During First Qualifying, I was still trying to learn the track and make a few changes to the set up like the front and back end and we changed the gearing to make it long for more top end speed.
For Second Qualifying we changed the front end again, making it stiffer and we also changed the gearing taller again. We knocked a second and a half off my first lap time but it still was a long way off the pace, therefore I only qualified 56th in the group. I really only got used to the track and the bike on Monday warm-up and put in the fourth quickest lap of the session which give me a boost for the shoot -out race, but I knew I had a hard race ahead off me because I was starting on the back row in 26th.
However, in the shoot-out race I got a great start and moved up approx seven places before the first corner and that me a great boost to attack even more. By the end of the first lap I was 14th, and I started to get in a really good rhythm with the bike and put my best lap time in of the weekend, and the bike felt fantastic.
I moved up to twelfth by the fourth lap then my front brake started to fade, but luckily for me the safety car came out at that time so I could re-adjust my front lever, at this stage I only had one thing on my mind and that was to get in the top ten.
With two laps to go I just had to pull the pin and make some hard passes on the people in front off me and by doing that I recorded the two fastest laps of the race on the last two laps, and I ended up finishing in ninth overall.
I was ecstatic that i achieved my goal for the weekend, to make it into the main race, unfortunately the race was cancelled due to a red flag incident and the lack of time"
Following Oulton Park, team boss Ian Lougher commented:
"David is getting better with every outing and he came through a difficult weekend getting faster all the time. He set the fastest speed trap time through every sector, fastest time through the second sector and also had the fastest time in the shoot-out, coming from 26th on the grid to finish ninth!
In my opinion, David's a winner in the future for sure. He's a nice lad who listens intently, has a great relaxed attitude and he fits in well with the team."
Part Three - Cadwell Park