I decided to travel down to Thruxton after a couple of guys who I knew had also decided to go down. Being my first closed circuit race I was rather anxious about how the race would pan out. The weather report the night before did not look too promising. Gale force winds on an open race track can't be good. However the Saturday before I went out with my dad and did a short ride involving a couple of sprints to get my legs turning.

I travelled down to Thruxton with the two mates, arriving with plenty of time enough to watch the 4th Cat race. From the expressions on their faces I knew that it was not going to be a walk in the park. However entering on the line and being given my number (which seemed more like parachutes) before i knew it I was getting changed ready for the race. We began warming up around an unused car park which had a view of numerous beautiful racing cars next to it which we joked would be the winners prize!! The warm-up was in a square and the moment we turned the bottom corner the wind hit us so fiercely that it almost took me off my bike. However I thought that I'm all changed and ready to go now that I really cant pull out. So the next thing i remember was lining up on the start line.

The E,1,2's were off first followed a couple of minutes behind by us, the 3rd Cat race. The race consisted of either being in the 53,14 (junior gears!) or the 39,25 going into the wind up the hill, barely keeping up a walking pace. The race was in total 12 laps and for the first and second lap people were trying to shoot off the front and were either chased down immediately or they blew up. However on the 3rd lap me and a Agisko Viner rider on the hill started to put down the hammer, not sprinting though so as to try and attract as little attention as possible! By the top of the hill me and two other riders had a small gap on the field. We continued through and offing through the home straight (also into the direct wind) all the way round. At this point there was just me and the Agisko rider, looking back thinking whether this would be the decisive break. I was glad that I was here rather than in the bunch especially with the strong cross winds and everyone leaning on each other. With four laps to go 2 more riders jumped across to us which gave a nice break from the effort. Then on the last lap they both tried to jump me and the Agisko rider on the hill. However after doing so much work we weren't prepared to let that happen. So we jumper across to them. They instantly blew from that effort leaving just me and the Agisko man on our own at the top of the hill going through the chicane. Through the finish straight i got in the right position, just behind him and then as Juniors are well known for jumped him on the line to take victory for Stratford CC and Spiuk!

Overall a tiring race in the end purely due to the wind yet incredibly rewarding. Highly advise at these types of race to get a team together as you really can control a race.

I've just got back from Wales where I have just competed in the Martyn Ashfield Junior series RR, which was even harder than Thruxton. Especially with the big team names such as Glendene, Dolan, Scotland etc and managed to make a few lone and joint break aways and came joint first in the king of the mountains competition.

Ben Carty
25/03/07