In his second column for Crash.net, newly-crowned British Supersport champion Cal Crutchlow looks back on a nerve-racking weekend at Silverstone, the emotions of victory and the realisation of a dream...
Hi everyone!
Well what can I say? British Supersport Champion 2006 sounds fantastic, I’m so pleased!
All the hard work over the last three years has finally paid off and now I can move onwards and upwards. I set myself the target of winning the Supersport championship in my third year of trying and now I have achieved my goal.
Practice and qualifying were quite difficult at
Silverstone. The track temperature continually changed over the weekend which meant some sessions were fantastic and others were a bit of a struggle as the temperature sometimes didn’t suit the Pirelli tyres.
Race day was so exciting but also a very nervous one - I felt sick all morning before the race! I had so many thoughts and emotions going through my mind, but knew I had a race to concentrate on.
On the warm-up lap a bolt fell out of the front fairing which worried me a bit. It meant that the fairing was jammed in between the palm of my hand and the brake lever which made it really difficult to brake throughout the whole of the race.
At the start my plan was to make a break, but instead I managed to get on the gas too early and I hit the grass which put me back to sixth on the first lap! I managed to claw my way back up to fourth by the end of lap one and I thought I would just sit pretty for a while to assess whether the jammed fairing was causing too much of a problem. On lap six I considered pulling in to the pits as it was becoming harder to brake, but knowing that I could win the championship made me carry on. I was determined to cross the line as champion!
