Bemsee Premier 1000 racing blog: Summer lovin'

People give up on the summer far too easily. September is actually one of the nicest months in the UK – but because the kids go back to school and we were wishing the sun would arrive back in June (when it’s really the tail end of spring), the nation is already looking forward to Christmas.

Last weekend at Snetterton 200, the penultimate round of the Bemsee calendar and the Team Respro Premier 1000 championship, was held in perfect weather.

Friday practice was warm and dry, so track conditions were perfect for testing different suspension settings on my BMW Park Lane S1000RR and figuring-out braking markers.

Going fast at Snetterton is all about using those two long straights to your advantage and not worry too much about the corners. Go too fast through the turns and you’ll muck up the straight bits – and that loses you shed-loads of time.

Just brake and turn late, flop into the corner off the throttle, hit the apex, stand the bike up and fire it down the next straight.

Saturday and Sunday’s qualifying sessions and racing were held under clear blue skies and Mediterranean-aping heat.

The only downer was to have to stay out of the sun to stop getting dehydrated and sleepy in between races, but it was good for all the nice people (Jimbo, Rookie, Creature, Dave, Mark and Alison) who came along to help and support me, while I’m having fun riding around in circles.

I made a mistake in my last race where I ran off the track and onto the grass at turn two, trying to out-brake Jon Waghorn and ended up second.

That aside, the weekend couldn’t have gone any better with two wins, three fastest laps and pole position.

No one broke the 1:13 second bracket, but we managed to get into the 1:11s. My brother Ben picked-up two second places, too, so it was all smiles in the Neeves camp.

I love my bike so much, I’m sad the season is almost over. It’s an absolute privilege to ride such a quick bike on superb suspension and great tyres – HMS Rocketship flatters my riding.

The final round of our championship is at Brands Hatch on 29/30 September, where I hope the summer will just about be hanging on by its fingernails.