Cal's Challenge: The year so far.

In his first regular column for Crash.net, British Supersport championship leader Cal Crutchlow looks back on his season so far and his hopes for the remaining races...

Hi everyone,

In my first column for Crash.net, I would like to say what a pleasure it is to be asked to write for such a well-known motorsport website.

For those of you who don't know, I am currently competing in the British Supersport championship for the Northpoint Ekerold Honda team. The team is owned by Gary Ekerold, the son of veteran racer Jon Ekerold, and the two-rider team is managed by Simon Buckmaster. My team-mate this season is the current British Supersport champion, Leon Camier.

I made the move to the British Supersport championship in 2004 after previously competing in the Yamaha R6 Cup. In my first season in Supersport I finished tenth overall. I then went on to finish joint third in 2005 and my ambition this season is to win the championship. I'm pleased to say I have nearly fulfilled that aim as I am currently leading by 56 points with only three rounds remaining.

We are heading to Silverstone this weekend (15-17 September), where if things go to plan I will be able to win the championship and all of the hard work and effort the whole team has put in will have paid off. If I win the race then I will win the title, however if things don't quite go to plan all I need to do is finish one place behind my closest rival Tom Sykes, and less than 10 points behind Eugene Laverty who is currently third in the championship.

The season so far has been an eventful one to say the least. I have taken four race wins, three seconds, and two third-place finishes. My consistency is without question what has helped me throughout the year. When I sat down with my team at the start of the season I said my aim was to finish on the podium at every race and that is exactly what I have done with the exception of one DNF at Croft.

The whole of the team, including my crew chief Pete Jennings and my mechanics Paul Morton and Ben Fry, have all worked really hard throughout the season and I am really looking forward to rewarding them with a good result at the weekend and hopefully the championship as well!

As for 2007 I haven't made any definite plans yet but I have made it clear that I would like to go to either British Superbikes or World Supersport. The likelihood is that I will be staying in Britain and hopefully on a competitive factory bike in the Superbike class. I think I have proved myself in Supersport this season and now I would like to do the same in Superbikes.

I will hopefully have a better idea after Silverstone and I will keep everyone informed of my plans for 2007 and my progress in the Supersport championship. Hopefully I will have some good news in my next column.

Speak to you all soon,

Cal