Training for the Breckland had gone well. I had been on bike 4 times a week since January as well as sessions at the running club on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I had been doing more training than i'd ever done before but without an event under my belt it was difficult to guage how effective the training was.
The start list for the Breckland read as the most competitive ever, two current vice World Champions in Paul and David, third placed man in E2 and my team mate Arnau Vilanova, Paul Whibley who was 6th in E2 and then Chris Birch and Jake Stapleton. Top 6 could have been a good result and that was without even considering the Breckland regulars such as Braybrook, Voase, Jones, Bolter, or my other team mate Wakely.
I travelled to the event late on Thursday night with Lee Ed and we stayed with Lee's mechanic Joey and Jason Rowlands. Friday dawned with a covering of snow! For me this was unexpected as i hadn't been paying any attention to the weather forecast. I set about walking the test regardless. I walked it three times before lunch and then the snow thawed so i had to walk it again! Walking a test 4 times has got to be a first for me! The team arrived on Friday morning with the Truck and the bikes. We didn't put the awning up due to snow preferring to work in the back of the truck. Pete and Giorgio set about making the last minute adjustments to the bike such as jetting and blanking off the radiators due the cold. By 5 pm everything was ready so we were able to relax. We went for food in Brandon and sampled the local nightlife before going to sleep in truck. It was very cold so we used the generator to run a heater unfortunately it run out of fuel in the middle of the night so by morning we were all freezing!. We were told on Saturday morning that times were on B - schedule. This was a good decision as the ground was frozen solid in places. They rotavated the test prior to the first timed lap. This made it very deep, soft and heavy going. I was about mid pack in the championship class so had to contend with the wheel tracks of the preceeding bikes but didn't really have any berms to turn off. I had a good test, only spoiled when I dropped the bike on the final corner. I placed fifth behind david, paul, ryan and jake stapleton. I was reasonably happy as despite my fall i was still in contention. The checks weren't tight so it was a long time before the next test. This time i finished fourth as i beat Stapleton. This was to be my position for the rest of the weekend. I beat voasey on the penultimate test on Sunday but then stalled the bike on the last test losing the advantage. Still 4th both days wasn't bad and i was reasonably happy. I already have 2 runner up trophies for the Breckland so it would have been nice to win the last Breckland but David really is at the top of his game at the moment.
Well done to Diss MCC for organising another successful event. The BEC will be at a loss without the Breckland. Hopefully another club can step up and organise regular event in the calender like the Breckland was.