STARTING my journey
Getting used to the new controls
After the controls where made for me to start riding, it didn't take as long to get used to them, i think because i knew the arm was gone i knew i couldn't reach for them, once i got on the bike i felt like i pulled away with not much of a difference,
after taking the bike around the block a couple of times i had to get onto track to see how it really feels, i booked into Rockingham raceway as its more left corner track and i always preferred my lefts and still do,
i asked to do my sighting laps on my own with an instructor because i didn't want to get in peoples way, i made it out of pit lane done 2 hard corners for first out and fell off on the 3rd, i hit the floor and started laughing (i don't know if that was a good thing or not) picked the bike up, the Marshall helped and said hes going to have to call the recovery truck due to the clutch leaver breaking as he looked at me then back to the bike the moment he realized made me giggle more, i then road it back to the paddock, brushed myself off and got back out,
that fall helped me without knowing, the fear of falling disappeared i spent the day just getting quicker and quicker while loving every second i was on the bike,
the only thing i struggled with was being a 600cc old boat of a bike i wanted something which was longer in the gears and a little bit more forgiving
My really good (not so good) idea
Once i finished the track day, my idea of longer in the gears lead me to my dream bike, the yamaha YZF R1, 1000cc superbike before they put any rider aids on it i.e traction control, wheelie control etc,
i have never road anything bigger than a 600cc so after loosing the arm i thought it was a great idea,
i spent a few years getting more feel for the bike and just aiming to get quicker,
while i was getting to grips with the bike and still at Headley Court (Military Rehabilitation Centre) me and a very good friend of mine from 1 Rifles, Paul Stevens was having a joke, what should my race name or logo become,
aRm1 was born
with the bike being called "Shinigami" the Japanese Grim Reaper, due to when i bought the bike i was having very dark thought which was heading suicidal, i thought a few times to get on the bike and ride it directly into a wall, but every time i got on it, my darkness went, so i chose to call it Shinigami, as the bike will tell me if i'm ready to go or not.
The race
In 2017 my year got incredibly busy, i married the woman who gave me the time to build me up and saw me for who i was and the month after i started my race journey, the last weekend in April i took the plunge and went for it, i booked into Thundersport GB into GP1 Cup (novice injection superbike class) i arrived for the test day before racing as i was on a track i have never seen before, but as i went to sign on, i didn't book it as i didn't realize, Snetterton is an incredibly fast track and my baptism into hell fire was qualifying with no track knowledge, so on the Saturday morning i went to sign on and find out when i was going out to qualify, to find out that i was out with GP1 elite, my heart sank,
i got to pit lane and went out last, i made it down the invincibly fast back straight into the chicane at the end, when one of the fast racers came on my inside almost knocking into me, so few more corners left, straight into pit lane and ready to put the bike in the van, i thought that was too much for me,
My friends came over from the army team and told me the level of racers in Thundersport, while giving me shall we say words of encouragement to get back out, so i did,
first race i went out to feel the track and feel myself but few laps in the front brake started to fade which really put me off and the fear kicked in, as i pulled off into pit lane i realized i was holding onto the front brake in the nerves of being out, my mistake but i learnt,
second race i had in my head just see checked flags and finish the race that's all i wanted to do, once finishing the race how i felt was amazing the sense of achievement that i've never felt before in my life, once you complete the cool down lap you go for the presentation for your race, i was buzzing when i heard my name called from the podium, i felt a little embarrassed i thought they where bring me up to just say well done, as i walked up they handed me a trophy i won 3rd place.
R1 History
After the first race weekend was over i spent my time just getting faster against the other racers completing 3 years on the R1 with good results in the championships and starting to get podiums in my class
2017 - 4th in championship
2018 - 5th in championship
2019 - 4th in championship
2020 - 3rd in championship
i was completing races with respectable lap times, i was getting times i wasn't sure ill ever achieve, i was looking forward to 2021 i was really getting close to my goal,
but my luck was about to change,
the start of 2021 i had a phone call from the college who was servicing my bike between meetings and keeping the bike prepared for the races,
an arson attack on the college resulted in me loosing my paddock kit, my tools, my bikes and my life yet again, i was in limbo i didn't know where to turn, my dream, my reason to live was gone yet again,
i spoke with a friend for help and he said he was excited, i didn't want to hear that so i will say backed with a bit of anger i asked him to explain himself and all he said was
"from the ashes rises a phoenix"
"look what happened last time, you are the type of person when it goes wrong to come back stronger and harder, and that is why i'm excited, i want to see what happens now"
it got me thinking (yes it hurt, i don't do it often)
my other friend told me to set up a crowd fund and see what you can do,
the response was breath taking, i had to stop it because i didn't want to take more than i needed, not only that people donated kit, tools generators, i was blown away with the kindness of people
had no choice i had to keep pushing
aRm1 jnr was born
Once the Kindness of people and the love of people came in, i had a road bike that i didn't want to use but had to use came into service, my old 2002 Yamaha YZF R6 came out to play,
i built the bike to race but because how old it was and the way it was stored i had problem after problem over the season, but even though the bike wasn't performing as well as it could i was still managing to beat my lap times on an under powered R6 than i could do on the bigger and faster bike,
i don't think there was a race where i got off the bike satisfied not because of me, but no matter what we did to the bike we couldn't get it working right
but still getting quicker
while this was going on i didn't know in the background this was another start to the next phase of my journey to become the first arm amputee in the following years........