With both riders available for an assault on Cadwell Park, the team was understandably very buoyant. Brilliant sunshine greeted everyone at the famous old Lincolnshire circuit and big smiles at the prospect of some “Al Fresco” refreshment.
Free practice one kicked off with both riders running in. Danny spent some time reacquainting himself with the track, as it was over 2 years since his last visit. While the session passed peacefully for Danny, sadly mechanical gremlins bought a premature end to Andy’s efforts. The young man from Belfast reacting brilliantly to escape what could have been a nasty moment on the high speed exit of Coppice.
With some remedial work done on Andy’s bike, a full session was imperative to help restore the 16 year olds confidence. Danny slipped out onto the track and immediately set about his work. As he increased the pace, slower riders were now causing some issues, spoiling his flow. Andy settled into a nice rhythm and was working hard to ensure a trouble free session. As the chequered flag brought free practice 2 to an end Danny was in P8 and Andy a happy and relived P20 with no mechanical problems.
Into qualifying, Andy felt, understandably, a little apprehensive due to the mechanical issues suffered earlier. This seemed to pass however as he got into the early laps. Sadly for everyone, Danny’s first session was bought to a halt after only half a lap with an exhaust failure. This put us all on the back foot as it meant he would have to turn in something special for Q2. Andy continued to push and finished a very creditable P13 just ahead of the runner up of the recent North West 200 event, Jon Vincent, a great effort.
Something special was the order of the day, and Danny duly delivered. In what was an exciting session for the spectators, the young man from Gloucestershire soon climbed the leader board. Andy was also “riding the wheels off” the Aztec machine and holding his position from earlier in the day. A battle for the all important front row was now developing. As the session closed, Danny was just relegated to P4 by 2 100ths of a second by Ed Rendell. P14 was the reward for Andy’s great efforts improving his morning time by another second.
As we have said before, warm up should be incident free. For Danny this was the case. Sadly, for Andy this was not. After only a handful of laps, his machine ground to a halt with a thrown chain.
The lads made the decent down to the pit lane for the race full of confidence. A good start was needed, stay clear of trouble then settle into the race. The lights turned green and both Aztec machines did just that. Andy was swapping paint as he made his way through for a couple of places on the first lap. Danny had tucked in behind the leading three, who seemed intent on disrupting each others race. Into lap 2 and Danny slipped past Lodge for 3rd place.
As he crested the mountain, disaster struck. He had suffered the same problem as Andy earlier in the day, losing his chain. This was a bitter blow as confidence was high with an expectation of a podium. By Half distance Andy had moved up a couple of places. Again, he rode the “wheels off” of the bike but seemed to be unable to make any headway. As the flag dropped Andy crossed the line in P16, just outside the points.
So, a disappointing end for both riders and the team, on a weekend that showed great promise. As always we would like to thank all of our Technical Partners, sponsors and fans for their support. Special mention this week to Neil Clayton at Doodson Broking Group, many thanks to John Miller at Base Chemicals, Tim Howes at NGK and Ian Kidson at MASCO, rest assured we will be working even harder to achieve this elusive win. We move to Mallory Park for round 5 on 25-27 June 2010, hope to see you there.