I started racing back in 2009. A drunken agreement with a friend over a curry and plenty cobra saw me preparing by R1 4xv trackbike for the 2009 season. Now my friend ran with Derby Phoenix in the pi600 class. As my pi R1 was eligible for the Thunderbikes class I naturally followed him into the derby Phoenix paddock. After some preparation and fettling this is what I ended up with. Missing the first two rounds due to work commitments, my first meeting would be at Anglesey. It turned out much better than expected. Not really knowing what to expect, in a very mixed grid, I ended up running top ten all weekend with a best of 7th and two novice class victories. Safe to say I was hooked. Off to Oulton next where again I did well. Running comfortably in the top ten I also recorded another novice victory. My main aim was just getting the signatures on my licence but I was also regularly beating and challenging Simon Rooms for the novice championship. Back at Anglesey and I ran well on the Saturday taking more points out of Rooms. The meeting was abandoned on the Sunday because of the weather. At the final meeting at Cadwell I had to beat Rooms in all four races to win the novice championship. It was not to be. Simon got the better of me on the Sunday to win the novice championship. I would be 2nd and 9th in the Thunderbike championship overall. Still requiring signatures on my licence, I headed off to East Fortune to race in the NEMCRC pi1200 championship. Again I ran top 10 all weekend and got the two remaining signatures required on my licence. Goodbye bib.
Wow. That's some start TDB. Very impressive outcome (most drunken curry nights have far less constructive outcomes).
You need to get signatures on your licence to upgrade it. You start with a novice race licence. You have to wear the orange bib so people know you're a novice. You need 10 signatures from three different tracks to upgrade to a Clubman licence. 1 race finish per day = 1 sig. You then need 10 more signatures to upgrade to a National licence. 1 finish per day < 110% of the winners time (I think) and not being lapped = 1 sig.
