AUGUST 31st 2003 - MATCHAMS

SOUL : When I said in his last report that we were hoping for a bit of luck, perhaps I didn't say it loud enough. Soul was aware that this was a tough track and that his auto engine doesn't like the deep sand, but he was really adamant that he was going to really go for it and try for some good points. What we didn't anticipate was his throttle breaking whilst warming the bike up. Despite a mad rush to fix or overcome the problem he missed the practice session, which to be fair did eventually mean he had to take it a bit easy in the opening lap of Race1, but of course that's were he usually pushes hard to make up or keep up the places. He had a little tangle with someone and went down but remounted only losing two places, but made one back, in a slightly short 4-5 lap race.

In Race 2, he was out of the gate quite well, and even though it's a long straight (loses on power) he still managed to get into the lead group and hold his own. He dropped down a place, but was looking really focused out there until his last lap when he came over the Table-Top and his bike just stopped. No matter how hard I tried to kick it over, it just wouldn't start, and when the flag came out I knew it was game over. Not just for the race but also the loss of points has made a huge dent in his bid for the championship.

Thankfully for Race 3, we did get his bike running again, after we striped and re-striped everything, and even changed his oil (Bel-Ray Excellent stuff), and despite the misfortunes of the day he was really up for the fight. He again got a good start and was ahead of some of the recent leaders, and he was really on a charge. Again he was looking really focused and doing well to catch the front two, but then as he came down a sandy drop-off his front dug in and his back end came round to highside him slamming the bike onto his leg. He said he was ok, so he jumped back on to rescue any points he could.

It's fair to say that he had a really bad day (again) as far as luck goes, but he really made me proud with his determination. He wasn't too impressed when we still couldn't get his bike to run before Race3, and he was quite vocal about it. He's really surprised me this weekend in how level headed he was about the whole day, as he really kept it together when the chips were down. He has been quite frustrated recently with the deficit of power his bike has compared to some others, and he knows too well that his championship is or now has slipped away, but he also knows how hard he's been working trying to get his positioning and throttle control right. We can all see that he's trying hard out there, and if he's doing everything that he can do out there, then what more can we ask for. And the good thing is, that he' still loves every minute on his bike.

In his own words, Soul added - It was tuff for the Auto's and it was really hard for me. When my bike stalled on the Table-Top I was annoyed. I liked my last race and I tried hard in all the races but my leg still hurts a little bit.

OLD NEWS

JAN/FEB
 MARCH 2nd 2003 - MARTINSTOWN
MARCH 16th 2003-WINTERBOURNE STICKLAND
MARCH 30th 2003-MILBOURNE ST. ANDREW 
APRIL 13th 2003 - FOXHOLES BISHOPSTONE
 APRIL 27th 2003 - MARTINSTOWN
 MAY 13th 2003 - TRIGON
 MAY 25/26th 2003 - BERE REGIS
JUNE 8th 2003 - HENSTRIDGE
JULY 6th 2003 - MATCHAMS
JULY 20th 2003 - BERE REGIS
AUGUST 2nd/3rd 2003 - MARTINSTOWN
AUGUST 17th 2003 - HENSTRIDGE
AUGUST 31st 2003 - MATCHAMS

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