Well round 4 was sadly a bit of a disaster, a wet and miserable disaster.
Dan had a lightening qualifying on the K1 and grided 7th for the Formula 600. Out he went on the grid as the highest qualified rookie and off they went, into Gerrards fantastic holding his position, only to be punted over at Edwinas and got forced to go through the bales to get to rejoin the pack. But he only slipped back to 9th position! Fantastic its shaping up to be an excellent race.... then disaster strikes heading into Edwinas on the 2nd lap the bike goes down, and so ends Dan's day. The bike thankfully didn't sustain any serious damage but we were not able to get him back out for any more racing that day.
Lessons learnt are not to race on aged wet tyres, new ones will be purchased for the rest of the season! and carry a larger selection of spares and more gaffa tape!

Mallory Park round 3 15th June 2008 Post TT Races For this round there was no novice race, so I entered the open and buildbase for a bit more track time on the new bike (Suzuki GSXR600 K1). Morning practice went very well for the F600 race and ok for the open. Managed to qualify in 11th for the F600 (my best yet) and managed 18th for the open. I was 1st reserve for buildbase.
Race 1 (Buildbase Heat) I had to line up with them in the holding area, just in case no one turned up. Waited till the last possible second, got the ”get to the back of the grid sharpish!!!”. I lined up on grid spot 33. Got away cleanly and I got to 19th by the end of the 4th lap, the red flags were out, some one had gone down on the exit of turn one. So 4 laps in, the grid for the final had been done. Race 2 ( F600) A disappointing one for me ,came round to take my grid spot and was flagged down by fellow racers, my torque arm had dropped off my rear calliper, so a DNS for me on this one. Not very happy but this is racing and it happens. I was swearing to myself as I returned to the pit with my head in my hands. Race 3 (The Open) After a good qualifying I was 18th on the grid and got a flyer of a start got past a few on the first corner, only to be passed again on the straight up to Edwina’s. Had a good few battles in the 10 laps but came home 15th, the second 600 in the class, what a race I really enjoyed it. I got to learn a few faster lines here and there. So in all a good result for me Race 4 (F600) I was made to start from the back of the grid, because I didn’t finish the first race, so 25th on the grid for me. Not happy about it, I made the decision to take it out on the track not on the sweet little lady that told me “back of the grid”. Sat there willing the lights to go out, I made good time off the start passing a few on the back wheel and I went for the inside on the first corner. A very hard race for me, as I was trying to make up ground all the time. Managed to claw my way back to what I thought was a very respectable 15th.
	Race 5 (Buildbase Final) I started from 19th on the grid. Lights out and we’re off, again front wheel pointing to the sky but carrying plenty of forward momentum. Again crossed the path out a few bikes to get the inside line, drifted over to the outside on the exit so I was on the inside for turn two, a good friend showed me this line, got through the carnage that was in the middle of Edwina’s . I got my head down and started to make progress but the back tyre went off in the latter stages and the pace dropped off. I finished in 16th only 1 place off getting a point. Race 6 (The Open) I was not looking forward to this as the rear tyre was let’s say 'past its best'. 15th on the grid and the three on the row in front had not turned up. So I had a clean run to the first corner and a very nice line to the inside. That line was mine and the guy on the inside WAS going to move.
The tyre held out till lap 7. I just couldn’t get the power down to get the drive out the first that I needed. On the last few laps I lost a few places and ended up being 12th by the time the flag was out. Overall A jolly good day had by all, and a couple more of this seasons goals achieved. A big THANK YOU to all the staff that make EMRA happen.

Mallory Park round 2 20th April 2008 “What have I let my self in for” practice/qualifying in the rain, the first time I have had the pleasure of riding on full race wets. Very hard to tell my head that there is enough grip to lean the bike, had a (what felt like) very slow qualifying, very mentally tired by the end of the 10mins. Managed to qualify in 20th. Very happy with that.

1st race (wet) Very wet race, sat on the grid waited for the lights. One lad left well before the lights went out, I nearly followed him. Reset button, and ready for the lights again. Set off first lap and my confidence was shot, leaving the line the rear just didn’t seam to grip and was sliding every where in the first lap. Felt my self getting quicker and a little more confident in the tyres towards the end of the race, came home in 17th out of 29, so very happy for my first wet race. In between race 1 and 2 the rain stopped falling and a dry line started to appear, made the choice to run the dry tyres. 2nd race (wet/drying) The grid was split for the 2nd race so I now found my self sitting on grid slot 10. Never been that close to the front before. Lights go out and I got swallowed in turn one because of the poor start. Lap one out the way and I got in my grove. Felt very quick compared to the morning, and started to pick a few off on the brakes at Edweenas and the Hairpin, managed to scrap my way back to 14th out of 29 by the end of the race, I was giggling like a kid by the end and thought to my self this is why I do it, this is what I wanted to do. 3rd race (dry but threatening to rain) Race 3 the novice race, grid out of a hat for this again. 14th I can live with that. Again another poor start witch put me back in 17th by the end of the first lap. Again I manage to find my grove and began to feel like I belonged here on the track. And started to do the out braking and the mid corner passes I had to do, due to the srad being so under powered compared to the rest out there. Got a few on the brakes at Edweenas and Hairpin again, even out braked a few going into Gerrard’s. Last lap flag was out in what felt like no time, last time into Edweenas a rider fell off in front of me. Got round him and had an easy run through the last half of the track and bounced over the line. 10th out of 19. That is one of the goals achieved for this year, a top 10 in the novice. VERY VERY HAPPY

Ok first race meeting 2nd march

Complete mayhem in the morning, I forgot my orange novice bib, managed to run round like a loon all over the pits to find a spare one. Found a spare bib minutes before qualifying. went out in the qualifying session bedding new pads in, getting used to the gear change I made after the 16th Feb. Came in and waited to find out what grid slot i had manage to get, got a lap time of 1:01.9 witch put me 18th on the grid. “Get in” not too bad for the first time out.

1st race

Filtered out onto the grid, found my spot (nearly missed it). Waited for the lights, Red lights came on, 1st gear revs up. My heart stopped, it felt like a year had past while the lights were on. Lights go out al all hell is let loose, didn’t get the line I wanted but never mind. Nearly high sided coming out of devils elbow managed to save it. Finished the race in 23rd out of 32(21st in class)

2nd race

As before filtered out on to the grid, again nearly missed me spot (18th). Lights came on and a felt the bike move, “did I just jump the start”. Lights went out and I made a mess of that. The bike felt good for the whole race, no slides no near high sides so all in all a good race. Managed to come home in 20th out of 32. (16th in class)

3rd race (novice race)

The grid was picked out of a hat, pulled 22nd. Found the grid number forgot to engage brain to pull lever to stop. Got on my slot and waited for the lights, lights go out. Got a good start round the outside of a few and forced my way onto the line I wanted. Had a good race, quite a few fast boys came past me. I was gutted, but managed to past a person a lap in the last 5 laps. Finished in 16th. Had a really good day out, and looking forward to the next one on the 20th April, although I am going to change the gearing again, to try and get a better drive out of the few tight bends.

Ok, since the last time I got offered a full time seat with RSR but couldn’t get the cash I needed in time so the seat was sold to another lucky chap. We looked at the costs for running in the EMRA championship, and made the decision to go it alone off our own backs. Looked at a number of bikes, all were good but not what we needed. We fell upon a 1997 GSXR SRAD; witch is perfect for the first year.
The bike had its first outing at Mallory on the 16th Feb on an open pit lane track day, started the day not doing the time I was hoping for, but got the bit between my teeth. Got a set up that I got on with well and tyres were coming into their own after I got them scrubbed in. It felt like the bike was starting to know me and vice versa. Got some time on track on my own, about 15 laps to be honest, that felt good because was starting to find me braking points and apexes. Managed to get the times down to 1:04’s consistently, then a fork seal went pop and I started revving out down the straight in 6th so the gearing needs to change for my first race on the 2nd March 2008. Hoping for a good season but I have a lot to learn about this racing lark.

Received a last minute call Friday before last... Get to Mallory tomorrow...
turn up at mallory... get kitted up an off out Dan goes on his 1st session..

"1st session goes well even though the only space left was in novice gets going round and round and just getting used to the bike again, come in thinking that want bad only too find out i only went 1 sec quicker than i did in the pouring rain (was cross with my self to say the least)
had 40 mins to think about what i could do that was different....
2nd session came round.... RIDE IT LIKE YA STOLE IT were the words I heard from the back of the garage ( was the wife! ) so upon instruction thats just what I did..... It felt real good to be there tyres warm an no one in front of me at all so got my head down put a few good laps in and ........... came in chuffed to bits with me sen, to hear that I'd done a 1:05.03
and was consistantly in the 1:06's even with traffic
was then told that i am know a reserve rider for RSR
And possible riding full time if the team purchases a 2nd R6."

Well the 15th of August was try out day for Dan with RSR racing.
It was a wet and wild day at Mallory Park and it was a bit of an eventful one. Dan was riding a Yamaha R6 that he was sharing for the afternoon with another hopefull rider. 1st session Dan was 2nd out on the R6 and started off well bringing in times of 1:16.... by the end of his 18 laps this was down to 1:13 consistantly, not bad seeing as it was his 1st time at the circuit and his 1st time on an R6. Unfortunalty on the 2nd session the other hopefull crashed early on and the R6 is a bit of a mess.... so that was Dan's day over as far as the R6 was concerned. Thankfully though Dan achieved enough in his 1st session to be invited back by RSR to complete another test day at Mallory once the R6 is up and running again.

Welcome to the Diary page of Dan Moss.

Here we hope to keep you updated on Dan's progression into racing and hopefully you will all get to see him achieve his life long dream!

Dan 1st got on 2 wheels at the tender age of 3 and went on to compete in motorcross junior racing into his teens.
Sadly school commitments and the general things that come with growing up prevented Dan from continuing.
But now he's one of the quickest riders you see at a track meet, quite impressive seeing as he's using a rather barge like zx7r thats seen almost no performance tweeks...... and Dan says she's staying that way too, its more satisfying passing litre bikes that way!

Progress so far on the racing front.... well Dan's currently awaiting his ACU license arriving and then its off to Mallory for a test day with a club racing team to see if he makes the grade!
I'll up date you all with the outcome of that day but for now here's a couple pics of Dan out on track.