Tel-Emmett-ry: Victory!

In her latest column for Crash.net, Sean Emmett's girlfriend Lauren Carter gives the 'inside line' on his brilliant debut victory for the Lloyds British Ducati Supersport team, at a soaking wet Croft...

Oh my god what a win!!

I haven't written for a while so there's quite a lot to put in, including Sean's amazing win at Croft so here goes!

I'll start with the fiasco at Oulton Park when Sean hade to pull in for a suspected oil leak. He got off to a poor start and dropped back from front row on the grid to eighth in the first turn. Just as he was starting to gain some places he was black flagged for his bike smoking. Sean looked round to see if he could see any smoke and pulled in to the garage looking confused. The team checked the bike over and there was no smoke to be seen. The organisers have a few seconds to decide what to do in those situations and they believed Sean's bike was smoking and a danger to himself and others. Unfortunately for Sean and the team it was the wrong decision. Subsequently the team received an official apology from the organisers.

Since Oulton Park Sean was invited to appear as a studio guest for Eurosport during the World Superbike round at Brands on the 6th August. Sean was a guest last year when he was injured and they were really impressed with how great he was and again this year impressed a lot of people with Dunlop and Virgin Yamaha thanking him for the great things said about them. Gary Mason also praised him for his performance, so maybe a good career move when he finishes racing!

Croft week turned out to be really busy for us and it feels like we spend most of the year in hotels! The team invited us up for a track day hosted by their main sponsor Ian White of Lloyds British. So we went on our road trip up to Cadwell Park on the Tuesday for the track day the following day. It turned out to be a great laugh despite chilly conditions, I was freezing cold and wearing a coat in August! Most of the team went out on some bikes that the sponsors rode to the track. Ken Foley the team manager appeared in his two-piece leathers and Sean thought he looked like something out of 'Magnum'!! I ended up chatting to a couple who had been going to Cadwell for 48 years, Sean was their hero so he had a long chat with them and showed them his bikes, which made their day!

We drove from Cadwell to Croft on the Wednesday night and had dinner with the team. Sean was chatting to his mechanics and was being honest in saying that Croft was his least favourite circuit in the series and how he was still going to try his best! All of that changed however after Friday when Sean was third fastest in both sessions. He was happy with the bike and didn't really come in to make any changes and felt 100% confident on it and was impressed with the times he was doing.

The weather was terrible, it was freezing cold (coat on again!) with strong winds which were quite dangerous for the riders out on track. As the weather was so cold I sat out in Shoei's motor home all weekend with my friend Helen reading over four magazines and scoffing ourselves with cake, which Helen's husband Ian, Tommy Hills mechanic (Sean's last year) mum had made! Best lemon cake in the world!!!!! Shoei is the best place to sit as not only do you keep warm, and people watch but you also get to chat to all the riders when they come in to get their helmets.

Sean did well in qualifying and was doing fast, consistent laps putting himself second fastest on race rubber! However, he got unlucky in both his flying laps (riders get qualifying tyres that are much softer and last two laps), by doing his fastest times in the beginning and getting held up at the end by slower riders. But he was happy enough with second row and knew that he was strong on race tyres in both wet and dry conditions.

Croft is an open paddock so Sean got stuck in and ended up signing posters all morning, by the time he had finished it was time for some lunch (bit more lemon cake) and then getting in race mode with it being just over an hour and a half away!

Sean got a bad start again but luckily managed to miss the big crash at the first turn with Tom Sykes and Dennis Hobbs going down and Sean's team-mate Martin Jessopp also got caught in the middle of, but managed to push himself back on track. The race was stopped due to the rain and Sykes and Hobbs managed to make it back to pitlane for the re-start.

Sean rode in to pitlane and immediately said 'we need to change the tyres it's soaking everywhere and I nearly went down'. The team were in a panic as they needed to change the tyres but weren't aware of how long they had before the re-start. Rick Hackett was saying "if you want me to do it Sean I will", it was like something out of the movies because you were just standing there as if you were on the edge of your seat thinking you can make it!

I was getting in such a state and I had to go stand with John Hackett's wife Chrissie. The team were told that they had 5mins and just as they got all the intermediate tyres on, Sean and John (Hackett) decided that the rain was getting heavier and full wets needed to be put on. After the massive rush Sean made it out in easy time and went back on to the grid ready for the race.

Sean got a better start the second time and was fifth in to the first turn. The next time he passed us he was second and after 6 laps was in the lead! I couldn't believe it and couldn't stop screaming. I was standing on the truck with Chrissie and Ian White's (Lloyds British sponsor) son and his friends and everyone ended up screaming and cheering him on! After a while I was starting to get some funny looks from the crowd of people near us but I couldn't help it, it was probably the most nerve wracking race I've ever had to watch.

After a few laps Eugene Laverty caught up with Sean and was starting to pull away, which helped my nerves as I knew Sean would have settled for a great second place as Laverty was really pushing on. Sean was starting to have some big moments at the back of the circuit - exactly where Eugene crashed with 2 laps to go. Sean said to me he saw a blue bike in the gravel and couldn't believe it and just thought let off a bit, calm down and pray for the chequered flag!

It was amazing when Sean came over the line with his hands in the air and five seconds over second place. The team were going mad and I was so overwhelmed, I ended up breaking down and being hugged by everyone! The team were jumping up and down and were the happiest team I've ever seen win a race. Sean didn't just do it for him but for them as well and was over the moon with how happy they were. The podium was amazing and Larry Carter was brilliant as usual and gave Sean the best reception he possibly could. Sean was still in shock and I don't think it's actually sunk in yet of how amazing he rode! As he said, there's still life in the old dog yet!

So a busy week ahead for Sean, he's more motivated then ever he's driving to Cadwell on Wednesday for the official test the following day. We get a weekend off before. it's my birthday on the Friday, and we're driving up to Cadwell Park and going for a meal with Helen, Ian, Tommy Hill and Billy McConnell.

So expect another great result from Sean because another win would be the ideal birthday present!

Lauren

www.seanemmett.co.uk