Youngest ever SACU Scottish Super Twins Champion - 2012
Croft paddock, April
Having already tested his new Mini-Twin at Knockhill last September and at Kirkcaldy & District Motorcycle Club's Scottish Championship rounds at East Fortune in March, where he gained a maximum 50 points, Paul was quite relaxed in the paddock at Croft for the first NEMCRC races of the season on 1st April.
Although still awaiting the engine for his Super-Twin, Paul competed on his underpowered Scottish Mini-Twin-spec SV650 and secured three 2nd places and 1 win, enough to lead the NEMCRC Super-Twin Championship by 10 points.
East Fortune, April
Back at East Fortune on 14th & 15th April for the Melville MC rounds, with the new engine finally installed, he bagged another 50 Scottish Championship points on the new Super Twin, despite problems with rear suspension chatter and low-rpm torque.
Despite a new slipper clutch, chatter remained a problem at Knockhill on April 28th & 29th. Paul took 1st place in the first championship round only to crash out of the second race when the rear wheel stepped out under braking.
Over to Knockhill for the 4th round of the Scottish Championship and Paul is seen communing with a bin. Perhaps he's trying to remind himself not to bin his other bike. Maybe the bin's complaining about Paul's outfit clashing with its own...
Either way, Paul didn't bin it and, back on his old Mini Twin, took two wins and 50 more points.
Don't bin it again!
Being "the class of the field", as the commentators call him, Paul gets a lot of media attention from MotorsTV.
Hello, Mum!
East Fortune hosted the 5th round of the Scottish Championship on 14th & 15th July and the Super Twin was back with a new rear tyre profile to fix the handling. Result: two more wins, 50 more points giving a total of 225 points - leading the championship by 108 points with only 150 points left in the season. At this rate, Paul could clinch the championship at Knockhill on the 28th & 29th...
On Saturday 28th Paul put his Super Twin on pole at Knockhill with a time of 57.110 seconds, 2.738 secs ahead of second place, and took the race wins by margins of 27.6 and 8.6 seconds. Ironically, the wet conditions meant that the old Mini Twin, now used as the 'wet' bike, saw much of the action yet again as Paul went on to win all three KMSC National races by 28.8, 16.6 and 22.6 seconds.
With 275 points in the Scottish Championship, Paul now led by 158 points with only 150 remaining in the season - making him Scottish Super Twin Champion 2012 and the youngest ever Scottish road racing champion!
Scotland's Number 1
Paul celebrated by briefly trying out the champion's number 1 one sunny day, though it wasn't long before he was back to his regular 49.
But I'm the Champion!
But the season wasn't over yet and Paul continued racing through some extreme weather at East Fortune.
Although the bike took some light damage, Paul sailed (almost literally) on to end the season with a massive tally of 400 points, 195 points clear of the field .