Dawson’s ‘love’ for racing diminished by friend’s death

THE death of one of his closest friends, Owen Jenner, in the tragic crash at Oulton Park during the opening weekend of the British Supersport Championship season, which also claimed the life of Shane Richardson, has seen Killyman’s Cameron Dawson “lose a little bit of love for the sport”.

The 20-year-old witnessed the crash first hand and he admits to counting his “lucky stars” to have found a gap and avoided being collected by the chain-reaction incident that ended with such heart-breaking circumstances.

“It’s one of those things that you can’t prepare yourself for and it still doesn’t feel real,” Cameron said.

“It’s racing, we all know it can happen but it’s one of those you don’t think will happen. It’s not nice, it’s not pleasant and any of the guys involved in that accident, it’s going to take them a while to come back from that.

“I went through it. I found a gap and went through it and I saw a photo afterwards and the gap I went through didn’t exist in that photo, so I think I need to count my lucky stars.

“For me, seeing everything in front of my eyes, you just think ‘that’s a mess’ but you never think or expected the outcome to happen.

“You’re never going to get a good outcome with a chain-reaction crash like that but you don’t think of those possibilities.”

After witnessing such an incident close hand and losing someone so dear to him, you would understand if Dawson and his peers decided enough is enough, but he was back on his Kawasaki at Donington Park just two weeks later and as well as taking a philosophical look at things, he feels it’s what Jenner, whose funeral took place on Thursday, would have wanted.

“We’re still riding because if any of us quit you’d be the worst person in the world, he’d be calling you every name under the sun. That’s why we’re all still in it, that’s why we’re all still here,” he explained.

“You lose a little bit of love for the sport for sure, but it’s our life at the end of the day too.

“You could walk out your front door and something could happen to you, it’s just life, you just don’t know and you just have to live your life to the full and hope for the best.

“It’s one of them, once that helmet goes on you don’t think about anything after that. The whole weekend you’re constantly thinking about it but once that helmet goes on you don’t think about anything else apart from riding a bike.

“I think that’s the only way most of us got through it but once you get that first one over, you know you can do it so you just keep going.”

Dawson will now turn his attentions to the remainder of the season, starting at Snetterton this coming weekend where he is hoping to improve upon a disappointing start to the year.