Fuck me did it rain. But I love rain, especially racing in it. Went out in Qually and saw my number at 3rd spot on the tower board after the first lap. It stayed there until the 5th lap when I dropped back to 4th, then dropped off the board completely by the end. Ended up 7th on a 1:06.95 which I was quite chuffed with given the conditions. Race 1 came and it started pissing down even harder. Made an ok-ish start and went past a few then got stuck behind one of the B-Class riders who kept shutting the door on me the fucker. Finally managed to get past him and caught the two in front and was lining up to go past when the red flags came out on lap 7 due to the rain and standing water. Bastards! Quickest lap was 1:09.86 which wasn't too bad given that I couldn't see a fucking thing due to the spray and misting visor. Race 2 wasn't until 5.30pm and the track was drying but still wet in some places. I made a crap start and lost a few places but set about making them back. One of the faster guys totally fucked up Graham Hill bend and went straight on, which had me giggling, but he came back past me after a couple of laps. I tried to keep with him but hit the tarmac seam at Clark that still had water in it and had a huge slide that scared me a bit. I'd also been fighting off another bike; he went past me once then I took him again at Paddock, he tried at Druids but I shut the door, etc. This time round Druids he had a run and came under me and clipped my right-hand bar with his knee as he went past. One massive wobble mid-corner later and he'd pulled 50 yards on me that I just couldn't get back. The track was still damp in place and I just hadn't had enough practice in the dry to make me quick enough. Ended up 10th in class with a FL of 59.79 which isn't too bad but not a patch on the 58.28 I posted there last year. So that's me back racing after just short of a year out and I'm quite glad I can still put a decent lap together on a 63bhp bike!
