Cal's Challenge: Crowning achievement.

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!

My team mate Leon Camier was leading the race and doing a sterling job ahead of Eugene Laverty and Tom Sykes. Leon and Eugene started to pull a few tenths on Tom who held me up for a few laps, but fortunately Tom made a mistake and I made got past to move into third position.

I rode hard for a few laps trying to get with Eugene and Leon. Just as I was closing in on them Eugene crashed which consequently meant I was in second place behind my team mate Leon. I caught Leon and was gunning to win the championship by winning the race but I thought better of it when I realised there was brake fluid on my arm and my fairing was hanging off. At that point I didn't think I would last the race distance, let alone win the race.

As we went down the back straight with a few laps remaining, Leon turned around and I gave him a signal to tell him to go for the win, as I knew I could still win the championship if I finished second and wasn't willing to risk challenging him and jeopardise my title.

Unfortunately with two laps to go Leon crashed out of the race. I couldn't believe it. I was now leading the race and just thinking 'get it home'. Get it home is exactly what I did, pulling a 2.2s gap on Tom Sykes to claim my fifth win of the season and the British Supersport Championship title. I could not believe it when I crossed the line!

It seems really weird that I will now go to the last round of the championship with two races left and have no pressure at all. I will definitely be gunning for the last two race wins, as I have nothing to lose. I really like Brands Hatch and I feel I have some unfinished business there from when I finished fifth in the World Supersport Championship earlier this year.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my team Northpoint Ekerold Honda, Gary Ekerold, Simon Buckmaster, Pete Jennings, Paul Morton and Ben Fry, as well as the team sponsors Northpoint, N-gage Nokia, Jewsons and Pirelli.

A big thank you should go to my personal sponsors especially Alan and Alison Lamb, KDP, The Policy Shop, Leyford Construction, Murray Motorsport, Amdec Forklift Trucks, Shoei, Millennium, Spidi and Onfire.

A big thanks to my Dad, my Mum and all my family and friends for their support this season as I know I must have been a pain in the backside sometimes, if not all the time! And the biggest thanks to my girlfriend Laynie as she has been the support I needed to do this!

Thanks all and I will let you know how I get on at Brands Hatch when hopefully I'll have news about which team I'll be riding for in 2007.

Cal