A weekend that started so well for Ryan Dixon didn’t end that way for him at the latest round of the No Limits Racing season at Brands Hatch.

Going into the weekend Dixon was hoping for more at his home round than the weekend delivered, he brings us up to date with his latest report.

A lovely sunny weekend, with some good pace and hard battle but unfortunately not the fairy-tale ending I was hoping for! 

Friday was a bit of a waste of time, with it being a track day and people able to book into whichever group they wanted, there was an even bigger range in ability and machinery than usual. I did the morning sessions just to get my body back into the swing of things and check the bike was all running ok but that was enough for me. 

Qualifying – I made sure not to make the same mistake as Snetterton and get caught up in the mid pack. I got out front and tried to get in some good, clear laps whilst I could. Remaining in the top four throughout the session, I was happy enough to end up fourth on the grid behind three BSB stock 1000 riders getting some last track time in before their season begins next weekend. I was front runner of the championship regulars and felt there was more to come.

Race 1 – a reasonable start saw me get away in third. I held on to the front two for four laps before dropping to fourth where I stayed for five laps until one rider in front pulled out with a bike issue and then the following lap another pulled up, leaving me second which I managed to hold onto until the premature end with a red flag half a lap from the finish. I took the points for first as the winner wasn’t eligible for points. 

Race 2 – a good start from fourth on the grid saw me lead the race briefly before dropping back to fourth and losing a bit of rhythm in the process. I didn’t quite have the feeling like I did in race one and was just tying to get some sort of flow going when the race was red flagged half way through. I ended up fourth but third in points.

Going into race three I was leading overall by one point for the weekend and it was all to play for. However, when we went to warm the bike up, it wouldn’t start.

The fuel pump wasn’t priming and so a mad rush ensued to try and find the problem. Time was running out and it wasn’t looking good and then all of a sudden another try of the ignition and it was good to go.

I left for the grid as late as possible so I didn’t have to stop the bike on the line and did a steady warm up lap to keep it cool so I could keep it running if there were any delays. 

Race 3 – a good start again and I was away in directly second behind Max Lofthouse who I needed to beat. We were both passed pretty quickly by the non point scoring rider and it was all set to be a battle to the end, I was feeling good and up for the fight, despite dropping back a little, I managed to close back up onto the rear wheel of Max and I was full of confidence.

Then another rider passed me but I wasn’t having anyone messing it up for me and I went back past around the outside at the next corner and set my sights on closing max down again before the rider behind attempted a pass again into Hawthorns but couldn’t stop and ran out of road. He went down and this incident brought out the red flags. 

We were stopped at pit lane entrance before being sent back to the grid, to begin with the bike wouldn’t start and I thought it was over but after a few attempts I got it fired up. Rode to the grid and had to stop the bike again as it was hot and we were delayed. They then sent us back to the paddock and the bike fired straight up but once I got back to the garage and turned it off, it never started again and I never made the restart

Not an ideal end to the weekend, yet again and more valuable points lost. I moved up to third in the championship but lost points to Max who now leads and is 31 points in front of me. Hopefully we can get the bike sorted for the remainder of the season and see if we can claw some points back and mount a challenge for the championship! 

Thank you to all of my sponsors and supporters for their continued belief and a particular thank you to Harwood Building Control Limited for the use of their hospitality suite over the weekend. 

Thank you to all who came up to support over the weekend and sorry for the disappointing end. 

If anyone would like to get involved for the remainder of the season, any help would be much appreciated as my already tight budget is already being more than stretched give me a shout if you’d like to talk about any options.

Images courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/CamipixPhotography