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 It wasn’t immediately apparent what conditions I would race on Friday as the Superteens paddock area was enclosed within the exhibition centre at Donington Park.
When I went outside I was pleased to see bright daylight, the sun was shining. We had a long day before our practice 1 qualifying session at 17:40 but we made the most of the day watching the GP bikes.
I had new tyres to scrub in so I was extra cautious on my first few laps. I had shortened my foot pegs to see if it would keep my feet in and help get my knee down.
Unfortunately I didn’t feel comfortable with them so I returned to my original set. I was pleased to qualify in 20th position out of 42 riders bearing in mind I had only had 20 minutes previous experience on this circuit .
That evening I had a great opportunity to walk round the Moto GP paddock and meet a lot of famous faces and see what the life of a top racer is all about. A few big names I met were Casey Stoner, James Toseland and Valentino Rossi.
Saturday
Saturday morning and the sky was grey, it was going to be a wet day.
We had a long wait again as we weren’t out on the track until 17:00 when we had another qualifying session for ten minutes.
I soon realised that conditions were really dangerous and I was going to have to be really careful. My race was at 18:45 and it was exciting in the holding area with all the crowds watching us.
We had 1 warm up lap and a 7 lap race. It was very tough tackling Donington Park in the wet as my back end kept on trying to drift out of corners but I kept my nerve and came a respectable 21st position as the conditions meant I faced a few slippery moments out there.
Sunday
On Sunday morning I awoke to the tremendous atmosphere of Moto GP day.
I spent the morning preparing my bike and was then able to enjoy spectating.
It was great.
The crowd of 90,000 people was a sight to behold and I was thrilled to see many lovers of the sport staying for our race at the end of the day.
It was dry but very windy so I adapted a different riding style whilst trying to push forward in the pack and was very pleased to finish 19th from a grid that had 44 riders.
Donington is a complex circuit and certainly tested my growing capabilities and caught out several of my fellow Superteens.
I was home late on Sunday and I am now raring to go at Snetterton this coming weekend.
Thanks to all my sponsors for their continued support.
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