Hi to all PaddockGossip.com readers. The last few months have been a little bit of a struggle on the car front in the Hunt household. Since February when I managed to write my “Troy “ Corsa up on the mountain whilst playing in the snow Ive been borrowing my mate Snorkels Suzuki swift, but he decided to sell that on, so the only mode of transport to get to and from work was the RM 250! It sounded great going round our Estate at 7 am but the neighbours were starting to get a little more than pished off! So I had to go out and buy myself some wheels so I ended up buying a little white escort diesel van at a bargain price of £200! The only problem is that the alternator isnt working and keeps killing the battery, so everywhere I go you have to park on a hill!

The MBR team headed off to Oulton Park for round 6 off the Superstock cup in April. I had high hopes of a good result. This was only a two day meeting for us Superstock cup boys as we had our race on Saturday night, a day before race day due to limited track times because of the squad of God in the local church.

Friday free practice was true to form with the weather of this year, yes it was raining again! This race season it has done nothing but bloody rain, but I seem to have mastered it or at least got my confidence. I ended up 4th with a 2.02.97, happy days. Saturday morning arrived and the track was damp and we were out first session, 08.30 hours prompt, too early for a nosher like me! I opted for normal race techs tyres which for the first 10 minutes was the wrong choice as the track still had plenty of spray coming off the rears. Mid session I was down in 30th. The track started to dry and the boys who had started on wets were in changing tyres. I just kept plugging away watching my pit board as the times started to fall. I pulled my finger out by the last lap and pulled off my fastest lap ending the session 4th 1.47.48. All we needed now was to do a little rain dance for the second qualifying session and I would have a front row start, not! It was dry for the second session and the boys started to pile the coals on. I pulled into pit lane with 10 mins to go. JK didnt look too happy, I was down in 25th. There was just enough time to have a quick word with myself, a minor toasting off JK and back on the track again. One quick out lap and a fast second lap and I managed to get myself up to 9th. 3 minutes remaining, I pulled out all the stops. It wasnt to be as I had yellow flags from Shell Oils all the way to Druids with boys jumping off for fun. Session over, P9. 1.45.20. This put me outside of the 3rd row of the grid, not ideal for Oulton.

7.45 on Saturday evening, go go go. Unusual for me, but I was nervous as hell. Dont know why, I think I was putting too much pressure on myself to get a good result, who knows, because I dont! Well with my head battered, I lined up on the 3rd row. The lights went out and we all barrelled into the first corner, a bit of argy bargy mid pack with everybody sitting up I ended up getting pushed wide, right out on to the grass. Cheeks clenched I got back onto the track in P14 at the end of lap one. Head down and arse up and my head now re-engaged and nerves gone I set about picking people off. Mid race and I had managed to get up to 6th. The only problem the leading group had got a break and there was a 5 second gap which stayed the same until the end of the race. I crossed the line in 5th as one of the leading group went down on the last lap, cheers mate! I improved my lap times again to 1.44.00 so Im going in the right direction. With a bucket full of ifs, buts and maybes, if Id qualified a bit better and got away with the front group I might of got a much better result as my lap times were the same as theirs in the race but hey thats racing as they always say!

A weekend off, then straight to Jurby. I had a motor to put into the 600 for Jurby, it has just been refreshed by Tony Scott in readiness for the Manx GP. I was only doing two races and a qualifier, so just running it in really. Big G and myself put the motor in the chassis in on Friday night, then Saturday JK and myself put all the wiring back together, it a nightmare, you never seen so many connectors! We got her back together and put it through a heat cycle, then gave it a run up and down the runway in the morning just to put a few miles on her before racing started. Sunday morning arrived we were set up in the paddock with about 2 hours to go before qualifying started. I warmed the 600 up on the stand, put my leathers on to run the bike in. As I dropped the bike off the stand the engine just died! For the next two hours the bike was stripped completely to try and find out why. It turn out the tank had nipped the loom and broke a wire. We just had the bike back together as they were calling first qualifying!

First qualifying was for the Centre Championship and my head was in pieces with the chaos of sorting out the 600. I qualified 2nd just behind Ryan Kneen, I think even my Dad could of out qualified me I was that slow! Next up the 600 qualifying and the head was back in top gear and I was on pole. A good day all in all as I won both Centre championship races and both the 600 races. I took 1.7 seconds off the 1000 lap record and 1.6 second off the 600 lap record,Go Nosher Go! Results further down the field didnt quite go in my favour to wrap up the championship and I need to score 3 points from a possible 30 to become Centre Champion in September, so cross everything for me!

The month ahead starts with JK stag trip, then a trip to Croft BSB, straight back to the TT Grandstand to set up for the Manx GP, the old mans at the Ulster GP, we have a big day out for JK and Dawns wedding on the 18th which is the same day that the MGP starts unless the foot and mouth outbreak puts pay to the racing like it did in 2001. Busy busy busy month for me though so until the next time….

All the best
Nosher Gav.