| 26/04/2008 | Irish 750cc support championship Round 1 | Cookstown |
| set off from Lincoln at 8.30 am thursday & arrived at cookstown at 8.30 pm, did 2 'laps' in the van & then parked up next to billy mckinstry's transporter. by the time i'd set up the awning & unloaded, had a chat & a brew, i hit my pillow in the back of the van for some kip. friday morning came as did the rain,& after signing on it was onto the newcomers bus for a 'lap', along with cookstown newcomer Ivan Linton, as well as fellow 'Lincolnshire Lads' Gary Johnson, Rob Frost & Ross Johnson & McKinstry rider Mike Russell from birmingham. Roads closed at 2.30 to start a busy schedule of 16 qualifying sessions, with my senior support session the 16th, so basically a lot of hanging about waiting as the rain got heavier. Got to meet fellow McKinstry rider Mike 'Jack' Russell who was racing in 400 support & 750 support. By about 8pm my session started and i was pleased to finally get out on the bike but dissapointed that i only got 4 laps (including 1 out lap & 1 in lap) so 2 qualifying laps to try & learn the circuit, and as i was only racing in the 1 senior support race, that was it until race 9 saturday! Was suprised that i qualified 8th for the support A race, as i did'nt have a clue where i was going. Race Day came and after a bit off rain in the morning, the sun came out & it actually looked like we'd have a nice day. Watched a few races & waited until finally getting out for race 9. As i went out to form on the grid i could see spectators all round the circuit which was awesome & could'nt wait to get racing. the first wave went & then finally i was off and 'road racing'! As i started to grasp where i was going, i started to make a few places up & managed to get up to 4th after the 8 laps were up. The race was won by Darwyn Young, who was parked near me in the paddock & is a good lad, so congradulations to him on his win. all in all, i enjoyed cookstown although i wish i'd had more practice & definately somemore races to justify the time and cost of going, but hey, back to work monday until friday and then tandragee... Qualifying, 8th Race Result, 4th | ||