Martin Hopp Better Rider Training Day - Cadwell Park

On the 9th September, I attended the Martin Hopp Better Rider Training Day at Cadwell Park. The photos taken on the day arrived recently and I've finally had a chance to sort through them and get the day written up for you.

But first, a bit of background info. Martin Hopp is a qualified instructor at Der Nurburgring and also holds the RoSPA National Diploma as a Qualified Instructor of Advanced Motorcycling. In 2001, Martin and his son, Richard, formed Hopp Rider Training and they have a team of instructors who range from IAM Senior Observers and RoSPA Tutors and Instructors to flat track racers and road racers to motocross, trials and endurance riders.

On the day that I went on, we had seven 30-minute sessions on the track at Cadwell with 4 sessions in the morning with an instructor in a mini group of about 5 people and then 3 sessions in the afternoon which were more open with free lapping.

1st session out, coming out of Barn corner

Just before entering the Mountain

In one of the sunnier afternoon sessions

Heading to the apex of Mansfield

The day is for anyone whether you've never ridden on a track before in your life or you're an experienced rider and speaking to people there who have gone almost every year since HRT started, they always learn something and take something away from the day to help them ride as a progressive rider. The day is also done in road bikes so nobody is on slicks or anything like that and that means you get a great range of bikes from small SV650s like mine to bigger bikes such as 1200 GSs.

I found the whole day really enjoyable and I definitely feel like I learnt a lot and was getting faster and faster during the sessions. If anyone wants to know more about the Martin Hopp days, I will leave a link here for you to have a look at.

If you're nervous about going on a day like this, thinking everyone will be massively experienced or you don't think you'll be fast enough for the track, do not worry because it isn't like that at all! Everybody is there to learn how to be a better on-road, progressive rider which comes with being able to correctly read the road and the corners and adjust your speed accordingly.

I'm going to leave this is as a pretty short post after the lengthy Ireland Tour Diary but if you want any more info on the HRT days, feel free to get in contact via email or Twitter.

Until then, ride safe
TFB

Ireland Tour 2015 Diary - Day 6 - Rosslare to Pembroke to Home

This is the final instalment of the Ireland Tour 2015 Diary and it sees us completing the full circle back to home. If you missed Day 5, click here to have a gander at that and if you've got any questions about the trip at all - where we stayed, the ferries, the Ulster GP, the bikes, the luggage, the roads - either leave a comment or check out the contact page and get in touch through email or Twitter.

Tuesday 11th August

After rising early and checking in at the port, we enjoyed breakfast in one of the many ferry cafes as the sun rose higher marking one last beautiful day to end our trip on.

Once full from my bacon baguette, I wandered around the ship for a bit before going to sit with the majority of the group on some sofas we seemed to have accquired. The nex 2 and a bit hours were then filled with sleeping, dozing and the occasional shift of position.

During the crossing, all of us fell asleep for a period of time which shows that late nights and early morning with lots of riding and fresh air in between can catch up with you and catches up quick when you finally stop.

21 sleepy bikers

Upon docking in Pembroke, there was lots of hugs and goodbyes as over the route back we would all be splitting off to go our own way home.

We headed back mainly on quiet-ish A roads back towards home which were the best surfaced roads we had all ridden on in a while and slowly we all split until I was in a group heading back across the country of about 8 bikes rather than 19. We stopped for a late afernoon snack at Llanwrtyd Wells which also is where the annual bog-snorkelling championships take place. Three other members of our group caught up with us there so joined us for our cafe stop.

There wasn't quite enough chairs in the area we were sat in however so one of our group ended up sitting on a child's chair next to the table with all of the colouring crayons on which resulted in a beautiful drawing of one of the guys' MT 09 Tracer...

A designer's drawing of a Yamaha MT09 Tracer..

After that we carried on homewards, entering England a little while later. The ride home was largely uneventful apart from when we got closer to where the majority of the group lived so we started to split off further and waving seemingly randomly on the dual carriageway draws some amused looks which always makes me smile.

We (mum, dad and I) arrived home at around 7pm absolutely shattered but also pretty proud of what we'd achieved. Well I was proud of myself at least, seeing as it was my first big trip on the SV650.

Somehow, we managed to get great weather for the whole trip apart from one evening of rain on the way back to the hotel from the Ulster GP and the roads (despite me moaning about the condition of some of them), the hotels and the restaurants/pubs we found were all great but what really made the trip for me was the people that went with us. The atmosphere was always joyous and the good times really did just keep coming.

The planning is now in the pipeline for the next trip away, just need to save up the money now!

Until next time folks, ride safe
TFB

Ireland Tour 2015 Diary - Day 5 - Dublin to Rosslare

Today's diary follows the last day of the group's trip in Ireland as we head down to the port town Rosslare, if you missed Sunday's diary you can read that here.

And on with the diary..

Monday 10th August

We got a mini lie-in today which was definitely needed but still not long enough! In the morning, about half the group decided to ride around the peninsula but I was in the half that decided to stay at the hotel and relax for an extra half an hour.

The group then headed to south to Rosslare on yet more small, winding roads down the coast around Dublin Bay before heading inland to the Wicklow Mountains and onto the fantastic, if slightly uneven, Old Military Road.

We then joined Sally Gap - which is another brilliant road and a definite must-do if you're in the area - and passed the most gorgeous spot where we had to stop and take in the views along with taking a few photos too!

Irish scenery rarely disappoints

The valley at the bottom of the waterfall

Some of the bikes glistening in the sunshine

Taking in the scenery

Once we got to the bottom of the pass, we stopped at a small cafe (it definitely makes a roaring trade from anyone coming from or going to Sally Gap) for a light bite to eat and an ice cream. We then headed back out towards the coast line to get to Rosslare. The roads were definitely better surfaced than the Old Military Road but, then again, that really doesn't take much beating!

When we eventually arrived in Rosslare we ended up having a bit of a ride around Rosslare due to not being able to find the B&B in which we were staying, including a brief trip to the port. We definitely knew we'd gone the wrong way then! We settled in and showered before getting ready to enjoy our final night in Ireland.

We walked for about 15 minutes back away from the town to a pub someone had spotted on the way in and later scouted out as a group for some food as our hotel didn't serve food. However, they said they couldn't fit us all in so we walked to the one next door instead who said "21? No problem, give us one minute to check if we can do that" and then took us to the back of the pub where we filled the little room minus 2 tables who looked a little put out by us all arriving - I'm still not sure why we look so intimidating. Maybe it's just the power of numbers.

The pub was absolutely excellent in getting us all served at roughly the same time and the waitress was amazing remembering basically perfectly what everybody had ordered. Although, in saying that, the majority of the group did order fish and chips.

After dinner, we stayed in the pub for a few drinks as one big group to enjoy our last night in Ireland and the stories were flowing and the laughter just kept going and going. It was a brilliant night to end a brilliant trip.

Stories and laughter made the last night Ireland a fantastic night

The ferry was at 8am in the morning which mean one last early start so that we could head home. The final instalment of this diary will follow our journey home to complete the route.

Until then, ride safe
TFB

Ireland Tour 2015 Diary - Day 4 - Antrim to Dublin

Hi guys!

Just in case you missed the diary for Day 3 you can click here to have a read of that first. Today is the penultimate day in Ireland and was an absolutely lovely ride. Enjoy!

Sunday 9th August

Another early start began the penultimate day of the Ireland part of the trip. Today, we were headed across the border into the Republic of Ireland and on to Dublin. After splitting up slightly to ride in smaller groups, we started the day riding towards Tandragee via a road that took us next to Lough Neagh down some very small, single track roads that provided some lovely views of the lake. (which I don't actually have any pictures of.. you'll just have to believe me on that one!)

We were headed to Tandragee as we decided to visit the Tayto factory as it is in a castle and you can go on a tour around it. Tayto are a crisp and snack manufacturer in Ireland and seem to be the equivalent of Walkers. However, we didn't factor in that it was Sunday and therefore the factory was not open to tourists and no tours were running. So instead of doing that, we did a quick search to determine if there were any cafes nearby we could go to instead that would be open on a Sunday.

We found the Scarva Visitor Centre and stopped for some cake and coffee there. The visitor centre was in a beautiful spot right by a canal and park. We sat outside under the awning and unsurprisingly, rearranged the tables and chairs so that we could all sit in huge group earning some disapproving stares from the cyclists who were sat there after having the same idea as us.

Some people decided to have soup or a panini but with this sign outside, it was rude not to have a slice of one of the delicious home made cakes!

Scarva Visitor Centre

We then split up again and headed to the Spelga Dam along the Spelga Pass where the whole group seemed to be stopped to take photos of the dam showing me, once again, that you're never too far behind despite what you might think! The roads up to the Spelga Dam are made to be ridden along with the easy sweeping bends allowing you to take in the views as you ride.

Spelga Dam

The slightly unfinished car park for the visitor centre..

Beautiful views as ever in Ireland

Photo opportunity = everybody off the bikes!

Upon entering the Republic of Ireland, there was no obvious border and the only indication was the change in road signs from the UK ones to Ireland's signs with the Irish names written underneath on direction boards.

We arrived at our hotel for the night in the late afternoon which was just outside Dublin near Howth and Baldoyle. We had some debates about whether to go to Dublin for dinner, to one of the towns nearby or stay in the hotel and go to either the bar or the restaurant for food.

I was among the 9 people that decided to go to the restaurant in the hotel and after a relatively posh dinner full of laughter and story-telling, we headed back to the bar for a couple of drinks before going to bed.

Day 5 was our last full day in Ireland and saw us heading to Rosslare via Sally Gap before our ferry on Tuesday morning. Even more gorgeous Irish scenery is on the way, keep your eye out!

Ride safe,
TFB

Ireland Tour 2015 Diary - Day 3 - Ulster GP Road Race

Hi!

If you haven't caught up on Day 2 yet you can read that post here. Today's post goes through our day at the Ulster GP Road Race.

Saturday 8th August

Saturday is the big racing day at the Ulster GP, with 6 races on this year during the day. Unfortunately for us, Guy Martin, who was on pole for the big superbike race, crashed out during the Dundrod 650 race on Friday but with big names such as Bruce Anstey, Conor Cummins and the Dunlop brothers still racing, it was sure to be a day filled with some excellent racing.

Mum, Dad and I decided to start off on the Start/Finish straight where there was a big TV screen showing the race along with being able to see the pits and of course, all of the Paddock stands selling all sorts of merchandise. When we were heading to there, we got to ride on a section of the circuit before the marshals closed it all off. Admittedly, it was at a lot slower a pace than that the racers would be running later in the day.

The bikes setting up on the grid for the 1st race of the day

The atmosphere on the Start/Finish straight was electric however it wasn't the ideal place to watch the race due to the bikes being able to hit scary fast speeds on what is, for the most part, a public road. After the first race, we decided to move places to the hairpin where we correctly assumed the bikes might be going a bit slower.

The end of the 1st race, won by Lee Johnston with Peter Hickman in 2nd place

We spent 3 races at the hairpin because it was an excellent viewing spot although there wasn't a TV so we couldn't tell what was happening elsewhere on the circuit. We met up with a few other members of our group there also which was nice.

The hairpin was a much better viewing spot

We did see a few bikes slide off though..

Race 4 got red-flagged and all of the bikes stopped right by us

The riders used this time to have a bit of a chat and a catch-up

Discussing why the race was red-flagged

After the third race had been red flagged for reasons unknown, we decided to move to a different viewing spot at Lidl Leathemstown just down from the Flying Kilo and Rock Bends where there was also a TV screen to give us an idea of what was happening elsewhere. The racing was delayed however, presumably due to the same reason that the previous race was red flagged.

 We found out through spectator gossip that a rider had crashed and hit a pole so the delay was caused by getting him and his bike off the circuit. Unfortunately, the rider that had crashed died from his injuries and race direction were speaking to his family about whether the races should continue as their son was due to be racing.

The family said it was okay to continue and the riders set out on their warm up lap only for it to begin to rain which delayed the start of the race yet again as all the riders switched to their wet bikes. It was at this point we decided to leave as we were going to get soaked if we stayed much longer and we were only in our jeans rather than bike gear.

We got back to the hotel after riding through about half an hour of rain to find that most of the others from our group had the same idea we had once it had begun to rain. We all decided to get dry and changed before going out to the Chinese/Steakhouse for dinner.

I went to the Chinese and, after rearranging the restaurant so that 12 of us could all fit around a table, we were served the most insane amount of food which definitely left none of hungry in the slightest.

At the Chinese with one of many plates of food

Day 4 sees the group heading from Antrim to Dublin through some beautiful scenery on some fab roads so stay tuned for that!

Ride safe,
TFB

Ireland Tour 2015 Diary - Day 2 - Belfast to Antrim via the North Coast Road

If you haven't read Day 1 of this tour diary click here to read that first! That post explains about our trip and our plans for it also.

Friday 7th August

After being awoken by a Geordie lady being blasted into our cabins at 5:30am, we disembarked at 6am to the start of what looked like a beautiful day in Belfast. Having had no breakfast on the ferry, we started our journey north primarily in search for somewhere that served a full English/Irish - so basically, anywhere with bacon was grand.

We headed up the North Coast Road which truly is a great road with some stunning scenery as you are literally right next to the sea. It's definitely a must for anyone wanting to ride in Northern Ireland. Not sure if you're on the right road? If you're heading North, look right - if you can't see the sea, you're on the wrong road!

Eventually, we arrived in Ballycastle at about 8 o'clock and we were definitely all ready for some breakfast. We found a small cafe right by the harbour called Bay Cafe which was manned by the loveliest people you will ever meet and didn't mind 21 hungry bikers descending upon them in the slightest. They asked us about our trip and what we were planning - they even gave us some handy tips!

After breakfast a few of us decided that, whilst at the seaside, it would be rude not to get an ice cream and handily enough, there was one just opening across the street from where we had breakfast so we had our pudding overlooking the bay before setting off again towards the Giant's Causeway.

Breakfast in the Bay

Once we arrived, we split into smaller groups with some heading to the Causeway and some heading to Bushmills on the train in search of a distillery they had heard about.

Most of the bikes all lined up neatly in the train station car park

The Giant's Causeway really is a bizarre geological site, it is definitely weird how perfectly it all seems to have formed and I actually understand most of the basic science behind it! It does, unsurprisingly, provide some gorgeous views especially when it is as warm and sunny as it was when we got there.

The Giant's Causeway

The rocks were almost perfect

A gorgeous day to sit on the rocks

Built by a giant or by natural Earth movement?

We asked one of the the National Trust guys to explain how it all formed in both the scientific "proper" way and the more entertaining giant story. he did so very cheerfully and was again very friendly and unbelievably knowledgeable, but, then again I suppose that is his job!

Story time on the Causeway

As logically implausible as the giant story is, although much more entertaining, they do say that generally in science, the simplest version is most probably the correct one! So I'll leave that one with you...

As we had most of the afternoon left and not that many miles left to do before we arrived at the hotel for the night, we decided to go back to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge that I had spotted signposts for along the way and fancied doing. A few other people ended up coming with us after we said where we were headed.

The rope bridge was a bit off as it was basically a 1km walk with a rope bridge at the end to a little island. The original bridge was built (with way less stability) about 350 years ago by salmon fisherman to help them carry their catch back to the mainland and they could leave their boats at the island. The bridge has taken many forms over the years until the current bridge was built in 2008.

A fishermans' cottage

Through the bridge down into the sea

On the island of Carrick-a-Rede at the other end of the bridge

Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge

We then headed to Port Rush for what we hoped would be a cake and coffee stop but ended up being more of a mini meal at a packed pizza/pasta place. After filling our bellies and  quenching our thirsts built up from walking in the sunshine in bike kit, we headed to the hotel where we would be staying for the next two nights.

After sorting the rooms out as the hotel had managed to much a few up (annoying but fixable and anyone involved with the mix-ups did get a free drink out of it!), we all headed up to get showered and changed before going across the road to the local Brewers Fayre pub for our actual dinner.

Again, showing up and saying "Table for 21 please" caused a few worried faces from the staff but they got us all sorted and did a brilliant job of getting us all fed at a pretty similar time.

The gorgeous weather lasted all day and made for a cracking ride through some of Northern Ireland. Day 3 is Ulster GP Road Race day so keep an eye out for the next instalment of my Tour Diary.

Until then, ride safe
TFB

Ireland Tour 2015 Diary - Day 1 - Home to Liverpool/Belfast

At the start of August, the Ulster GP Road Race was on in Northern Ireland and I, along with 20 other bikers, went along to watch and do a mini tour of Ireland in the 5 days we had over there. The is a tour diary/ride report of that trip.

This was my first time abroad on any bike and the first big trip on my SV650. I had previously done a 1100 mile round trip on my old 125cc bike to do the 3 Peaks Challenge but that's a post for another time! There were 21 of us altogether on 18 bikes and it was most people's first time to the Ulster GP and it was definitely set up to be a good laugh.

We planned the trip around the Ulster GP which was on the Saturday mainly and decided to do a route that took us up to the North Coast Road to the Giant's Causeway on our first day and then coming back down to Antrim which wasn't too far away from the circuit for the second day. We then went down into the Republic of Ireland for the final 3 days and took in some of the views there and rode on some ace roads - keep an eye out for my future posts for more!

Thursday 6th August

Our ferry was in the evening from Liverpool so we started the trip nice and easy, taking a scenic route from home in Derbyshire to the Liverpool docks because it's far prettier than just hitting the motorway and going in a straight line at 70mph.

My SV650 packed up and ready to go!

All 21 of us met up for dinner at a pub in Chelford which I think surprised the waiters a bit and definitely annoyed the local punters who had just popped to their local for a nice bit of pub grub only to be descended upon by a large group of bikers who were all catching up with each other.. Whoops!

After dinner we headed, in convoy, to the docks where we checked in just before last check-in (on time as ever!) and boarded almost instantly ready to set sail at 10:30. We all met in the bar on the ferry where we annoyed even more punters by sitting in a huge group and generally being a noisy bunch of bikers. After a few drinks, we (my mum, my dad and I) headed to the cabin to get a few hours kip before disembarking in Belfast at 6am.

Waiting to board at the Liverpool docks

18 bikes, 21 people - Ireland 2015 is a go!

Bye England..

 Day 2 - Belfast to Antrim via the North Coast Road is coming soon so keep your eyes peeled!

Ride safe,
TFB

MotoGP 2015 - Round 12 Silverstone (III)

This post is part three of my MotoGP weekend write up and contains the highlights from Sunday. To read Saturday's please click here and to read Friday's click here. As mentioned before, if you haven't watched the coverage from the weekend and you intend to, this post does contain spoilers.

Sunday 30th

Moto2 started the proceedings today and following a wet warm up, the race was deemed, unsurprisingly, a wet race. Sam Lowes had a crash during warm up but luckily was unhurt and got back up very quickly. At the end of the warm up Alex Rins came out on top followed by Johann Zarco and Tito Rabat, defending world champ. Following his crash, Lowes was down in 19th but everyone was hoping that the race would prove better for the home rider who had done so well yesterday.
The Moto2 race was full of overtakes with some riders seemingly swapping positions in every other corner! However, during the race, the track was drying and with the main racing line drying quickly it looked to be becoming a game of chance with trying to work out the best time to come in to change bikes and go out with slicks. Much to my, and the other spectator's, surprise, none of the riders came in and decided to continue to ride on their wet tyres until the end of the race which absolutely destroyed their tyres by the end of the race but with no major crashes, the plan definitely seemed to work out in Zarco's favour who finished over 3 seconds in front of Rins who finished 2nd. Lowes, struggling in the trickier conditions, finished 6th after battling with Folger and Alex Marquez.
After the race, the riders came back round again and as Luffield is the last corner before the entrance to the pits, Zarco stopped and got off his bike (after signalling madly at the marshalls to get them to come over) to complete his routine back flip after winning. It's definitely impressive to watch, I couldn't do a back flip normally, let alone in a full set of leathers and a helmet!
Lowes also stopped at Luffield, not to do a back flip though, he chose to throw his gloves and boots into the crowd. Nowhere near me though! He then had to complete his ride back to the pits in just his socks which was quite funny to watch.

Zarco, Folger, Kallio, Rabat

Sam Lowes fighting his way to the front of the pack

Rins leads from Rabat, Alex Marquez, Folger and Zarco

Sam Lowes lining up an overtake on Nakagami

Zarco moving up to the front of the pack, battle for 1st place

The MotoGP warm up was largely uneventful with the riders practising swapping bikes in case of a flag to flag race and ended, much to the fans delight, with Valentino Rossi at the top with Petrucci, Marquez, Crutchlow and Lorenzo rounding out the top 5.
Before their race, some of the MotoGP riders were visited by Brad Pitt who was just wandering up and down pit lane with one of his sons. With the race declared as dry by race direction, the riders headed out on their sighting lap, only for them all to discover the track was wet after it had rained after the Moto2 race and every single rider went straight back into the pits to switch to their wet bikes. It was absolute chaos in pit lane with all of the riders switching bikes as fast as they could to try and ensure that they could be first out of pit lane first and on to the track. Race direction seemed to notice this chaos and red flagged the race and allowed the riders to switch to their wet race set up and re-form on the grid after delaying the start of the race. This then allowed us to watch as the riders tried to U-turn in pit lane to go back to their respective garages which was quite amusing.
Once the race finally got underway, you could tell it was going to be a good race. With Lorenzo leading off the line, it was going to be a hard push for Rossi, starting on the grid in 4th, to get back up to the top which he needed to do if he wanted to continue leading the championship. The rain always levels the playing field in MotoGP but also leads to more crashes than normal and Hernandez was the first to go down after a flying start following an impressive qualifying on Saturday and unfortunately for him, his race was over.
With Rossi and Marquez fighting their way to the front to ensure Lorenzo didn't get too far in front, they overtook both Pedrosa and Pol Espargaro in quick succession with Marquez following Rossi through a rapidly closing gap on Espargaro. Jack Miller, who had gotten the best start I've ever seen him have, then took out teammate Cal Crutchlow after also trying to get past Pol Espargaro and going in too hot so being unable to stop for the corner. Cal did come back out on his other bike but as it was still raining, he wouldn't have been able to get back in the race on slicks so instead went around the track waving to all of the spectators who cheered and clapped him as he went by as we were all so disappointed for him, especially in his home race.
Danilo Petrucci was having no such problems on the Pramac Ducati who had overtaken Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Dovizioso to get up into third position and was holding Dovi off very well on the factory Ducati. However, Marquez had a huge fall trying to chase down Rossi so Petrucci moved up into 2nd place, leading from Dovi, Pedrosa and Lorenzo. With Lorenzo struggling in the wet from what turned out to be a misted up visor, Rossi managed to open up a substantial lead over the next group of riders.
With 4 laps to go, Pol Espargaro had a similar fall to Marquez, ending his race also. Petrucci and Dovizioso continued to battle swapping places at what seemed like every other corner before Petrucci was able to pull a bit of a gap. Lorenzo also managed to get back past Dani Pedrosa which meant his championship standing wasn't damaged too much.
As Rossi crossed the line with a 3 second gap, the spectators in all grandstands cheered and yelled as he proved once again that he is a master in tricky conditions and kept his cool to retake the championship with a 12 point lead from Lorenzo who finished 4th ahead of Pedrosa, Redding, Smith, Iannone, Aleix Espargaro and Bautista. The Brits put in an impressive performance fighting with each other for 6th place.

Lorenzo leading from Pol Espargaro and Rossi

Rossi and Marquez are coming through!

Pedrosa, Petrucci, Smith, Dovizioso.. the battle is on!

Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone

Lorenzo in 3rd followed by Petrucci, Dovizioso and Pedrosa

Pol Espargaro leading from Iannone and Redding

Tech3 boys at play with Smith leading from Espargaro

Marquez sitting close behind Rossi applying the pressure

Lorenzo slipping back into 6th as Dovizioso leads the 2nd group

After Marquez's crash, Rossi has some breathing room and keeps his cool

Petrucci gets in front of Dovizioso and they pull a gap from Lorenzo

The Moto3 riders were last out on the track this morning with Danny Kent topping the session and he looked very strong for the race happening later in the afternoon despite having a crash with 10 minutes to go.
Moto3 was declared a wet race and with a flying start from Hanika but at Turn 2 he falls followed by Jorge Navarro, pole-sitter, leaving them both out of contention for a spot on the podium. Turn 3 also saw falls from Jorge Martin, pushing Kornfeil wide, Binder who was chasing a podium finish and Vinales who was leading at the point.
Fenati later fell at Turn 7 who has running well in third with clear track behind him. The following laps saw crashes for many of the other riders but luckily with no major ones, all riders were okay.
With all of this going on behind him, Danny Kent, the Brit leading the Moto3 championship, kept his head down and rode a smooth ride, quickly dispensing of the people in front of him and then pulling and maintaining a gap of almost 8.5 seconds. He crossed the line in first position with the whole crowd cheering behind him after riding an near perfect ride minus one wobble between Luffield and Woodcote which worried everybody with two laps to go.
It was fantastic to see a Brit on the top step of the podium and to hear our National Anthem being played in honour of the deserving winner on the British GP who now leads the Moto3 championship by a whopping 70 points from Bastianini.

Kent keeping his cool after passing two riders including his teammate Vazquez

The Moto3 riders switching and swapping places corner by corner

Kent leading from Kornfeil coming up to lap Vinales

Danny Kent pulling and maintaining an 8.5 second lead

Fenati running 12th after an early fall

A crash on the entrance to Luffield

Kent takes victory in his home race

Danny Kent on the top step of the podium after a near perfect ride

Race 2 of the Red Bull Rookies Cup saw them face very different conditions to yesterday with the track now being wet and the temperatures were also lower than they were yesterday too. This played very well into British lad, Rory Skinner's hands and he put in an impressive performance throughout the race and finished 4th, just behind Bo Bendsneyder who was yesterday's winner. This was Skinner's best performance of the season so far, improving on yesterday's finishing position.
Watching them race around Silverstone on the KTM 390s gives a really good insight into what it takes to get into the leagues of Moto3 let alone MotoGP but some of these riders, the Dutch Bendsneyder in particular definitely look like they are on the cards to start getting offers to move up into the GP classes sooner rather than later.

It was a great weekend of racing and I thoroughly enjoyed it all. I'll be keeping an eye out for 2016 tickets to hopefully go again.

My next post will probably be the start of my Ireland Tour Diary from when I went there at the start of August for the Ulster GP. Hope that you've enjoyed my MotoGP highlights posts, if you've got any comments or feedback please let me know either below or check out the Contact page if you want to send me a message that way.

Until then, as always, ride safe.

TFB