2020 Sponsorships
2020 Vision proud to sponsor young rider Dan Chappell as he moves up to Thundersport GB in 2011
Summary of my 2010 season
My 2010 season started at croft, not my championship, but with it being so close we thought we would get some practice in before my first round.
There was some strong competition there, as a few of the BSB Superstock 600 front-runners had decided to use the same meeting as practice.
In the first race I was handicapped to the back row as my entry was sent in late and that's how the grid positions work. I got a brilliant start and from 30th on the grid I got up to 5th but also managed to do the fantastic job of crashing on the last lap, which again put me on the back row for the next race. I managed to finish a few races and my best finish was 5th in the last race. I had a pretty good grid position and I was well up for winning as my friends and family had come to watch me.
I got off the line really well and slotted myself into 3rd place right on the back of the front two, I opened the power early through the chicane so that I could get a good drive onto the back straight, but as I flicked the bike over to the other side the tyre let go and the bike spat me into the air. Knocking me out as I landed and tearing the glove from my hand. I woke to find both my hand and bike in a bad state.
This was not the start I needed!
After croft we went to the first round of my championship at Knockhill, it was pouring down, just what I needed, after a big high side needless to say I didn't finish where I was expecting and this was the same for the next two meetings as my confidence was shot and for the first time on a bike I was scared.
By the time the first round of the North East Championship came and I was feeling much better about my racing and straight away I proved this with a pole position. I didn't have the same pace in my races but I still managed a 3rd place, which I was very happy with.
The rest of the season went well and I improved on my riding every time I went out and got vital points towards the championship.
One of the highlights of my year was winning my first 600 race third round at the Melville Championship. I was up there all weekend and went into the race expecting a good result. I took off from the start and took the lead at the second corner, I was under pressure the whole race from my rival Cameron Wilson but I managed to keep the lead till the chequered flag. Now I knew I could win.
As well as the championships I also entered two BSB races as a wild card, my fist one didn't go so well ending with my clutch burning out in qualifying but we put that down to a learning curve and when I went on to Croft we knew how things worked.
There were 52 riders in my class and only 36 spaces on the grid. I knew it was going to be hard just to qualify but I managed to get myself into 13th place in first qualifying. It was wet so that evens the fields out because they can't use the extra power in their bikes. It was dry for second qualifying and I just managed to qualify.
I was 32nd on the grid and dead last through the speed trap and had the slowest bike there but I managed to get myself up to 26th at the end of the race which I was very pleased with considering it was my first year on the bike.
With my bike being through the speed trap we decided to take it to the dyno to see how much power we had. It turned out I was riding a bike 10bhp down on everybody else, strangely this made me feel happy because I knew when my bike had been refreshed it was going to be a lot easier to win.
I did win the last meeting of the season with the same bike, I knew I had a disadvantage so my granddad gave me some sound advice not to push too hard, as their bikes were faster. I told my granddad not to worry and pulled onto the track for the first race, I was second on the grid for the first race, the lights went off and I got a cracking start and lead into the second corner, somehow I had forgotten my granddads advice and I just went for it. I lead until the second lap and Cameron powered past me on the straight and his bike's pace was just too much to match. The second ended in a similar fashion gaining a series of second places.
After a rocky start to the season I managed to claim:
1st North East ACU Centre Championship and 4th Melville Championship.
Dan Chappell
pictures courtesy:
James Howie - Mobile: 07799263074 - james.howie@tesco.net - www.jameshowiephotography.co.uk
