We’ll never know what could have been

Report by Steve Turner

Published 16^th March 2009

The first round of the British Masters series took place at Culham in Oxfordshire on 15th March.

Qualifying

With the weather being unusually warm and sunny and the track being in great condition everyone was looking forward to a good day’s racing and the team wasn’t to be disappointed as Jordan took pole with a blistering lap despite only riding his standard practice bike. Nez posted 7^th fastest and both riders were on a high going into the first race.

Race 1.

Jordan gated well in third behind Brad Anderson and Billy MacKenzie who was a surprise entrant after deciding he needed a bit of extra race time under his belt before commencing his GP season. Jordan, who had been unwell all week was unable to fend off the impressive Kristian Whatley and had to dig deep to stay in contention until the end of the race to post a hard fought 4^th.

Nez had struggled out of the gate and had to be extremely aggressive to make his way up to 9^th at the end of the first lap. After disposing of Glen Philips on lap three he had progressed to 6^th but the gap to Scott Columb was sizeable and it was therefore a welcome surprise to see him reel in and then pass the New Zealander on the last lap, finishing just behind the exhausted Rose to record a superb 5^th place.

Race 2

Both riders had great starts with Nez battling with MacKenzie through the first few corners at the front of the pack just in front of Jordan in third. As they entered the back straight at the bottom of the circuit Anderson stormed past Jordan and then Nez to move into second place but with Nez brimming with confidence from the first race he wasn’t about to roll over easily and as they exited the right hander at the far end of the track Nez blasted past Anderson and set off after MacKenzie. As they flew past the finish line for the first time Nez was unbelievably right on the back wheel of the British Champion and decided to go for an audacious inside pass at the bottom of the drop down. However he dropped it in the tight rut, holing his radiator and bringing his race to an abrupt end.

Jordan was suffering even more than in the first race and was to be passed by Whatley, Columb and Jamie Lewis before bringing it home in 6^th for a disappointing 5^th overall. The only thing he was looking forward to was a trip to the doctors to find out what was causing him suffer such a loss of energy.