Darley Moor 2014 Championship
Matt started the season in March 2014, full of enthusiasm. The 29th March was a test day for all competitors and for Matt G Racing their first experience at Darley Moor. Testing went well, at least that was the general feeling. Sunday 30th March brought with it round 1 at Darley Moor and Matt was feeling positive. Practise was rather daunting, qualifying dead last in the Steel Framed 600 class (10th) with a fastest lap time of 1:10.41. Race 1 fast approached and Matt was still feeling positive. His first race at Darley saw a 10th place of 11 in the race and 6th of 7 in SF600 class, the result was not expected as the practise had gone so well. The lap time had however improved with a 1:08.27. The other races throughout the day saw a similar trend and it was not until the end of the day when the team realised that their gearing was miles away from the other competitors. The first season was going to be one BIG learning curve... and this was the beginning of it. Luckily this was not the trend for the entire season of 2014.
Steel frame 600cc Championship
Round 2 in April saw a minor improvement, but an improvement none the less... finishing 10th in the race, 6th of 10 in SF600 class with a lap time of 1:07.06. The change to the gearing and a lighter drive chain had given a second but the others were still quicker. Matt was braking hard into the corners but on every straight would be out paced; more was required. Further modifications were made to the bike and round 3 and 4 in June saw further improvements with regards to finish position. Round 3 saw matt 4th of 7 in SF600 class and Round 4 seeing 5th of 8 and Matt put in his personal best (so far) of 1:05.61. The season was becoming a success and a pleasure.
Round 5 brought with it further success for Matt G Racing at Darley Moor. The day started off with heavy cloud, accompanied with heavy showers. The wet tyres went on the bike and Matt was feeling positive (he likes wet races). Practise went well and the bike felt great. Matt also competes in the pre98 up-to 1000cc races. The Pre98's were called to race, it was, as anticipated, a wet race. Setting off from the grid Matt was eager to put in some good lap times and race hard, he did just that bringing home a 2nd place for the team and the first trophy at Darley and later on bringing yet another one from the SF600 race. Round 6 was in September and the team was feeling positive, Matt put in his best lap times during the day with a 1:04.68 bringing in another 2nd place trophy... will he ever see 1st?
The final round was in October 2014. The team wanted to finish on a high and Matt had to fight for his place in the Championship. He wanted a second place, this was double points (1x 15 lap race). If he finished 2nd he would get the 2nd place in the Championship. This was not to be! Practice session was positive and saw some good lap times. The SF600 race was called and was the first of the 2 races for Matt. Matt got off to a poor start but quickly worked his way up to 2nd (in steel frame class) but unfortunately the Red flags were put out, there had been a crash and the race stopped. The riders all again lined up on the grid with the engines off. The Marshalls announced they were ready for the race to commence and off went the riders on the warm up lap. The race would now only be 8 laps. They lined up on the grid waiting for the red light to go out. Matt again had a bad start, even worse that the first bad start. He was frustrated with this and pushed harder than he had pushed before... he wanted that place in the championship. He had worked through the field in the first lap and found himself coming down pope straight. There were 2 riders in front of him and he knew his strength was braking hard into corners, out braking rivals. This was his plan into Paddock corner but came in far too hot and not approaching wide enough, as his right knee kissed the tarmac the front end slid to the left and the race was all over for him... result.. DNF! Fortunately Matt was OK and sustained no major injury and the bike was only a bit scuffed up. With a bit of fettling the bike and Matt were later ready to race in the Pre98 race putting in a 1:04.61 lap time but to no avail as he finished 11 of 13. The season had finished but Matt G Racing will return in 2015 to again compete.