FP1 came and having found a good suspension setting at Snetterton Grant was keen to see if this would pay off at Oulton Park too so he went out on new tyres to back to back the settings. Whilst trying this Grant had a collision with another rider therefore bringing them both down, Grant managed to re-mount and return to the pits to make sure the bike was okay. Once the bike was checked and setting where changed Grant went back out and managed to put in a good lap time which put him 7th at the end of the session, only .7 of a second off the pace.
Q1 came later on in the day and with the weather forecast in mind for the following day, Grant and the team knew this qualifying session would have to count so Grant wanted a new set of tyres on again. He went out and did 6 laps of which his time at that stage put him about 14th which he was not happy about. Grant felt he had a little more in reserve so he went back out with 14minutes of the session remaining and managed to get a little bit of a tow off a faster rider and put in an excellent couple of laps which moved him to just .5 off the pole position lap which he was really chuffed with as it gave him a provisional front row start and everything felt good and working well.
Q2 was the next day and with the track being damp in the morning it was a matter of waiting to see if the track would dry out in time before we went out or not. The track had dried out so Grant went out on used tyres to familiarise himself and get back into a good groove for 6 laps and then he opted to return to the pits and get a new rear tyre on. Grant went back out and did 10 more laps in that session but didn’t manage to go any quicker and dropped back to 6th position overall in qualifying and this is would where he would start for the race. Grant was a little disappointed to have lost a front row start but there again he was happy because he was on the first 2 rows of which this is his goal.
Race day was here and with it raining all day at the track, the team knew it was going to be a matter of waiting to see how the day progressed, to whether or not our race (last race of the day) would be run or not.
The heavens opened all day and at 5 o clock it was decided by the organisers that they would cancel the main Superbike race, Supersport 600 race and our race Superstock 600, which will be re-run at round 10 of the championship @ Donington Park 9 – 11 Septemeber 2011.
Altogether an up and down weekend really as Grant & the team believe they had a very good race pace wet or dry.
A massive thank-you to all for the support towards Grant and the team over the weekend.
Grant would especially like the thank Chip from Ashton Service Centre for all the hard work and massive input he has put in both Saturday & Sunday, towards helping produce an excellent bike.
He would also like to thank his Dad, Mum, Sister, Girlfriend Laura & mechanic ‘Sam’ for all their running around over the weekend.
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