This is only a small club meeting, but it is a real friendly place to go, an is run by a former British 125 champion from back in the day. The circuit is only a mile long but very focusing as if your getting it wrong here all you can see is those big square curbs. It use to be an army barracks and the track is the old road around the place. Set in a wounderful location, the sea one side and Welsh mountains on the other.

We get their Saturday afternoon and it is pouring with rain, we get lucky and it stops for about an hour and we manage to get set up before it starts again, its about then that i remember that we forgot to grab a little more fuel, i'm about 5 liters short and the nearest town is about 5 miles away. The problem with that is everyone starts drinking while we set up. I know i need fuel but i don't fancy riding the push rod in the rain so i have another can   A nice surprise when a marshal calls at our tent and asks if we are ready for scrutineering, it passed and thats one less job in the morning. We sit with the footy on the radio and the game has been on for about 10 mins+ and the rain stops so i'm off for a little trip. Get the fuel and i get back just as the second half is starting, and still no rain i start getting my hopes up for a dry race. More beer for a few hours then bed.

Sunday
I wake up early (i think there is something wrong with me i just can't lie in) and after a coffee or two i take the push rode for a few laps, i don't think it rained all night but the track is still very damp, with a big very wet patch at the top of the rise at Becketts, looks like its coming through from under the track, i only do a few laps as the slight hill feels very steep when going in to the wind. The sun is out and my hopes are high for a nice day.
I get back to the paddock and start getting ready for the day.

1st practice
I take my time for a lap having a good look for the damp parts, at becketts is still soaked and as you come out of heesons downhill in to paddock it still damp, thats the 2 big braking areas still wet, a lap or two later an i am starting to push (by my standards) trying to pass a few quicker bikes, in my opinion some off these bikes are supertwins and are over tuned/built for this class (i know they are, i can see a tell when i give them a quick looking over) but its only a small club and no one seems to care, and there is no supertwin class on the card.
i'm following a kawasaki for a lap or two pushing to get him on the corners and i'm almost getting him but when we both open up coming out he just fucks off up the road (like thats not a supertwin) but he brakes early every time and i think i will get next time in to the hairpin. Next time around he brakes early but we have caught another rider up and its getting a bit crowded but i go for it 3 a breast in to the hairpin and i'm on the outside with not alot of room we pass over the very damp part through becketts, and my gap is getting smaller, daren't brake any harder i think i'm going to hit him, i'm right on the edge of the track as i squeeze through on the outside and my right arm takes a big hit off his left which makes me twist my throttle again for a split second and i dart forward again, another big squeeze on the brake starting to feel very uncomfortable i let go of the brakes and throw it in to the right, got away with that.
Next time round at the same point i turn in to sharp almost hit the curb an as i open the gas the front comes right up, i shut the throttle get it straight and get going, as i cross the line session over.

2nd practice
I start off ok and i'm trying differant braking points going in to the hairpin which leaves me over running a few times, that hairpin has got to be one of the scariest 1st corners in the country. no other issues and its soon over. when practice is over we stop for lunch.
While we are having lunch the sky gets very gray an just as the racing starts it also starts to rain i'm in race six so i'm keeping one eye on the clock and the other on the sky.

Race 1. 8 laps
30 mins till my start time and its still spitting so we put the wets on.
Its a lucky dip for grid slots in race one, and i draw 12th, which i thought wasn't that bad an then i remember its only 3 on a row here and when i look over my shoulder there arn't that many behind and the programe lists 22 some must of been put off by the weather reports. so i'm near the back.
The light go out and we fly off up the hill alsorts of spry is coming up of the riders in front as we approach the hairpin and there is a lot of chopping and changing of postion as some of fast lads are at the back and slow one at the front. The hairpin is also a bottle neck on lap one, you can be held up quite bad as everyone trys to get through it, no jumping the curb here they are street curbs. I don't like racing in the rain yet but i keep it steady no issues and i bring it home in 13th out of 17







Race 2. 8 laps
it stops raining about an hour before my race and i spoke to a lad who was out three before me and he tells me that it is all dry, so its a mad rush putting the dry tyres back on.
As we form up on the grid the sun has come out, i'm in 13th and as i look over my shoulder there are even less out than before.
the light go out and we set off up the hill towards the hairpin a rider gets me on the inside and i'm chasing him for the next few laps, i lose out to him at the hairpin but i gain on him round heesons and down in to paddock, but not quite enough and he slams the door shut as i'm looking up the inside, next time round and i don't try at paddock and i chase him up the hill and i get level with him round the outside of becketts which leaves me on the inside at the hairpin clean pass, an i'm looking up the road for the next two riders. I'm soon on them again i'm looking at the inside at paddock but the window is closed, next time round i have a bigger lung at paddock but he slams the door shut and i have to jump on the brakes sitting up to avoid hitting him, but i'm still pushing hard trying to get him, he holds a tight line through the hairpin no way past there, an as we drop round heesons i see the last lap flag out. As we come in to paddock for the last time i try something differant i go in deep and try to go round the out side its working but as i get level with him i give it to much gas and the rear brakes free spitting me out of my seat and he gets away, to make maters worse the rider behind gets me going in to the hair pin and i finish 14th out of 16, but it was a bloody good race and i had a lot of fun scrapping for postition. It felt like i was going fast but i didn't get my PB on my laps but i did beat my race distance time from last year.

Race 3. 6 laps
The last few races have been cut down to six laps as they had fallen behind and they are trying to get through them. About 30 mins till start and it looks like it might rain, dark clouds are moving over and i'm praying it will hold off. Because we had started to pack away and couldn't be arsed to change the wheels again. 5 mins to go and it starts raining just as they start calling for my race, i go down to the collection point and it starts raining harder, i'm looking round at what the others have on and its a mix of wet and dry tyres speeking to the lad next to me who has drys on and he agrees that its going to be slippy, i tell him that i'm going to do my warm up lap and pull in as my tyres are cold as i do not have any warmers yet, he gives me a look an as we pull out and on to track he lifts his front wheel i guess to show me that there is more grip than i'm thinking there is, but by this time its pouring down and i really don't see the point of stubbleing round for 3 laps trying to get heat in to my tyres on a 6 lap race with the very real chance of slipping off and wreaking my bike, so i do my warm up lap and pull off. its time to go home.
And as we finish loading the van the sun comes out again, never mind.