Heading up to Croft for the NEMCRC meeting, 4 and a bit hours for us but it was a fair journey. On board this weekend was our TT and Southern 100 passenger, Matthew Rostron, from Formby, Liverpool. Myself and Wayne had been looking forward to meeting up with Matty ,along with his girlfriend Lisa, and getting some time on the outfit together as its getting closer to ‘the greatest road race in the world’! The weather was absolutely perfect, not a cloud in the sky, parked up and went to sign on. Nice to see so many sidecar teams there, Conrad, Moly, Maria Costello, Darren Hope, Lee Crawford, Greg Lambert, Mike Russel, Tony Thirkel, Lewis Blackstock to name just a few. Wayne has only been to Croft on a couple of occasions and Matty knows it pretty well so getting out for qualifying would prove to be a good test for them both to see how they work together.

Qualifying 5th with a lap time of 1.34.864, good start to the day, Wayne and Matty altered a couple of things to suit each other better, but on the whole, very happy.

Race one……Great race, excellent teams out there, the team had a good start but just couldn’t quite get the pace up, still learning each others ways and that’s going to take a good few laps! However, a very strong 5th place, 4th F2 and they held their own for a fantastic finish. Best time - 133.770. Picking up nicely.

Race 2…… Again , a great start, moved up one place due to a retirement from Crawford, picking off the seconds for an absolutely cracking race with Conrad, coming in 4th , 3rd F2 with a best lap time of 1.32.499.

Very happy team, minor adjustments made to the fairing for Matty and a chat with the driver for his needs and the boys had got it sorted. A brilliant day with some great results to be moving forward with, considering the two have never ridden together, it was flippin awesome!

Heading to holding bay for Sundays 1st race.

After a chilled evening with Matty and Lisa and Louisa-May, we got a bit of a lie in with the later start for sunday, woke up to another beautiful sunny day. re fuelled, changed the front tyre yesturday, the rear and chair tyres were holding out ok so no other changes needed to be made.

Race 3… Good start and holding a strong pace, first few laps were on the noise and the team were in a good position, best lap time was in lap 3 with a 1.32.783, towards the end of the race the pace had dropped slightly due to the outfit seeming to be low on fuel… still finished in 3rd place and an all round smooth finish with good track times.

Race 4…… After some much needed fuel and tyre check, the last race of the day was here, the Mac Hobson trophy race, it was between Wayne and Conrad and they both wished each other the best of luck! A good start from all the teams, although our rear tyre was pretty shot by this point but it didn’t stop Wayne and Matty pushing as hard as they could. The track was warm and the crowds were out in force, it was a fantastic race and they managed a solid 3rd place with a best lap time of 1.32.272 which is our best this weekend.

Superb weekend, excellent racing and fantastic company. The team worked really well and Wayne and Matty had an excellent first weekends racing together. All good moving forward to Silverstone next weekend with BEMSEE for the pairings second outing together. Preparation work continues for the TT 2022 which is looming ever closer, and we are really looking forward to a fast and safe season.

Many thanks to Matthew and Lisa for being there this weekend, its been great getting to know you both and seeing Wayne race again is spot on! Great to meet Matthews Mum and Dad, Barry and Pauline, Lisa’s family too……

Many thanks to NEMCRC for an excellent weekends racing, very well organised, massive shout out to the orange army and the medics. Please can we get an ice cream van next time! I think Maria Costello has jinxed the weather by saying its going to snow for Silverstone, so i’m glad we had this sunny time to enjoy for a while! Cheers mate! See you all next week.