Awesome Lawson - A racer and good friend Part 1

Awesome Lawson, My mate Matt.

Possibly another almost 40 something, going through a mid-life crisis.

A Family man with 2 teenage sons and an established business who decided 3 years ago he would buy a race bike and go out and race. 

When he told me i thought he was mad!

For many years we have been doing track days on our bikes at various circuits around the country just for the thrill and escapism it provides, Track days are a risky business if you ride your road bike, but excellent fun, and better still if you are lucky enough to own a bike just for track days. neither of us did and when Matt realised that he was a lot quicker than most other track day riders he decided he would naturally take the next step...and RACE!

Bike racing isn't for the young at heart, it's for the young of body!!!!! or so i thought. After spending the summer of 2008 getting his ACU race licence he decided to enter the desmo due one make Ducati race series.

 i'll briefly explain what this race series is all about.

Desmo Due

The bikes must be based on an air-cooled 2-valve Ducati twin-cylinder engine produced since 1992. The machines are allowed limited modifications. Most modifications are for safety reasons only. The control tyre, which has changed to a Dunlop Sportsmax Qualifier for the 2011 season, is used in all weather conditions. There are two capacity classes within the championship;

1. Class A - 618cc fuel injected based machine
2. Class B - 583cc carburettor based machines
3. Both Classes are BHP limited 65 & 55 respectively.

Both classes race on the track at the same time, so effectively their are 2 races within a race. these races are only short 10 laps and are normally a close run affair with battles going all the way down the field and a good starting point if your budget is low and you are having a mid-life crisis.

there is that word again...Mid-life crisis...why have i said it again? cos you wont believe that the average age of this class of racing is about 65!!!!......only joking! i would actually have a guess that it is mid thirties, which means that most riders are scratchin' for the sake of enjoyment and not looking to progress to MotoGP standard!

Matts first year was full of excitment and orange vests....orange vest signify that you are a novice and have not yet completed the mandatory amount of races to be considered a racer.

To be honest he did better than expected and finished 5th out of 34 riders at the end of the season and had us all gobsmacked with the way he raced with the established guys. His best results were three third places and ended up rookie of the year. a great, no, a fantastic start to what could be the best way to spend the summer weekends ever!

20010...what a year....Matt opted to stay in class B and try and go for the title. would it be even remotely possible in his second year? well he had a bloody good go.

the year started well, with a win and a second in the first 2 races, but his main rival also had a win and a second. all square after round 1. this was going to be a tough test for Matt and if he held it together he would be in with a chance at the final round.

Round 2 didnt go his way with a 5th and 3rd when his Rival again scored a win and a second, Now; the rules state you must drop your worst 2 rounds. So if all goes to plan, round 2 could be the ones to drop, so nothing to panic over just yet.

Round 3 was Awesome Lawsons worst nightmare. After a poor start and losing several places before the first turn he decided to go around the outside on the left and make up the places he lost, a good idea as the next bend was a left hander and that put him on the inside...that was until someone cut his nose off and he braked hard and lost the front and went over the handlebars and slid up the escape road. Race over. His main rival finished 2nd not good news.

Thankfully uninjured and after some quick fairing repairs some new pegs and levers he was ready for race 2. Which went slightly better that race 1 and Matt finished 3rd.

At this point in the season the points were as follows:

1: Matt Larrett 135

2: Matt Lawson 88

As you can see it looks like a seemingly impossible task ahead of him unless Larrett made some serious mistakes.

Round 4 couldnt have gone any better and Awesome Lawson was beginning to prove he was worthy of his nickname. 2 race wins and 50 points, a stunning weekend by anyones standards and one that could be the springboard to the title. Larrett managed a 2nd and 3rd his worst weekend yet. The points deficit was now closing.

Now, at this point i am going to tell you a little about Matt. He is a great guy but he has this knack of beating himself up over every little mistake he makes on the race track. At the start of the season he was tipped to do great things after receiving the rookie of the year award the previous season. This amounted to huge pressure on his shoulders (all self inflicted) couple that with the top guys from class B going upto class A or leaving for bigger and better things, leaving Matt the opportunity to go for the title with no real competition, or so he thought.

The crash at Mallory Park left him feeling down and he was incredibly hard on himself and it was even caught on video and the evidence proved there was nothing he could have done to avoid it, he still blamed himself. All season he was trying to find that something extra over his rivals....bike set-up, new parts and new tyres at every round (almost). i hate to think how much he spent on all this.

All this pressure was not doing him any favours and going into the second half of the season he needed consistency and some wins to keep the pressure on.