“Saturday started dry at 8am, then the rain came just before First Practice. It pretty much didn’t stop until 5pm, when the sun came out, so didn’t do a lap all day – wet and cold is not a good mix.

“On Sunday at 8am, it was wet and very windy, but with no rain. We had tyre warmers on both the bikes. As we got this R6 last minute, we had no wets, so ran it on a Dunlop front slick and treaded rear tyre. We went for two laps just to qualify for the race, taking it very slowly and qualifying 22^nd out of 26.

“Open Qualifying was next, on a drying track with the wet front and slick rear setup. Going out, we managed two laps before a red flag, and didn’t restart, meaning we took 22^nd out of 25.”

Race One (600cc)

“Starting at the back of the grid, I got a mega start and passed a lot of riders to finish 3^rd on the new 600, with only 10 laps’ practice on the bike and 12 overall this year.”

Race Two (600cc)

“This should have been a good one, but after a red flag on the first lap and a restart, I was in 3^rd, going into the last corner, when the rider in front sat up for God knows what reason, putting us onto the grass. I then had to re-join in third-from-last place, securing 11^th – I should have been battling for the win. On a good note, the new R6 is good and we have adapted to the bike well.”

Open Race One

“Starting at the back, we went on to finish 4^th.”

Open Race Two

“Starting from the front row, we didn’t get the best start, but I was in 3^rd at the end of the first lap, 2^nd at the end of the second lap. I was now over two seconds behind the leader, however, and it took most of the race to catch him. I eyed up a move on the last lap when we come up to a back-marker that ended that idea. I therefore finished 2^nd, but set the fastest lap of the race.”

Race One (1000cc)

“Again, starting at the back, I had a mega run, passing everyone but one rider, finishing 2^nd and only just missing the win by 0.09 seconds.”

Race Two (1000cc)

“We were a bit slow on this one and missed the warm-up lap. We therefore had to start last again but had a really good run and passed lots of riders to finish 2^nd by 0.85 seconds, just running out of laps to win this one. One more lap would have done it as I was setting fastest lap after fastest lap, securing the overall fastest lap of the weekend with 57.40 seconds.”

Thanks to Tony Else Photography for the images.

“Round one at Oulton Park continued that form, with Josh setting a personal best lap time of 1.35.5 and getting through qualifying one into qualifying two.

“Unfortunately, at the end of qualifying one, Josh suffered a large crash, which luckily he walked away from but the bike didn’t fare as well with it taking substantial damage.

“The team managed to get it turned around just in time for the race but the setup wasn’t quite right and Josh pulled in. For race two, the bike was working much better and was lapping as fast as he did during qualifying, only narrowly missing out on a point behind Andrew Irwin in 16^th place.

“For race 3, Josh was running in 13^th position in front of Rory Skinner but unfortunately there was a technical issue that stemmed from the qualifying crash which forced Josh to retire from the race.

“Onwards to Knockhill and with the team in high spirits after a positive Oulton Park round, we had a steady free practice one as most of the competition had tested there a couple of weeks before.

“In free practice two, Josh suffered a crash which again damaged the bike quite badly, but much worse than that it had damaged Josh’s right hand to the point he needed an operation to install wires.

“This meant we had to miss both Brands Hatch and Thruxton rounds of the championship.”

“Once bedded-in, the lever feel and braking power was incredible; it filled me with confidence knowing that I would be able to slow down enough for corners when on a spirited ride.

“I had a track day booked at Donington Park – known for being heavy on the brakes. I had full trust in the EBC products recently fitted. Whilst doing the sighting laps, I was making sure the brakes were fully bedded-in and ready to go.

“The morning sessions went really well with great performance from the discs and pads. Lever feel, modulation and braking power was the best I have had on any bike so far. As the day went on and learning the track meant I was entering corners faster and braking later, the pads seemed to still be performing well.

“As an avid track day attendee and after speaking to the EBC tech team, I will be trying out the EPFA range on my next outing to take the performance to the next level.”  

Thanks to for the images

“Round one at Oulton Park continued that form, with Josh setting a personal best lap time of 1.35.5 and getting through qualifying one into qualifying two.

“Unfortunately, at the end of qualifying one, Josh suffered a large crash, which luckily he walked away from. The bike didn’t fare as well, taking substantial damage.

“The team managed to get it turned around just in time for the race, but the setup wasn’t quite right, and Josh pulled in. For race two, the bike was working much better and was lapping as fast as it was during qualifying, with Josh only narrowly missing out on a point behind Andrew Irwin in 16^th place.

“For race three, Josh was running in 13^th position in front of Rory Skinner but unfortunately there was a technical issue stemming from the qualifying crash, which forced Josh to retire from the race.

“Onwards to Knockhill and with the team in high spirits after a positive Oulton Park round, we had a steady free practice one as most of the competition had tested there a couple of weeks before.

“In free practice two, Josh suffered a crash which again damaged the bike quite badly, but much worse was the fact it had damaged Josh’s right hand to the point he needed an operation to install wires.”