mild concussion, a mangled knee and a cut head caused by the recoil on a gun.
I must admit, it was pretty damn awesome to just enjoy riding with my mates, and it was a much-needed reset, ready for the next action-packed few months.
THANKFULLY WE GOT THROUGH THE WEEKEND PRETTY MUCH UNSCATHED, WITH ONLY A MILD CONCUSSION.