Anglesey Rounds 7&8

Following the excellent results from Snetterton Phil and the team headed to the picturesque circuit of Anglesey for rounds 8 and 9 of the Championship.

Getting a good start from the second row of the grid (due to being fifth in Championship) Phil ran well in fourth place but halfway through the race he out-braked himself into the final turn allowing a rival to slip up the inside. Phil started to lose touch and then lost another place to a faster rider a couple of laps later. A few minor mistakes on the following laps allowed the riders behind to close and Phil was mugged on the last lap losing a further two places and finishing 8th.

The second race was frustrating for a number of reasons. Phil suffered a poor start as he was on the left hand side of the grid and got squeezed onto the inside kerb losing a number of places, ending up dicing in and around the top 10. He quickly began to get frustrated as he was slightly faster in some areas but not close enough in others to challenge a move and was unable to pass. In the closing stages of the race a backmarker actually worked in Phil's favour for once and allowed him to close on the rider in front, finally putting a move on him into the final left hand bend. On the final lap Phil was cautious of yellow flags still being waved at Rocket and had a lucky escape as a rival went straight across the grass off the back straight immediately in front of him as he was flicking left through Rocket, crashing heavily into the tyres. Unsettled by this Phil hesitated momentarily and was passed on the inside, still on yellows, but as the marshals were too busy dealing with the incident they didn't report the infringement. Despite Phil's protestations in race control the Clerk of the Course was unmoved and the pass remained. Phil finished ninth.

On Sunday, with local council restrictions causing the Club to pause racing at 2pm, the Club were keen to complete the days racing as soon as possible. A better start from the outside of the grid saw Phil amongst the action but was unable to convert it into any meaningful progress and slowly began to slide down the order finishing a disappointing 11th.

As the riders assembled for the final race of the weekend the weather began to change for the worst and large spots of rain started to fall. Although it wasn't too heavy and, due to the warm ground temperature it didn't appear to be settling, Phil and the other riders went out on slicks. An average start saw Phil just outside the top ten until the 3rd lap when he again out-braked himself into the final turn and was forced to run straight on. A swift 5 point turn got Phil back on track but he was way down the order and the weather had further deteriorated causing the oil/ lack of adhesion flags out around the circuit. Pushing as hard as he felt safe in the slippy conditions he managed to make progress back into the points but was finding the track extremely slippy and had a number of slides and scary moments. A number of riders fell on the 6th and 7th laps and as Phil entered the fast Church corner on lap 8 he too succumbed to the treacherous conditions and slid off uninjured, although the bike (as usual) was heavily damaged.

Extremely disappointed the Team packed up in the now torrential rain and made the journey home.