SEASON REVIEW

I've thought long and hard about how to write our 2003 Season review. Hopefully you've followed our Race News during the season that gave you the facts; No lies, no excuses - just how it was.

It was certainly an interesting year, with many plans and intentions in place, and two hungry riders ready to race. When I made the decision to join Soul in the world of Moto X, I made the decision that the priority would always be with Soul. I've always felt that Moto X is not about me, it's about Soul. It's for this reason that I chose to find out exactly how hard it is out there on the track. Riding on tarmac, I'm a pretty safe, quick and smooth rider, but I realised in his first year of racing, Moto X is a whole different ball game.

There are a few dads out there that seem to give their kids a real mouthful for not doing this or that, so felt that until I knew what I was talking about, I had no right to criticise. Unfortunately, due to a completely nightmare year, my season was cut short when that financial crunch line came. In a way I am pretty gutted that I didn't get the bike hours I was hoping for, but what I did learn is invaluable. It's almost like Soul and I clicked when I could really see it from his point of view. I'm living proof that actually, it's not exactly that easy you know. It probably didn't help that in my first race ever; I got knocked off, and then ran over in the second. But as painful as it was, that was my first big lesson. Think!

Just the shear fact that a track changes each time you go out there has an impact. The holes get bigger, the ruts get bumpier, the dirt gets deeper, stones are being pelted at you from the roost of the rider in front, add in few crazy jumps, and blimey, that's just the first lap. But it must be slightly worse for the little people, because they've only got little wheels. It certainly takes guts!

My own personal hero of 2003, was Megan Berry. Mid-season at Henstridge, I attended to her with in seconds of her crash, which unfortunately left her wrist bending the wrong way with a broken arm. She was very brave that day, and she continued to amaze everyone with her quick recovery. Ironically her first race back was at Henstridge, so she probably deserves a double bravery award.

Of course my other personal hero was Soul. He was really up for it at the beginning of the season, and each time he got on his bike, he really was pushing himself to go quicker, and also seemed to be learning quicker. Our plan had been just to run the bike how it was for the first race then play with the clutch springs for the next couple of races. We then intended to change his carb for a 19mm, which would have given him that extra little bit of power that he badly needed to stay in front.

He was doing a great job out there, and was leading his championship for the first part of the season, but with the none arrival of the carb, and the fact that other riders were becoming more competitive, it started to become a bit of a problem. Our luck started to go in the wrong direction at Henstridge. ( The same day as Megans accident) This was also sadly my last race day of 2003, which was a shame as I was going really well there. Souls luck nose-dived when his coil went in Race2 giving him a DNS for Race3, badly costing points.

For the next few races, it really started to do Souls head in. He'd look at me when he whizzed by as if to gesture 'but my throttle is wide open!!!'. He'd get past on the quicker straights only to make the places back up through the corners, then getting past again, then he'd make a mistake and crash, costing a couple more places, that he'd then get back, but the lead group had gone. Then we had a few silly and odd breakdowns but eventually it really did get to him; almost - Soul destroying.

It probably didn't help that things off the track weren't going too well for us, with everything from stupidly badly timed decisions, to our race van being written off due to damage done when thieves broke into it. We lost a fortune on that, and it's more of a bitter pill to swallow when we never really had it to lose in the first place. It got to the point, that if it could go wrong - It did!

Even though 2003 pretty much did me in, we all tried not to give up, especially Soul. At about the time when it was finally declared that the carb was not coming, Soul really got a second wind and dug himself out of the performance rut, and really started to nail it as best as he could. By this time he'd already been using his preferred bigger bars, this seemed to help with stability on the straights, and leverage in the corners, helped by the newly profiled Dunlops, he was really growing with confidence again.

We're extremely proud of how hard he tried in 2003. It was as much of a mental battle for him as it was a physical one. We're really proud of him for managing to secure 2nd place overall in his HDYMC Auto (Air) Championship, and needless to say, he's so chuffed with himself. Fair play to the consistent Nathan Wakefield for taking 1st position, and also Alice Monks in 3rd, with Karl Noble in 4th, two other great riders that Soul spent the season battling with.

2003 was certainly an interesting year for us, and there were a lot of negatives that I've had to turn into positives, and we've certainly learned a lot of lessons. Hopefully things this year will be a lot better, and it's good that things are already looking positive. Soul will be moving up to the Junior class this year, to learn the art of clutches and gears. He'll be on new bike, and he'll still be number 7. So keep and eye out for him and give him a shout. We hope you all have a great year, and we hope to see you out there.

For us; It's a New Year, and A New Beginning!

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
SEPTEMBER 14th 2003 F'HOLES BISHOPSTONE
SEPTEMBER 28th 2003 - LANGTON LONG
OCTOBER 10th 2003 - CANCELLED

SEASON REVIEW

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