Wright crashes heavily after bagging positive results
It was a case of two rounds with two very different outcomes for Pete Wright as he finally returned to No Limits Racing action.
Having just missed out on the podium positions in each race during round one, he suffered a high-speed crash in the second, which put him out of action for the whole weekend at Oulton Park.
The Tividale star went to hospital and discovered he had suffered ligament damage and a dislocated finger, rather a break.
Immediately he wheeled his bike to Cannock-based PCR Performance to try and get it race ready again – with plans of racing again at round three.
"It was a fast one," said the Double Two Racing rider, describing the crash. "I caught the engine casing on the curb going into turn one.
"My hand is not broken, luckily just a dislocated finger, so I should be good for Cadwell in a month for round three.
"The bike is already at PCR Performance for some repairs and to check all is straight.
"Unbelievably, there were no fractures so I was well happy, just ligament damage from what they think was a dislocated finger.
"I was gutted the injury and swelling got slightly worse overnight and I had to made the decision not race again in round two but I was thankful to all our NLR paddock family who patched up the bike and came to see how I was doing.
"It certainly wasn't a great start to the race weekend and I couldn’t go out in qualifying, which would've meant me starting from the back of the grid anyway."
Round one could not have been any different for Wright and the Double Two Racing team as he finally launched his HM Quickshifter Cup 600 championship as lockdown restrictions were eased at Snetterton.
It was a long wait for the start of the No Limits Racing 2020 championship but well worth the wait as round one kicked off at the Snetterton 300 circuit, Norfolk, in scorching temperatures.
After making some suspension changes for qualifying, Wright got in three flying laps around at what is one of the longest circuits in the UK, placing himself fourth in class.
"One of my strengths has been race starts but the extra horse power of this year's bike saw the front wheel pawing at the sky as the start lights dimmed and the grid growled into action," he said.
"In the split second hesitation of re-engaging the clutch momentarily, I’d dropped a few places and would have to work hard to get back the time and places lost."
Tagging onto the back of Jamie Cornfield, Wright recovered to take fourth place, crossing the line just 0.260 seconds adrift of third.
Race two turned out to be pretty uneventful but solid, consistent lap times saw Wright bring his Kawasaki home in fifth place.
"Race three turned out to be my worst result of the day – but it was probably the best race of the weekend," said Wright.
"Most of the race was like a freight train of riders and I had to work hard to catch up to the back of Mark Evans, Mark Wilson and Dan Stanton.
"Two laps from the end I got past Stanton and Wilson and caught up to the back of Evans."
Half way round the last lap, sitting in fifth, place Wright went to go up the inside into Agostini’s as Evans had run a little wide but his rival managed to cut back across the front, allowing Wilson and Stanton cut back underneath too.
Wright eventually seventh but had the consolation of smashing his personal-best time with a 1:58.7 lap, bumping him up the grid for the final race of the day.
"This time I got a great getaway and up with the front group in fourth, with Ben Wilson third, only a couple of seconds up the road.
"With a clear track I put the hammer down and closed the gap. By lap six I had passed Ben up the inside into the scarily-fast turn one and into a podium place only for the race to be red flagged two corners later due to two riders down – who were both okay crashing.
"That put the result back a lap, meaning I just missed the podium in fourth, but it was a fantastic weekend of super competitive racing. The team and I learned a lot.
"Our thanks for out to everyone at No Limits Racing who bent over backwards to make this happen and ran the event faultlessly.
"Thanks to the army of marshals, officials, medical staff, TSL Timing and a huge thanks to our super loyal sponsors DRC Race Leathers, Motorbykebitz, Lee Wedge, Properly Protected, Simon Farquhar, NOVOL, Motorcycle Parts Warehouse, Putoline UK, Cradley Kawasaki, Revs suspension services, PCR Performance, Chequered Flag Images, AS3 Performance, NRG Performance, MCR, Express & Star newspaper, Richard Gothard, Emma Louise Gothard and Profibre."
Round three of No Limits Racing HM Quickshifter Cup 600 takes place at Cadwell Park, September 12-13.
