Robbie has come away from Cadwell Park in a worse position than he had hoped prior to the race weekend.

The weekend started well and Robbie was putting in some impressive times during the Friday practice sessions. Confident of the setup, Robbie thought he would be able to qualify in the top 10 at one of his favourite circuits. Unfortunately, a crash in the early stages of QP1 stopped Robbie from improving his times. Although the bike was repairable, Robbie was stopped from getting back on and riding to the pits, forcing him to sit out the remainder 25 minutes of the session and watch his position drop one by one.
Quickly fixing the bike, Robbie reflected on his crash and made some changes to stop any future errors like that. Heading out for QP2 he was confident he could improve. Unfortunately, then came the psychological rain which stopped most riders from improving on times in the early stages.
With time ticking away and rain appearing to clear, Robbie head out with intentions of improving. He did so by a massive 0.8 seconds, but was only able to get 19th on the final grid, some 3 rows behind his nearest cup rival.

“Today was a complete nightmare. I was having a little trouble with the bike grinding on the floor and knew it was a risk, but I decided to keep pushing and paid the price. I tried to get back on to ride back to the pits but I was told I wasn’t allowed. For second qualifying, things looked up, we found some good settings and I was expecting to get the pace back I knew I was capable of, but then it rained. With only a few minutes remaining, I went out and tried to improve, we had old tyres on and I managed to go massively quicker, I can only imagine how much better I would have gone if I had new rubber. Still, my confidence is still there and I intend to be fighting at the front” commented Robbie

Race day came and the weather was glorious all day. Robbie got his career best start getting to 13th by the first corner. Constantly pushing he made a few mistakes and dropped down the field, it was then a lonely race, until the closing stages when Robbie managed to force his way to 13th place and was so close to the people leading up to 10th place but ran out of laps. He crossed the line in 13th place, 2nd in the Cup.

“Today’s race was difficult to say the least. I had it all to do again, all because I ruined qualifying. Still, I managed to push hard and get inside the top 15. Not where I want to be, I definitely have the capability of getting into the top 5. It really hurts to see people I was beating last year, finishing inside the top 5 of the main race, because I know that’s where I should be. I’m second in the cup championship now, and unfortunately Sam is pulling away. Still, its not over till its over and I need to end the season on a high, because I really want to have a chance to ride with a top team in 2010, and to do that I need to impress, something I haven’t done a good job of lately. So it’s back to the day job now and back in the gym for some cardio work. Roll on Croft” Explained an optimistic Robbie

There is now a 1 weekend break before Robbie and the team head to Croft, where they hope to be fighting at the front of the field.

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