+30 Vintage heat ( my CR250) at my first ever national- the Farm 1999

On the start line I sized up the opposition- and there are those minutes when you look along the start line, and see that there¹s no one there you know to be a real threat... and I think ³ok- no problem- I should be fine here...² and then up roll a couple of tough looking guys at the last minute whom I don¹t recognize, and I think ³oh-oh....this could be trouble...² I start in second this time, and I get a decent start- maybe the third rider into the first corner, and I struggle along, but although I¹m feeling good and fast, and believing right or wrong that I AM the fast guy in the pack, the gearbox is now hitting neutrals all over the place, and just as I¹m about to make my move on the front fellow- a TM250- or some Suzuki- (a strangely low slung bike) the CR¹s box is suddenly whizzzzing to the moon, and then hitting 9th gear with a grös whack, the motor making a throaty hooow sound, at 29rpm, and cryptified onlookers shrugging...

so I thought ok- that¹s not working- what else can I do? I tried slipping the clutch out of a corner in 3rd- and not shifting, but revving the engine, and I managed to go along for a bit- The yellow rider ahead wasn¹t getting away, and I was carrying speed into the corners like mad, only to fight with the gearbox, and trying to relearn how to ride the bike another way, right in the heat of battle. I¹d get close, then he'd pull away out of slow corners, but I kept the pressure on, and eventually he faltered somewhere, and I slipped by at the very end of the last lap- to take the win. It was very satisfying on a one geared bike!