Tough weekend for Reid……
The young Irishman had to dig deep from the disappointment of not qualifying at the recent British Moto GP, to turn in a performance at the tight Mallory Park circuit. Andy’s luck, or lack of it, continued as mechanical issues blighted his progress through the weekend.
Practice saw Andy off to a solid start with P9 in session 1. Into FP2 and the 16 year old had to take evasive action in order to avoid a collision with a slower rider, a bit to much brake, a minor crash and the session was history.
Those mechanical gremlins returned for the qualifying, as the Aztec machine pulled up after only 6 laps in the first of the half hour sessions. Qualifying 2 saw a repeat after only 2 laps, failed crankshaft bring about an abrupt halt to the second half hour. An understandably upset rider, was now faced with the reality of possibly not qualifying again due to mechanical problems. However in a twist of fate, one of the riders withdrawn from the event allowing Andy to take the last place on the oversubscribed Mallory grid.
Warm up came and went, with the prospect of a back row start, the only way everyone could look was forward, quite literally. Andy was relaxed and was convinced that he would have a positive race. Starting from the back at Mallory is difficult under any circumstances. The young Irishman rode brilliantly. Controlled and measured, he worked his way through from P36 on the grid to P15, a point scoring position. If the safety car had not been deployed about 6 laps from the finish, who knows what might have happened.
So, yet again, Andy dug deep, put on his race face and turned, what for most people would have been a nightmare, into a positive outcome, a great effort all round.