Five days after the graphics went on, both KTMs were in the truck and on their way to Anglesey.
We left at about half past twelve on the Thursday for the three and a half hour drive up the M6, got there at four and waited in the holding area until the circuit let us in just before six. The space we’d been hoping for was taken, so we found another one big enough for everyone, and by the time Tom and Sammi arrived at half six we were putting up gazebos.
Friday was the test day, and it didn’t last long. It started dry but windy. Evan, Tom and Rodger were all in B group, and the first couple of sessions ran normally before the rain came in and the wind built to gusts of around 45mph. Tom went out in the next session, did a few laps and came in saying the combination of wind and rain wasn’t safe. Only a handful of riders went out at all before No Limits stopped it for standing water and wind, and after reviewing it every half hour they closed the track for the day.
Saturday morning was supposed to be dry by half nine. The rain had other ideas, and the wind stayed strong until mid-morning. We sent Evan out for sprint qualifying on full wets front and rear, and he qualified 10th overall and 7th in class.
The programme was tight all weekend. The Club Sport and Streetbike qualifying ran straight before endurance qualifying, and the sprint race ran straight before the endurance race. So the wet rear came off, a slick went on, and Evan went out for endurance qualifying on a wet front and slick rear. The track was drying, his laps came down from the 1:19s to a 1:17.4, and the team qualified second in class.
For the first sprint race we put new SC1s on front and rear. Race 7 was only five laps, and Evan came home 6th in class from 10th on the grid, which put him 6th on the grid for Sunday’s first race.
Then straight into the endurance. Because the sprint race finished immediately before the endurance start, we had Tom’s 990 set up and waiting. Tom came in off his KTM 890 Duke and went straight back out on his 990, which gave us time to refuel Evan’s bike and Rodger’s Triumph and sort the tyres.
We’d originally thought about running Tom, Rodger and then Evan, but went with Tom first, Evan second and Rodger third. Tom did just under an hour and we were leading the class when he came in. The stop dropped us to second, with PB Racing and Snapdragon still out, and Evan then put in good, consistent laps.
During his stint an exhaust end can on the circuit brought out the safety car, and when the safety car’s lights failed the race was red flagged. PB Racing changed riders and bikes in the pit lane during the stoppage and were later given a ride-through for it.
The rain held off, and Rodger brought it home second in class and seventh overall, which was a great result for the endurance.
On Sunday morning Evan said he thought the bike was hitting the rev limiter earlier than expected down the back straight, so Tom took #24 out in the emergency practice session. He came back saying it rode lovely and felt very similar to his own bike, apart from Evan’s race shift and slightly higher pegs. That was good to hear, because the suspension on Evan’s bike had started from the settings Evan had been using on Tom’s. Tom put in a 1:12 on it.
Evan started Race 15 from 6th on the grid and finished 4th, both overall and in class. His lap times in that race put him 3rd on the grid for the final race.
For the second round running, Evan started from third on the grid. When the NLR TV pictures cut back after the warm-up lap, he was already stopped in his grid box with the riders around him still rolling in. “Credit where credit’s due for Evan Brailsford,” was the commentator’s verdict on his very quick warm-up lap.
When the lights went out, Callum Hirst got the holeshot and Evan slotted into second, then on the opening lap he went past Callum to take the lead, close enough that the commentators called it nearly contact. At the end of lap one the timing screen had #24 at the top. Benjamin Berry came through on lap two, and over the next few laps Callum and Jamie Bayliss got by as well. Evan got back up to third at one point and finished fourth, seven and a half seconds behind Berry.
Afterwards NLR TV caught up with him in Parc Fermé. He told them he’d been fighting for a podium, which he has been since Brands Hatch, coming close at Knockhill and close again here. His rear tyre, he said, was shot in that race.
Callum Hirst told them Evan rode fantastic, and that when Evan came past it “kind of messed that plan up a little bit.”
Thank you to Tom, Sammi and Rodger, and to all our partners for their continued support.
Two fourth places again, a second P3 grid start and, this time, a lap in the lead. We’re getting closer.
There’s one round left, at Donington. Whether that first sprint podium comes this season or we have to wait a little longer, we’ll find out there.