Brands Hatch April 3rd,4th,5th

It was Marks first race of the season at Brands Hatch in the Bonhams British Historic GP, between the 2nd – 5th April 2010. Riding the Matchless G50 500 owned by Ian Garbutt of Ripley Land Racing.

In the first free practice session Mark put up the second fastest time of 57.703 on lap 13 at a speed of 74.78.

Sector 1 4th 72.3
Sector 2 6th 72.2
Finish Line 5th 111.7

In the first race on Sunday Mark was on the third row of the grid, he made a great start only 3.069 sec and in third place, by the second lap Mark was lying in 2nd place with a 4.236 sec gap, by lap 7 Mark was only 0.852 sec behind the first place man,
Back markers were now playing a big part in this race, but Mark kept his head together and picked them off one by one, on the 12th and final lap Mark went across the line in 2nd place and only 3.792 seconds behind the winner.

In the second race on Monday Mark was again on the third row of the grid, he made another great start placing himself 9th and only 5.520 behind the leader, by lap 2 he had moved up to 7th place, and then on the 3rd lap and again moved another place to 6th and 8.095 sec behind the leader, by lap 6 the leaders were again catching the back markers and Mark was now in 5th place. By the end of the race there were 8 back markers between Mark and the winner, Mark came home in 5th place 20.346 secs off the winner.

Mark is now lying 2nd in the Championship, and this looks like its going to be a very competitive season for him.

OULTON PARK 16th 17th APRIL

It’s the second meeting of the season and Mark is at Oulton Park, racing the Matchless G50, owned by Ian Garbutt (Ripley Land Racing)

On practice day the weather was cool, and Mark spent the time he had learning the track as he had not raced there in seven years, and the track had also been changed in that time.

On race day it was lovely and sunny and Mark went out for the 10 minute warm up laps. The race started at 12.00 and Mark was 2nd on the grid. He made a good start and kept up with the leaders, eventually coming in a great 5th place overall. The second race that started at 5.00, Mark was again in 2nd place on the grid, and after a great race with no problems Mark came in 6th place.

This has put him in 3rd place overall in the Bonhams Historic British Championship.

His next race will be at Cadwell Park on the 21/22/23rd May.

CADWELL PARK 21/22/23RD MAY

The weather was gloriously hot at Cadwell Park as Mark went out on his 15min practice laps, unfortunately the bike was misfiring and Mark had to come in after only one lap. After checking coils and plugs they discovered that the magneto had failed, and they set about changing it. On the one practice lap that Mark did, he did in a time of 1.49 which was better than last years time of 1.50. In the first race which was reduced from 7 laps to 5 laps due to tv coverage of the BSB, Mark came in 6th after a very hot and sticky race. The second race again reduced from 7 laps to 6 laps, Mark came in 6th but was very close to the 5th placed man, he also reduced his lap time to 1.47. This now has Mark in 5th place in the Championship.

Mark and the team are packing the van and off to the Isle of Man for the Pre TT Classic at Castletown, leaving tonight (Wednesday 26th May).