Ryan Dixon got his 2024 season underway at the opening round of the No Limits Racing season at Snetterton at the weekend with a double podium finish.

It was a second-place finish in race one for Ryan which he followed up with a second place in race two and a top ten finish to round off the weekend in race three.

Ryan brings us up to date with his race weekend, starting off with arriving for the race weekend a little bit unprepared for the racing to come.

I arrived Thursday evening, completely unprepared and in all honesty, not ready. The bike had been ‘lost’ in the back of the garage since it was put there after the 2023 Lord of Lydden in October. It only re-emerged the Sunday before round one for a quick check over, oil and filter change and that was it.

I bought some part worn tyres off someone for the test day, slung them in and did three sessions on them, just to have a spin on the bike, make sure it all felt ok and was good to go for the weekend and also to loosen the body up and it needed a fair amount of loosening up, I can tell you!

Qualifying Saturday morning was dry but there was a strong wind that was making things difficult, it was freezing cold, and the wind was making the bike difficult to control. Aiming for a top six to get on the front two rows, I was happy to put in a lap time fast enough for second, behind only multiple TT winner Ian Hutchinson on his Padgetts Honda.

Race One – as seems to have become customary for our races, there was a small shower as we headed to the grid. We were asked to give the thumbs up or as it turned out thumbs down at the end of the warmup lap. A brief but noticeable shower saw a delay to the start but when we did get going, I got a reasonable start and as Hutchy ran wide at turn two, I took the lead. And lead for 3 or 4 laps before the Padgetts Honda’s began to gang up on me and get in front. Hutchy was able to get away, but I was left in a three-way battle for second on the road.

A bit of a mishap with my pit board meant I started the last lap thinking there were two to go and when I dropped to third, I thought I had it all planned out, make the pass, then defend for the last lap, but when I pulled out of the slipstream to do so, the chequered flag was out 🙃 I crossed the line third on the road which consequently meant 🥈 in the classification as Padgetts were just there for track time and to test so not included in results. I missed the ‘win’ by just 0.037 seconds as three of us crossed the line 0.051 seconds apart.

Race Two – Sunday was dry and bright but still cold and windy. A terrible start saw me drop a couple of positions, by the time I fought through to third, the lead pair had made a break and after a couple of laps pushing to see if I could close the gap, understanding it wasn’t going to happen, I settled for a solid finish and try again in race three. Crossing the line fourth on the road but classified 🥈 in results.

Race 3 – there was one point between me and Harrison Crosby for the overall win. Got away in fourth and with the leaders, after trying to pass Hutchy a couple of times for a shot at the other two, I made the move stick, but he soon came back past and then moved forwards.

I passed Kam Dixon for third on the road and set about trying to catch Harrison to try and take the overall, but it wasn’t to be, he had a bit of a gap and despite lapping slightly faster with three laps to go, as I crossed the line to start the final lap, the bike just shut off. I thought the engine had gone pop but after a few seconds with no throttle response I went back a few gears, and it came back so I continued to try and get to the finish.

Cruising around the infield I lost a few spots then as I was half way down the back straight it did exactly the same thing and so when it came back I nursed it round the last four corners and across the line for a ninth place finish.

With other people’s mishaps, this was still enough for 🥈 overall meaning I’m second in the championship as things stand. I am happy with that considering the aim was three finishes before the weekend after a disastrous 2023. The bike is in one piece, and we’ll try and work out what’s wrong so we can continue at round two in three weeks at Donington Park.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the season to make it happen, hopefully we can continue to battle near the front and challenge for the championship 🤞bike looks great out on track too.

Images courtesy of Campix Photography