TEAM TALK:

"Although todays result at astra was statistically the worst of the season there was still a lot to smile about for the team. The format which Astra used was always going to make things tough as three heats and a final with no semis or B final means you have to finish top two in every race to be sure of a final position and after heat one we new this was not going to happen... However the never say die attitude was still there in the teams remaining heats.

So heat one saw a half decent start called back as the tapes didn't rise correctly, in the restart there was a coming together with Pete Lloyd which caused us to be shoved of course and directed towards the finish line marshals to avoid wiping them out we had to shut off in order to get the bike to turn left (right handers don't do left hand turns ;)). Although it took a little of the shine off the day we still could not fault the performance of the bike as it was quick and handled exactly as we wanted it to. We also feel we rode well to get right back up to the rest of the crews from being about a third of a lap down. A note to marshalls though If the Fatman is waving at you in a race he isn't saying hello...RUN ;) 

So heat two saw Matt dozing on the line and as a result completely missing the gate. However the strength of the bike showed in the first straight getting us into third place in the first bend. Every lap saw the team reel in Myles Simmons and a great dice was had between the two teams. Perhaps if we had held back from making a move until the last bend instead of on the third lap as we did we may have stolen the second as doing it a lap early allowed Myles to respond and just keep us at bay.

The crews final heat of the day again was hindered by contact on the start line. Gating from grid 2 (which was outside but one). We tangled with Mr Penfold as the tapes went up, we were prevented from getting a clean run at the first bend as he the other outfit was turned sideways in front of us as a result of the contact. Mark Warren was also hindered as both our outfits came across him off the start (thanks for not wiping us out  and for the beer Mark ;)). Again we fought on and caught Ray Westbrook and passed him on the back straight. The race just wasn't long enough for us to catch a very in form Rod Winterburn and Rob Wilson. 

In all we still enjoyed the day, obviously we wanted a crack at the final and felt that if the starting gate had been just another bike width wider a lot of the contact could have been prevented. It may also have helped a little to have the grid positions physically marked out on the ground. Right handers are strange beasts and getting all six outfits to go straight off the start is probably similar odds to winning the lottery ;). Having such a tight start grid just left no margin for error (and god knows we need that ;)) However that said the track was brilliant as ever you gotta love that jump on the back straight and even though we didn't make the final it was still worth the trip to compete on one of the best tracks our country has...

Next week is a week away from the track for FWR due to Jake Fumarola being confirmed but rest assured we will be all fired up for G.T.S.A on the 25th... Who knows Mr Will penfold might even let us have a play on his left hander in practice again... now thats gotta be worth going to watch for ;)"