When I arrived they didn’t seem to have had the rain we had at home. I walked the track with the Gordons Racing boys and my thoughts on Saturday were confirmed, the track was very soft under foot and sloppy in places. I wasn’t really looking forward to practice.

Practice: We were fourth practice out and already there were some monster ruts especially over the far side making a few jumps impossible to jump.

I tried to take my time and familiarise myself with the track and which jumps I could jump and which we had to roll.

I had a few get offs and one very silly fall which resulted in me sitting on Rich Tudor’s bike but he got his own back by picking his bike up on my hand whist holding in the clutch.

The track was a mess.

Race 1: I was the third race out of the block. The Burton club had altered the track slightly before the first block. I sat on the gate and thought ‘I need a good start’, the gate dropped and I got a lot of wheelspin I looked across and everyone looked to do the same.

I entered the first corner in about 6th but the rider in front of me washed out and went down and I had nowhere to go but down myself.

I lifted my bike but the fallen rider's Leatt brace strap had hooked around my footpeg the opposite side to him, so with me lifting the bike to help the marshal to unhook the strap, the marshal grabbed a hold of my exhaust header pipe (note to all: the header pipes on the four stroke get a lot hotter than a two stroke) and squealed.

I finally got going and worked my way back up to the back of the pack. The conditions had dried out but the ruts were very hard and deep causing a few problems.  Finished 10th.

Race 2: With another good start I took an outside line in a left hander this was a bad choice so early in the race this opened the door and I got blocked passed and went down.

I managed to keep the bike running and gave chase, I was making mistakes and trying to hard in places and the ruts were starting to get hard and were less forgiving. I had a big moment over the tabletop and landed in a rut which was a scary moment but I managed to stay on the bike but this was enough to stop me jumping the table top on the following laps. Finished 10th.

Race 3: The temperature had dropped for our last race, I knew the track would be at it worst.

I got a really good jump out the gate from the outside and pulled a great holeshot with Andy Marchant and Dale Halls right behind me. I knew if I just concentrated and kept it smooth and didn’t make any mistakes, I could hold them off for a while.

I approached the little tabletop into the right hander and went for the wide line but Andy and Dale nipped up the inside to take the position.

I knew I had to hold onto them for as long as possible as they were the two fastest riders of the day. I made a few mistakes at the wrong times and had a good battle to the end of the race. Finished 9th.

10-10-9 for the day and an improvement in my riding and fitness on a day where I almost didn’t ride was a good result.

I think in drier conditions the track would be good with some really good racing, All credit to the Burton club for running the meeting and making alterations after practice for the better. Well done.

I would like to thank my Girlfriend Shelle, Andy Marchant, Rich Tudor and the Palmer Clan for all their help throughout the day. Next week’s report will be from Walsall’s Hobs Hole track.

The Walsall club managed to get the racing finished very early considering the late start to practice, and with no red flags or incidents the club coped with the bad weather very well. I was very happy with my starts today but just need to improve my fitness. I now have a two week rest until Cannock’s meeting at Abbotts Bromley.