My 2012 Season Review

I'm not going to just rewrite all of this year's blogs cause that's boring and anyway, you can read them below.
I thought I'd sum up with my top ten lists of the year:

I'll start with the 10 worst moments (so that I can end on a positive!):


10 : Being disqualified at Brands for the reverse gear thing (I'm over it now, honestly!)

9 : General lacklustre performance at Brands in the dry.

8 : General lacklustre performace at Donington first meeting (eventually solved with a dash of oversteer)

7 : My very close shave when Colin S cut across me at Brands midway through Paddock Hill bend (it's all on video).

6 : First corner crash at Anglesey. A head ducking moment!

5 : Anglesey tie wrap failure in race 2. (just really annoying!)

4: Clutch failure at Silvertone in race 2 on a rare occassion when my friends came to watch (even more annoying).

3 : Spinning out at Brands in race 1 in the wet having been keeping pace with Al Boulton (the dissapointment that my talent ran out really hurts!).

2 : The emotional strain of having to nick Al Boulton's class win at Mallory (although in fairness, it didn't take me long to get over it!)

And the biggest, most embarrassing, top muppetry moment of the year...

1 : Messing up the chicane at Donington on the penultimate lap. Dave Watson got past because I thought it was the last lap (as Tim Gray had lapped me, and that is usually on the last lap), and I rather overdid the defensive driving on what I thought was the last corner. I know...I'm cringing with embarrasement as I write!).


Top 10 best moments of my season:

10 : Watching Tim Gray cut through the field from the back of the grid to win at Anglesey (even though I was watching from the infield having crashed out!).

9: Catching the pack following my spin at Brands in the wet.

8: Keeping up with Al Boulton for 2 laps at Brands in the wet following a storming start.

7: The whole of the Cadwell weekend, but especially beating Andy Grant fair and square.

6 : Catching and passing Steve Malyon at Donington following an off at the chicane at Donington (1st meeting).

5 : Passing Dave Watson into Redgate in Race 1 at Donington (2nd meeting) (even though I then messed it all up later - see no1 above!).

4 : Watching Dave Watson make for the hills at the Old Hairpin at Donington race 2. (particularly satisfying bearing in mind no 1 above!)

And my top 3 - rather predictably:

3 : Winning my first Class F trophy (3rd in class) at Donington.

2 : Winning 2nd in class at Mallory

1 : My first class WIN at Mallory.


By the way, I came 4th in class in the championship which was great bearing in mind the problems I've had during the year. However I can't help but think that I was only 1 point short of being 3rd. What if I hadn't messed up that Donington race? What if I hadn't been disqualified at Brands, or had that clutch problem at Silverstone...?
There's an old saying...if my aunt had bollocks she'd be my uncle.

It's interesting (to me anyway!) that, whilst I'm really chuffed to get the trophies, some of my most memorable races have been where I've been catching up after an off, or chasing and catching someone, whereas my class win race was actually relatively dull. It just shows, it not all about the silverware. (who am I kidding...of course it is really!!)

So that's it for another year. Thanks again to Tim Gray and the team for their help and guidance, and to all my fellow RGB'ers who make it all such fun. See you next year.