The big 175

While attentions will be glued to the championship fight next week when we arrive in the UAE for the third last round of the 2014 championship, a little celebration will be taking place further down the field....no further....further.......

Kieran Ryan will celebrate his 175th grand prix start next Thursday but alas it's been a season to forget for the Irishman as he explains here;

'The optimism was omnipresent at the season's opener. We had been tactical regarding our engine choice and we had planned all our upgrades early this season to try and do something different from 2014. Sadly for us our development stopped early on and we've been fighting slowly down the field'.

'Looking back on over 12 years I could get disheartened but you know what there's a great community here and I'm proud to be a part of it still. When I look back on my life I think of moments in sync with GPVWC achievements, like my first win, first pole...with getting new jobs, beginning relationships etc. It's an achievement to still be here in the top tier. I may not be fighting for wins or top 10s these days but as long as I can have a race where I'm battling hard to score a single point I can be proud of that. The problem and concern for me is when the battles stop, and sadly development hasn't really gelled this year for the SL. There's a huge field spread this year and sadly it's robbed us of more close battles. But I'm sure next year we'll all be a lot closer.'

'I get asked does the 175 mean much and when will this all end. I can only answer that when I feel I've had enough but it's just such a part of my life at this stage that;s hard to walk away. I don't know if I'll get to 200, the important thing for me is to enjoy what I do and help the team fight back and try score more points to finish ahead of Target which is our only real goal between now and Brazil'.

And what of 2015?
'Who knows, I'm happy with Phoenix and it's a great close team to be a part of and I'd love to push us back to the 2005 glory days for the team when we were very competitive and fighting for wins but we're a long long way from getting that back. It's all about the enjoyment factor for me.'

With that the Irishman slinks away to prepare himself for what he hopes will be a memorable weekend full of celebrations