”Cadwell’s sting in the tail”……………
Last weekend saw the Aztec GP team make the long trip to the scenic Lincolnshire circuit following Ed’s great ride at Brands Hatch a couple of weeks back. Set up day saw a lot of driving for Dave. A forced return to the race workshop saw a round trip of about 750 miles from leaving home and returning for his nephews wedding. A big thanks to him for all his effort. You may have already seen the news bulletins on the web site, but this meeting showed the highs and lows of racing.
FP1:
Heavy overnight rain eased and the circuit was dry for the teams first practice session just after midday. The usual suspects were settling into the early running which saw number 29 Lodge just in front of number 13 Guiver and Brian Clark P3, all in the 1m 37’s. Ed had taken the bike that finished a creditable P7 at Brands and by the end of the session was looking comfortable in 9th place.
FP2:
Free practice 2 saw no real change in the weather, still cloudy and dry. However a change at the top of the leader board showed Rob Guiver swap places with “Lodgy” with a fantastic 1.8 second gap. P3 was now occupied by Connor Behan recovering from issues in FP1. He wasn’t the only one intent on moving up. Edward was running well fluctuating between P4 and P6. As the chequered flag dropped to bring the session to a close the Aztec GP machine recorded a 6th place finish. P2 - P6 all being covered by 0.7 of a second.
Q1:
Being last in the running order gave the circuit a chance to warm up. As Q1 kicked off at 11.30am the teams were expecting improved times from free practice. The top three from the day before saw the disappearance of James Lodge and Connor Behan back down the field replaced by the KRP machines of Glossop and Hayward. Ed picked up almost half a second on the previous days time, however this only saw him finish in P10 for the first qualifying session.
Q2:
Ed had complained about some “front end issues” which saw investigation by Bryan and the boys. Some refinement to the fork settings should have proved a great step forward and the team was confident of progressing up the grid. However, come 5.15 pm, much like the rest of our summer, rain stopped play. With nobody able to improve on their Q1 times, Ed would take up P10 on the grid for Monday’s race. A little later in the day the Aztec machine would promoted by one place due to an infringement by one of the riders in front of Ed. This put us on row 3 with a good shot at another “electric start” from the Chelmsford teenager.
Warm up……………
”Rule number 1, don’t crash in warm up” After the little hiccup at Brands, Ed settled into a steady pace running in P7 in preparation for the race due off at 5.20pm.
“Race face on”…………….
Confidence was high within the camp, we knew the bike was on the pace and Ed was looking forward to a good showing, as the Lincolnshire track seemed to suit his style. The green flag waved the pack away on the formation lap and the Aztec GP duly took up it’s place on the third row. As the lights changed Ed charged through to P4 going into the uphill lefthander and into “Charlies”.
As the front two pulled away slightly, Ed settled into a battle for third place. By lap two several riders were swapping places and some paint as the chase was on to catch the leaders. Laps 3 and 4 saw a great race between Ed, Connor Behan and Tom Hayward. As the trio exited “Barn” for the start of lap 5 disaster struck with Ed momentarily running slightly wide onto the grass.
The ensuing crash saw the Aztec machine spinning to a halt past the pit entrance, Red flags were out almost immediately, as Ed managed to somehow get off the circuit. It was very fortunate that the following riders were able to avoid Ed, however the reality was soon becoming clear that he had sustained a serious injury to his left leg.
Edward was airlifted to hospital where he will undergo an operation to pin the break. Other than the obvious pain of the injury we can confirm that he is in good spirits and is looking forward to a speedy return. Battered, bruised and in pain Ed was confident that he was on for the teams first podium, once a racer…………..
A special mention to Helen and Ray our thoughts are with you, wishing Ed a speedy recovery, we all look forward to seeing him very soon. As always a special thank you to all of our partners for their continued support. So close……..