I bungled the start once again in the final, but I clawed my way up four spots to the front of the pack on the third lap. With just a slim lead, I had to fight tooth and nail to stay there, but on the sixth lap I made an irreparable mistake: I lost traction in front and proceeded to fly off the track – and then my bike, sailing through the air with, ahem, the greatest of ease. It was more frightening than anything else, and my bike wasn’t too beaten up, but the seat of my pants, well, you can imagine…

It looks promising
I had a fantastic time at this first race of the CBR250R Challenge, which has nothing to do with the 125-cc class. On the one hand because of the extra grunt that brings its own set of thrills, and on the other because of the dexterity and smoothness that the 250 demands.

Photo: Sébastien D'Amour/Moto123.com

As you no doubt realized, this CBR250R isn’t quite as forgiving of our blunders. Twice the displacement of the 125 means that you can reach much higher speeds, and flat-out cornering becomes a much rarer occurrence.

The 2012 season promises to be quite exciting indeed. You can bet your booties that the first registered competitors, such as reigning 125 Challenge champion Stacey Nesbitt (the first woman to win a mixed national championship), are already sharpening their swords. We have quite a dramatic season ahead of us, I can tell you!