FROM THE TRACK: Brands Hatch ups and downs for The Teacher
Posted by MSG ADMIN
A tricky weekend at brands hatch left the Geordie maths teacher looking forward to the rest of the season, after a penalty knocked off his points for race 1 and an unfortunate ending of 6th place on race 2, which Chrissy himself described as "dissapointing".
Free practice went well for Chrissy, but the qualifying laps left Chrissy on the wrong side of a gamble with the bike setup when faced with a damp track the team were hoping to avoid, leaving Chrissy to qualify in 22nd place for race 1.
The race began with a quick-off-the-mark start for the defending champion, seeing Chrissy immediately jump up 8 places in the opening lap which only continued as the race went on - seeing Chrissy reach up to 7th place for the majority of the race.
The race ended with Chrissy having dropped back to 9th position - but after a knock together with another rider, the Champ was hit with a 10 second penalty which dropped him down to 18th final position for race 1 - well out of the points.
Not to be deterred, Chrissy jumped right back into the swing of things for race 2. He lined up in sixth position on the grid, and another blinding start jumped him right up to third place. Despite giving everything he had, Chrissy found his pace lacking and could not keep up with the leading pack and finally the flag waved at the end of the race with Chrissy taking up 6th position.
After the race, Chrissy had a moment to give a quick roundup of his thoughts on the weekend:
“It was a tough weekend at Brands Hatch,” he said. “Qualifying didn’t really go to plan, we took a bit of a gamble with setup in the damp, I tried my best and came in 22nd!
“Then the first race was a bit hectic, working my way through the pack. I did cross the line ninth, however I later lost the place for what was in my opinion a racing incident.
“Usually in a race situation I think the most severe penalty would have been a long lap so to get completely removed from the points I think was a very harsh penalty.
“In race two I started sixth and having got a better start up to third I tried to sit behind the leading riders but I simply didn’t have the pace. I took sixth at the flag which I was disappointed with but on the day, this was the best I could do
“We’re back out this weekend at Thruxton which I’m looking forward to and hopefully put this behind us.”
Ever the competitor, Chrissy should show us his brilliant trait of putting the past behind him as he heads to Thruxton!