Cadwell Park 13th April 2002

Rain throughout Friday night and early Saturday morning meant that practice on Saturday was run in the wet. However the clouds cleared and the sun started to shine.

With about 75% of the track dry and the rest was still wet, James chose to run on dry tyres. The start line was damp and James couldn't launch off the line without wheel spinning. He lost a lot of
places and tried to make them up but he was really worried about the grip on the wet parts of the circuit. He managed to grab some places back and finished 17th, fortunately this race was not for championship points.

A new rear tyre fitted James lined up for his next race. The track was now fully dry and he got a good start from grid 31; he was up to 20th by the end of the first lap. A great dice ensued for a few laps with about 4 other riders. He managed to get passed them inside 2 laps and set off after the next pack. He caught them with only one lap to go and with his heart in his mouth he took some unorthodox lines to get past 2 of them to finish 14th and secure his first points (2) in the championship.

Sunday was sunny and as before for the first non-championship race James was on the second row. Another good start and he managed to get into 5th place by the first corner. By lap 2 he'd dropped to 7th and was locked in a battle with one other rider.

This battle lasted for two laps until he went a bit wide at the left-hander at the bottom of the mountain and lost the front end. A gentle slide didn't do too much damage to the bike or James until they hit the grass. They both tumbled for some distance. The bike flew through the air
wrecking the seat unit, snapping of the front brake reservoir, denting the tank and shattering the screen. James' Dad managed to buy, borrow or bodge the parts to get him ready for the championship race.

James got a clean start from grid 31 and worked his way through the pack but he felt very
second hand and he just didn't seem to have any energy left. James tried but he couldn't do better than 17th.

At this rate we're going to have to miss some races this season. We just cannot afford the £400 a weekend (entry fees, tyres, fuel etc) a weekend it costs to race. We'll publish a revised race schedule on www.jamesclampracing.co.uk when we've an idea how the finances are going.