Some welcome sponsorship...

The Crossed Keys Motorcycle Club are brilliant! They have very kindly helped Leon out with some sponsorship money. Not only have they handed over £800, they are also going to fund-raise in the summer to help him out too. This is fantastic news, you can't underestimate how important help like this is for the future of talented British riders, and particularly as we're in the midst of a recession too! So a very big thanks must go out to all the guys at the Crossed Keys Inn (home of the '99p Credit Crunch Lunch') for the help they are providing.


(Anthony, the landlord, hands over the cheque to Leon)


(Naz, who grew up with Rod, says a few words about Leon)


(You guys rock!)

First outing of the new season...

Well, today was the first ACU Test Day at Mallory Park. And we all went down for a blast and an opportunity to 'dial-in' before the start of the racing season.

Leon was out on the R6, Mike, Freddy and myself were out on the 400s and Gordon, James, Craig, Rod, Tracey and the gang were all there too. The weather wasn't great - light rain and cloudy - so wet tyres it was! The track was a bit greasy and unpredictable. Mike was trying out the new, lighter, RVF and was flying in both his sessions, and I decided to try Leon's championship winning bike out in the last session - just to see how much difference it felt to mine. Blimey...I have to get mine done soon! The improvements have made it one hell of a pocket rocket - well done everyone. The way it was pulling through the Esses was incredible. In fact I was enjoying it so much that I must have pushed it too far - BECAUSE I FELL OFF! Yep, that's right...I dropped it at Edwinas. I'd like to think I was trying to take some evasive action, which I sort of was, but it may just have been me not riding it properly. Anyway, no harm was done, and Leon even took it out for a couple of laps just to check it over. It's been a while since I've had an 'off', but you never forget how stupid you feel.

Having said all that, it was great to be back out on track after the winter break and I can't wait until we line up on the grid for the first time. Here's a short video of my crash - filmed by Gordon Beckett. I'll put up some footage of Mike, Leon and Freddy at a later date...but in the meantime I hope you enjoy this:



(Baby Lawson, a year later, sitting on the same bike)