14th April 2007 - It was ten past two on a sunny Saturday afternoon and nothing I had done before prepared me for the way I felt at that exact moment, with my dry tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and a cold sweat I could hear my heart beating. With a heady mix of excitement and nervous anticipation I stood there alone, one man being one small part of a team.

A team comprising of four people, two motorbikes, hundreds of tools, wet and slick tyres, we had what seemed like a spare for everything. With five months of winter re-builds and testing under our belts, all the investment and hundreds of man hours that goes into it we were finally ready.

And what we were ready for was not national recognition, prize money or fame. We were ready for the challenge and the only thing we could win was pride in doing a good job. And its that pride and the goal that we could win that made me feel the way I did that day before the start of the race, all that effort and care, the hours of planning and checks and it all came down too four red lights that when extinguished would signal the start of the race.

The feelings I had I knew were shared with the rest of the team but all of us to nervous and busy to ask each other how we felt, the only thing that mattered in that moment was would we get level with the front row by the Paddock Hill bend? The excitement and buzz was unrivalled by everything else I had before that afternoon. Fear, anticipation, ecstasy, disappointment, frustration yet strangely calm. All this emotion and excitement and they still haven’t started the race yet!

August 2006 - “Lee, you ever fancied a weekend camping?” This was the question that 8 months ago started my whole fascination with racing motorbikes, that’s right “have you ever been camping?” Well the place was my local pub and the question came from my good drinking buddy Joe Mcburnie, so how had I gone from being an extra in a play to acting in a lead role, well I joined Joe for two weekends last year at Snetterton and the last race of the season at Cadwell Park, and after loads of fun meeting some real characters I caught the buzz and wanted more.

Joe at the time did want more as well not that I knew that at the time and more for Joe was giving it a go for himself with his own team in 2007. For the 2006 season Joe had sponsored the Tigcraft works team and after the entertainment and enjoyment he wanted more. All he needed was a bike, a rider, technical knowledge and a support team. Having none of these didn’t slow things up one bit when you have a big enough reason you will always find a way.

For the team bike we were lucky enough to get the very first Tigcraft Mini Mono ever built, a bike that had been used by Mike “Spike” Edwards in his European campaign in 2006. This was a bike with a pedigree and we weren’t going too let it slip away so after the deal was done it was of to Cornwall for a nut and bolt re-build and a lick of new paint at the same time, testing at Mallory Park went well and that was the first time that all the members of our new team had been together since the 5 month winter break, Glen English (Rider) with his Uncle Jimmy, Joe and myself.

We were also kindly joined on our test day by Phil Daw the bikes previous owner, Mike Edwards and Clayton Williams of Willpower Tuning who all helped with both practical and technical advice which was most welcome, so a big thanks too them.

14th April 2007 - At Brands we invited Mike Edwards and his bike Gordon to share our pit lane garage, Mikes wife Jennifer was there supporting us all and taking plenty of snaps so that we could remember the day.

We had an 8 minute free practice and this went as our plan which was shake down the 426cc bike and scrub the new tyres. Glen only needed two laps and he was in the garage happy that the bike was performing well. When it came to the timed practice we thought we would give the 450cc bike a run out. Glen wanted a clear track so we all waited in the garage for our moment and Glen completed 6x 1.22 mile laps with a fastest of 52.55. But the bike towards the end of the timed session developed a miss fire and after pinpointing the problem too a faulty spark plug connection the decision was taken that we would run with the not so powerful 426cc bike.

This meant a busy couple of hours swapping the new Dunlop tyres from the 450 wheels onto the wheels of the 426, and with the race being brought forward to a 2.00pm start there wasn’t much time for relaxation.

Our qualifying position was second row of the grid alongside Aaron Easter, Daniel Rosamond and Mark George and behind the front row of Mark Lawes, Mike Edwards, Nick Chadwick and Alex Hutchinson who was on pole with a tasty time of 51.33 seconds.

The Supermono race was called and there was an eerie calm silence down the pit lane as all the teams seemed to be having a standoff waiting to see who would start their bike first and proceed to the holding area. If you are too early and have to wait too long for the others you run the risk of your bike overheating, a common problem with these thoroughbred racing machines. As soon as the familiar roar of the first bike sounded it was a blur activity and Glen was headed for the holding area at the end of pit lane then all bikes out for the warm up lap and round to their grid positions.

The red lights Faded and it was go go go! Alex Hutchinson was first off the line and into the Paddock bend (rumor has it that at the 2006 Supermono awards dinner Alex had bet Rob Whitworth £20 that he would be) with the pack in hot pursuit, Glen over taking Aaron on the first lap putting him into 5th place on the Cooper Straight.

By the time all the riders were starting to settle down into their positions they came across two downed bikes at Clearways, Nick Chadwick had high sided and taken out Mark Lawes in the process. The red flags were out and the race stopped, Glen made his way into the pit lane and we waited for the news of what was too happen next. The PA announcement came and it was a full re-start of the 18 lap race.

For the second time the red lights vanished and Glen was away to a very quick start with Alex up front the first couple of laps saw a bit of a dog fight in the main pack and as the lads relaxed into their rhythm it was Alex, Glen and Mike in the top 3 spots.

By lap 4 Alex was increasing his lead and Mike on Gordon had piped Glen pushing him down into 3rd place, by lap 6 Alex seemed to have a problem and had lost over half of his 8 bike advantage he soon after dropped out of the race opening up the front of the track for an awesome battle between Mike and Glen with Aaron snapping at their heels, Mike with his large powerful 760cc Yamaha taking Glen on the long straights and with the smaller bike and only 426cc Glen was able to out maneuver Mike in the corners.

In laps 7, 8, and 9 the battle was on and 1st and 2nd place were changing up to 3 times a lap Mike taking Glen on the Brabham straight and Glen darting back into the lead at Druids managing to fend Mike off along the Cooper straight.

From lap 11 the placing was Glen, Mike and Aaron and that’s the way things stayed right up until the finish with Glen creating a sizeable lead over Mike and Aaron. Towards the end of the race Glen felt the rear shock giving up into the long Clearways bend so with that to contend with along with the fact that his glasses has slipped off the helmet clips he was kept busy.

Taking the chequered flag we had done it! We had won our first team race. “It’s an unusual feeling” commented Joe, “When you have put all that time and effort in and won it’s a great feeling, but difficult to celebrate as you are aware that your friends and fellow competitors have put in as much effort, some of which didn‘t finish the race and some not even getting off the grid”

Guess it was just our day and with that, roll on Snetterton!

Lee Andrews