After my result at Silverstone, I was really looking forward to Oulton. My choice at Silverstone to not do the whole of practice paid off, so I decided to do the same here at Oulton. I was lying in 2nd place, with a laptime close to Webb's, who was fastest. I pulled into the pits and watched the rest of practice on Pitlane. BJ Toal just pipped my time in the dying minutes to bump me to 3rd.
Going into Qualifying I knew I needed to get a fast lap early on, as it was drizzling, and threatening rain. I went straight out and set my laptime on lap 4, which put me on pole for the whole session. I decided not to push after this as the weather wasnt improving. With 2 minutes to go, both Webb and Toal bettered my time as it stopped drizzling, which left me 1 chance to regain pole. I bettered my first sector straight away but the whole lap was slightly slower which ended me 3rd. I was happy enough with a front row start.
Ready on the grid for the race. The lights went out and I got a good start, but Morris just managed to get the holeshot. I hooked in behind him and got past as soon as I could which was the last corner on the first lap. I led for a few laps, until webb got past me. I followed him for half the race just watching his lines and where he was fast. His pace pulled us about a second in front of the rest of the pack. With someone crashing at Foulstone's chicane, it was red flagged.
The re-start was to be a shortened race, to 6 laps. From what it said on the monitors I thought it was going to be an aggregate race, meaning the first part of the race would count as to how far in front or behind the other riders you are. This wasnt to be as I found out after the race. After the restart, I was 2nd into turn 1 again, but got boxed in and passed by other riders putting me down in 5th place. Everyone was riding really hard, not giving an inch, so I played just as hard. I got past Webb, then he tried to go around the outside of me at the exit of a corner where I couldn't see him.
Naturally, running wide it appears as though I touched him, a racing incident although I didn't feel anything. He went down, giving me the space to attack the guys in front of me. On the last lap I was going for it. I got past Paton and Morris and closed on Toal. I crossed the line missing out on the win by 0.042 seconds. About half a bike length.
Another solid result, and great for my confidence as I've been on the podium at every race bar one. Having not stood on the top step on a 600, I'm aiming to be at Snetterton in two weeks. See you all there.
