2017 CRMC ROUND 3 - MALLORY PARK
Mallory Park really marked the start of the season for me after bit of a disaster at Snetterton and missing the round at Pembrey due to a holiday... And aside from some very 'changeable' weather conditions on the Saturday - what a great start it was! A little off the pace on the 250 compared to last season, not helped by having to iron out some issues on that bike after a troublesome test day where the chain jumped off..! However, as you can see in the photo above, I had an entry into the 500AC class onboard the Quest Honda 500 single. 'The Quest' is a bike that Nigel has been playing with on and off for the last couple of years with mixed success, it looks really nice but hasn't always behaved itself for him. It is a really unique bike, and as it turned out very capable (as Nige expected it to be having known it being raced in the 80's). I was very surprised at how well it handled and also how quick it is despite being down on power compared to other bikes in the class. Its extremely light and very fun to ride - certainly a bit different to the 2 cylinder 2 stroke that I am used to!
I managed some decent results in the 500 class, couple of 5th's and a 6th, but more importantly ended up only a couple of seconds off the podium pace which we were pretty happy with for a first run out. Its certainly got potential so I'll be taking it back out at Cadwell Park for another go and to continue improving things with the bike as we go.
Back to the Maxton we found the issue with the chain - the adjuster screw on the chain side of the swing-arm had stripped its threads and despite adjusting up fine, when under load it was slackening the chain causing it to come off. A pretty simple fix, most difficult bit was sourcing a TZ pushrod to replace the one which got bent! I got there in the end though, pinching bits from the road bikes at home...
The Maxton is now fitted with a very nice dry clutch & TZ box, which is sure to be an improvement once I sort my launch out on the grid. I had the old wet clutch nailed off the line, but struggled at Mallory so will need to get that right ASAP as its no good giving away 100yds by the first corner! Like I said, I was a little off the pace and after all the messing with the chain and wrecking a sprocket I didn't change the gearing and looking back at on-board videos it was all wrong... That would have got me closer to the front 3 but to be fair nobody was sticking with John Warwick this weekend as he was flying so wins were never on the cards - more about getting the Mojo back which I certainly did and I think we all came away feeling enthused for Cadwell in June.
I managed some decent results in the 500 class, couple of 5th's and a 6th, but more importantly ended up only a couple of seconds off the podium pace which we were pretty happy with for a first run out. Its certainly got potential so I'll be taking it back out at Cadwell Park for another go and to continue improving things with the bike as we go.
Back to the Maxton we found the issue with the chain - the adjuster screw on the chain side of the swing-arm had stripped its threads and despite adjusting up fine, when under load it was slackening the chain causing it to come off. A pretty simple fix, most difficult bit was sourcing a TZ pushrod to replace the one which got bent! I got there in the end though, pinching bits from the road bikes at home...
The Maxton is now fitted with a very nice dry clutch & TZ box, which is sure to be an improvement once I sort my launch out on the grid. I had the old wet clutch nailed off the line, but struggled at Mallory so will need to get that right ASAP as its no good giving away 100yds by the first corner! Like I said, I was a little off the pace and after all the messing with the chain and wrecking a sprocket I didn't change the gearing and looking back at on-board videos it was all wrong... That would have got me closer to the front 3 but to be fair nobody was sticking with John Warwick this weekend as he was flying so wins were never on the cards - more about getting the Mojo back which I certainly did and I think we all came away feeling enthused for Cadwell in June.
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A very enjoyable, albeit a very long weekend. Mallory is a great circuit and not somewhere we get to often so was nice to have a race round, can honestly say removing Edwina's and having the old layout was a huge plus point for me as the Esses quickly became a big brave corner and kept the flow of the circuit for me. A few bits to sort in time for Cadwell, nothing major. Got to get the spare motor together, and Dad will be bringing the X7 out for its first bit of action in 2017 as well which will be good. Colin's Benelli is now up and running so the development of it really begins, he's abit down on power but has room to improve so he'll be expecting lap times to tumble as the season progresses. Thanks to Russell Lee for the great photo's - www.sport-pics.co.uk, and I'll have some more to post on Facebook from Dave B who came to watch in the pouring rain with his Camera... Better weather next time hopefully. |
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THE QUEST
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I felt I had to mention the terrible news of the passing of Nicky Hayden in this blog - absolutely gutted. Lots of nice tribute's on Facebook including our SCC-Racing page - such a huge loss from the top level of the sport, great role model for future stars and one of my favourite characters in Moto GP.
Rest in Peace Nicky, 22nd May 2017.... |
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2016 CRMC ROUND 7 - SILVERSTONE RACE OF THE YEAR
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As you can likely tell from the photo's above - it was a very disappointing end to an overall very exciting season from my point of view... The challenge for the championship that I had worked really hard to push for at the previous 2 meetings went up in smoke half way around the first corner of the penultimate race of the season... The front wheel of the Maxton tucked beneath me on the brakes having been 'sat-up' by one of the 500's mid corner in greasy conditions... To say I was pissed off would be an understatement, but having had time to reflect on the year overall - the really costly mistakes were actually made well before the final round. Falling off at Cadwell Park when leading by a country mile, a poor 4th place finish at Anglesey in the rain and a DNF at Snetterton put far too much emphasis on the final round, particularly when I have won 7 races during the course of the season.
So the championship was all but out of reach going into the final race, and although we got the bike fixed-up and ready post crash, all Jerry really needed to do was follow me home across the line to win the title - and he did. Well done to Jerry who has been there all season to keep pressure on, especially once John Warwick had wrapped in with the 250 class mid way through the year. With the help of Brian, consistent finishes and not making many (or any) mistakes through the year came good at the end.
We had actually had another new winner in the class in the final race of the season, where one of the RAF guys got his head down and disappeared before anyone else realised what was going on. Silverstone provided us with some very challenging conditions all weekend, the penultimate race was wet and very greasy with numerous people going down throughout the race (including me!!). And the Sunday was no exception for the race of the year. I think something like 8 or 9 250's crashed out or stopped in the first few laps of the race leaving a top 3 of Jerry, Richard Cheetham and myself. Richard caught me and passed with a lap to go, but I lined him up and passed on the final corner before promptly missing a gear driving out towards the 'Sheene/Roberts' finish line allowing Richard to beat me by less than 0.1s - typical of my weekend I'm afraid! (Watch the video, grrr) Still, 2nd in the race of the year got me a nice little trophy to take home, and that proved to be a good warm-up for the 350 twins race of the year where I finished in 3rd place which was even better.
For the others it was also a mixed weekend, Dad had some machinery issues but ultimately rid himself of the dreaded orange bib, and Keith had some steady rides on Saturday before his motor finally gave up in the final race on Sunday. This is presumed to have holed a piston on the R/H pot. Having let Dad have a ride of his RD at Snetterton, the feedback for Keith was pretty clear that the Yam was well down on power compared to the X7 anyway, so will want a good strip down / rebuild & setup over the winter. Both Dad and Keith have their work cut out to keep up with Colin's 230cc Benelli next year which has turned out to be as good as it looks and will be a quick bike in the class for sure.
So the championship was all but out of reach going into the final race, and although we got the bike fixed-up and ready post crash, all Jerry really needed to do was follow me home across the line to win the title - and he did. Well done to Jerry who has been there all season to keep pressure on, especially once John Warwick had wrapped in with the 250 class mid way through the year. With the help of Brian, consistent finishes and not making many (or any) mistakes through the year came good at the end.
We had actually had another new winner in the class in the final race of the season, where one of the RAF guys got his head down and disappeared before anyone else realised what was going on. Silverstone provided us with some very challenging conditions all weekend, the penultimate race was wet and very greasy with numerous people going down throughout the race (including me!!). And the Sunday was no exception for the race of the year. I think something like 8 or 9 250's crashed out or stopped in the first few laps of the race leaving a top 3 of Jerry, Richard Cheetham and myself. Richard caught me and passed with a lap to go, but I lined him up and passed on the final corner before promptly missing a gear driving out towards the 'Sheene/Roberts' finish line allowing Richard to beat me by less than 0.1s - typical of my weekend I'm afraid! (Watch the video, grrr) Still, 2nd in the race of the year got me a nice little trophy to take home, and that proved to be a good warm-up for the 350 twins race of the year where I finished in 3rd place which was even better.
For the others it was also a mixed weekend, Dad had some machinery issues but ultimately rid himself of the dreaded orange bib, and Keith had some steady rides on Saturday before his motor finally gave up in the final race on Sunday. This is presumed to have holed a piston on the R/H pot. Having let Dad have a ride of his RD at Snetterton, the feedback for Keith was pretty clear that the Yam was well down on power compared to the X7 anyway, so will want a good strip down / rebuild & setup over the winter. Both Dad and Keith have their work cut out to keep up with Colin's 230cc Benelli next year which has turned out to be as good as it looks and will be a quick bike in the class for sure.
Having binned the Maxton in race one, this meant I missed the first race on the K4 as back to back again. Missing the first race in both classes was a bit of a pain as it effectively demoted me to the back of the grid for the entire weekend, but on a positive note the K4 was really flying again after Nigel rectified some of the issues we had at Snetterton (poorly clutch). The race of the year on the K4 was wet and slippery, however I clung on and watched several front runners fall victim to the slippery tarmac and came across the line in 3rd which was really positive for the weekend. Unfortunately however, that will be the final time I ride the bike as it now has a new owner - hence I was on strict instructions not to fall off during the final race as the new owner was waiting to load it into the van after the race! I managed to stay on, just....
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Dad also scored the best result of his racing career, finishing 4th in the race of the year in the 250 class! A steady ride watching those ahead drop like flies proved to be a good tactic for the final race in tricky conditions, so now he has his sights getting the X7 among the front runners next year. I have a video below from the race of they year, including the fatal final corner missed gear that allowed Richard to pip me to the line.
So finally another round of Thank-you's for this season... Colin Western and Nigel Collier have both really put themselves out for me this year with lending their bikes and also their time - thanks guys. I really appreciate it, and hopefully I'm not a 'diva' motorcycle racer where that goes un-noticed. Also lots of friends and family have come out very often this season to watch, in both good and bad conditions to support, which makes every weekend a lot more enjoyable so thank-you and please keep coming next year for more...
Goes without saying Keith's BBQ skills kept us fed with Bratwurst & Frikadella's every meeting, while Marcy / Mum and Natalie have all added the feminine touch to a race weekend that all the blokes love but probably wouldn't admit to.... ;-)
Goes without saying Keith's BBQ skills kept us fed with Bratwurst & Frikadella's every meeting, while Marcy / Mum and Natalie have all added the feminine touch to a race weekend that all the blokes love but probably wouldn't admit to.... ;-)
Thanks also go to sponsors Moto71.co.uk and Mick Abbey tuning for continued support, please have a scroll through the sponsors page and have a look at their websites for more info on services offered. I'll be posting a bit of a season wrap up in a week or so with some details of plans for next season which I'm currently working on now. :-) Keep an eye out for the update.
2016 CRMC ROUND 6 - SNETTERTON 200
Race report is a bit late this month as the day after Snetterton finished, we went straight over to watch the Manx GP on the Isle of Man. Snetterton 200 was expected to be a good weekend for us, particularly on the Maxton as I was leading the championship and we know its a very quick bike, ideal round Snetterton. Unfortunately, going in leading the championship proved to be a 'Jonah' as we had persistent issues through practice and into race 1, causing me to not even make the start line for the race. Having had a really good weekend at Donington, this was a huge disappointment and put the pressure on to get the bike right for the second race and the rest of the weekend. I went through the whole bike with a fine tooth comb and the only thing I could find was a fouled plug on the R/H cylinder. I made a small jetting change and kept my fingers crossed for the second race. Before Snett when I checked the bike over I found signs of the pistons contacting the heads, so I had to fit a thicker base gasket to compensate as a quick fix, this clearly altered the squish/compression and the jetting which caused the plug to foul up.
Having not started the first race I defaulted to the back of the grid, which was a long way back. There was a bit of a bet going on in our garage (which I wasn't aware of) between Nigel and Keith as to when I would catch the front pack - Nigel's money was me passing Keith by the first corner and sure enough I got a rocket start and moved into 3rd place by the time I got round to the back straight. I spent the race catching up with Jerry, but wasn't able to make a pass and finished 2nd in class - pretty happy with that from the back and it also gave me a good grid for Sunday morning as Id set the fastest lap of the 250's.
My DNS although disappointing for me was healthy for the championship, as it couldn't be closer. John Warwick had suffered another DNF and decided to park his 250 for the weekend, essentially ruling him out the running despite being the quickest for the first half of the season. Myself and Jerry Longland have had a season long scrap and this continued on the Sunday with some more very close racing....
Having not started the first race I defaulted to the back of the grid, which was a long way back. There was a bit of a bet going on in our garage (which I wasn't aware of) between Nigel and Keith as to when I would catch the front pack - Nigel's money was me passing Keith by the first corner and sure enough I got a rocket start and moved into 3rd place by the time I got round to the back straight. I spent the race catching up with Jerry, but wasn't able to make a pass and finished 2nd in class - pretty happy with that from the back and it also gave me a good grid for Sunday morning as Id set the fastest lap of the 250's.
My DNS although disappointing for me was healthy for the championship, as it couldn't be closer. John Warwick had suffered another DNF and decided to park his 250 for the weekend, essentially ruling him out the running despite being the quickest for the first half of the season. Myself and Jerry Longland have had a season long scrap and this continued on the Sunday with some more very close racing....
This photo pretty much sums up the weekend at Snett and most of the season so far for me and Jerry. I suspect it will be much the same at the final meeting of the year - although I'll be trying to break away harder than ever!! The Saturday's racing at Snett had been salvaged with that 2nd place finish and I was feeling good for the Sunday. Unfortunately things were not getting any easier on the K4 either, as it was struggling for speed and power and I was having to hang it out big time just to keep in the top 6 region that I would normally be comfortably amongst, particularly with a few of the top bikes/riders over on the IOM classic TT.
In the end we found the issue with the K4, which turned out to be a porous carb float full of petrol... Not something I have seen before, but it was seriously affecting the fuelling and causing the engine to run very very hot. We also made a gearing change which helped as the first 2 races I wasn't able to get into 5th, not helped by the loss of power from the engine. In the last race we had it almost sorted, although the race was spoiled slightly by the entry of a mobile chicane into the normally fast K4 class (with a very un-pleasant rider on board), it was some kind of big 2 stroke that stopped mid corner and then powered past very closely (touching elbows) on the straights, very frustrating... Nigel left Sunday evening with another small 'to do' list to get the K4 ready for Silverstone, including a new carb float and a dyno session.
In the end we found the issue with the K4, which turned out to be a porous carb float full of petrol... Not something I have seen before, but it was seriously affecting the fuelling and causing the engine to run very very hot. We also made a gearing change which helped as the first 2 races I wasn't able to get into 5th, not helped by the loss of power from the engine. In the last race we had it almost sorted, although the race was spoiled slightly by the entry of a mobile chicane into the normally fast K4 class (with a very un-pleasant rider on board), it was some kind of big 2 stroke that stopped mid corner and then powered past very closely (touching elbows) on the straights, very frustrating... Nigel left Sunday evening with another small 'to do' list to get the K4 ready for Silverstone, including a new carb float and a dyno session.
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On the Moto71 Maxton, the Sunday consisted of 2 wins, with a good bit of fairing bashing as seen in photo above around the hairpin. Also a very scary final lap in race 3 when the front end felt quite vague for me in the 2nd half of the final lap, only to find the front tyre completely flat on the cool down lap - very scary... An old inner tube to blame for that so now changed for a new dunlop one by Ken Inwood.
Keith had a slightly frustrating weekend, battling among the usual RAF crowd but finding his bike doesn't quite have the legs on the straights compared to some of the other bikes in the class now. This winter will consist of re-fitting fairing, engine refresh and a major diet for the bike including spoked wheels and new brackets / foot pegs and bodywork. The X7 was slightly problematic at Snett, which we eventually traced to a loose ignition stator causing the rotor to contact and burn it out. We didn't have our spare so Keith very kindly lent Dad his RD so that he could get a second signature from the weekend to get shot of his orange bib, Dad didn't really get comfortable on the RD, especially when myself, Jerry, Clive and Andy Guy all passed him into the 1st corner on our final lap! But It served a purpose and Dad got the second signature from the weekend that he needed.
Keith had a slightly frustrating weekend, battling among the usual RAF crowd but finding his bike doesn't quite have the legs on the straights compared to some of the other bikes in the class now. This winter will consist of re-fitting fairing, engine refresh and a major diet for the bike including spoked wheels and new brackets / foot pegs and bodywork. The X7 was slightly problematic at Snett, which we eventually traced to a loose ignition stator causing the rotor to contact and burn it out. We didn't have our spare so Keith very kindly lent Dad his RD so that he could get a second signature from the weekend to get shot of his orange bib, Dad didn't really get comfortable on the RD, especially when myself, Jerry, Clive and Andy Guy all passed him into the 1st corner on our final lap! But It served a purpose and Dad got the second signature from the weekend that he needed.
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So overall a very good weekend for all, and we head into the final round 2nd place in the championship. I am currently trailing Jerry by 6 points... although he stands to lose 10 of those points as only the best 22 results count. Its very close, and going to be good test at Silverstone, which is a circuit we haven't raced at since my 1st orange bib season 5 years ago... We have a bit of a break until then so a chance to catch up with everything away from racing before getting the bike sorted for the finale on the 7/8/9th October. Cant wait..!
PS - Sorry no video's from this weekend... The issues we had with the bike to all the priority to get sorted meaning we couldnt get camera authorization sorted in time for racing... Will make sure we get some for the final racing this year.
2016 CRMC ROUND 5 - DONNINGTON CLASSIC FESTIVAL:
Heading to Donnington we felt pretty confident having had a good week at Aberdare the weekend previous. It was a shame not to have the K4 ride, but may have taken the pressure off the weekend as I would have had 14 races and 5 qualifying sessions to do with all 3 bikes, which would now be 9 and 3 without the Honda. Both myself and Nigel were gutted as Donnington would normally be one of my strongest meetings of the yer so a shame not to have the K4 there...
We got to Donnington early as its getting notoriously difficult to find a decent spot in the paddock at this meeting which is a massive event by club standard. We were all set up ready Thursday evening including scrutineering which made Friday morning a bit easier. Straight into qualifying on the Moto71 Harris which I had entered into the PC750 class and also the Wheatcroft trophy race which would be the first racing I'd done on this bike all year. I then jumped onto the Moto71 Maxton Yamaha and set a very good qualifying time putting me 4th on the grid right behind John Warwick. The first 2 races were back to back, so we dropped the 250 down to the collecting area before heading out on the 350 - this actually works quite well as you get your brain up to speed and then jump straight into the next race raring to go... I finished 12th in the PC750 class and enjoyed the race getting slowly quicker each lap on the Harris without pushing too hard for fear of missing the next race on the 250. The 250 race was really tight as they have been this season, John Warwick set the initial pace but then suffered mechanical issue allowing me to breeze past him on the last lap taking the win having maintained a 100yd gap behind him all race. Jerry Longland came home 2nd, and this tightened the championship top 3 up no end. Keith and Dad were enjoying some good races, with Dad getting the better starts and Keith having to work his way back past in the early laps. The RAF team have all stepped up a gear with their California superbike school trained rider leading the charge, so this is now Keith's challenge each race to stay with them and make a race of it with Chris Bartlett on his Maxton.
We got to Donnington early as its getting notoriously difficult to find a decent spot in the paddock at this meeting which is a massive event by club standard. We were all set up ready Thursday evening including scrutineering which made Friday morning a bit easier. Straight into qualifying on the Moto71 Harris which I had entered into the PC750 class and also the Wheatcroft trophy race which would be the first racing I'd done on this bike all year. I then jumped onto the Moto71 Maxton Yamaha and set a very good qualifying time putting me 4th on the grid right behind John Warwick. The first 2 races were back to back, so we dropped the 250 down to the collecting area before heading out on the 350 - this actually works quite well as you get your brain up to speed and then jump straight into the next race raring to go... I finished 12th in the PC750 class and enjoyed the race getting slowly quicker each lap on the Harris without pushing too hard for fear of missing the next race on the 250. The 250 race was really tight as they have been this season, John Warwick set the initial pace but then suffered mechanical issue allowing me to breeze past him on the last lap taking the win having maintained a 100yd gap behind him all race. Jerry Longland came home 2nd, and this tightened the championship top 3 up no end. Keith and Dad were enjoying some good races, with Dad getting the better starts and Keith having to work his way back past in the early laps. The RAF team have all stepped up a gear with their California superbike school trained rider leading the charge, so this is now Keith's challenge each race to stay with them and make a race of it with Chris Bartlett on his Maxton.
Friday all done and into Saturday we only had one race per class, so 2 for me before the Wheatcroft qualifying session. Same pattern as yesterday really, nice steady race in the PC750 on the Harris to avoid any upsets and then out on the Maxton to push hard for the win with John Warwick clearly struggling machinery wise. One of the Finnish riders disappeared into the distance on his Aermacchi which was un-expected, and I had a race with the other Finnish rider on his very fast Bridgestone machine. He pipped me to 2nd with a good move into the esses on the last lap, but I was still very happy to take the class win with Jerry Longland again in 2nd place. In the Wheatcroft qualifying I pushed a bit harder knowing I had no back to back race ahead and improved my lap time for the weekend by over a 2nd to qualify 27th on the very competitive grid line-up. Dad and Keith enjoyed another good race, Dad finding more pace and improving his lap time on the X7 to a 1m38s, but still shy of Keith's 1m35s. We had made a big change to Keith's suspension between 1st and 2nd races which he felt was an improvement, but hadn't yet shown in the lap time so we need to have a look at that before Snetterton for him.
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Sunday morning I decided to drop the PC750 back to back races on the Harris, the 250 Air-cooled championship had really tightened up over the previous 2 days putting me right in contention and I didn't want to risk damaging that with a miss-hap on the Harris which I had only entered for fun. Sunday morning we had an early race and then one in the afternoon on the 250's, and I had the Wheatcroft trophy straight after lunch. Out on the Maxton - Jerry pushed really hard early and It took me a couple of laps to catch up and get past. Symon Woodward appeared in the top 3 for a few early laps so I had to carefully work my way by him which you'll see in the video footage... My bike clearly had the legs on Jerry's but he still fought a hard race with some great moves into Red-gate and the esses, and it was an extremely tight finish with me taking the win by 0.03 of a second after a run to the line. Keith finished 7th with Dad only 4s behind in 8th - neither of them able to stay with the RAF lads on this occasion but Dad clearly using Keith as a target to improve his lap times and race pace.
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With 3 wins from 3 from the weekend - I was very happy and heading out into the Wheatcroft with a relaxed feeling hoping to get down to last years race pace on the Harris which would have moved me up a few places in the race for sure. The grid walk was a nice change, Dad came out to lend a hand getting the bike started once all the pre-amble was done (Natalie didn't fancy doing the brolly dolly bit for me). Into the race I got a decent start on the Harris and slowly picked my way past a group of four big 4 strokes who found it very easy to blast past me on the straights but not so easy on the brakes. I finished the race in 19th, making up 8 positions on the way in a field which is basically all the top riders in the club out on the grid at once. George Rusling won the race with Alex Sinclair 2nd and Ant Hart in 3rd on his TZ. I managed a 1m24 flat lap which is still shy of my best last season but much improved for this weekend. The top guys are all running 1m17s lap average so I have a way to go to match that yet! This is the last wheel turned for the Harris this season which will go into rebuild this winter ready for next season.
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Last race of the weekend on the 250, I felt extremely nervous sat on the grid where I had moved up to 3rd from the lap times in the previous race. I had the opportunity to take a clean sweep of wins with John Warwick still not able to sort his RD out for the last race. I decided to try and tuck in behind Jeff Smith who had rode the wheels off his Bridgestone all weekend and won 2 of the 3 races outright. I got and good start and tucked in behind Jeff for 2 laps, he then started to pull away from me. Couple of looks behind I had Jerry right on my tail on his X7, although he'd not made a sustainable move for the lead in the 250AC class as yet. I kept it steady and focused on the win even though I could hear Jerry's X7 right in my slipstream most of the race. Last lap flag came out and I expected Jerry to make a move although it never came, and I finished the weekend with another class win on the Moto71 Maxton 250. Jerry had actually suffered a mechanical failure on the last lap hence no move for the win came, (jhe assures me it would have been a dive on the brakes into the esses!!) he finished in 6th place which has strengthened my position in the championship. Keith crossed the line in 7th and Dad was way back having left the tarmac for some grass tracking twice in the final race of the weekend - no they are not nobbly tyres fitted to the X7!
So after a superb weekend for all involved we head to Snetterton at the end of the month with big smiles on our faces. Keith has made some improvements to the handling of his bike, but we still have more tweaks to do yet to get it right I think. Dad has found some pace on the X7 (if only he could keep it on the tarmac) and I'm leading the AC championship by 16pt's and in a pretty strong position with 6 races to go... The Harris goes back under its blanket till next year, and the RD's & X7 are running sweet so usual checks to do before Snett in 3 weeks. We also have a new Gazebo to play with after the existing 4 year old one took off while packing up at Donnington and mangled itself beyond repair...
I have some video footage from the weekend which will tell you how close things were all weekend, and also how fast you can make a 200cc 2 stroke Bridgestone compared to and RD250 and an X7, enjoy!!
I have some video footage from the weekend which will tell you how close things were all weekend, and also how fast you can make a 200cc 2 stroke Bridgestone compared to and RD250 and an X7, enjoy!!
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Big thanks as always to sponsors Moto71.co.uk and Mick Abbey tuning. Also thank-you to Colin Western for letting me use his lovely Maxton this year which has been superb. Also thanks to Natalie, Mum and Marcy for putting up with all this bike stuff, which I have to say has been pretty full on this summer! We'd never be able to do all this racing without support from everyone and plentiful supply of tea which we had at Donnington this weekend. :-)
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ABERDARE PARK NATIONAL ROAD RACES 2016:
We set off to Aberdare with a decent looking forecast and fingers crossed that it wouldn't turn out like last years wash out... Sure enough it was raining on arrival but only drizzle and by the morning it was perfect conditions and stayed that way all weekend. I didn't end up taking the Harris 350 as I'd planned, wanting to keep it prepared for Donnington the following weekend. I took the Moto71 Maxton Yamaha and Nigel Collier met me there with the Hagon 350 Honda (which we ended up using most the weekend). Practice went well on both bikes and I felt pretty comfortable and pretty fast right from the off. I was quicker on the Honda so I used that in the Air-cooled races as well as the Golden era that I had entered the Harris 350 into. Straight from the off we finished 2nd in Air-cooled race behind Alex SIncair on his 500 Vincent (thats as good as a win for me), and then a very respectable 3rd in the Golden era race among some much newer and more competitive machinery. Lap times were looking good straight into 45/46s region so we were feeling good for the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately a mix up with my entries meant that I missed the first Welsh classic race, which was a little disappointing, but plenty more racing lined up for the weekend with 4 races per class and 4 classes entered!
Saturday afternoon I had 3 back to back races to look forward to (very tiring round the park circuit!) as well as a run out on the Maxton in the 125-400cc Junior class. I rode the Maxton pretty hard in the junior class but the other bikes out there were much more competitive and I finished 7th in that race which was probably the best achievable result. In the afternoon I grabbed another 2nd in the Air-cooled race behind Alex, and then another impressive 5th in the Golden Era class, before heading out for the welsh classic on a very hot 350K4 that refused to find neutral on the out lap.. I therefore missed the 2nd welsh classic race of the day and ruled out any chance of a trophy in that class for the Saturday's racing.
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,Onto Sundays racing the sun was shining and it was much hotter out on track which was nice but very stifling in the collecting area for all the riders... First race of the day was the air-cooled where I got more of a race with Ben Cole on his 350K4, he took 2nd just ahead of me after some close racing throughout the race. I seemed to get gapped off the line and had to put in a hard first lap to catch back to the top 3 and then try and find a way past - this was the plan for the day ahead... Another 5th in the Golden era class on a 1974 machine put a smile on Nigel's face followed by another 3rd in the Welsh Classic race which I finally made finishing again behind Ben Cole and Alex the winner on his Vincent. The issue of getting off the line was likely due to difference in gearing but we stayed as we were as happy with gear changes for the circuit but may look at changing for next year as a trial.
I sat out the remainder of the Junior 125-400 races as it hardly seemed worth going out against much newer machinery, and I then scored my worst result of the weekend in the Air-cooled race after a very scary moment knocking the bike into Neutral, just braking hard into Paddock Bend. This unsettled my race and cost me the podium spot where I had been challenging for another 2nd place. (Happy to have kept the bike on the track though). Having had issues with the bike getting very hot previously we opted to miss the middle Golden Era race in preparation for a push in the final welsh classic, only to get the sighting lap done before the cam chain tensioner broke up leaving me only able to complete half a lap...
I sat out the remainder of the Junior 125-400 races as it hardly seemed worth going out against much newer machinery, and I then scored my worst result of the weekend in the Air-cooled race after a very scary moment knocking the bike into Neutral, just braking hard into Paddock Bend. This unsettled my race and cost me the podium spot where I had been challenging for another 2nd place. (Happy to have kept the bike on the track though). Having had issues with the bike getting very hot previously we opted to miss the middle Golden Era race in preparation for a push in the final welsh classic, only to get the sighting lap done before the cam chain tensioner broke up leaving me only able to complete half a lap...
Overall a very pleasing performance from the weekend from bike and rider, with a little disappointment to finish, but these things happen when your ride these bikes as hard as we do! I recorded my fastest ever lap time round the Park by over a second and my first 45s lap on the same machinery so happy with that too. Some very close and competitive racing between myself, Arthur Browning, Mike Bevan and Ben Cole gave the crowd something to watch and I have had lots of coverage on Facebook with people commenting on how close and exciting the classic bikes were this year which is cool.
This cleared all bad memories of Anglesey for both myself and Nigel, but does mean I have no K4 ride for Donnington which is hugely disappointing, and also leaves Nige a few minor jobs to do on the K4 before Snetterton at the end of August. As always massive thank-you to Nigel for providing/preparing and 'spannering' the K4 for me trackside - appreciate the work and effort that goes in. Also continued support from Moto71.co.uk is helping me make so many meetings this year so big ongoing thanks to Darren for that. Please visit Moto71.co.uk and mention SCC-Racing is your looking to buy Oils/consumables for your machine, road or race.
This cleared all bad memories of Anglesey for both myself and Nigel, but does mean I have no K4 ride for Donnington which is hugely disappointing, and also leaves Nige a few minor jobs to do on the K4 before Snetterton at the end of August. As always massive thank-you to Nigel for providing/preparing and 'spannering' the K4 for me trackside - appreciate the work and effort that goes in. Also continued support from Moto71.co.uk is helping me make so many meetings this year so big ongoing thanks to Darren for that. Please visit Moto71.co.uk and mention SCC-Racing is your looking to buy Oils/consumables for your machine, road or race.
2016 CRMC ROUND 4 - ANGLESEY TRAC MON:
Heading to Anglesey for the friday track day the forecast was mixed, expecting sunshine for the first day and then rain for the rest of the weekend. I had booked a garage for the weekend and got myself set-up thrusday morning before heading out onto te track with the Harris for some fun (novice group only though). Sure enough friday it was bright and breezy - perfect conditions for testing the bikes and I had a superb day clocking 70 odd laps on the Moto71 Harris Yamaha. Saturday morning however was very different, with torrential heavy rain and high gusting winds. Long story short we got practice in and our first race, but the track officials quickly decided to abandon racing for the day mainly due to the high winds. I didn't enjoy race one at all, with the wind gusting at the top of the circuit, hitting apex's and exit rumble strips was to be avoided at all costs as you could be blown off line by 1m easily... I came across the line 3rd having made a decent start, but failed to stay with Jerry and John Warwick who is very strong in the wet won by a comfortable margin of over 10s. Keith came in 4th, a great result for him making the most of the tough conditions.
The race program was then packed into the Sunday, with a plan for everyone to get at least 3 of their 4 races all at reduced laps... It felt optimistic but to be fair to the club the day went smoothly and everyone got their races in. For me it was a busy day with 2 races on the Maxton scheduled among 3 races on the K4 which I had only practiced on in the rain Saturday morning. Sundays weather was bright and sunny, but the wind remained an issue all day. Out on the Maxton for race 2 I suffered terrible chatter on the front round the first corner and very nearly ran onto the grass on the exit on the second lap. I also found the wind up at the top of the circuit awkward and ended up getting caught by Graeme Acott 2 corner from the end of the race dropping into 4th place. For the last race of the day I wanted to go out a push a bit harder, having made a minor tweak to the bike try and help the chatter. This seemed to improve and I knocked a further 2s off my lap time for the weekend and managed to tuck in behind Jerry for the duration of the race although not really able to take the race to him for 2nd spot.
On to the K4, things were equally tough due to the weather although the 4 stroke was a lot easier to manage in the difficult conditions. I had some good tussles with David Tetley on his Aermacchi throughout all 3 races which was fun, however I was unable to achieve my target of top 6 in the 350 twins this weekend which was a little dis-appointing. The bike felt down on speed in the first race and the headwind was definitely an issue on the back straight... We decided to drop a tooth on the front and this improved things. In the first race I got blown completely off the track by a gust of wind as I was coming over the crest before the corkscrew which was pretty scary - this knocked the race confidence a little. In the last race the K4 was coughing and spluttering, particularly on the last lap. Nige has since checked the bike over and found and rectified a couple of minor issues that would have caused a loss of power/speed, not helping race pace and results from the weekend. Ultimately the wind blew the confidence out of me right from the off on both the bikes, so no excuses on my behalf I just wasn't feeling confident to push hard.
Having said that, I salvaged some decent results... I took 9th in race 1 and 10th in the other 2 races on the Nige Collier racing K4 and then two 3rd's and a 4th on the Moto71 Maxton Yamaha. Not too bad considering the how the weekend panned out for me.
Now its time to focus onto the next meeting for me which is the main event of the season at Aberdate Park on the last weekend of July. I am really looking forward to this meeting cant wait to get back to the park and build on the progress I made there last year. I'll be piloting the Nigel Collier racing K4 again in the Welsh classic and the Moto71 Maxton Yamaha in the Aircooled 500 class - fingers crossed for the weather this year.
Now its time to focus onto the next meeting for me which is the main event of the season at Aberdate Park on the last weekend of July. I am really looking forward to this meeting cant wait to get back to the park and build on the progress I made there last year. I'll be piloting the Nigel Collier racing K4 again in the Welsh classic and the Moto71 Maxton Yamaha in the Aircooled 500 class - fingers crossed for the weather this year.
2016 CRMC ROUND 3 - CADWELL PARK:
Ok so my outstanding record of crashing motorcycle's at Cadwell Park has been retained this last weekend at Cadwell Park. It's a horrible habit but at least I'm experimenting with which corner to fall off on. :-)
On the 250 Maxton, the first race had fallen into my hands with John Warwick having fallen off early in the race and Jerry having been held up in that incident I was clear away in the lead. Only problem was I didnt realise this and was still pushing like they were chasing behind me. I had a good look behind and could see a decent gap so started to roll off slightly, until I got shown a wheel up the inside - I pushed back on and unfortunately tucked the front on the brakes at Mansfield which is a notorious corner to fall off at. I was gutted as when the bike went down it knocked the tank which now has a dent. (To be repaired end of the season). Jerry also failed to finish the race after an engine failure so no harm done in terms of the championship - but a missed opportunity to close things right up.
Crashing out in that race meant that I missed my back to back race on the Nige Collier Racing 350 Honda - which was even more disappointing as I had a 3rd place grid start for that race, but would now be relegated to the back of the grid for Saturdays Race 2. Bit battered and bruised from the crash, but we got the bike sorted out ASAP and were ready for Saturday mornings race by end of play Friday.
Saturday morning we woke up to thick foggy conditions and a slippery track to face. Back to back races for me again, so I headed out on the Maxton first with a plan to jump straight onto the Honda after the race. The Maxton race went really well, conditions were horrible and the thick fog made visibility pretty poor at certain points on the circuit. Me and Jerry had a good race, both leading for periods with me clearly faster from Mansfield to the finish line and Jerry clearly faster on the rest of the circuit. On the last lap I knew Jerry would make a move but I also knew that If I rolled round the last corner right behind him my bike had the legs to the finish line that I had seen on the laps before - and that plan worked perfectly. At that point we though we were racing for 2nd but as it turned out John Warwick had broken down so that was a win for me. I came in off the Maxton and jumped onto the Honda to line uo on the grid in 38th position. At Cadwell Park that is a very long way back!! I knew I could make the most of the conditions having just been out on the Maxton, so i pressed on and made it through the field to 5th place by the 5th lap. I was trying to find my way into 4th spot but couldnt get the better of the guy in front - then disaster struck! I made up my mind not to push any harder as I had a afew moments on the rear of the bike, however when we came into the final corner of the race I tried to take a different line up the inside of a back marker the back came round on me and down I went. Absolutely gutted to have made up all that time in the race and the chucked it away in the final corner!
On the 250 Maxton, the first race had fallen into my hands with John Warwick having fallen off early in the race and Jerry having been held up in that incident I was clear away in the lead. Only problem was I didnt realise this and was still pushing like they were chasing behind me. I had a good look behind and could see a decent gap so started to roll off slightly, until I got shown a wheel up the inside - I pushed back on and unfortunately tucked the front on the brakes at Mansfield which is a notorious corner to fall off at. I was gutted as when the bike went down it knocked the tank which now has a dent. (To be repaired end of the season). Jerry also failed to finish the race after an engine failure so no harm done in terms of the championship - but a missed opportunity to close things right up.
Crashing out in that race meant that I missed my back to back race on the Nige Collier Racing 350 Honda - which was even more disappointing as I had a 3rd place grid start for that race, but would now be relegated to the back of the grid for Saturdays Race 2. Bit battered and bruised from the crash, but we got the bike sorted out ASAP and were ready for Saturday mornings race by end of play Friday.
Saturday morning we woke up to thick foggy conditions and a slippery track to face. Back to back races for me again, so I headed out on the Maxton first with a plan to jump straight onto the Honda after the race. The Maxton race went really well, conditions were horrible and the thick fog made visibility pretty poor at certain points on the circuit. Me and Jerry had a good race, both leading for periods with me clearly faster from Mansfield to the finish line and Jerry clearly faster on the rest of the circuit. On the last lap I knew Jerry would make a move but I also knew that If I rolled round the last corner right behind him my bike had the legs to the finish line that I had seen on the laps before - and that plan worked perfectly. At that point we though we were racing for 2nd but as it turned out John Warwick had broken down so that was a win for me. I came in off the Maxton and jumped onto the Honda to line uo on the grid in 38th position. At Cadwell Park that is a very long way back!! I knew I could make the most of the conditions having just been out on the Maxton, so i pressed on and made it through the field to 5th place by the 5th lap. I was trying to find my way into 4th spot but couldnt get the better of the guy in front - then disaster struck! I made up my mind not to push any harder as I had a afew moments on the rear of the bike, however when we came into the final corner of the race I tried to take a different line up the inside of a back marker the back came round on me and down I went. Absolutely gutted to have made up all that time in the race and the chucked it away in the final corner!
It was hugely disappointing to have crashed out of 2 races so early in the weekend, particularly from such good positions in each race, but to think +ve, I was looking a feeling very confident on both bikes and with a little more luck things would have been very different.
The 3rd race of the weekend on the Maxton was another close one, with John out of contention is was again a battle between me and Jerry - probably the most exciting race of the weekend with lots of passing and position changes. Jerry impressed me with a move around the outside through the gooseneck which told me he meant business for this race! My friends and family thoroughly enjoyed the race and despite best efforts to keep Jerry behind he came past me half way through the last lap and I wasn't able to roll up behind him as close in the final corner and finished a very close 2nd.
We had the Honda fixed ready for Race 3 saturday afternoon after some frantic repair work in the paddock including; Brake Master cylinder repaired and re-bled, new lever, fairing repairs, new clip on, tank repairs, removal of broken bracket etc. Nothing major but all takes time. When I got out on the bike I had been given 8th on the grid which isn't too bad. I got a decent start and sat comfortably in the top ten, the only thing slowing me down was the front brake lever... because the spare clip on we had fitted was different to the original, the brake lever was really high up and although working perfectly well was uncomfortable to ride with and quite tiring. I finished the race in 9th with a reasonable fastest lap albeit nowhere near what I could have done if the weekend had gone smoother!
The 3rd race of the weekend on the Maxton was another close one, with John out of contention is was again a battle between me and Jerry - probably the most exciting race of the weekend with lots of passing and position changes. Jerry impressed me with a move around the outside through the gooseneck which told me he meant business for this race! My friends and family thoroughly enjoyed the race and despite best efforts to keep Jerry behind he came past me half way through the last lap and I wasn't able to roll up behind him as close in the final corner and finished a very close 2nd.
We had the Honda fixed ready for Race 3 saturday afternoon after some frantic repair work in the paddock including; Brake Master cylinder repaired and re-bled, new lever, fairing repairs, new clip on, tank repairs, removal of broken bracket etc. Nothing major but all takes time. When I got out on the bike I had been given 8th on the grid which isn't too bad. I got a decent start and sat comfortably in the top ten, the only thing slowing me down was the front brake lever... because the spare clip on we had fitted was different to the original, the brake lever was really high up and although working perfectly well was uncomfortable to ride with and quite tiring. I finished the race in 9th with a reasonable fastest lap albeit nowhere near what I could have done if the weekend had gone smoother!
So with Saturday out the way we only had 2 races lined up for Sunday. I had booked for the Colin Breeze trophy but after the weekend so far I decided I wasn't going to be entering that race feeling pretty sore with my bumps and bruises.
First race on the Sunday was the Maxton, John Warwick had his 250 sorted and was back out in the lead after the first lap. I hung on for a lap or so before he broke away and I then focussed on staying in front of Jerry (again), which this time I managed again by the narrowest margin. The Maxton has been going so well and Im feeling more comfortable on it all the time (despite dropping it), so finished that last race feeling pretty good about how the weekend had gone with a win and couple of 2nd's... It was however a disappointing end to the weekend on the Honda, as it would appear the bash that the tank took had shaken up some debris and mid race the bike started to hold back and miss due to fuel starvation which we discovered once back in the paddock.
First race on the Sunday was the Maxton, John Warwick had his 250 sorted and was back out in the lead after the first lap. I hung on for a lap or so before he broke away and I then focussed on staying in front of Jerry (again), which this time I managed again by the narrowest margin. The Maxton has been going so well and Im feeling more comfortable on it all the time (despite dropping it), so finished that last race feeling pretty good about how the weekend had gone with a win and couple of 2nd's... It was however a disappointing end to the weekend on the Honda, as it would appear the bash that the tank took had shaken up some debris and mid race the bike started to hold back and miss due to fuel starvation which we discovered once back in the paddock.
The photo above largely tells the story of the weekend! Fortunately I picked up some decent results amongst the bad, and currently sit 2nd in the AC250 Championship by only 1 point, and 7th in the 350 Twins championship which isn't too bad considering I only scored one result from the whole weekend.
On the other half of the SCC garage, Keith had a decent weekend with 4 finishes, and no mechanical issues for a change..! He also his fastest lap time around Cadwell to date almost breaking the 2min barrier. Dad had another rough weekend after loosing a piston circlip and wrecking another barrel in race 1, but he did manage to get the spare engine in and score 3 finishes from the remainder of the weekend. Fortunately, his engine failure didn't take Keith out who was following closely behind early in the race after a slow grid start! Keith is getting faster all the time as is Dad on the X7, the 250 class is getting to be a fuller grid now and will start moving on in terms of competition by the end of the season - its starting to get interesting!
Photo below taken by our photographer Marcy Howard shows Keith closely followed by one of the RAF 250's - some good racing right through the field...
On the other half of the SCC garage, Keith had a decent weekend with 4 finishes, and no mechanical issues for a change..! He also his fastest lap time around Cadwell to date almost breaking the 2min barrier. Dad had another rough weekend after loosing a piston circlip and wrecking another barrel in race 1, but he did manage to get the spare engine in and score 3 finishes from the remainder of the weekend. Fortunately, his engine failure didn't take Keith out who was following closely behind early in the race after a slow grid start! Keith is getting faster all the time as is Dad on the X7, the 250 class is getting to be a fuller grid now and will start moving on in terms of competition by the end of the season - its starting to get interesting!
Photo below taken by our photographer Marcy Howard shows Keith closely followed by one of the RAF 250's - some good racing right through the field...
As always, thanks to Nigel and Colin for providing their bikes - and sorry to both for the crashing! Was great to have family and friends along to watch at Cadwell so thanks to those who came to cheer me on - it's kind of nice racing over the mountain knowing that there is a crowd watching.
And thanks for continued support from Darren and Vanessa Moto71.co.uk - please visit their website and use them for your motorcycle consumables including a range of oils / plugs / filters and more - superb service from people that understand motorcycles road and racing... Click on the photo below to link to their website directly;
You will have noticed no video's from this weekend unfortunately... I had issues with the camera and transferring of the data to my PC so nothing from Cadwell this year which is a real shame as there was some good close racing to watch. I'll be getting more footage at the next meeting including some of the 350 twins racing so look forward to that instead!
Next stop will be Anglesey in July, really looking forward to getting back up there for some racing!!
Next stop will be Anglesey in July, really looking forward to getting back up there for some racing!!
2016 CRMC ROUND 2 - CROFT:
We arrived at Croft circuit (having completed the epic 6 1/2 hour journey from down south) on the Thursday evening. I decided that I wanted to make it worth the trip and booked up the test day for some extra track time while we were there, and also to test out some changes I had made to the Maxton since Pembrey (see development page). The weather forecast was mixed for the weekend, but Friday morning was warm and dry so it started off well. Nigel would be travelling up with the K4 on the Friday, and arrived early afternoon. I had 3 runs out on the Maxton, spending the first two sessions testing the front & rear suspension and playing with the settings. Then the 3rd session was to press on and see how fast I could go on the 250. We had intended to run the K4 in the last session, but couldn't get it running in time and missed the session completely (not going into detail on why it wouldn't run but we got to the cause of the problem that evening and had her up and running first thing Friday).
After the last session on the Maxton, the engine started making a lot of noise. It was coming from the clutch, so I drained the oil and removed the side casing to find 2 of the clutch pressure plate bolts loose and rubbing on the inside of the casing. I used loctite before retightening the bolts, re-assembled the bike and the noise went away. So after a successful day's testing, we were ready for the weekend. All the bikes were scrutinized Friday evening and ready to go for the morning.
Since Pembrey I had adjusted the Maxton's pre-load spacers and the fork oil, having suffered with bad patter at the first time of riding. So far so good on the test day as the softer set-up and a thorough check of the front and rear suspension 'sag' had got the bike handling much better. I had also changed the seat unit, Colin gave me some original 'Dugdale' decals to get replicated by my local sign maker, and the Moto71 Maxton was certainly looking stunning in the sunshine....
Since Pembrey I had adjusted the Maxton's pre-load spacers and the fork oil, having suffered with bad patter at the first time of riding. So far so good on the test day as the softer set-up and a thorough check of the front and rear suspension 'sag' had got the bike handling much better. I had also changed the seat unit, Colin gave me some original 'Dugdale' decals to get replicated by my local sign maker, and the Moto71 Maxton was certainly looking stunning in the sunshine....
Cloudy skies but dry Saturday morning gave me a decent practice session on both bikes in the morning and ready for racing first thing after lunch. The Saturday morning was a bit more rushed for Keith as he had arrived late Friday night and still had sign-on and scrutineering to do, I actually found time to go for a run around the circuit Saturday morning which was nice - it gave me chance to check out all the bumps through the fast section of the circuit!
First race was a steady start - I got a decent run off the line and ran around in third just behind Jerry Longland and John Warwick away at the front. Fortunately for me and Jerry, John's bike nipped up and he retired leaving Jerry in 1st and me in 2nd. I found the Maxton very lively through the fast section and was still trying to push the bike harder and get comfortable on it. I crossed the line in 3rd place, 2nd in class having had Nick Johnson come past me on his BSA, so a pretty good start to the weekend. Keith finished in 7th place and 5th in class on his RD, but un-fortunately Dad had issues getting the X7 out of gear on this sighting lap, subsequently cooked the clutch on the line and then failed to get going in the race at all.
In race 2 things were abit more lively. I pushed Jerry all race for 2nd place, John still the pace setter at the front albeit slightly closer this time around. I made the most of the Maxton's speed advantage over the X7, and managed to get in front of Jerry and stay there with a quick lap making a small gap. John had already made the break so I was happy with another 2nd place for the weekend. Keith picked up another 6th in class, took some more time off his lap time and edged slightly closer to his target man Graeme Acott on the other X7. Dad rounded off a poor weekend of luck having broken down on the way to the collecting area with 2 failed pistons - 1 with a broken ring and the other with a chunk taken out the exhaust side of the crown. (Will update further details on the 'development' page for the X7). No spare engine for the X7 currently so that was weekend over for the Suzuki, and Dad would be spectating.
250 Aircooled Race 3 was a lot more lively... I was so eager to get going and try and make a break with growing confidence on the Maxton, I recorded a 'jump' start and got stuck with a 10s time penalty. This placed me 11th from the first lap... I had actually made a decent break and largely led the race for the first 3 or 4 laps with a top 3 of myself, Jerry Longland and John Warwick all changing places almost every other corner. I then made a mistake missing a gear and loosing lots of drive and lost out the lead to John who started to break away. Fortunately, as the race progressed we broke away from the following pack by more than 10s leaving me still in third despite the penalty. Of course I had no Idea of any of this during the race and was still trying to chase John and fend of Jerry who was pushing me hard in 3rd place. I crossed the line in 2nd behind John, with Jerry close behind after a great race. Clearly I was only awarded 3rd but was happy to have led the race for some time, and not been so far behind John who has up until that point dominated all the racing so far this year. One thing I can say after Croft is that the Moto71 Maxton is an extremely quick bike, as you will see on the video's from Race 1 and 2 at the bottom of this report. (Didn't get race 3 unfortunately). Keith finished his weekend strongly beating Graeme Acott on his X7 and recording an improved fastest lap time by over 3 seconds! He did however suffer a near miss when the engine 'nipped' up mid corner on the last lap and limped across the line sounding a bit noisy back in the paddock... Work to do for Keith before Cadwell Park!
On the 350 Honda - having picked up some good results at Pembrey, I started the weekend with a 3rd row grid start in 8th spot. This allowed me to get into the race without getting caught up mid pack and able to ride my own race just behind the top 5 or 6 bikes and this was pretty much the pattern for the weekend on the Honda. Race 1 I took 8th overall and 7th in class, Race 2 I took 7th overall and 6th in class and Race 3 I took 7th again, 6th in class. In race 2 I pushed 6th place quite hard but the Honda doesn't quite have the legs it needs to get up towards the front pack. We made some suspension adjustments and plan to fit some longer rear shocks before Cadwell to alter the geometry slightly, the bike handles very well so this is just minor tweaks to see if we can get a bit faster. I improved fastest lap times and race times each race, and finished the weekend with a 1m44s lap which I was really pleased with as was Nigel. Leaving Croft we are now lying in 4th place in the 350 twins championship and Nigel has gone away to see what else he can squeeze from the bike ready for Cadwell, where we will be looking to build on the season so far on the Honda.
Chasing the Top 5!
So here's a snapshot from the racing at Croft - race 2 only I'm afraid though, didn't catch race 3 due to camera issue. Lastly I'll finish off with some thank-you's as always.... Firstly to Nigel for travelling all the way up to Croft just for me to ride the K4, Colin Western for continued support with the Maxton and also to Moto71.co.uk for their sponsorship and support. Please visit their website by clicking on the logo to the left for all your motorcycle consumables and spare's needs...
Looking forward to getting up to Cadwell for the next round and a long weekend break, fingers crossed for decent weather!!
Looking forward to getting up to Cadwell for the next round and a long weekend break, fingers crossed for decent weather!!
2016 CRMC ROUND 1 - PEMBREY:
After what seemed like a very long winter break, I/we were really looking forward to getting going again this year. This is mainly due to the prospect of riding the new bike that I have been 'loaned' for the year to compete in the AC250 championship. Colin Western's Maxton is a superb little bike, very well put together and thought out and was sure to be very different to my X7... A rough test day at Brands meant that we had a last minute rush to get it ready, but Grampian motors came through for us and turned the RD250 crank around for us in 2 days (superb service as always). With the bike all back together and looking very tidy in our original colour scheme, we headed to Pembrey keen and eager to get going. The test day immediately got off to a difficult start though, with the Maxton only making it to the hairpin before stopping... But this was found to be something very simple, so once resolved I managed several decent dry sessions on the new bike, recording some decent lap times after only a few goes getting to know the bike.
In addition to a new bike to ride, I also have a full season of classic 350 twin's racing to look forward to on Nigel Colliers K4. I took it out for a test session and very fortunately un-earthed a minor electrical issue that could have caught us out on race day. We resolved the connection fault and had the K4 ready for the weekend ahead. Nige has done some considerable work on the K4 over the winter including a nice lightweight crank, so was keen to know if the bike was improved from last year this weekend...
Into Saturday morning, and the rain started to fall. I really enjoy the levelling affect of wet conditions, and was then very pleased to roll up to the collecting area only to be issued a number 2 starting grid position... Not sure if that was based on practice lap times or what - but either way i wasn't complaining. Being right at the front gave me a good opportunity to get amongst the fast guys who were all pushing hard in the rain. I capitalised on the fortunate grid position and came home 4th in class (only loosing out a couple of positions) in both races. Things were also looking good on the Maxton, where I took 2 x 2nd's comfortably in the wet, however not able to keep the pace of race winner John Warwick who clearly enjoyed the wet conditions more than most!
Into Saturday morning, and the rain started to fall. I really enjoy the levelling affect of wet conditions, and was then very pleased to roll up to the collecting area only to be issued a number 2 starting grid position... Not sure if that was based on practice lap times or what - but either way i wasn't complaining. Being right at the front gave me a good opportunity to get amongst the fast guys who were all pushing hard in the rain. I capitalised on the fortunate grid position and came home 4th in class (only loosing out a couple of positions) in both races. Things were also looking good on the Maxton, where I took 2 x 2nd's comfortably in the wet, however not able to keep the pace of race winner John Warwick who clearly enjoyed the wet conditions more than most!
Waking up Sunday morning to a fresh breeze and pretty clear skies promised some dry racing and sure enough it was. Conditions in the first 350 twins race were still damp in places, but this didn't stop the top guys pushing on the pace. I lost out a couple of places off the start line but managed to get a good line though the hairpin and settled into 5th place for the first couple of laps. Eventually I lost a place after some close racing with another 350 twin, and then settled into a rhythm at the higher drying circuit pace. I crossed the line in 6th which gave me a very pleasing 5th in class result. The final race on the K4 was the last test of the opening weekend with completely dry conditions from the off to contend with. I was given 7th on the grid to start from and got a pretty good run through Hatches hairpin to stay with the the fast guys. The race pace was much faster than I've ever had to contend with in this class before and the top 4 soon put a gap on the rest lapping at 1m07s - very quick. I had a decent race fighting for 8th place in the field with 2 other bikes, and I managed to keep my nose in-front of one to claim 7th in class (10th across the line) which was very pleasing. Nigel has certainly squeezed some more from the K4 over the winter, as the bike would have lost out on faster parts of the circuit last season where it held its own this weekend which is good news. Even better the decent results we scored this weekend have set us up nicely for the next round where I should luck in with a decent grid position again for the first race...
Back on the Maxton, the pace in the 250AC class was much hotter in the dry conditions as expected. In race 3 I suffered from some pretty scary chatter on the new bike that led me to come home steady following Jerry Longland in 2nd. I made some minor changes to the Maxton forks (lighter oil to soften) hoping to help with the chatter, so in the last race pushed really hard but still had to settle for 3rd place behind Jerry who rode a very steady race. John Warwick set the new AC250 lap record in the final race at 1m09s which is staggering, so looks like the aircooled class is going to be very hard fought this season, John being the early pace setter...
Back on the Maxton, the pace in the 250AC class was much hotter in the dry conditions as expected. In race 3 I suffered from some pretty scary chatter on the new bike that led me to come home steady following Jerry Longland in 2nd. I made some minor changes to the Maxton forks (lighter oil to soften) hoping to help with the chatter, so in the last race pushed really hard but still had to settle for 3rd place behind Jerry who rode a very steady race. John Warwick set the new AC250 lap record in the final race at 1m09s which is staggering, so looks like the aircooled class is going to be very hard fought this season, John being the early pace setter...
Below are some video's of the 2 Sunday races with Lee onboard the Maxton in the Aircooled class;
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Both Keith and Mike had steady weekends (Keith started his weekend off with 2 piston failures on the test day due to some jetting issues), but soon got the engine stripped & back together and enjoyed 4 good races over the weekend with a best lap time of 1m16.8s. Mike enjoyed being back on a race bike and got his first 2 signatures of the season in his bid to rid the orange bib ASAP this year. The X7 photographed below that he is riding Is my bike from last year, only with a slightly different tune on the top end and also a different paint scheme. It is running superbly well after first meeting and testing, so thanks to Brian Johnson for sorting that tune out for us.
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So overall a strong start to the 2016 race season for me in both classes, bit of a break to sort a few bits before round 2 at Croft in May. Big thank-you's to all who have helped me over the winter and been involved in getting us where we are for the season - Darren @ Moto71, Nige Collier, Colin Western, Mick Abbey, Brian Johnson, Dad and Keith. Must not forget to thank Marcy for keeping us topped up with tea & wedding cake at Pembrey.
Moto71.co.uk will continue to sponsor me this year with their livery on the Maxton - please call them for any oils/lubricants & motorcycle spares you need, and please quote me or SCC-Racing if you do place an order.
Moto71.co.uk will continue to sponsor me this year with their livery on the Maxton - please call them for any oils/lubricants & motorcycle spares you need, and please quote me or SCC-Racing if you do place an order.
2015 CRMC ROUND 7 - SNETTERTON 300:
Missing the previous championship round at Lydden Hill last month meant that I had been away from racing far too long! It also meant that I was well and truly out the running for a top 3 finish in the aircooled 250cc championship, so I opted to leave the X7 at home for the final round. It is due a full engine rebuild including crank and I was taking no chances on it at the notorious 2 stroke breaking circuit of Snetterton.
I traveled up to the circuit Thursday night for the practice sessions on the Friday, I have ridden the 300 circuit before on a trackday event and really liked it back then so I only needed a quick familiarization before hitting it at race pace on Saturday. I took the opportunity to take both Keith and Colin's RD's out for a spin as well which was very interesting - fast & powerful bikes, and a totally different feel to the X7.
2 final championship races, the 'Race of the Year' and the the 'Race of Aces' was the line up for the weekend on the Moto71 Harris 350. All these races were to be pretty long on the 3 mile circuit - 6 laps for the first two, 7 laps for the race of the year and then 8 for the race of Aces. We ended up carrying extra fuel for racing as we nearly got caught out in practice with virtually empty petrol tank.
I traveled up to the circuit Thursday night for the practice sessions on the Friday, I have ridden the 300 circuit before on a trackday event and really liked it back then so I only needed a quick familiarization before hitting it at race pace on Saturday. I took the opportunity to take both Keith and Colin's RD's out for a spin as well which was very interesting - fast & powerful bikes, and a totally different feel to the X7.
2 final championship races, the 'Race of the Year' and the the 'Race of Aces' was the line up for the weekend on the Moto71 Harris 350. All these races were to be pretty long on the 3 mile circuit - 6 laps for the first two, 7 laps for the race of the year and then 8 for the race of Aces. We ended up carrying extra fuel for racing as we nearly got caught out in practice with virtually empty petrol tank.
The Moto71 Harris 350 was looking very tidy out on circuit in the sunshine. In race 1 I settled in pretty quickly and finished 5th in class having had a really good race with a 750 Norton and a quick Proddy NSR400. I was happy with the initial fastest lap time but plenty of little errors meant my race pace wasn't very consistent.
Into Race 2 I was looking to push on a bit harder and try to iron out the errors, I dropped 2 seconds of my best lap time, 10 seconds off the 4 lap total race time which was good, and finishing in 4th place in front of the NSR400 this time around. I had got pretty good starts both races on the Saturday and went to bed that night feeling pretty confident for the 'Race of the Year' the following day.
Sunday Morning I had bit of a wait for first track action and was keen to jump on the bike for the race, I pushed hard in the warm up to ensure the tyres were as hot as they could be for the race - but when the flagged dropped I got a pretty poor start, 2 wheelies off the line meant I fell back into mid pack for the first bend from a best start position of 8th on the grid... Into the Montreal hairpin I made back some places but promptly got sat up by an FZ600 piling into the middle of the corner very late on the brakes - the guys I was aiming to be racing with had gained 200 yards on me by the end of the first lap so I spent most the race trying to find my way past an F750 machine to get back close to them. I eventually got past and raced most the race on my own and finished the race in 5th place - I improved on best lap time but was a little dis-appointed having been hoping for 3rd place in the race of the year which should have been achievable...
By this point despite being a bit dis-appointed by the race of the year result, I was feeling really confident on the Moto71 Harris and was desperate to get back out on the circuit for the Race of Aces. It was a long wait and we had everything packed up ready to rush off by the time the race came around. Even more extra fuel on board for the longer race distance, I went and checked my grid position which was number 22 - these positions were based upon personal best lap time of the weekend. This meant that a 2m17s lap was only the 22nd quickest of all the 40 odd riders who entered the race of Aces... I jokingly said before heading to the collecting area that if I finished the race in the top 10 I would roll around on the grass after the race.
I got a reasonable start but soon found myself caught up behind a big 4 stroke that was slow mid corner but then kept passing me on the back straight, this went on for 3 laps before I managed to break away and start to settle into my own race pace. I was slowly catching up to the next man on the road, and before I knew it was right on his tail and manged to nip past on the last lap after swapping places a few times. One thing I have discovered is that my Harris is not too far shy of a TZ350 in terms of power and speed, so no excuses when it comes to the legs on the bike. I really enjoyed the race, set my quickest race time crossed the line in 10th place. That might not sound too exciting to most, but considering the top 5 starters are the top classic racing guys such as Mike Cooper, Ant Hart, Alex Sinclair, George Rusling and Cormac Conroy - I was pretty pleased with that result to end my season with!!
Into Race 2 I was looking to push on a bit harder and try to iron out the errors, I dropped 2 seconds of my best lap time, 10 seconds off the 4 lap total race time which was good, and finishing in 4th place in front of the NSR400 this time around. I had got pretty good starts both races on the Saturday and went to bed that night feeling pretty confident for the 'Race of the Year' the following day.
Sunday Morning I had bit of a wait for first track action and was keen to jump on the bike for the race, I pushed hard in the warm up to ensure the tyres were as hot as they could be for the race - but when the flagged dropped I got a pretty poor start, 2 wheelies off the line meant I fell back into mid pack for the first bend from a best start position of 8th on the grid... Into the Montreal hairpin I made back some places but promptly got sat up by an FZ600 piling into the middle of the corner very late on the brakes - the guys I was aiming to be racing with had gained 200 yards on me by the end of the first lap so I spent most the race trying to find my way past an F750 machine to get back close to them. I eventually got past and raced most the race on my own and finished the race in 5th place - I improved on best lap time but was a little dis-appointed having been hoping for 3rd place in the race of the year which should have been achievable...
By this point despite being a bit dis-appointed by the race of the year result, I was feeling really confident on the Moto71 Harris and was desperate to get back out on the circuit for the Race of Aces. It was a long wait and we had everything packed up ready to rush off by the time the race came around. Even more extra fuel on board for the longer race distance, I went and checked my grid position which was number 22 - these positions were based upon personal best lap time of the weekend. This meant that a 2m17s lap was only the 22nd quickest of all the 40 odd riders who entered the race of Aces... I jokingly said before heading to the collecting area that if I finished the race in the top 10 I would roll around on the grass after the race.
I got a reasonable start but soon found myself caught up behind a big 4 stroke that was slow mid corner but then kept passing me on the back straight, this went on for 3 laps before I managed to break away and start to settle into my own race pace. I was slowly catching up to the next man on the road, and before I knew it was right on his tail and manged to nip past on the last lap after swapping places a few times. One thing I have discovered is that my Harris is not too far shy of a TZ350 in terms of power and speed, so no excuses when it comes to the legs on the bike. I really enjoyed the race, set my quickest race time crossed the line in 10th place. That might not sound too exciting to most, but considering the top 5 starters are the top classic racing guys such as Mike Cooper, Ant Hart, Alex Sinclair, George Rusling and Cormac Conroy - I was pretty pleased with that result to end my season with!!
To explain the photo above - I had jokingly said before heading to the collecting area for the 'Race of Aces' that if I finished in the top 10 among the top riders I would roll around on the grass after the race....
As always I have some on board video's to watch, one from Race 2 is linked here below and the others are on my You-tube channel which is easy enough to find if you search for CRMC. What you cant see here after editing is the big rear slide I had on the warm up lap when winding open the throttle to try and warm the tyres up - bit silly really as you don't want to be falling off in the sighting lap!!
As always I have some on board video's to watch, one from Race 2 is linked here below and the others are on my You-tube channel which is easy enough to find if you search for CRMC. What you cant see here after editing is the big rear slide I had on the warm up lap when winding open the throttle to try and warm the tyres up - bit silly really as you don't want to be falling off in the sighting lap!!
Keith has really got to grips with classic racing this season and is more than on top of his RD250 as the season comes to a close. He has had his fair share of bad luck and teething issue's when it comes to engine reliability (please see rogues gallery on our Facebook page), but has successfully shed his novice bib ready for next season and has put in some impressive performances along the way. Not being involved in the 250 class at Snett I was able to stand on the sidelines and watch the Aircooled racing, some good battles between Keith and Colin Western was good viewing. Keith's pushed really hard in the last race of the year to find 4 seconds off his lap time and got the better of Colin in that last race. The RD250 engine is rattling a little now after a hard year and a couple of seizures, so its time to go into the workshop and rebuild the motor (with spare) ready for next season. No doubt Keith will be out next season looking to build on a good first year and start pushing for top 3 finishes after a taste of that at Lydden Hill last month.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has helped both me and SCC-Racing in 2015; Sponsors Darren @ Moto71.co.uk, Mick Abbey (Abbeytune) and Nige Collier, as well as all the other friends & family, have all been instrumental in keeping us racing this season and played a big part in the success we have had - it really is hugely appreciated! Looking forward now to making plans for 2016 and coming back bigger and stronger next year.
2015 CRMC ROUND 5 - DONINGTON PARK:
I was looking forward to getting back to Donington Park after a poor time there last year in terms of reliability of the bikes, both the X7 and the Harris went sick last year, which meant on the Yamaha in particular Id never really done more than a couple of laps of the circuit since I've had it. It got off to an interesting start as I found out the night before heading up that I'd be on my own, Dad got tied up working the weekend so wasnt able to come along and play mechanic. Luckily NIgel Collier would be there supporting me riding his Honda so was able to lend a hand in general over the weekend which worked out nicely, thanks Nige. I had 12 race's lined up for the weekend, 4 on each bike, plus all the practice sessions. In order to make things really interesting 3 of the races were back to back as well!
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Lets start off with the Moto71 Harris - things got off to an interesting start when the bike wouldn't fire up Friday morning... Fuel was blowing out the R/H exhaust so I removed the carburetor and found the main jet was loose, never seen that before and hopefully never again. Then when I got out for practice I lost the clutch completely - not good when approaching Redgate at god knows what speed!! Turned out the clutch drum nut had sheared the tab washer off and come loose behind the side casing, never seen that one before either but counted myself lucky it didn't cause any major damage. This meant I would miss race one as I didn't have time to strip the side casing off to investigate till the Friday evening. Once I had it all sorted Friday night it was ready to go for race 2 Saturday morning.... The race got off to a flying start and I was running in 3rd place on the road and 3rd in class, the race was then red flagged and due to a long delay between restarting once we got going again the bike started to run out of fuel - typical!!
Race 3 Saturday afternoon was much better, I chucked in an extra litre of fuel in case of red flags and had a decent race against one of the big Kwak's in the PC750 class, I finished 4th on the road and 4th in class. Last race on the Sunday saw another red flag incident which was frustrating as I didn't get as good start second time round and spent most the re-run making places back to finish 4th again. The front guys Alex and John Smith had disappeared long into the distance, but I managed to get my lap time down to 1m23s which wasn't too bad considering I still had limited track time to get going on the YPVS. The bike was feeling 100% back to its best once it was sorted for Saturday, the new reed valve petals made a big difference so we suspect they had been affecting performance for some time before eventually failing at Anglesey. Looking forward to making good use of the Harris' speed at Snetterton in September - it is a seriously fast bike!!
Race 3 Saturday afternoon was much better, I chucked in an extra litre of fuel in case of red flags and had a decent race against one of the big Kwak's in the PC750 class, I finished 4th on the road and 4th in class. Last race on the Sunday saw another red flag incident which was frustrating as I didn't get as good start second time round and spent most the re-run making places back to finish 4th again. The front guys Alex and John Smith had disappeared long into the distance, but I managed to get my lap time down to 1m23s which wasn't too bad considering I still had limited track time to get going on the YPVS. The bike was feeling 100% back to its best once it was sorted for Saturday, the new reed valve petals made a big difference so we suspect they had been affecting performance for some time before eventually failing at Anglesey. Looking forward to making good use of the Harris' speed at Snetterton in September - it is a seriously fast bike!!
The X7 had a steady weekend overall, 3rd place (in class) finishes in each race, but unfortunately a fair way off the pace compared to the front pack of bikes. The motor that I ran at Donington is a little tired crank wise and is down on power compared to my Mick Abbey tuned engine that I normally run. I hadn't been able to rebuild the Mick Abbey motor in time so wasn't expecting to be mixing it at the front on a fast circuit like Donington, but I did give it my best and had been pushing hard all weekend to get quicker with what I had. I had some good races over the weekend with Graeme Acott on one of Brian Johnson's X7's and also with Adrian Baker on his T20 Suzuki, I was managing similar lap times to previous seasons for the first couple of races, but then for the last race of the weekend I changed the gearing to the highest possible I dared and knocked 2s of my lap time's. This kept me clear of the guys I had been racing with in earlier races but still not enough to match the 1m26's that the front guys were doing!
It's now time to split the X7 motor down again for a crank rebuild, Mick will be sorting me some new cylinders to run at Snetterton so I will have a fully refreshed motor to play with at the next meeting. It was nice to get a weekend free of any problems from the X7 but was a little frustrating to be so far off the front pack - hopefully this will be sorted for Snett.
It's now time to split the X7 motor down again for a crank rebuild, Mick will be sorting me some new cylinders to run at Snetterton so I will have a fully refreshed motor to play with at the next meeting. It was nice to get a weekend free of any problems from the X7 but was a little frustrating to be so far off the front pack - hopefully this will be sorted for Snett.
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My third ride of the weekend was on Nigel Colliers Hagon Honda K4. This is a bike that I love riding as its a welcome change from my pipey 2 strokes! We had obviously just got back from a successful weekend at Aberdare Park with this bike so had high hopes for the weekend on it. The Honda kind of falls into the underdog category in the K4 class as we know its slightly down on BHP compared to some of the big money machines in the class, but this is half the fun of it. Last season we managed a best placed finish of 14th from the back of the grid, and the aim for this meeting was to break into the top 10 of the class. This might not sound too ambitious but the 350 twins class is very competitive and getting into the top 10 would certainly have been an achievement.
Nigel prepared the bike so all I had to do was keep it fuelled up and ride it as hard as I could on the track. The first race went well and I finished in 12th place immediately going quicker than I had the previous year. It was clear that some of the bikes had a lot more grunt out of the corners than me so we decided to take the end can off and run open exhaust to see if that improved things. Nigel also invested in some proper Synthetic race engine oil as when I came back off the circuit from race one the engine had got seriously hot. In race 2 I had a good dice with a group of 4 bikes, only just getting pipped for my top 10 finish by less than 1 second, finishing again in 11th place. In fact the 4 bikes placed 8th-11th all crossed the line within 1 second of one another!
The K4 felt stronger without the end can and did run much cooler with the new oil, but I was still having to push really hard into corners to stay with the faster bikes on the exit. I also improved lap time again down to 1m28s. Into race 3 we were still chasing our top 10 finish, but again it wasn't meant to be, I finished in 12th place and the bike had started to suffer a miss fire at around 8000rpm half way through. I rode around the problem but it was clear my lap times were down slightly and we were 8s away from the 10th placed rider. Back in the paddock we checked the plugs and found the R/H cylinder to be very lean (grey spark plug). We decided to increase main jet but also checked the fuel supply flow, this was found to be pretty poor so a quick refresh with new tap and it was improved. The real issue being that the tank only has 1 tap so fuel supply was split between the 2 carbs. We opted to run a slightly higher fuel level in the tank as well as renewing the spark plugs. We had high hopes for race 4 still in search of top 10, but the miss fire remained the same and on return to the paddock the R/H cylinder was still very lean. I finished in 16th place so we didn't quite get our grand finale although we got very close in race 2.
It is still suspected to be the fuel supply issue causing the problem, and Nigel intends to fit a second tap to the tank to be safe. This is the K4's last appearance this season as it needs a winter rebuild - and after talking to Nigel at Donington it looks like I may be riding the K4 at more regularly next season (pending his own racing plans), so we'll hopefully be looking to develop the Honda into a proper top 10 machine for the class. I'll be look forward to getting back on the Hagon Honda again next season.
Nigel prepared the bike so all I had to do was keep it fuelled up and ride it as hard as I could on the track. The first race went well and I finished in 12th place immediately going quicker than I had the previous year. It was clear that some of the bikes had a lot more grunt out of the corners than me so we decided to take the end can off and run open exhaust to see if that improved things. Nigel also invested in some proper Synthetic race engine oil as when I came back off the circuit from race one the engine had got seriously hot. In race 2 I had a good dice with a group of 4 bikes, only just getting pipped for my top 10 finish by less than 1 second, finishing again in 11th place. In fact the 4 bikes placed 8th-11th all crossed the line within 1 second of one another!
The K4 felt stronger without the end can and did run much cooler with the new oil, but I was still having to push really hard into corners to stay with the faster bikes on the exit. I also improved lap time again down to 1m28s. Into race 3 we were still chasing our top 10 finish, but again it wasn't meant to be, I finished in 12th place and the bike had started to suffer a miss fire at around 8000rpm half way through. I rode around the problem but it was clear my lap times were down slightly and we were 8s away from the 10th placed rider. Back in the paddock we checked the plugs and found the R/H cylinder to be very lean (grey spark plug). We decided to increase main jet but also checked the fuel supply flow, this was found to be pretty poor so a quick refresh with new tap and it was improved. The real issue being that the tank only has 1 tap so fuel supply was split between the 2 carbs. We opted to run a slightly higher fuel level in the tank as well as renewing the spark plugs. We had high hopes for race 4 still in search of top 10, but the miss fire remained the same and on return to the paddock the R/H cylinder was still very lean. I finished in 16th place so we didn't quite get our grand finale although we got very close in race 2.
It is still suspected to be the fuel supply issue causing the problem, and Nigel intends to fit a second tap to the tank to be safe. This is the K4's last appearance this season as it needs a winter rebuild - and after talking to Nigel at Donington it looks like I may be riding the K4 at more regularly next season (pending his own racing plans), so we'll hopefully be looking to develop the Honda into a proper top 10 machine for the class. I'll be look forward to getting back on the Hagon Honda again next season.
So a little break for me now until Snetterton as I'll not be at Lydden Hill unfortunately (busy working for a living). Plenty of time in that case to rebuild the X7 engine and tidy up the bodywork on the Moto71.co.uk Yamaha before the race of the year. Big thanks to Nigel for supporting me on his K4 at Donington Park again, Darren @ Moto71 for continued support this season and also to Mick Abbey for help with the X7 as always. Cheers guys.
2015 AMCC - ABERDARE PARK NATIONAL ROAD RACES:
So I traveled up to Aberdare Park one day after getting back from 3 weeks holiday in California - I was slightly jet lagged! When we go to the paddock it was pretty clear we wouldn't be getting out again in a hurry - the grass field had seen a lot of rain, and more was scheduled for Sunday even with a forecast for Saturday which looked pretty good.
There was a bit of an issue with my entry Saturday morning but as I woke up with my jet lag at 05:00 there was plenty of time to get that sorted. Having the scrutineers come round the paddock to check your bike over was a pleasant experience and something the CRMC should definitely consider... Due to the problem with my entry I was not in the race program and for that reason I was to be known by the commentator for the weekend as 'Anonymous number 12', friends and family that came to watch found this quite amusing.
There was a bit of an issue with my entry Saturday morning but as I woke up with my jet lag at 05:00 there was plenty of time to get that sorted. Having the scrutineers come round the paddock to check your bike over was a pleasant experience and something the CRMC should definitely consider... Due to the problem with my entry I was not in the race program and for that reason I was to be known by the commentator for the weekend as 'Anonymous number 12', friends and family that came to watch found this quite amusing.
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I had been looking forward to this round all season and sure enough things got off to a good start with some decent qualifying times giving me 2nd row grid positions to start from. Also getting out on Nige Colliers K4 for the first time round the park I found it very comfortable and knew it would be a great bike round there in the Welsh classic class. Classic entries weren't what they were last season as the round clashed with other classic events the same weekend which was a shame, but there were still some fast guys out there and I knew I would have to push harder than last year to be near the front. I finished 3rd in the first welsh classic race, which was won by a TZ350, so no shame in that. 2nd place was taken by an Aberdare Park regular in Arthur Browning on a G50. In the Aircooled 500 race on my X7 I finished 2nd behind the G50 in a restart after the TZ350 crashed out early on in the race. Lap times were pretty good in the dry and the races were close only finishing a second or so behind the winner.
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All weekend I was pushed by Rhys Hardisty on his Ducati 250 single which he rode extremely well with some very fast lap times. In the second welsh classic and Aircooled races I finished in 2nd place behind Arthur again but we were getting closer and bringing my fastest lap time round the park down again.
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Sunday was forecast for rain and sure enough it started early in the morning and didn't really stop all day. We decided the K4 would be the better bike for the rain and so used that for both Aircooled and welsh classic races (also saved swapping bike between back to back races). The K4 handles superbly - all credit to Nigel for putting together a really good bike. I really felt comfortable in the wet on it in practice and has no issue lapping with some of the bikes using full cut wet race tyres. In the first wet race of the day (Welsh Classic), Rhys Hardisty made the break and despite my best efforts I couldn't close the gap on him and i finished 2nd with Arthur Browning in 3rd place.
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In the first wet Aircooled race I made the point to get a good start and try to make the break. The race was red-flagged with me in the lead and then on the restart I got a decent 1st lap in and led the race again. Rhys was pushing hard behind me but ran off the track and dropped his 250 onto the grass giving me a win albeit with not many people around me. Second welsh classic race again rain pouring and even with the race wet suit I'm now soaked through... I got past Arthur on the first lap and led the race all the way with Rhys very close behind, this was an outright race win on the K4 which pleased Nigel who enjoyed watching his bike running round at the front of a National road race. The K4 felt so good even in the conditions, with some small slides from the rear end on the faster corners but no moments on the front, and lap times were only down 1.5s from our best dry time! Next year we should be looking to build on these times and go quicker again in the dry! Final race of the weekend I took a third win (1st in class) to round of a very wet but very enjoyable day. From the whole meeting 1 x 3rd place, 4 x 2nd place and 3 x 1st place wraps up a pretty good weekend overall with some nice trophies to go with it.
Chasing the leader of the race.
Big thank-you to Nigel for driving all that way (getting stuck in the mud) and allowing me race the Honda this year, really appreciate it and all the help over the weekend as well. It's a great bike and well set-up, I always feel very confident on it - cheers Nige.
Great job from the marshals standing in the rain all day Sunday and doing a great job the weekend overall and also thanks to Aled for getting my entry sorted last minute on the Saturday morning.
Next stop is Donnington Park where I'll be back on the K4 again in the 350 twins class with the CRMC along with my own bikes. Cant wait.
Great job from the marshals standing in the rain all day Sunday and doing a great job the weekend overall and also thanks to Aled for getting my entry sorted last minute on the Saturday morning.
Next stop is Donnington Park where I'll be back on the K4 again in the 350 twins class with the CRMC along with my own bikes. Cant wait.
2015 CRMC ROUND 3 - TRAC MON ANGLESEY:
A weekend that can only be described as challenging! Lots of prep work for this race meeting on both bikes meant that we were heading to north wales via Mick Abbeys workshop with bags of confidence & optimism for some decent results. A fresh crank in the X7, new stiffer progressive fork springs, 28mm power jet carbs all working nicely and the new clutch basket in the YPVS. Unfortunately however, despite this and after some good set-up work with Mick on thursday we were caught out during Friday afternoon practice by an engine seizure and holed piston in he X7. This is the first total failure I have suffered in 4 seasons of racing 2 strokes which I guess is an achievement in itself - but in this case we did a proper job.... Holed piston, gudgeon pin pulled out the skirt and because it went at the fastest part of the circuit the R/H barrel is completely wrecked too, couple of snaps of the poorly piston below;
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Not exactly sure on the cause of the failure, suspect an air leak somewhere as the jetting looked spot on the day before on Micks Dyno and we had jetted up even further on the Friday morning to take into account the elevation (lack of) at Anglesey. We are also not ruling out a lost gudgeon pin circlip as the damage to the cylinder was significant. Either way its a new barrel and full engine rebuild regardless. This put us on the back foot from the off, but wasnt the end of the world as fortunately we carry a complete spare engine which we quickly swapped into the bike all ready for the following day. Practice on the Moto71 Harris YPVS went really well and Kieth uncovered some issue's with the RD250 - all fuel related which gave him opportunity to sort before racing started the following day (think he will end up lining the petrol tank).
Saturday morning there was no practice available so we were hoping our best guess at jetting for the X7's spare engine back on 26mm carbs would be right..... It wasn't! By the end of the straight on the second lap of race 1 it nipped up on me and slid down the road, I just happened to be passing hard on the brakes to move into 2nd position at the time, and poor Jerry had nowhere to go except straight over the top of me! Luckily I'm not badly hurt just a very tender back (don't leave your back protector at home!) and the bike wasn't too bad either. Barrel back off, cleaned up the bore with Acid (thanks to Brian) and the piston with some emery and all ready for race 2.
Race 1 on the Moto71 Harris Yamaha went really well, I followed the front group of 3 or 4 most the race and then tagged onto the back of an F750, managing my best ever lap time of 1m22.2s with the bike feeling really strong & handling well. Was very please coming back to the paddock after that race.
Saturday morning there was no practice available so we were hoping our best guess at jetting for the X7's spare engine back on 26mm carbs would be right..... It wasn't! By the end of the straight on the second lap of race 1 it nipped up on me and slid down the road, I just happened to be passing hard on the brakes to move into 2nd position at the time, and poor Jerry had nowhere to go except straight over the top of me! Luckily I'm not badly hurt just a very tender back (don't leave your back protector at home!) and the bike wasn't too bad either. Barrel back off, cleaned up the bore with Acid (thanks to Brian) and the piston with some emery and all ready for race 2.
Race 1 on the Moto71 Harris Yamaha went really well, I followed the front group of 3 or 4 most the race and then tagged onto the back of an F750, managing my best ever lap time of 1m22.2s with the bike feeling really strong & handling well. Was very please coming back to the paddock after that race.
Harris feeling very strong in Race 1
Race 2 on the Suzuki I had jetted up again and the bike clearly didn't have the outright speed it had in the first race, and its also down in terms of top end speed compared to the Mick Abbey motor, but at least it made it the distance this time which made a nice change for the weekend so far! I was feeling the pretty tender back and settled for 3rd place which was fairly comfortable in the end.
Keith meanwhile was having a cracking weekend! I got to watch from the sidelines in race 1 once I picked myself up and was watching him looking very comfortable and pretty quick for a first visit to Anglesey. A 1m28s best lap-time from the weekend proved how quickly Kieth is getting to grips with the AC250 class, whilst steadily wearing away the toe of his boot each lap of the circuit!
Keith meanwhile was having a cracking weekend! I got to watch from the sidelines in race 1 once I picked myself up and was watching him looking very comfortable and pretty quick for a first visit to Anglesey. A 1m28s best lap-time from the weekend proved how quickly Kieth is getting to grips with the AC250 class, whilst steadily wearing away the toe of his boot each lap of the circuit!
So into Sunday we were looking forward to the improved weather forecast, it had been ridiculously windy since we'd arrived at the circuit which made the racing very interesting and didn't do our big gazebo very much good either, so that was now in the back of the van with the roof section in the skip!
Sunday was a brighter day, sleep hadn't been great for me on the camp bed in the back of the van due to a worsening lower back ache but the couple of pints of painkiller I drank to drown my sorrows Saturday night in the bar certainly helped. Race 3 Sunday morning I grabbed 3rd place again on the Suzuki as I was unable to stay with the front pack which slowly edged away from me as the race went on. Then came Race 3 on the Yamaha... During the warm up lap the bike didn't pull cleanly as it should so I sat on the line revving the engine hoping it was a partially fouled plug and would clean itself up for the race, unfortunately it didn't and when the flag dropped the bike had little or no drive whatsoever. Having put in a quick lap time in the previous race I was sat in 6th on the second row of the grid and now had a field of big 4 strokes all screaming past me heading towards the 1st corner. Before I knew what was happening I was clipped from behind dragged off the bike onto the tarmac and the Harris carried on into the distance before it gently came to rest on the grass 100yds away.... |
Ready to head out on circuit.
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I was unhurt and the bike was o.k too apart from a smashed fairing screen, so no real harm done. At this point I was wondering how my weekend could get any worse! So I sat on the tyre wall and watched Alex Sinclair comfortably win the race on his 750 Ducati. Back into the paddock we stripped the bike and found no obvious problem to speak of and plugs looked fine. We jetted down and re-made a couple of tired looking ignition connections, got the bike back together with finger crossed for the last race of the weekend.
Getting on the brakes
The sun really came out lunchtime and we were all sat soaking up the rays looking forward to the last AC250 race of the weekend. Unfortunately for us the tannoy system had been a disaster all weekend and Sunday afternoon was no exception! No call was made for the AC250's race 4 and the first thing we knew was when we saw a couple of the AC250 bikes heading out to the circuit, so we missed the race. Another first for me in 4 years of racing! This was hugely disappointing, and it turned out that most the AC250's had struggled to make the collecting area in time so we weren't alone. The final PC750 race was next and we had agreed that unless the bike felt 100% on the warm up I would pull in before getting to the grid not wanting a repeat of the mornings race - sure enough the issue with the 350 was still the same so I pulled in, put the bike in the back of the van and headed home with tail between the legs!
I guess sometimes you get meetings like this in racing, a lot of hard work with limited reward, but It certainly wasn't all bad. We came away with some decent results among some pretty serious mechanical issue's and in the case of the X7 managed to get the bike back out racing each time. Keith is growing in confidence and Is halfway to shedding his orange bib - he also has some upgrades planned for the Yamaha so will be getting more competitive all the time. For me, the Harris will need more looking into before the next round, but there's plenty of time for that as I'll not be riding it again now until Donnington Park in August. Dad will be supporting Kieth at Brands while I'm away on holiday, so the next meeting on my calendar is Aberdare Park. We'll have the Suzuki all up together for that and I'll also be racing Nige Collier's lovely little K4 at Aberdare as well. Cant wait.
I guess sometimes you get meetings like this in racing, a lot of hard work with limited reward, but It certainly wasn't all bad. We came away with some decent results among some pretty serious mechanical issue's and in the case of the X7 managed to get the bike back out racing each time. Keith is growing in confidence and Is halfway to shedding his orange bib - he also has some upgrades planned for the Yamaha so will be getting more competitive all the time. For me, the Harris will need more looking into before the next round, but there's plenty of time for that as I'll not be riding it again now until Donnington Park in August. Dad will be supporting Kieth at Brands while I'm away on holiday, so the next meeting on my calendar is Aberdare Park. We'll have the Suzuki all up together for that and I'll also be racing Nige Collier's lovely little K4 at Aberdare as well. Cant wait.
As always thanks to my sponsors - Darren and the guys at Moto71.co.uk for their support, and also to Mick Abbey for his advice and assistance over the weekend. And we wouldn't have made it through the meeting without Keith's better half looking after us - tea, biscuits, sandwiches and most importantly for me the ibuprofen! Thanks Marcy.
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Here are a couple of on board video's from the weekend, Keith on his super fast RD250 and one of me throwing a seized X7 down the road. No video's for the Harris this weekend - the only decent race which was race 1 the battery went on the first lap...
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2015 CRMC ROUND 2 - CADWELL PARK:
Cadwell Park has been kind of a bogey circuit for me over the last couple of years. I really love the track but unfortunately crashes and DNF's have too often played a part, so I'm happy to report that we look to have turned a corner @ Cadwell. We had a great weekend (all 3 days of it) and came away with decent points and also a lot of confidence for the next meeting at Anglesey...
I'll start with the Moto71 Harris Yamaha this time - the weather over the weekend was difficult to predict to say the least, but one thing was sure when it rained it really came down. In the first race on-board the 350 I took my time and settled into the bike having crashed it here at Cadwell last season at speed round Chris Curve. Conditions for the first race were wet and I have limited experience running the Harris in the rain, so I was pleased to take 3rd place after a steady ride, making the most of some fallers and some DNF's. During that race the bike was strangely running with high water temperature for the last 2 laps which i had to watch carefully . On further inspection back in the paddock having completed the race it turned out one of the fingers on my billet clutch basket had sheared off and destroyed the water pump drive gear in the process. We sourced a spare from RD LC Crazy which was only an hours drive away (thanks Norbo), and I had the bike rebuilt by 07:30am Sunday morning in time for the 2nd race. Unfortunately though, during the first lap of the second race the bike was miss-firing heavily due to an apparent ignition issue - this turned out to be excessive water ingress! (The bike had got really wet overnight). So re-making/cleaning all the connections and a good spray with WD40 along with new spark plugs sorted the issue no problem.
Sunday afternoon I started my first race in the dry, albeit way down the grid having not finished the previous race (very frustrating!). I spent the whole race picking my way through the field from 31 on the grid to 11th across the line and 6th in class. We had two races left to look forward to on the Monday - the weekends final PC750 championship race and then the Colin Breeze trophy race. For some reason I ended up at the tail end of the grid again for race 4 Monday morning, and had to make up places to finish 6th in class again. I had dropped the jets to better suit the conditions while I was troubleshooting the ignition, and the bike ran much better, cleaner and crisp through the rev range. So going into the Colin Breeze I was feeling very confident, despite being among some of the best riders in the club! I got a reasonable start and pushed the bike much harder all the way round the track, improving my previous best lap time by around 4 seconds, I finished 14th overall - and looking at the guys ahead of me (Mike Cooper/Ant Hart/George Hogton-Rusling/Gary Thwaites etc) - I was very happy with my ride.
Big thanks as always for all the support from the guys @ Moto71.co.uk with this bike, new seat to go on for the next meeting will complete the new look and looking forward to building on progress made this weekend @ Cadwell, shaping up for a good season. :-)
I'll start with the Moto71 Harris Yamaha this time - the weather over the weekend was difficult to predict to say the least, but one thing was sure when it rained it really came down. In the first race on-board the 350 I took my time and settled into the bike having crashed it here at Cadwell last season at speed round Chris Curve. Conditions for the first race were wet and I have limited experience running the Harris in the rain, so I was pleased to take 3rd place after a steady ride, making the most of some fallers and some DNF's. During that race the bike was strangely running with high water temperature for the last 2 laps which i had to watch carefully . On further inspection back in the paddock having completed the race it turned out one of the fingers on my billet clutch basket had sheared off and destroyed the water pump drive gear in the process. We sourced a spare from RD LC Crazy which was only an hours drive away (thanks Norbo), and I had the bike rebuilt by 07:30am Sunday morning in time for the 2nd race. Unfortunately though, during the first lap of the second race the bike was miss-firing heavily due to an apparent ignition issue - this turned out to be excessive water ingress! (The bike had got really wet overnight). So re-making/cleaning all the connections and a good spray with WD40 along with new spark plugs sorted the issue no problem.
Sunday afternoon I started my first race in the dry, albeit way down the grid having not finished the previous race (very frustrating!). I spent the whole race picking my way through the field from 31 on the grid to 11th across the line and 6th in class. We had two races left to look forward to on the Monday - the weekends final PC750 championship race and then the Colin Breeze trophy race. For some reason I ended up at the tail end of the grid again for race 4 Monday morning, and had to make up places to finish 6th in class again. I had dropped the jets to better suit the conditions while I was troubleshooting the ignition, and the bike ran much better, cleaner and crisp through the rev range. So going into the Colin Breeze I was feeling very confident, despite being among some of the best riders in the club! I got a reasonable start and pushed the bike much harder all the way round the track, improving my previous best lap time by around 4 seconds, I finished 14th overall - and looking at the guys ahead of me (Mike Cooper/Ant Hart/George Hogton-Rusling/Gary Thwaites etc) - I was very happy with my ride.
Big thanks as always for all the support from the guys @ Moto71.co.uk with this bike, new seat to go on for the next meeting will complete the new look and looking forward to building on progress made this weekend @ Cadwell, shaping up for a good season. :-)
Over the mountain on the Moto71 350 YPVS
So onto the AC250 races - quite a mixed bag! I kicked off the weekend with a snapped clutch cable on the first lap of practice in the sunshine - a minor setback. We borrowed a spare and fitted it ready for race 1, which turned out to be a wet race on the Saturday morning. This race was a real crowd pleaser by all accounts - 3 X7's (Jerry Longland/Richard Cheetham and Myself) dicing for the lead. Several people came looking for me in the paddock after the race to congratulate on some very close enjoyable racing for the spectators. As you'll see in the on board video - I held onto 1st for long periods before being pegged back to 3rd position through Coppice on the final lap, I kept it steady and followed Jerry past Richard (who was leading) into 2nd through the chicane, and then managed to squeeze under Jerry over the mountain before hanging on through Hall bends, the hairpin and barn to win by only 0.2s. What you cant see from the video is the front end of the bike lifting over the mountain as I passed Jerry, and the rear end spinning under power searching for grip on the wet track! A very satisfying race win and my 1st class win of the season and 1st ever outright race win. (Its nice to cross the line 1st overall!)
Keith getting to grips with the RD250 over the mountain!
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On the white lines in the wet - really??
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By the time the second race on the X7 came round the track had dried all bar a couple of wet patches under the tree's @ Barn. I had a decent start but couldnt keep the early pace of Jerry and Richard and ended up sat in 4th position trying to work a way round Symon Woodward without success. Lap times looked to be a couple of seconds down from last year on average but that was the same for everyone out there, my bike was running sweet at the start of the race but seemed to lack legs on the straights by the mid-point. I suspect this was the start of the head blowing - which unfortunately ended up resulting in a DNF for the first race the following morning. I didn't realise this was the case at the time, but makes sense looking back at the 2nd race now. We have a new policy now to re-torque the head between each race (now that there is no head gasket to compress) as don't need any more silly DNF's like that!
So it was disappointing to have the DNF in AC250 race 3 on Monday morning, compounded by the prospect of another poor grid position... Sure enough I got to the collecting area to be given sticker number 22! Luckily I had binoculars so that I could see Jerry and Richard up near the front...! Having said that - I was even more determined to get a rocket start so really pushed in the warm-up lap and then got exactly the start I needed getting right up within view of the front pack by Charlies. Richard Cheetham had been on top form all weekend and promptly disappeared into the distance with Lancelot on his Goldie. I spent the next couple of laps working my way past and just about keeping Graeme Acott behind me, while trying to reel in Jerry. I could hear Graeme right on my tail the whole race which pushed us on to catch Jerry (think he slowed slightly while circulating on his own), and I moved into 2nd in class for a short while with a lap to go. Jerry didn't waste any time coming back by me at Park and then put in a solid lap to keep me behind him and I crossed the line extremely happy having moved from 22nd on the grid to be challenging 2nd in class (4th on the road).
Keith had a solid weekend on his RD250 and as you can see from the photo over the mountain he is certainly looking more comfortable on the bike as each race goes by. He ticked the main box of getting 2 race finish signatures from the weekend, and also reached his season end goal of being able to compete mid pack by finishing 15th in both races and giving the RAF lads something to think about in race 2 with a last corner manouver to beat Chris Bartlett to the line. Well done to Keith in getting the bike sorted after a difficult Friday test day - all the fiddling paid off in the end! One of Keith's on boards is posted below, this one shows his last corner move to grab a place before the line....!
In summary a brilliant weekend and one of our better goes at Cadwell Park. Some very pleasing individual results and building pretty solid championship point tallies in both classes which is good early on in the year. Bit of work to do with the bikes before the next meeting but nothing too major so will be working to get them ready over the coming weeks.
Thanks to Mick Abbey for all his support and advice on the phone over the weekend and thanks to everyone who helped me out over the 3 days, Dad, Keith, Natalie, Mum and Marcy. Was nice to have my number 1 fan India-Rose in the paddock to cheer me on as well - It would be a tough old weekend without all these extra pairs of hands that's for sure!
Keith had a solid weekend on his RD250 and as you can see from the photo over the mountain he is certainly looking more comfortable on the bike as each race goes by. He ticked the main box of getting 2 race finish signatures from the weekend, and also reached his season end goal of being able to compete mid pack by finishing 15th in both races and giving the RAF lads something to think about in race 2 with a last corner manouver to beat Chris Bartlett to the line. Well done to Keith in getting the bike sorted after a difficult Friday test day - all the fiddling paid off in the end! One of Keith's on boards is posted below, this one shows his last corner move to grab a place before the line....!
In summary a brilliant weekend and one of our better goes at Cadwell Park. Some very pleasing individual results and building pretty solid championship point tallies in both classes which is good early on in the year. Bit of work to do with the bikes before the next meeting but nothing too major so will be working to get them ready over the coming weeks.
Thanks to Mick Abbey for all his support and advice on the phone over the weekend and thanks to everyone who helped me out over the 3 days, Dad, Keith, Natalie, Mum and Marcy. Was nice to have my number 1 fan India-Rose in the paddock to cheer me on as well - It would be a tough old weekend without all these extra pairs of hands that's for sure!
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2015 CRMC ROUND 1 - PEMBREY:
What a superb weekend to kick off to the 2015 season - wet practice on the Friday morning test definitely didn't spoil a cracking weekend's racing with the weather conditions to match, very windy at times but sunny and dry all weekend which is clearly unusual for Pembrey in April!
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New Moto71 livery
So where to start - despite best efforts we were rushed to get the bikes finished in time for the meeting, so the test day was crucial to prove up the bikes and get back up to speed again before racing. Both of my bikes were put through their paces with no issue's whatsoever, Keith's newly built RD250 didn't quite go as smoothly (more on that in a minute). The test day gave us time to check the bikes over carefully and make adjustments - the gearing on the Suzuki needed changing and the Harris had a new rear tire to scrub in - other than that it was a good chance for me to get back on the bikes after 6 months without twisting a throttle...
Into race day - Saturday morning practice out the way on both bikes with no issue's and itching to get into the racing, so I'll start with the AC250 class. Race 1 on the Suzuki was a hard fought 4th place, nicked on the last lap from Graeme Acott on his X7. The lead pack had pulled a gap so there was work to do if I wanted to run in the top 3. In race 2 Graeme got the better of me and took third place and I settled for 4th again (Jerry Longland had retired with a mechanical issue). Some good points on the board for the first day of the season. Into the second day we made another change to the gearing - this was because I had been loosing ground on the faster guys coming out of the hairpin with the engine out of the power band and then also being between gears through the 2 lefts un-settling the bike. Race 3 with new gearing I was able to keep pace with the front pack and also nicked 3rd place from Symon Woodward on his RD250. Having followed him and Jerry for several laps while they scrapped for 2nd place in the race I managed to capitalise on a mistake from Symon when he ran onto the grass, and despite his best efforts to get back past I clung onto 3rd spot. (The video of Race 3 is posted on this report). Race 4 saw me finish 4th, again behind Graeme in another close fight all race - I was desperate to pass him on the last lap where I knew I was faster though the last 2 corners, but I missed a gearing going into the hairpin early in the lap and lost lots of ground which left me no chance. In race 4 I had got a particularly poor start having changed the clutch lever before the race which affected my launch off the line. We had no choice but to change the lever as the old lever was so stiff on the last couple of laps of the previous races I had started to struggle changing gear when braking hard into the hairpin, bit more practice launching with the new lever required! The man who took all the wins and fairly comfortably at Pembrey was Richard Cheetham - he seem's to have the edge on the rest of us at the moment in the AC250 class but we'll be trying our best to get closer to him at the next round. We were pleased to find that the X7 still appears to be the bike to have despite some well tuned RD250's now in the class - lets hope it stays that way!
Into race day - Saturday morning practice out the way on both bikes with no issue's and itching to get into the racing, so I'll start with the AC250 class. Race 1 on the Suzuki was a hard fought 4th place, nicked on the last lap from Graeme Acott on his X7. The lead pack had pulled a gap so there was work to do if I wanted to run in the top 3. In race 2 Graeme got the better of me and took third place and I settled for 4th again (Jerry Longland had retired with a mechanical issue). Some good points on the board for the first day of the season. Into the second day we made another change to the gearing - this was because I had been loosing ground on the faster guys coming out of the hairpin with the engine out of the power band and then also being between gears through the 2 lefts un-settling the bike. Race 3 with new gearing I was able to keep pace with the front pack and also nicked 3rd place from Symon Woodward on his RD250. Having followed him and Jerry for several laps while they scrapped for 2nd place in the race I managed to capitalise on a mistake from Symon when he ran onto the grass, and despite his best efforts to get back past I clung onto 3rd spot. (The video of Race 3 is posted on this report). Race 4 saw me finish 4th, again behind Graeme in another close fight all race - I was desperate to pass him on the last lap where I knew I was faster though the last 2 corners, but I missed a gearing going into the hairpin early in the lap and lost lots of ground which left me no chance. In race 4 I had got a particularly poor start having changed the clutch lever before the race which affected my launch off the line. We had no choice but to change the lever as the old lever was so stiff on the last couple of laps of the previous races I had started to struggle changing gear when braking hard into the hairpin, bit more practice launching with the new lever required! The man who took all the wins and fairly comfortably at Pembrey was Richard Cheetham - he seem's to have the edge on the rest of us at the moment in the AC250 class but we'll be trying our best to get closer to him at the next round. We were pleased to find that the X7 still appears to be the bike to have despite some well tuned RD250's now in the class - lets hope it stays that way!
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Onto the Post Classic 750 class - with a new sponsor on board I was keener than ever to get the season off to a good start on the Moto71 Harris Yamaha, and to be fair I couldn't have asked for much more from the weekend. Turn the clock back 1 year and both me and this bike were sliding down the road after a fall from the 3rd corner of the first race at this very circuit. Having made several changes to the bike I was going in more confident and used the Friday test day to prove up the changes. Results wise I took three 5th's and one 6th position from the 4 races, I also bettered my previous fastest lap time at this circuit on this bike by some margin so a very positive weekend. The video posted on this report from the Moto71 Harris Yamaha is Race 4, I really enjoyed this race as I got a pretty poor start, but slowly picked off positions as the race went by. The CRMC PC750 class promises to be a competitive championship this season with a few new bikes and riders, after a solid start to the year I hope to build on the progress made and see where we end up. I know the bike is good enough to be right up there so I will be working hard to get it where it should be! (It does sound like the clutch is slipping in the video's so be looking to get that sorted before Cadwell Park).
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So what happened to Keith your wondering? His freshly tuned RD250 motor seized during a practice session on the Friday and on closer inspection once the motor had been stripped the photo on the left shows what we found.....
Although this looked to be the weekend over before it began - Keith's tenacity paid off. He found someone in the paddock with a spare set of barrels and pistons who would be happy to let him use them for the weekend (big thanks to Andy Green). As the bike had been successfully tested on the dyno we had suspected that the float height may have caused the issue so this was checked, jetting changes made and away he went for Saturday practice.... Unfortunately same thing happened again! To cut a long story short we managed to pressure test the crankcases and discovered an air leak on the inlet rubber where the balance pipe is connected. This was sealed up and the rest of the engine was pressured o.k. We then made a big jump on the main jet just to get Keith 2 race finishes regardless of performance, which he did with 2 different size pistons and barrels on the motor. It goes to show that where there's a will there's a way!! There was a lot of work involved in getting those 2 finishes with that bike and a big effort from everyone. |
Now we're looking forward to heading to Cadwell Park in May, a few changes to make before then (nothing major) and we'l be looking for some more good results. Big thanks to my Sponsors Darren and the guys at Moto71 for all the help in the run up to getting going and also to Mick Abbey for the work done on the X7 which ran faultlessly this weekend.
The Moto71 Harris Yamaha looking good in the sunshine with its new colours
CRMC - CADWELL PARK 2014:
Always a good photo opportunity @ Cadwell Park
So, typical of my season over the recent meetings, Cadwell Park was a mixed weekend. I got out in practice on both bikes and struggled in all the usual places I find tough at this circuit. It's a real 'riders' circuit and to go well there you've really got to know your way round - I don't feel I'm quite there yet - and its my third visit! Regardless of this, practice felt pretty good and sure enough the first 2 laps of race 1 on the Suzuki were right on the pace. Only issue was that before completing the third lap I lost the front going through the Gooseneck and beat the bike up pretty bad. The video of the crash is on Youtube - essentially I ran slightly wide of the apex on the right hander, then when tipping into the left, knowing I would be running wide on the exit the front went away from me and I slid across the track onto the grass in my brand new Dainese one piece & race boots which are now nicely worn in. (Good to get the new leathers broken in early in my opinion). This was a real shame as the racing between the front 4 guys was pretty close as you'll see from the few laps of the on-board.
We managed to get the bike straightened out to a usable standard (but by no means pretty) and through scrutineering in time for the second race of the day where I started from the back of the grid. I came through the field on the first lap but then the bike started to miss-fire and I ended up circulating steadily just to get the bike across the line. Getting back to the paddock found we the fuel level to be quite low and suspected this to be a self inflicted problem - not putting enough fuel in! To be fair we only just got the bike scrutineered with minutes to the race start so can understand forgetting silly things like that under pressure.
The first race on the Harris did not go well at all, the bike was coughing a spluttering on the warm-up lap, continued to do so off the line but seemed to clean up down park straight. Then half way round Chris curve it was missing again before coming right onto pipe and propelling me off track onto the grass - things didn't end well from then on... I could see the tyre wall coming toward me fast, dare not touch the front brake so tried some rear brake only to hit a bump, then bailing out off the bike best I could and end up sliding on all fours on the grass. Relatively painless for the bike, just a cracked fairing and no more, however in the process of sliding I have severed the tendon that controls the end on my middle finger on y left hand - so now it is in a splint and will stay that way for 6-8 weeks in the hope it re-fuses allowing me use of the end of my finger again! Nightmare. The injury didn't actually end the weekend as it's not painful at all, we repaired the bike that evening ready for Sunday and hoped for a better day. Lap time wise I had improved on my previous quickest time round Cadwell on the X7 by a good 2-3 seconds on average, best of which was a 1m56.709s. Very pleased with that.
Sunday was much better weather wise, bit foggy first thing but that soon cleared. Race 3 on the Suzuki went OK, I had a mid grid start position and made up multiple places in the first lap and finished the race in 6th place, 4th in class. The race pace of everyone was strangely well down compared to lap times the previous day for some unknown reason, cant explain that one. But this result gave me a decent grid position for the last race where I really wanted to go out and push hard, but unfortunately the Suzuki gave up on the first lap and I retired @ the mountain. Its been a tough season for the 250 which has run the whole year on 1 set of pistons and rings (believe it or not..?) so its going to go under a good refresh for next year (with a few planned improvements) ready for another push in the flourishing 250AC class championship. Were happy we've got the speed to cope with a championship charge so most of this winters work will focus on handling and set-up items to give us a bit more on that front.
We managed to get the bike straightened out to a usable standard (but by no means pretty) and through scrutineering in time for the second race of the day where I started from the back of the grid. I came through the field on the first lap but then the bike started to miss-fire and I ended up circulating steadily just to get the bike across the line. Getting back to the paddock found we the fuel level to be quite low and suspected this to be a self inflicted problem - not putting enough fuel in! To be fair we only just got the bike scrutineered with minutes to the race start so can understand forgetting silly things like that under pressure.
The first race on the Harris did not go well at all, the bike was coughing a spluttering on the warm-up lap, continued to do so off the line but seemed to clean up down park straight. Then half way round Chris curve it was missing again before coming right onto pipe and propelling me off track onto the grass - things didn't end well from then on... I could see the tyre wall coming toward me fast, dare not touch the front brake so tried some rear brake only to hit a bump, then bailing out off the bike best I could and end up sliding on all fours on the grass. Relatively painless for the bike, just a cracked fairing and no more, however in the process of sliding I have severed the tendon that controls the end on my middle finger on y left hand - so now it is in a splint and will stay that way for 6-8 weeks in the hope it re-fuses allowing me use of the end of my finger again! Nightmare. The injury didn't actually end the weekend as it's not painful at all, we repaired the bike that evening ready for Sunday and hoped for a better day. Lap time wise I had improved on my previous quickest time round Cadwell on the X7 by a good 2-3 seconds on average, best of which was a 1m56.709s. Very pleased with that.
Sunday was much better weather wise, bit foggy first thing but that soon cleared. Race 3 on the Suzuki went OK, I had a mid grid start position and made up multiple places in the first lap and finished the race in 6th place, 4th in class. The race pace of everyone was strangely well down compared to lap times the previous day for some unknown reason, cant explain that one. But this result gave me a decent grid position for the last race where I really wanted to go out and push hard, but unfortunately the Suzuki gave up on the first lap and I retired @ the mountain. Its been a tough season for the 250 which has run the whole year on 1 set of pistons and rings (believe it or not..?) so its going to go under a good refresh for next year (with a few planned improvements) ready for another push in the flourishing 250AC class championship. Were happy we've got the speed to cope with a championship charge so most of this winters work will focus on handling and set-up items to give us a bit more on that front.
From this side you'd hardly know it had been down the road!
Race 2 on the Harris Sunday morning was an exercise in testing to see if the jetting changes we made the night before had helped clean up the mid-range and prevent any more mid corner miss-haps, and it appeared to do the trick, it was also a confidence rebuilding exercise after another fall from the bike. The Harris has been a bit of an enigma for me in some ways this year as admittedly I haven't gone as well on it as I'd planned, fair few crashes have not helped progress but we've learnt so much about the bike this year, particularly the way it handles, so hopefully next season I'll be able to get the best from it.
The weekend at Cadwell Park ultimately ended early for us as I was starting to feel the effects of the 2 crashes and we had a very long journey home ahead, so we opted to pack up early missing the last 2 races on the Yamaha in a bid to get home at a decent hour for work the following morning. A wise choice considering the weekend we'd had!
By now you'll have noticed in my words I'm focusing on next season already... and that's because Cadwell was the last planned meeting of my 2014 season. I'm unable to make it to Snetterton with the CRMC this year, as I did last year (it's my daughters 1st birthday!) so I'm taking a few weeks out racing wise, before I get into winter plans for 2015 end of October. As I said previously we have got some significant planned upgrades for the X7 (and some repairs to do now too!) and also some work to do on the Harris but that will mostly be cosmetic, and a re-focus on it's set-up for me next year. 2015 promises to be another good year for us with some bits an pieces in the pipeline that are currently being organised behind the scenes, more on that to follow over the winter break.
So here's the weekends video's, got the crash footage from the 1st race on the Suzuki, the camera mount broke off in that crash to that's the only 250 Air cooled action I've got from Cadwell this year. We had a play with the GoPro on the Harris, mounting it on the seat unit which worked quite well as a trial, have edited a short bit of footage but will have another play with the GoPro on the Harris next year....
The weekend at Cadwell Park ultimately ended early for us as I was starting to feel the effects of the 2 crashes and we had a very long journey home ahead, so we opted to pack up early missing the last 2 races on the Yamaha in a bid to get home at a decent hour for work the following morning. A wise choice considering the weekend we'd had!
By now you'll have noticed in my words I'm focusing on next season already... and that's because Cadwell was the last planned meeting of my 2014 season. I'm unable to make it to Snetterton with the CRMC this year, as I did last year (it's my daughters 1st birthday!) so I'm taking a few weeks out racing wise, before I get into winter plans for 2015 end of October. As I said previously we have got some significant planned upgrades for the X7 (and some repairs to do now too!) and also some work to do on the Harris but that will mostly be cosmetic, and a re-focus on it's set-up for me next year. 2015 promises to be another good year for us with some bits an pieces in the pipeline that are currently being organised behind the scenes, more on that to follow over the winter break.
So here's the weekends video's, got the crash footage from the 1st race on the Suzuki, the camera mount broke off in that crash to that's the only 250 Air cooled action I've got from Cadwell this year. We had a play with the GoPro on the Harris, mounting it on the seat unit which worked quite well as a trial, have edited a short bit of footage but will have another play with the GoPro on the Harris next year....
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CRMC - DONNINGTON PARK 2014:
Was a bit wet to say the least....
Donnington Park is one of my favourite circuits, unfortunately due to reliability issue's and the horrendous washout weather conditions that conspired against us all weekend, we were really unable to make the most of the fact its a circuit I normally go well at. I'll explain all below....
So first the Suzuki; The niggling problem we have had on and off for a while now was back to haunt me. Intermittent miss fire and subsequent cutting out of the engine totally at times meant I suffered DNF's in both race 1 and race 2. This problem had previously thought to have been an ignition issue, although no real fault could be found. It was assumed after race 1 that the heavy rainfall had affected the ignition as I run an open stator cover allowing the elements straight in? This however turned out to be a bit of a red herring. After some basic ignition testing, it was only when Nige Collier suggested checking the fuel tap flows (again) we realised there was another problem... basically no flow to the R/H carb whatsoever! Fuel tap whipped off, we found minor blockage and a casting fault in the after market tap I've fitted, which meant the flow would never have been that great. Cleared all that out, put higher fuel level in the tank and problem solved. It would appear we've been running the tank fairly low recently hence the new problem had arisen and become more prominent. Guess I should think myself lucky it never seized on me really! Finding the fault gave me the opportunity to go out in the pouring rain Sunday morning to prove up the bike in solo practice and then straight into Race 3. I lined up back of the grid in 39th position due to my previous DNF's and managed to hit 7th by the end of lap 1! I then made 2 more positions and crossed the line in 5th which was a very pleasing end to a very frustrating weekend on the 250.
Harris YPVS.... Minutes before practice I ran up the bike and in doing so noticed the powervalve was already switched on (must have caught it when loading the van I guess). The little battery was dead and beyond charging so had to go out with no power valve on the bike. Still managed to get a few decent laps in although the bike clearly didn't pull as well as it normally would. After practice I had the Wheatcroft trophy qualifying, luckily it was delayed till Saturday morning which gave us a chance to fit a new battery. Having fitted the new battery and confirmed the powervalve working in the paddock I went back out on the circuit and suffered the same issue - no powervalve! Further bit of testing back at the paddock and we found a wiring fault - broken wire half way between the battery and the powervalve on/off switch. We renewed a large chunk of the wire in the circuit with new better connections so hopefully that's that problem sorted.
Went out for first race Saturday morning and during the warm up lap I had a big slide on the rear end at the old hairpin. Got to the line and as I pulled up a group of spectators on the pit wall got my attention pointing to the bottom of the bike, looked down and there was foamy gearbox oil pouring out the crankcase vent onto the track and was all over the rear tyre.... Lucky or what! That would explain the big slide into the old hairpin and would certainly have avoided me heading down to Redgate at full chat and promptly binning it with no traction on the rear tyre! I've not had a proper look at the bike yet but the issue is likely to be the water pump seal gone which isn't too big of a deal really and a simple job to change.
Finish off with the positive's then - Honda K4. Nige Collier had offered me another go on the bike after some decent rides on it last year @ Donnington. I really like jumping on the 4 stroke as its a huge difference to the 2 stroke's I'm used to riding, and in some ways a welcomed relief from my pipey 250! I settled in gently in practice (not my bike) and qualified 21st on the grid with an already quicker lap time than I had managed the year previous. I ran out of gearing on the straight off the old hairpin so we had to go 1 tooth bigger on the front sprocket which Nige changed (just before it poured with rain again). Before the meeting Nige had gone to the trouble of fitting a front disk for me as the drum brake last year meant I kept getting out braked into Redgate and the chicane. No doubt the disk was a huge improvement, alhough alot heavier than the drum set-up the benefit of extra braking power was huge. The bike still felt as good handling wise as it did last season with the new front end so I was looking forward to getting into the racing, race 1 target being a top 10 finish.
Race 1 - I had a really good race with 2 guys for 10th on the road (9th in class), changing positions multiple times each lap. Despite being 12th position crossing the line for the final lap I managed to grab the 10th spot having been out braked into the final chicane, by carrying more corner speed onto the start/finish straight and outdriving the guy to the line. Really enjoyed that race. Nige had been watching and reckoned I needed to be more aggressive with the bike off the line in race 2, allowing me to get a tow from the faster guys in the top 6 or 8. He also noticed I was slower through Redgate, but much fast than the other guys down Craner gaining lots of ground on the rest (basically holding the bike flat out!) but then loosing out on drive back up the hill. We assumed the change in gearing although giving me more top speed on the straight, I had lost some drive up the hill which couldn't be avoided.
Race 2 - I did exactly as Nige suggested off the line but unfortunately it was red flagged on the first lap, and on the restart I didn't get such a good start which is really bloody annoying when that happens. I still climbed several positions into 12th on the road and also improved my fastest lap time but really wanted to tag onto the front pack to get a tow. Having been watching race 2 Nige had decided that his bike was being out dragged by some of the faster guys, I found at times despite carrying more corner speed than the other guys their bikes seemed to have more punch out the corners than I had. We decided to rev the bike further on than we had previously to see if the extra 500rpm would help bridge the gap.
Race 3 - Plan for race 3 was the same, get a good start and chase the front pack of quick guys, however the track conditions were spoilt slightly by huge scattering of cement dust all round the circuit covering different lines around the corners (very large oil spill). This seemed to put people off as the pace was slightly slower in general, making passing difficult at times. Not to mention when the rain started mid way through the race, 3 guys in the front pack went down at the old hairpin before the race was red flagged. That race was very short and we barely got chance to get going really before it was over!
That should have left me one more race on Sunday which was likely to be a wet one and I was really looking forward to... However, due to several delay's and apparent mud running across the track @ Craner Curve the club decided to cut the racing short at 3 race's each. That meaning I didn't get to go out and play with the Honda in the rain as I'd hoped, much to Nige's disappointment as he'd watched my performance in the rain on the X7 and was hoping to see his K4 in the top 5 minimum (no pressure in the rain then!)
So a dissapointing meeting overall for me really with only 4 finished from a planned 13 races but hey that's racing sometimes it just doesnt go your way. Big thank-you to Nige for letting me have another go on his K4 and also going all out to change the front end and even treating the bike to a new front tyre for Donnington, spoilt sponsored ride or what...! Without the K4 rides the weekend really would have been a disaster so I'm very grateful of the extra rides on a super little bike.
No video's this time I'm afraid, wouldn't have got much from the X7 anyway other than footage of the tyre wall and recordings of me swearing and cursing at the bike in the background! Now were looking forward to Cadwell Park, which will be my last CRMC meeting of the year, then I guess it'll be winter time and planning for next season......
So first the Suzuki; The niggling problem we have had on and off for a while now was back to haunt me. Intermittent miss fire and subsequent cutting out of the engine totally at times meant I suffered DNF's in both race 1 and race 2. This problem had previously thought to have been an ignition issue, although no real fault could be found. It was assumed after race 1 that the heavy rainfall had affected the ignition as I run an open stator cover allowing the elements straight in? This however turned out to be a bit of a red herring. After some basic ignition testing, it was only when Nige Collier suggested checking the fuel tap flows (again) we realised there was another problem... basically no flow to the R/H carb whatsoever! Fuel tap whipped off, we found minor blockage and a casting fault in the after market tap I've fitted, which meant the flow would never have been that great. Cleared all that out, put higher fuel level in the tank and problem solved. It would appear we've been running the tank fairly low recently hence the new problem had arisen and become more prominent. Guess I should think myself lucky it never seized on me really! Finding the fault gave me the opportunity to go out in the pouring rain Sunday morning to prove up the bike in solo practice and then straight into Race 3. I lined up back of the grid in 39th position due to my previous DNF's and managed to hit 7th by the end of lap 1! I then made 2 more positions and crossed the line in 5th which was a very pleasing end to a very frustrating weekend on the 250.
Harris YPVS.... Minutes before practice I ran up the bike and in doing so noticed the powervalve was already switched on (must have caught it when loading the van I guess). The little battery was dead and beyond charging so had to go out with no power valve on the bike. Still managed to get a few decent laps in although the bike clearly didn't pull as well as it normally would. After practice I had the Wheatcroft trophy qualifying, luckily it was delayed till Saturday morning which gave us a chance to fit a new battery. Having fitted the new battery and confirmed the powervalve working in the paddock I went back out on the circuit and suffered the same issue - no powervalve! Further bit of testing back at the paddock and we found a wiring fault - broken wire half way between the battery and the powervalve on/off switch. We renewed a large chunk of the wire in the circuit with new better connections so hopefully that's that problem sorted.
Went out for first race Saturday morning and during the warm up lap I had a big slide on the rear end at the old hairpin. Got to the line and as I pulled up a group of spectators on the pit wall got my attention pointing to the bottom of the bike, looked down and there was foamy gearbox oil pouring out the crankcase vent onto the track and was all over the rear tyre.... Lucky or what! That would explain the big slide into the old hairpin and would certainly have avoided me heading down to Redgate at full chat and promptly binning it with no traction on the rear tyre! I've not had a proper look at the bike yet but the issue is likely to be the water pump seal gone which isn't too big of a deal really and a simple job to change.
Finish off with the positive's then - Honda K4. Nige Collier had offered me another go on the bike after some decent rides on it last year @ Donnington. I really like jumping on the 4 stroke as its a huge difference to the 2 stroke's I'm used to riding, and in some ways a welcomed relief from my pipey 250! I settled in gently in practice (not my bike) and qualified 21st on the grid with an already quicker lap time than I had managed the year previous. I ran out of gearing on the straight off the old hairpin so we had to go 1 tooth bigger on the front sprocket which Nige changed (just before it poured with rain again). Before the meeting Nige had gone to the trouble of fitting a front disk for me as the drum brake last year meant I kept getting out braked into Redgate and the chicane. No doubt the disk was a huge improvement, alhough alot heavier than the drum set-up the benefit of extra braking power was huge. The bike still felt as good handling wise as it did last season with the new front end so I was looking forward to getting into the racing, race 1 target being a top 10 finish.
Race 1 - I had a really good race with 2 guys for 10th on the road (9th in class), changing positions multiple times each lap. Despite being 12th position crossing the line for the final lap I managed to grab the 10th spot having been out braked into the final chicane, by carrying more corner speed onto the start/finish straight and outdriving the guy to the line. Really enjoyed that race. Nige had been watching and reckoned I needed to be more aggressive with the bike off the line in race 2, allowing me to get a tow from the faster guys in the top 6 or 8. He also noticed I was slower through Redgate, but much fast than the other guys down Craner gaining lots of ground on the rest (basically holding the bike flat out!) but then loosing out on drive back up the hill. We assumed the change in gearing although giving me more top speed on the straight, I had lost some drive up the hill which couldn't be avoided.
Race 2 - I did exactly as Nige suggested off the line but unfortunately it was red flagged on the first lap, and on the restart I didn't get such a good start which is really bloody annoying when that happens. I still climbed several positions into 12th on the road and also improved my fastest lap time but really wanted to tag onto the front pack to get a tow. Having been watching race 2 Nige had decided that his bike was being out dragged by some of the faster guys, I found at times despite carrying more corner speed than the other guys their bikes seemed to have more punch out the corners than I had. We decided to rev the bike further on than we had previously to see if the extra 500rpm would help bridge the gap.
Race 3 - Plan for race 3 was the same, get a good start and chase the front pack of quick guys, however the track conditions were spoilt slightly by huge scattering of cement dust all round the circuit covering different lines around the corners (very large oil spill). This seemed to put people off as the pace was slightly slower in general, making passing difficult at times. Not to mention when the rain started mid way through the race, 3 guys in the front pack went down at the old hairpin before the race was red flagged. That race was very short and we barely got chance to get going really before it was over!
That should have left me one more race on Sunday which was likely to be a wet one and I was really looking forward to... However, due to several delay's and apparent mud running across the track @ Craner Curve the club decided to cut the racing short at 3 race's each. That meaning I didn't get to go out and play with the Honda in the rain as I'd hoped, much to Nige's disappointment as he'd watched my performance in the rain on the X7 and was hoping to see his K4 in the top 5 minimum (no pressure in the rain then!)
So a dissapointing meeting overall for me really with only 4 finished from a planned 13 races but hey that's racing sometimes it just doesnt go your way. Big thank-you to Nige for letting me have another go on his K4 and also going all out to change the front end and even treating the bike to a new front tyre for Donnington, spoilt sponsored ride or what...! Without the K4 rides the weekend really would have been a disaster so I'm very grateful of the extra rides on a super little bike.
No video's this time I'm afraid, wouldn't have got much from the X7 anyway other than footage of the tyre wall and recordings of me swearing and cursing at the bike in the background! Now were looking forward to Cadwell Park, which will be my last CRMC meeting of the year, then I guess it'll be winter time and planning for next season......
Another quality photograph by Russell Lee - www.sport-pics.co.uk
AMCC - ABERDARE PARK 2014:
Aberdare Park has officially become my favourite meeting on the race calendar. I had a superb weekend on the Suzuki and really got to grips with the very fast and very exciting circuit.
I opted not to take the Harris to Aberdare in the end, as it was going to be a very busy meeting for me and I didn’t want the extra hassle of running 2 bikes. As it turned out running the X7 in 2 separate classes gave me 8 races and 2 practices across the 2 days, which is more than enough on a very physical circuit such as Aberdare Park.
I opted not to take the Harris to Aberdare in the end, as it was going to be a very busy meeting for me and I didn’t want the extra hassle of running 2 bikes. As it turned out running the X7 in 2 separate classes gave me 8 races and 2 practices across the 2 days, which is more than enough on a very physical circuit such as Aberdare Park.
Practice got off to a good start, I immediately went quicker round the circuit than I had done the previous year – so that’s good progress. I managed to earn myself 5th on the grid for the weekend in the Aircooled class and 7th on the grid in the Welsh classics class.
In the first few races I was struggling with parts of the circuit, not getting the right line through the bends and corners. The circuit has got such big camber variations that sometimes the ‘racing line’ you would normally look for is trying to push you out onto the grass (and into the tree’s). After the first race I spoke to Alex Sinclair (a bit of an Aberdare specialist), he had been following me in practice and he recommended a different line to approach the left hander after the esses. Basically the camber helped you turn tighter and ultimately run faster through that particular section. The next race I tried the different line and sure enough it worked really well, from then on I was more mind full of camber variations around the circuit, adjusted my lines to suit and knocked chunks off lap times as I went. By the end of the meeting I was only 0.2s off the 250cc classic lap record with a 47.045s lap, which, although my X7 isnt really a classic, I was still extremely pleased with for my second year at the Park.
In the first few races I was struggling with parts of the circuit, not getting the right line through the bends and corners. The circuit has got such big camber variations that sometimes the ‘racing line’ you would normally look for is trying to push you out onto the grass (and into the tree’s). After the first race I spoke to Alex Sinclair (a bit of an Aberdare specialist), he had been following me in practice and he recommended a different line to approach the left hander after the esses. Basically the camber helped you turn tighter and ultimately run faster through that particular section. The next race I tried the different line and sure enough it worked really well, from then on I was more mind full of camber variations around the circuit, adjusted my lines to suit and knocked chunks off lap times as I went. By the end of the meeting I was only 0.2s off the 250cc classic lap record with a 47.045s lap, which, although my X7 isnt really a classic, I was still extremely pleased with for my second year at the Park.
Have a look at the Aberdare Park road races facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/326913241664/
By the end of the weekend I had picked up aggregate 4th position in Aircooled 500 class, aggregate 6th position in the Welsh classics, and also the 1st position Aircooled 250cc subclass both days. Got some nice trophies from the weekend, and also some prize money too. Glorious weather all weekend certainly helped with progress, as last years wet conditions made going fast more difficult. The paddock is just behind the park and makes for a really nice setting to enjoy the evenings while the sun is shining.
I had so much video footage from the weekend that I decided not to edit all of the individual videos, it would take hours! I have only edited the one above, which was the best of the lot, race 4 of the 500cc Aircooled class where I picked up my fastest lap and overall race time of the weekend. Aberdare Park will be the main focus for my next season’s race calendar – If you haven’t been racing there before I strongly recommend you give it a try as there’s not a lot else like it.
CRMC round 4 - Brands Hatch 2014:
Pushing it back to the paddock after ignition coil failure...
As you will probably have already gathered from the photo above - Brands Hatch was a challenging meeting for me! However, I'll start by saying It was a fantastic weekend of racing overall for us..... With mixed weather conditions, mixed race results, ignition issue's and needless to say as always lots learnt in a very quick two days!
Having never been to Brands before it was always looking to be a pretty steep learning curve, taking into consideration my comments post Anglesey around preparation - I took time and made sure the bikes were properly ready for Brands. This included swapping out the 17x3'' front wheel on the Harris Yamaha for an 18x2.5'', fitting the new fairing to it that I've had for 2 months and also fitting a 90/90 Avon to the front of the X7 instead of the Dunlop.
Saturday morning was wet practice, or so it should have been. Having warmed the bike up and ridden all the way over to the collecting area I noticed fuel running out the overflow on the R/H carb, no amount of tapping the float bowl would sort it so I was unable to go out. I wasn't really bothered as the conditions were treacherous at that time, but the rain was clearing and therefore it would be dry in time for practice 6 on the Yamaha. Back in the paddock we took the carb and bowl off, found nothing obvious, so put back together and all good no more overflowing - X7 ready for Race 1.
Practice 6 on the Yamaha was the first chance for me to try the bike with the new front wheel, and it felt much improved. The brand new Avon tyre I had fitted the night before needed scrubbing in so I spent much of practice going steady in the slowly drying conditions.
Race 1 on the Suzuki came round quite quickly and luckily the track was dry - sunshine in the sky. I lined up on the grid with a decent grid position and I felt confident for the race despite the fact I hadn't yet learnt the track properly at race speed. A decent start and a strong first three laps had me 4th/5th on the road and 2nd in class. My pace dropped slightly after 2 mistakes and some of the pack behind got past me, I didnt feel I had the pace to catch Jerry again so the main focus was to take a 2nd position which I did.
Race 2 I was feeling pretty confident that a better line through Druids would really help my pace and lap time enough to look for a win (in class at least). If you watch the Race 1 video you can clearly see this is where I was loosing time and drive down the hill to Graham Hill bend. The new front tyre felt good in the first race, pretty stable and very grippy, much preferred to the old Dunlop I had on there previously. Unfortunately however, Race 2 was cut short for me after less than a lap, as my bike started to miss-fire badly which ended in a DNF exactly what I didn't want from the weekend!
A look through the bike threw up nothing obvious mechanically wrong apart from a big temp differential between L/H and R/H cylinders. The plug in the colder cylinder was very oily so we put the issue down to plug breaking down and fouling up. New plugs went in, the bike fired up in the paddock so was assumed ready to go for Sunday mornings practice to prove up its reliability again. Sunday morning practice went well although at a pretty slow pace due to the wet conditions, coming off the circuit I was happy the bike was ready for race 3. Or so I thought... Race 3 came along and I managed about 3 laps before the miss-fire started again. Now I was pretty sure I had an ignition issue of some kind. Two DNF's, nightmare!! I spent a large chunk of Sunday morning scrounging the paddock for a spare ignition coil (which was discovered to be the fault) and luckily I found somebody who had a spare and was more than happy to lend it to me for the final race.
Race 4 was obviously always going to be difficult starting from the back of the grid, but I made a good start and didn't waste any time moving up the field, the front guys had disappeared into the distance as you'd expect. However after afew laps I un-expectedly caught Jerry who was having ignition issue's of his own and moved into 1st in class. Clearly Jerry had machine problems so I backed off my pace (having had 2 DNF's already) to ensure I salvaged some decent points from the weekend. All the video's from on board the Suzuki in Race's 1 & 4 shown below:
Having never been to Brands before it was always looking to be a pretty steep learning curve, taking into consideration my comments post Anglesey around preparation - I took time and made sure the bikes were properly ready for Brands. This included swapping out the 17x3'' front wheel on the Harris Yamaha for an 18x2.5'', fitting the new fairing to it that I've had for 2 months and also fitting a 90/90 Avon to the front of the X7 instead of the Dunlop.
Saturday morning was wet practice, or so it should have been. Having warmed the bike up and ridden all the way over to the collecting area I noticed fuel running out the overflow on the R/H carb, no amount of tapping the float bowl would sort it so I was unable to go out. I wasn't really bothered as the conditions were treacherous at that time, but the rain was clearing and therefore it would be dry in time for practice 6 on the Yamaha. Back in the paddock we took the carb and bowl off, found nothing obvious, so put back together and all good no more overflowing - X7 ready for Race 1.
Practice 6 on the Yamaha was the first chance for me to try the bike with the new front wheel, and it felt much improved. The brand new Avon tyre I had fitted the night before needed scrubbing in so I spent much of practice going steady in the slowly drying conditions.
Race 1 on the Suzuki came round quite quickly and luckily the track was dry - sunshine in the sky. I lined up on the grid with a decent grid position and I felt confident for the race despite the fact I hadn't yet learnt the track properly at race speed. A decent start and a strong first three laps had me 4th/5th on the road and 2nd in class. My pace dropped slightly after 2 mistakes and some of the pack behind got past me, I didnt feel I had the pace to catch Jerry again so the main focus was to take a 2nd position which I did.
Race 2 I was feeling pretty confident that a better line through Druids would really help my pace and lap time enough to look for a win (in class at least). If you watch the Race 1 video you can clearly see this is where I was loosing time and drive down the hill to Graham Hill bend. The new front tyre felt good in the first race, pretty stable and very grippy, much preferred to the old Dunlop I had on there previously. Unfortunately however, Race 2 was cut short for me after less than a lap, as my bike started to miss-fire badly which ended in a DNF exactly what I didn't want from the weekend!
A look through the bike threw up nothing obvious mechanically wrong apart from a big temp differential between L/H and R/H cylinders. The plug in the colder cylinder was very oily so we put the issue down to plug breaking down and fouling up. New plugs went in, the bike fired up in the paddock so was assumed ready to go for Sunday mornings practice to prove up its reliability again. Sunday morning practice went well although at a pretty slow pace due to the wet conditions, coming off the circuit I was happy the bike was ready for race 3. Or so I thought... Race 3 came along and I managed about 3 laps before the miss-fire started again. Now I was pretty sure I had an ignition issue of some kind. Two DNF's, nightmare!! I spent a large chunk of Sunday morning scrounging the paddock for a spare ignition coil (which was discovered to be the fault) and luckily I found somebody who had a spare and was more than happy to lend it to me for the final race.
Race 4 was obviously always going to be difficult starting from the back of the grid, but I made a good start and didn't waste any time moving up the field, the front guys had disappeared into the distance as you'd expect. However after afew laps I un-expectedly caught Jerry who was having ignition issue's of his own and moved into 1st in class. Clearly Jerry had machine problems so I backed off my pace (having had 2 DNF's already) to ensure I salvaged some decent points from the weekend. All the video's from on board the Suzuki in Race's 1 & 4 shown below:
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Brands Hatch 2014 - Mick Abbey Suzuki X7
On the other hand the learning curve for me with the Harris Yamaha continues, with some notable progress made @ Brands..... The new Astralite front wheel very kindly lent to me for the remainder of the season by Colin Western, definitely inspire's more confidence in the front end handling and turning ability of the bike. I had also taken some advice from Alex Sinclair who suggested raising the back end of the bike by lengthening the shock to help it turn, which I had also done in preparation for Brands. Both these changes have clearly helped with the handling compared to the problems I was having at Anglesey previously. (Details of the changes I have made and the reasoning behind them are covered on the machine development page).
So results wise I took a 4th position and three 3rd positions on the 350 over the weekend. We were paired on the grid with the Group 1 TZ350's so it gave me a good feel for the pace that my bike in theory could run at (not quite there yet). I started off pretty slow in practice and race 1 building confidence in the bikes handling which is clearly very different to anything I have ridden before and worlds apart from the X7. After having 2 crashes, renewing confidence in the bike is key If I'm going to run at a decent pace on it, I think I made some ground with the bike as the weekend progressed.
In the King of Brands trophy race I really pushed on and knocked 3s off my previous best lap time, only minor problem the gear lever rounded its splines meaning I had to do the last 3 laps with 2 gears which was interesting!
So results wise I took a 4th position and three 3rd positions on the 350 over the weekend. We were paired on the grid with the Group 1 TZ350's so it gave me a good feel for the pace that my bike in theory could run at (not quite there yet). I started off pretty slow in practice and race 1 building confidence in the bikes handling which is clearly very different to anything I have ridden before and worlds apart from the X7. After having 2 crashes, renewing confidence in the bike is key If I'm going to run at a decent pace on it, I think I made some ground with the bike as the weekend progressed.
In the King of Brands trophy race I really pushed on and knocked 3s off my previous best lap time, only minor problem the gear lever rounded its splines meaning I had to do the last 3 laps with 2 gears which was interesting!
Brands Hatch 2014 - Harris Yamaha
Want to say thanks to everyone who helped me out at Brands and also to those who came up for the day to watch and cheer me on, always nice to have someone to wave at on the cool down lap. Really looking forward to Aberdare Park now where I'm taking the Suzuki and then onto Donnington Park with the CRMC where I'll be having another go on a 4 stroke, which will make a nice change from my revvy 2-strokes!
CRMC round 3 - Anglesey 2014:
What a mixed bag weekend.... One win, Two 2nd's, One 3rd, Two 4th's, a mechanical breakdown and a crash of course (only a minor one). So first of all lets talk about my theory of preparation. Always be well prepared in order to attain optimum & maximum performance, so I guess arriving to the circuit @ 02:00am Saturday morning doesn't quite fit that ethic does it! Having been away all the week previous abroad, I pulled up outside the garage that I was to be sharing having driven straight from Heathrow, I unloaded enough stuff so I could get my camp bed up and slept in the back of the van next to the Yamaha.... Very cosy. Fortunately for me, the club decided on a 10:00am start Saturday so things weren't quite as rushed in the morning as they could have been! No issues with scrutineering always helps.
Practice was usual story for me, didn't really feel up to speed and never really got comfy on either bike, but still wasn't too worried as having been to Trac Mon before I knew roughly how the circuit went. I was due to be running back to back races all meeting so to say it was a busy weekend for me was an understatement. Did get big help from the guys I shared the garage with though and that really made it more pheasible.
Practice was usual story for me, didn't really feel up to speed and never really got comfy on either bike, but still wasn't too worried as having been to Trac Mon before I knew roughly how the circuit went. I was due to be running back to back races all meeting so to say it was a busy weekend for me was an understatement. Did get big help from the guys I shared the garage with though and that really made it more pheasible.
No more ground clearance there!
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Great photo - Anglesey is a great location
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Race 1 was pretty early on in the day, and it was to be the Yamaha first, with the Suzuki waiting in the collecting area for me to jump off 350 and onto the 250 and go straight back out. As I'm still getting to know the Harris I took it pretty steady and found my way around the track on the bigger and much more powerful bike, finishing 4th in class and putting in a lap time that seemed respectable. I jumped straight onto the Suzuki full of confidence and feeling pretty well dialled into the circuit, this all helped as I felt really good on the little 250 and went on to finish 1st in class. It was a great race that unfortunately I didn't capture on video. Another class win on the Suzuki was nice but the racing to get it was even more satisfying as the class mix with the classic's is really working well, with a pack of 6 guys all close on the road which was great fun.
The teething problems with the Yamaha remained all weekend, running wide out of corners and a difficulty to turn the bike quickly are telling me its time for a narrower front rim and a longer shock absorber (basically an extension to existing). These mods will be covered on the development page and will hopefully be in place for Brands. Race 2 on the Suzuki was another great encounter as you can see from the video, the racing is pretty close and pretty fast in this PC250cc class, and being out with the classic 200's only makes it more fun. I managed a 2nd in class in race 2 so it rounded off a good day on both bikes despite the minor issue's I'm still having with the Yamaha.
Sunday by my own admission wasn't such a great day for some reason, the Yamaha overheated on the start line (possible air lock in the water system?) so I had to pull off a miss Race 3 & an unfortunate racing incident saw me tip off at low speed through the corkscrew meaning the poor Yam hit the tarmac again. Damage to the bike was minimal and likewise with the rider luckily. I still managed a 3rd & 2nd in class on the Suzuki but never quite felt I had the momentum that I had on the Saturday - you can see this on the video's. Getting off the line in Race 4 consisted of 3 big wheelies as I knew I needed to keep with the front guys from the off, and was perhaps a little too keen. I've watched the Sunday's video's back afew times and its not hard to see where the issue's were, so its something I'll bare in mind in future meetings in trying to maintain consistency all weekend. To be fair I had not long dropped the Yamaha on the corkscrew before Race 4 on the Suzuki so probably had that in the back of my mind too.
So I've got a few things to sort for Brands, new front 18'' x 2.5 rim for the Harris, fit the new fairing and repair the bits that broke when I tipped off Sunday afternoon. Suzuki needs new rear tyre as the hot weather at Anglesey finally destroyed my 2nd hand special that is currently fitted (another 2nd hand special to go in its place) and also trying the Avon 90/90 on the front of the Suzuki as well. Development page will be updated with any changes
Overall a fantastic weekend, good company as always, good weather & good racing. Anglesey is definitely becoming a favourite - just a shame its so bloody far away! All the video's are below, only got half of Race 4 as the battery died - more spare batteries on order!
The teething problems with the Yamaha remained all weekend, running wide out of corners and a difficulty to turn the bike quickly are telling me its time for a narrower front rim and a longer shock absorber (basically an extension to existing). These mods will be covered on the development page and will hopefully be in place for Brands. Race 2 on the Suzuki was another great encounter as you can see from the video, the racing is pretty close and pretty fast in this PC250cc class, and being out with the classic 200's only makes it more fun. I managed a 2nd in class in race 2 so it rounded off a good day on both bikes despite the minor issue's I'm still having with the Yamaha.
Sunday by my own admission wasn't such a great day for some reason, the Yamaha overheated on the start line (possible air lock in the water system?) so I had to pull off a miss Race 3 & an unfortunate racing incident saw me tip off at low speed through the corkscrew meaning the poor Yam hit the tarmac again. Damage to the bike was minimal and likewise with the rider luckily. I still managed a 3rd & 2nd in class on the Suzuki but never quite felt I had the momentum that I had on the Saturday - you can see this on the video's. Getting off the line in Race 4 consisted of 3 big wheelies as I knew I needed to keep with the front guys from the off, and was perhaps a little too keen. I've watched the Sunday's video's back afew times and its not hard to see where the issue's were, so its something I'll bare in mind in future meetings in trying to maintain consistency all weekend. To be fair I had not long dropped the Yamaha on the corkscrew before Race 4 on the Suzuki so probably had that in the back of my mind too.
So I've got a few things to sort for Brands, new front 18'' x 2.5 rim for the Harris, fit the new fairing and repair the bits that broke when I tipped off Sunday afternoon. Suzuki needs new rear tyre as the hot weather at Anglesey finally destroyed my 2nd hand special that is currently fitted (another 2nd hand special to go in its place) and also trying the Avon 90/90 on the front of the Suzuki as well. Development page will be updated with any changes
Overall a fantastic weekend, good company as always, good weather & good racing. Anglesey is definitely becoming a favourite - just a shame its so bloody far away! All the video's are below, only got half of Race 4 as the battery died - more spare batteries on order!
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CRMC Round 2 - Lydden Hill 2014:
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Well where do I start to talk about a fantastic weekend's racing @ Lydden Hill? I had been eagerly awaiting the return to this circuit as I really liked the place in 2012 and was disappointed it had been removed from the 2013 calendar. This excitement to get back there was also re-enforced by a stunning weather forecast for the weekend which didn't let us down either - as you can see from the two photo's above...
In terms of results - the visit to Lydden was my most successful to date. Two class wins and two 2nd's has put to bed all the minor issue's that I had at Pembrey. The 250 ran superbly all weekend and definitely benefitted from the time I spent tweaking carburation at Pembrey and then in the week prior to Lydden. Just about the only mechanical issue I suffered on the Suzuki over the weekend can be seen on the photo above (can you spot it I wonder?!). I had the GoPro up and running on the X7 and managed to record part 1 of race 1 (all up till a red flag incident), and also races 3 & 4 on the Sunday. Unfortunately due to a camera mounting issue I didn't capture race 2 on Saturday, which is a shame as that was my first class win and it would have been nice to review that one!
The Aircooled 250's and 500's were paired for the weekend on the grid and this certainly made for some good racing & spectating by all accounts. The 250's took advantage of the short circuit and managed to mix it up with the front runners in most the races with Jerry Longland managing a 4th position overall in the first race where he also took the 250cc class win with myself in 2nd. Race 2 was my turn for the 250 class win and coming across the line 5th overall which I was really pleased with, Jerry finishing in 2nd place. Sunday morning I grabbed another class win and only got pushed back to 6th overall on the second to last corner by Terry Brocklehurst, Jerry Longland in 2nd again! And the last race on the 250 was a little disappointing as I accidentally clipped the back of Jerry Crawfords' big single and lost touch with a pack of 6 bikes all battling for position. Fortunately I stayed on the bike and took 2nd in class to round off a pretty good weekend on the Suzuki. All the video's are linked below on Youtube so have a look for yourself;
In terms of results - the visit to Lydden was my most successful to date. Two class wins and two 2nd's has put to bed all the minor issue's that I had at Pembrey. The 250 ran superbly all weekend and definitely benefitted from the time I spent tweaking carburation at Pembrey and then in the week prior to Lydden. Just about the only mechanical issue I suffered on the Suzuki over the weekend can be seen on the photo above (can you spot it I wonder?!). I had the GoPro up and running on the X7 and managed to record part 1 of race 1 (all up till a red flag incident), and also races 3 & 4 on the Sunday. Unfortunately due to a camera mounting issue I didn't capture race 2 on Saturday, which is a shame as that was my first class win and it would have been nice to review that one!
The Aircooled 250's and 500's were paired for the weekend on the grid and this certainly made for some good racing & spectating by all accounts. The 250's took advantage of the short circuit and managed to mix it up with the front runners in most the races with Jerry Longland managing a 4th position overall in the first race where he also took the 250cc class win with myself in 2nd. Race 2 was my turn for the 250 class win and coming across the line 5th overall which I was really pleased with, Jerry finishing in 2nd place. Sunday morning I grabbed another class win and only got pushed back to 6th overall on the second to last corner by Terry Brocklehurst, Jerry Longland in 2nd again! And the last race on the 250 was a little disappointing as I accidentally clipped the back of Jerry Crawfords' big single and lost touch with a pack of 6 bikes all battling for position. Fortunately I stayed on the bike and took 2nd in class to round off a pretty good weekend on the Suzuki. All the video's are linked below on Youtube so have a look for yourself;
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Before I turn the attention of the race report to the Harris 350, I'll take the opportunity to thank Mick Abbey for all his help with the Suzuki for this season, the bike is running really well and is looking like a contender for the new 250cc championship (as long as I can keep on top of the riding bit!). Any tuning needs - Mick Abbey's contact details are on this website.
So the Yamaha was a major confidence building exercise @ Lydden after a fall at Pembrey knocked me back abit. Being the lucky guy I am - my lovely wife went and bought me a new set of Dainese leathers for my birthday a week prior to Lydden, so in fact the pressure not to fall off again was even higher than it might have been (always nice to have new leathers though)! I managed to get the bike home in one piece every race including the extra outing in the Charlie Sanby Trophy race which was a 12 lap fitness test on the Harris! I'm still getting to grips with the handling side of the bike, power wise its well up there with the TZ's which is pretty good for a normal YPVS motor, but It felt like the bike wanted to run wide a lot of the time and was definitely harder to wrestle around the short circuit than the X7! Plan is to try a narrower front 18'' rim to see if it make's any difference, which hopefully it will do. I still crept the laptimes down over the weekend, the best of which was a 48.268. This came amongst a really good race against Danny Imberg in the Charlie Sanby trophy. A low 48 / high 47sec at Lydden I am sure would put me right amongst it in the PC750 class races. if I could add some consistency into the equation - lets see if the narrower front rim helps me to do that at Anglesey.
So overall a thoroughly enjoyable weekend was had @ Lydden with plenty of sunshine and good results, cant ask for much more than that. Looking forward to Anglesey already, another circuit I really enjoyed last year, and eager to take the Harris round there and see what that's like with a narrower front rim on it.
So the Yamaha was a major confidence building exercise @ Lydden after a fall at Pembrey knocked me back abit. Being the lucky guy I am - my lovely wife went and bought me a new set of Dainese leathers for my birthday a week prior to Lydden, so in fact the pressure not to fall off again was even higher than it might have been (always nice to have new leathers though)! I managed to get the bike home in one piece every race including the extra outing in the Charlie Sanby Trophy race which was a 12 lap fitness test on the Harris! I'm still getting to grips with the handling side of the bike, power wise its well up there with the TZ's which is pretty good for a normal YPVS motor, but It felt like the bike wanted to run wide a lot of the time and was definitely harder to wrestle around the short circuit than the X7! Plan is to try a narrower front 18'' rim to see if it make's any difference, which hopefully it will do. I still crept the laptimes down over the weekend, the best of which was a 48.268. This came amongst a really good race against Danny Imberg in the Charlie Sanby trophy. A low 48 / high 47sec at Lydden I am sure would put me right amongst it in the PC750 class races. if I could add some consistency into the equation - lets see if the narrower front rim helps me to do that at Anglesey.
So overall a thoroughly enjoyable weekend was had @ Lydden with plenty of sunshine and good results, cant ask for much more than that. Looking forward to Anglesey already, another circuit I really enjoyed last year, and eager to take the Harris round there and see what that's like with a narrower front rim on it.
CRMC round 1 - Pembrey 2014:
The X7 looking good on the track @ Pembrey
So here goes for the first 2014 race report, lets start off with the Suzuki.... As you can see from the photograph to the left, thanks to some careful paint spraying by Dad and good bit of time pre-season getting it together, the X7 is most definitely looking the part. From a performance point of view the bike was more of a challenge @ Pembrey, and If I'm honest I kind of expected it to be that way as first meetings of the year can always throw up problems.
Having had Mick Abbey do a lot of tuning work on the motor, there were a fair few unknowns to deal with and I had not had chance to give it a good run. So I booked onto the afternoon test day on the Friday to give myself a chance of getting the bike set-up. From a handling point of view the bikes has not changed really apart from a new steering damper, so no issue's there. Most the test day was spent playing with jets, plug chops and general fiddling with the fuelling. I never got to a setting I was happy with and by the end of play Friday and was still struggling with a miss-fire at wide open throttle on the straights. I made another jetting change Friday evening and was fairly happy for Saturdays practice that things would be improved. Practice came around and they were better, but not sorted. The plugs still looked slightly rich so another change made and into race 1. Race 1 was interesting as now being paired with the 200&250 classic's makes for a pretty close field of bikes, I had a race with a few guys, however still suffering with the bike holding back on the straight was killing lap times and my AC250 rivals got well away from me at the front.
Lets quickly switch to discuss the Harris 350, as after race 1 on the Suzuki it was time to go out for the first race on my new bike. Testing at Mallory had gone well and Saturday morning practice filled me with confidence for the race... So much so that I went out on circuit, managed to get round the hairpin 3rd on the road and promptly lost the front on the first left hander. A pretty fast bend and I don't want to be re-living that too often. Minor bumps and scrapes meant my weekend was not over and the bike had not suffered massively either but definitely would not be making race 2.
Having had Mick Abbey do a lot of tuning work on the motor, there were a fair few unknowns to deal with and I had not had chance to give it a good run. So I booked onto the afternoon test day on the Friday to give myself a chance of getting the bike set-up. From a handling point of view the bikes has not changed really apart from a new steering damper, so no issue's there. Most the test day was spent playing with jets, plug chops and general fiddling with the fuelling. I never got to a setting I was happy with and by the end of play Friday and was still struggling with a miss-fire at wide open throttle on the straights. I made another jetting change Friday evening and was fairly happy for Saturdays practice that things would be improved. Practice came around and they were better, but not sorted. The plugs still looked slightly rich so another change made and into race 1. Race 1 was interesting as now being paired with the 200&250 classic's makes for a pretty close field of bikes, I had a race with a few guys, however still suffering with the bike holding back on the straight was killing lap times and my AC250 rivals got well away from me at the front.
Lets quickly switch to discuss the Harris 350, as after race 1 on the Suzuki it was time to go out for the first race on my new bike. Testing at Mallory had gone well and Saturday morning practice filled me with confidence for the race... So much so that I went out on circuit, managed to get round the hairpin 3rd on the road and promptly lost the front on the first left hander. A pretty fast bend and I don't want to be re-living that too often. Minor bumps and scrapes meant my weekend was not over and the bike had not suffered massively either but definitely would not be making race 2.
Oops - crash caught frame by frame!
The crash took the shine off the day and shifted focus away from the 250 while we rushed to get the Yamaha sorted for the Sunday. Race 2 on the Suzuki came round and all I had done was re-fuel so no changes performance wise as you'd expect and no better finish wise either, In fact the miss-fire was worse. It was then pointed out to me that perhaps the spark plugs were breaking down, as the problem only occurred at high temps as the race progresses. I changed to a colder plug and kept fingers crossed for an improvement in the next race.
Naked - not pretty with the number boards but got through scrutineering
Saturday night I had some surprise visitors arrive at the circuit to come and support me for the Sunday having has such a rough day on the Saturday which was great. Sunday morning I managed to get the Yamaha through scrutineering early and was ready for the day ahead. A gearing change on the X7 to get me away from being between gears @ the Hairpin would help in the AC250 races, however unfortunately the weather had taken a turn for the worse and was looking like definite rain.
Race 3 on the Suzuki was dry but the extremely cold ambient and track conditions meant we were knocked from 6 lap races down to 5 with a 2 lap warm-up. The X7 motor was greatly improved, no miss fire now and looking at the plug chop after the race the colder conditions suited the previous days jetting, indicating I was probably still too rich for the warm weather on the Saturday. (All good info to stick in the note pad). Sundays first outing on the Harris was apprehensive as you'd guess, and more problems with the gear lever peg dropping off on lap 1 and also the PV switching off on the warm up lap meant the race was little more than getting to the finish line (being passed on the straight by an FZ was no fun). Turns out the wire to the PV switch has come off and rendered the PV in-effective, typical of my weekends luck so far! Last race on the Suzuki was now to be a wet race, and was going so well - keeping pace with the front pack after a poor start, closely following Iain Green on his Arrow, until the head gasket on the R/H cylinder failed leaving me watching the last 3 laps from the side of the circuit. Absolutely gutted. The AC250 championship is going to be a close fought affair this year for sure, so I hope the rough weekend's luck I suffered at Pembrey wont hurt my chances.
The silver lining to the meeting had to be Race 4 on the Yam, a depleted grid due to the horrendous conditions left me the opportunity to grab some decent points to make up for poor weekend overall, and I promptly took 2nd in class and 4th on the road. We got packed away and I picked up my 2nd place voucher leaving Pembrey a bit battered and bruised, but certainly back in the swing of things for the season ahead having learnt a lot about both the bikes over the 3 days.
Big thank-you to Herbie for helping me get the bike back together after I put it down the road, and thanks to Colin for helping me knock-up a throttle cable from one of his cable kits (something I'll be adding to my race tool kit in future!)
Certainly looking forward to seeing what the X7 can really do when its pushed harder, now being closer to an ideal set-up, and also building confidence on the 'rocket ship' Harris 350 over the next few meetings.
Race 3 on the Suzuki was dry but the extremely cold ambient and track conditions meant we were knocked from 6 lap races down to 5 with a 2 lap warm-up. The X7 motor was greatly improved, no miss fire now and looking at the plug chop after the race the colder conditions suited the previous days jetting, indicating I was probably still too rich for the warm weather on the Saturday. (All good info to stick in the note pad). Sundays first outing on the Harris was apprehensive as you'd guess, and more problems with the gear lever peg dropping off on lap 1 and also the PV switching off on the warm up lap meant the race was little more than getting to the finish line (being passed on the straight by an FZ was no fun). Turns out the wire to the PV switch has come off and rendered the PV in-effective, typical of my weekends luck so far! Last race on the Suzuki was now to be a wet race, and was going so well - keeping pace with the front pack after a poor start, closely following Iain Green on his Arrow, until the head gasket on the R/H cylinder failed leaving me watching the last 3 laps from the side of the circuit. Absolutely gutted. The AC250 championship is going to be a close fought affair this year for sure, so I hope the rough weekend's luck I suffered at Pembrey wont hurt my chances.
The silver lining to the meeting had to be Race 4 on the Yam, a depleted grid due to the horrendous conditions left me the opportunity to grab some decent points to make up for poor weekend overall, and I promptly took 2nd in class and 4th on the road. We got packed away and I picked up my 2nd place voucher leaving Pembrey a bit battered and bruised, but certainly back in the swing of things for the season ahead having learnt a lot about both the bikes over the 3 days.
Big thank-you to Herbie for helping me get the bike back together after I put it down the road, and thanks to Colin for helping me knock-up a throttle cable from one of his cable kits (something I'll be adding to my race tool kit in future!)
Certainly looking forward to seeing what the X7 can really do when its pushed harder, now being closer to an ideal set-up, and also building confidence on the 'rocket ship' Harris 350 over the next few meetings.
CRMC Round 6 - Donington Park 2013:
Nige Collier's Hagon Honda 350 K4
What a fantastic weekend! With 2 practice session's, 2 qualifying session's and 8 races lined up for the weekend - all ideally spread over the 3 day meeting, I had been looking forward to Donington Park all week. Having never been round the circuit before - after completing the first practice session on the Suzuki I knew I was going to enjoy the weekend. It's a very fast, flowing circuit with no fiddly hairpins to worry about (not doing the full GP circuit) so it's right up my street. For the second practice session I went out on Nige Collier's Hagon Honda 350 K4 to familiarise myself with it and found it to be a revelation in terms of handling compared to my Suzuki (It actually handle's!). Decent handling is something I have not been used to but greatly appreciated going round a fast circuit, the front end felt more stable exiting corners, especially faster one's, and it gave me so much more feel and confidence than the Suzuki does, so much so that when I came off the circuit from practice I was itching to get back out on it! The front drum brake was powerful enough, and in some respects not having huge braking power I think helped me carry more corner speed as the weekend progressed and I pushed on a bit harder...
The Suzuki was playing up initially - not revving in top gear, but a few jetting alteration's soon cleared this up, although I sacrificed qualifying as a test session and ended up with a pretty disappointing time and a poor grid position. Race 1 I had to start from the pit lane as I struggled to bump start the X7 after jumping off the K4 for a back to back race, missing the warm-up lap meant pit lane start, and a back of the grid chase. The bike still didn't feel quite right so after the race I dropped 1 tooth on the front sprocket to help pull up the steep hill from the old hairpin. Once the Suzuki was properly sorted I had 2 cracking races with Graeme Acott on one of Brian Johnson's X7's. Fortunately a back marker played into my hands in Race 2 - I was struggling to stick with Graeme all race but on the last lap he was held up and I nipped through and held him off to the line. Race 3 I followed him for a few laps, (learnt a few things/lines) then made a move on the brakes and held on to the finish line. Cant beat racing someone on similar machinery... Check the video's out below or on my You Tube channel.
Unfortunately I didn't get great video footage this weekend, with only one and a half Aircooled race's captured on the X7 from a busy weekends racing. The K4 wasn't set-up for the camera, which is a shame as my place on the grid as a reserve meant I had to start each race from the back, however I thoroughly enjoyed working my way through the packed field to 13th, 19th, 18th and 12th in each race respectively. I set a fastest lap time of the weekend on the 350 K4 of 1:29.767, quicker than I could manage on the X7 which I have been racing for 2 season now! I had one minor incident in Race 2 where I collided with a back marker on the final corner while chasing Terry Brocklehurst and Martin Baxter to the line... No injuries to me or the other rider, only a bent brake pedal on Nige's Hagon K4 (fixable) and some broken fairing mounts to the other gentleman's bike (not fixable). I made my apology to the guy involved in the paddock and no bad feeling's thank god. Sorry to Nige for breaking his bike on only my 3rd outing on it..!
Working my way through the field of K4's in each race was a great learning curve, Race 4 in particular there were lots of people crashing which made for an interesting race - I spent all 5 laps trading places with Terry Brocklehurst and managed to pip him to the flag by less than a second, which was pleasing considering I had passed him several times during the race but failed to stay in front until the final corner! Looking back at the weekend performance on the Honda - the only question was had I managed to actually get my qualifying grid position of 15th and not been starting from the back each race would I have been able to break into the top 10 in a very competitive class? Or would/could I have gone faster by tagging onto the back of one of the quick lads towards the front instead of having to pass all the slower bikes in the field? Big thank-you to Nigel Collier for letting me use his Honda for the weekend, massively appreciated - his first experience of being a sponsor and I think he was pleased with how the weekend went.
At this point I am aware I have yet to mention the Vic Camp Suzuki in this report - this is because the engine catastrophically failed during second practice due to a minor jetting error. Just how minor the error you can be the judge of by the photo below:
The Suzuki was playing up initially - not revving in top gear, but a few jetting alteration's soon cleared this up, although I sacrificed qualifying as a test session and ended up with a pretty disappointing time and a poor grid position. Race 1 I had to start from the pit lane as I struggled to bump start the X7 after jumping off the K4 for a back to back race, missing the warm-up lap meant pit lane start, and a back of the grid chase. The bike still didn't feel quite right so after the race I dropped 1 tooth on the front sprocket to help pull up the steep hill from the old hairpin. Once the Suzuki was properly sorted I had 2 cracking races with Graeme Acott on one of Brian Johnson's X7's. Fortunately a back marker played into my hands in Race 2 - I was struggling to stick with Graeme all race but on the last lap he was held up and I nipped through and held him off to the line. Race 3 I followed him for a few laps, (learnt a few things/lines) then made a move on the brakes and held on to the finish line. Cant beat racing someone on similar machinery... Check the video's out below or on my You Tube channel.
Unfortunately I didn't get great video footage this weekend, with only one and a half Aircooled race's captured on the X7 from a busy weekends racing. The K4 wasn't set-up for the camera, which is a shame as my place on the grid as a reserve meant I had to start each race from the back, however I thoroughly enjoyed working my way through the packed field to 13th, 19th, 18th and 12th in each race respectively. I set a fastest lap time of the weekend on the 350 K4 of 1:29.767, quicker than I could manage on the X7 which I have been racing for 2 season now! I had one minor incident in Race 2 where I collided with a back marker on the final corner while chasing Terry Brocklehurst and Martin Baxter to the line... No injuries to me or the other rider, only a bent brake pedal on Nige's Hagon K4 (fixable) and some broken fairing mounts to the other gentleman's bike (not fixable). I made my apology to the guy involved in the paddock and no bad feeling's thank god. Sorry to Nige for breaking his bike on only my 3rd outing on it..!
Working my way through the field of K4's in each race was a great learning curve, Race 4 in particular there were lots of people crashing which made for an interesting race - I spent all 5 laps trading places with Terry Brocklehurst and managed to pip him to the flag by less than a second, which was pleasing considering I had passed him several times during the race but failed to stay in front until the final corner! Looking back at the weekend performance on the Honda - the only question was had I managed to actually get my qualifying grid position of 15th and not been starting from the back each race would I have been able to break into the top 10 in a very competitive class? Or would/could I have gone faster by tagging onto the back of one of the quick lads towards the front instead of having to pass all the slower bikes in the field? Big thank-you to Nigel Collier for letting me use his Honda for the weekend, massively appreciated - his first experience of being a sponsor and I think he was pleased with how the weekend went.
At this point I am aware I have yet to mention the Vic Camp Suzuki in this report - this is because the engine catastrophically failed during second practice due to a minor jetting error. Just how minor the error you can be the judge of by the photo below:
The worst piston failure your likely to see, didn't bend the conrod though - every cloud has a silver lining!
Needless to say Mike's weekend racing on the Camp was over. In fact his relationship with the bike altogether came to an end @ Donington Park as the bike has now changed hands to another Aircooled class member who will be rebuilding the bike and bringing it out next season with the Aircooled class. Mike has recently bought a Yamaha RD250 which he will be competing on from now on, and had been thinking of letting the Camp go anyway, the fact it literally let go before he did kind of made the decision for him, so he's still in search of race finishes to rid himself of the dreaded orange bib...Lesson learned on the jetting front, always listen to Lee! Haha, I told you so never felt more fitting! Sympathy is often in short supply in the race paddock I'm afraid, however despite this - I'd had a busy weekend and decided to give the old man a run on my little Suzuki in the final Aircooled race which he really enjoyed. Think he was surprised how much quicker it was than the Camp Suzuki and quite difficult to adjust to in one race, but he enjoyed it none the less.
So my racing Is now finished for this season, as I wont be making it to Snetterton (not my favourite circuit anyway). Mike will still be taking the RD250 to Snett for it's first race outing, better jet up for the long straights! We're certainly looking forward to next season already - got some exciting prospects lined up but I'll cover those in a blog update soon.....
So my racing Is now finished for this season, as I wont be making it to Snetterton (not my favourite circuit anyway). Mike will still be taking the RD250 to Snett for it's first race outing, better jet up for the long straights! We're certainly looking forward to next season already - got some exciting prospects lined up but I'll cover those in a blog update soon.....
Lee's last race this year on the X7
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Mike getting to grips with raw X7 horsepower..
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I do enjoy racing the K4 - can you tell?!
AMCC Aberdare Park 2013:
Valentino Rossi's Aprillia 125 GP bike on display @ Aberdare
Aberdare aka Averscare! The Marmite meeting, love it or hate it, one or the other. I don't think there's a possibility to feel any other way about this place having now raced there. To be honest at first it's frightening prospect racing in amongst the woodland and all the circuit furniture, but once your going you don't even think about it which is even more worrying! Aside from the weather conditions and some minor organisational issue's which were very minor, it was a cracking weekend that I thoroughly enjoyed and will definitely be going back to in years to come. (I love Marmite too).
Qualifying and race 1 were in dry conditions and the rest of the action was in amongst very heavy rainfall followed by bright sunshine - welsh weather! I took the advice of Ian Sinclair and made a steady approach to the weekend's racing, its not the sort of place where you push as hard as you can without showing it some respect first. This approach seemed to work well as I ended up with a wet lap time that was only just off my fastest dry lap time set in race one - so I obviously improved my pace as I got to know where all the corners were going. It was nice not to be at a huge disadvantage machinery wise as the circuit is so short there's nowhere for the bigger capacity bikes to really make their power advantage count, the T20 Suzuki circulating in the top 3 most the weekend proved this nicely, and also proved that circuit knowledge / experience counts as well! Got some onboard video's below to give those who have not been there a feel for what its like to lap round there in 50ish seconds - If you want to know what a real fast lap looks like best get hold of Alex Sinclair's onboard's as he was absolutely on it all weekend and won most the races he entered on various classic machinery, fair play! Thanks again to Sinky for organising the entry for the Aircooled lads.
Qualifying and race 1 were in dry conditions and the rest of the action was in amongst very heavy rainfall followed by bright sunshine - welsh weather! I took the advice of Ian Sinclair and made a steady approach to the weekend's racing, its not the sort of place where you push as hard as you can without showing it some respect first. This approach seemed to work well as I ended up with a wet lap time that was only just off my fastest dry lap time set in race one - so I obviously improved my pace as I got to know where all the corners were going. It was nice not to be at a huge disadvantage machinery wise as the circuit is so short there's nowhere for the bigger capacity bikes to really make their power advantage count, the T20 Suzuki circulating in the top 3 most the weekend proved this nicely, and also proved that circuit knowledge / experience counts as well! Got some onboard video's below to give those who have not been there a feel for what its like to lap round there in 50ish seconds - If you want to know what a real fast lap looks like best get hold of Alex Sinclair's onboard's as he was absolutely on it all weekend and won most the races he entered on various classic machinery, fair play! Thanks again to Sinky for organising the entry for the Aircooled lads.
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Oh and just out of interest anyone thinking you need to spend £100's on expensive roller starters for your race bike's think again - as one gentleman proved @ Aberdare for starting his Velocette - there's always the DIY option which I bet cost a fraction of the alternative........
A real feat of engineering - proper shed 'D.I.Y' solution
CRMC Round 5 - Pembrey:
The Camp negotiating the Hairpin on those big tyres...
What a fantastic weekend - Good weather, good company, good racing. Only a few minor mechanical issue's.......So lets talk about the Camp Suzuki first. In many ways, much like having a new girlfriend when your a teenager, buying a new race bike gives you the same type of feelings - infatuation and excitement initially, then after a while you start to learn the little quirks, and then all the bad annoying habits start to rear their ugly head and you start getting pissed off! to outline my point - a sheared off exhaust pipe, throttle slide coming off the cable clip mid race, broken electrical connections on the CDI, some serious handling problems and various other minor issue's all presented themselves at Pembrey, meaning it only managed a single race finish all weekend. Unfortunately for Mike he looks certain to be wearing an orange bib next season, but that's not really a big deal to be honest (although its good grounds for p*ss taking). Hopefully we can get the Camp sorted to get some more finishes under his belt - performance wise it looks to be pretty competitive as a 250, but we do need to iron out the problems before its going to be a reliable race bike, so lots of work to do there - all will be documented on the 'TS250 spec' page in the coming weeks.
We went to the circuit on the Thursday night so we could make the most of the test day on the Friday which was a real benefit. The more track time the better for confidence before a race meeting. Due to the set-up of the weekend we had practice, qualifying and Race 1 on the Saturday - then 3 races scheduled for the Sunday. Qualifying didn't go as planned, I didn't manage to get a clean lap in on the X7 due to being held up at various places before the Qualifying was red flagged. Pete Russell's crash at the hairpin looked a nasty one and was proven to be when he was airlifted to the nearest hospital - get well soon Pete.
I'm not going to waffle on about each race as I made the most of my new HD GoPro Hero 3 camera and got some great footage of all the race's - except Race 4 (didn't have time to start the camera on the grid!). The You Tube video's are all linked below;
We went to the circuit on the Thursday night so we could make the most of the test day on the Friday which was a real benefit. The more track time the better for confidence before a race meeting. Due to the set-up of the weekend we had practice, qualifying and Race 1 on the Saturday - then 3 races scheduled for the Sunday. Qualifying didn't go as planned, I didn't manage to get a clean lap in on the X7 due to being held up at various places before the Qualifying was red flagged. Pete Russell's crash at the hairpin looked a nasty one and was proven to be when he was airlifted to the nearest hospital - get well soon Pete.
I'm not going to waffle on about each race as I made the most of my new HD GoPro Hero 3 camera and got some great footage of all the race's - except Race 4 (didn't have time to start the camera on the grid!). The You Tube video's are all linked below;
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So hopefully the video's made interesting viewing for you - Its fair to say I was really pleased with my race pace, especially considering I'm only on a 250. It was really useful for me when I got a decent start in Race 2 and managed to follow Jerry for most the race and learnt a lot from him on the way round - wish I was that smooth on the bike!! At times I got a little over excited (in-experience), but improvement's in race times over the weekend is always pleasing and being able to keep pace with Jerry and Graham on their X7's was a step improvement this season I hadn't previously managed. Fastest lap time of the weekend for me was a 1m12.383s and a best PIC of 7th, leaving me only 2 or so seconds a lap from the front boys on the bigger bikes.
Its a shame I couldn't capture race 4 as this was spent mostly with the arse end view of Mark George's big red Ducati that I simply couldn't stay in front of once id passed him! I'll also take this opportunity to thank the gentleman on the TZ who smashed into me going through woodlands kink where there's no room to pass (and flat out in 6th) after I had passed him cleanly going into Brooklands hairpin. (My new exhaust pipe now has the silencer snapped off at the stinger!) Cheers!
So back into the garage - next trip to Aberdare Park in 2 weeks, so got to get sorted for that, and lots to sort on the Vic Camp before we look forward to Donnington Park in August. I've got a second ride sorted for Donnington on Nige Colliers Hagon Honda K4 - really looking forward to a go at racing a 4 stroke, so that's definitely going to be a busy weekend's racing for me!
Its a shame I couldn't capture race 4 as this was spent mostly with the arse end view of Mark George's big red Ducati that I simply couldn't stay in front of once id passed him! I'll also take this opportunity to thank the gentleman on the TZ who smashed into me going through woodlands kink where there's no room to pass (and flat out in 6th) after I had passed him cleanly going into Brooklands hairpin. (My new exhaust pipe now has the silencer snapped off at the stinger!) Cheers!
So back into the garage - next trip to Aberdare Park in 2 weeks, so got to get sorted for that, and lots to sort on the Vic Camp before we look forward to Donnington Park in August. I've got a second ride sorted for Donnington on Nige Colliers Hagon Honda K4 - really looking forward to a go at racing a 4 stroke, so that's definitely going to be a busy weekend's racing for me!
Lee on the X7 picked up his race pace @ Pembrey - Dark visor at last means no more silly facial expressions in photo's!
CRMC round 4 - Cadwell Park 2013:
The days leading up to Cadwell Park were a bit of a nightmare. Someone like me - who has to be well prepared, was forced to chuck the bike back together @ the last minute and bung all the gear in the van before leaving. Not good. The X7's newly tuned engine has developed some nasty scores around the inlet ports and therefore could not be used without further work.. So last years top end/pistons and rings (rings were 4 meetings old!!) were employed for Cadwell, with this years cylinder heads, Id be taking a hit of ~5 bhp but at least Id have the relative comfort of knowing the engine wasn't going to snap a ring off and potentially seize...
Mike's Vic Camp 250 was yet to be used in anger so didn't require much more prep than fuel. We'd paid for the open pit-lane Friday track day as my experience of Cadwell last season resulted in 2 crashes and not much learning. The weather on Friday was superb and the overnight dampness cleared by the first session. Mike was getting to grips with the Camp and had various minor issues but got some good much needed track time under his belt. I went out with intentions of learning the circuit ready for the racing and also to push on and put the gremlins to bed. It was all going so well until about the 6th lap of my 2nd session when I tipped into Chris curve (fast corner), hit the apex, then very quickly ran out of tarmac the other side.... The bike went down hard and dug into the grass coming to a stop fairly quickly - I rolled / skidded across the grass approx 40 yards and came to rest in a heap not too far from the tyre wall! Crash analysis with Steve Plater (ex pro) pointed to tipping in far too early, instead of catching the apex much later and ultimately getting a faster exit. Lesson learned! Despite the fact id crashed again @ Cadwell - I was thoroughly enjoying the circuit and had gotten to grips with the bits that caused me issues the previous season. Apart from a stiff ankle and shoulder I was unhurt but did have to spend the remainder of the day repairing the bike ready for Saturday. Mike spent the afternoon building confidence on the bike - although the all the superbike's rattling round Cadwell were a little off putting! Only a fouled plug spoiled his track time but he felt better prepared for his 1st racing experience the following day....
Practice Saturday morning was in the pouring rain - a very steady approach taken by all. I put in a 2m30s qualifying time which was OK (several bikes from the back), Mikes a little slower but he felt more comfortable being nearer the back of the grid for his 1st race.
Race 1 - To his huge disappointment and despite being placed on the grid as a reserve, spending far to long sat in the collecting area Mike fouled his plug on the start grid prior to the warm-up lap, couldn't get the bike going again and had to pull off and watch from the start line, gutted! I enjoyed a much better time spending half the race following Mick McKay on his rocket ship 500 Kwak, before losing him on the park straight and being unable to catch up again. My quickest lap time was a 2m08s, a huge 8 seconds faster than my last seasons best so I was quite pleased, although a bit annoyed at being lapped about 2 yards from the start finish line by Mike Cooper on his TZ350!
Getting ready for race 2 I had some idea's of where I knew I could make up time and set off with with a decent start. Mike got down to the grid again from his reserve spot and this time managed his first race start! I followed Mick for the whole race this time and even got past him on occasion before being burned on the straights... I finished the race with a fastest lap of 2m02s, clearly showing I was enjoying Cadwell and finding time all the while. Mike managed a 2m30s lap and was happy to have finished his first race and earned his first stamp towards losing the novice bib. He was however still shocked from being lapped rather aggressively on the hairpin by Chris Turner and Keith Brown who were battling for the lead at the front...! When I went down to the race office to collect the race times - I enquired how I would need to finish to progress my license. I got chatting to riders rep Jono, who gave me some pointers where I might make up some more time. I was only 8 seconds total race time (110% of 1st place), from earning signatures towards my next license grade, not bad considering I'm on a bike half the capacity of the fast guys and its such a long circuit.
Mike's Vic Camp 250 was yet to be used in anger so didn't require much more prep than fuel. We'd paid for the open pit-lane Friday track day as my experience of Cadwell last season resulted in 2 crashes and not much learning. The weather on Friday was superb and the overnight dampness cleared by the first session. Mike was getting to grips with the Camp and had various minor issues but got some good much needed track time under his belt. I went out with intentions of learning the circuit ready for the racing and also to push on and put the gremlins to bed. It was all going so well until about the 6th lap of my 2nd session when I tipped into Chris curve (fast corner), hit the apex, then very quickly ran out of tarmac the other side.... The bike went down hard and dug into the grass coming to a stop fairly quickly - I rolled / skidded across the grass approx 40 yards and came to rest in a heap not too far from the tyre wall! Crash analysis with Steve Plater (ex pro) pointed to tipping in far too early, instead of catching the apex much later and ultimately getting a faster exit. Lesson learned! Despite the fact id crashed again @ Cadwell - I was thoroughly enjoying the circuit and had gotten to grips with the bits that caused me issues the previous season. Apart from a stiff ankle and shoulder I was unhurt but did have to spend the remainder of the day repairing the bike ready for Saturday. Mike spent the afternoon building confidence on the bike - although the all the superbike's rattling round Cadwell were a little off putting! Only a fouled plug spoiled his track time but he felt better prepared for his 1st racing experience the following day....
Practice Saturday morning was in the pouring rain - a very steady approach taken by all. I put in a 2m30s qualifying time which was OK (several bikes from the back), Mikes a little slower but he felt more comfortable being nearer the back of the grid for his 1st race.
Race 1 - To his huge disappointment and despite being placed on the grid as a reserve, spending far to long sat in the collecting area Mike fouled his plug on the start grid prior to the warm-up lap, couldn't get the bike going again and had to pull off and watch from the start line, gutted! I enjoyed a much better time spending half the race following Mick McKay on his rocket ship 500 Kwak, before losing him on the park straight and being unable to catch up again. My quickest lap time was a 2m08s, a huge 8 seconds faster than my last seasons best so I was quite pleased, although a bit annoyed at being lapped about 2 yards from the start finish line by Mike Cooper on his TZ350!
Getting ready for race 2 I had some idea's of where I knew I could make up time and set off with with a decent start. Mike got down to the grid again from his reserve spot and this time managed his first race start! I followed Mick for the whole race this time and even got past him on occasion before being burned on the straights... I finished the race with a fastest lap of 2m02s, clearly showing I was enjoying Cadwell and finding time all the while. Mike managed a 2m30s lap and was happy to have finished his first race and earned his first stamp towards losing the novice bib. He was however still shocked from being lapped rather aggressively on the hairpin by Chris Turner and Keith Brown who were battling for the lead at the front...! When I went down to the race office to collect the race times - I enquired how I would need to finish to progress my license. I got chatting to riders rep Jono, who gave me some pointers where I might make up some more time. I was only 8 seconds total race time (110% of 1st place), from earning signatures towards my next license grade, not bad considering I'm on a bike half the capacity of the fast guys and its such a long circuit.
Mike negotiating Hall bends @ Cadwell Park on the Vic Camp Suzuki
Going out for Race 3 Sunday morning I had all the tips Jono had given me rattling round my head, I knew Id be going quicker if I could get it all together consistently... Mike was keen to knock time off his best lap but not finding Cadwell easy in places, it is a technical circuit and he had a lot to learn in a short time as I found last year. I got the best start off the line I've probably ever had and stuck behind Adam Trzapadlek on his GT500 for most the race - I knew I was going quicker during the race and Jono's advice had paid off. I finished not too far behind Adam and also improved lap time to a 2m01.8secs. More importantly my total race time had dropped some 7 seconds so I was putting in consistently quicker times. I was however still just shy of the 110% time I needed. Mike managed a 2m19s lap, 11 seconds improvement and also a much better total race time, but was still not enjoying being passed closely by the rocket ship TZ's on their final lap!
The last race of the weekend was probably the race I have enjoyed most this season so far. I followed Adam on his 500 and passed him fairly early on - managing to keep him behind me all race. I put in my quickest lap time of the weekend, a 2m01.3secs and also improved total race time by another 3 seconds. I really like the circuit at Cadwell now I know my way round it a little better, and definitely feel I'm closing the gap to the bigger bikes as I'm getting quicker. It was also nice to do well with last seasons engine which I knew was down on power compared to the 2013 spec, and the bloody thing lasted all weekend despite sounding like a bag of spanners after the last race! Mike didn't go quite so well in the last race but posted another finish and ended the weekend with signatures towards loosing his novice status. Overall a challenging but successful weekend for both of us, roll on Pembrey in July...!
The last race of the weekend was probably the race I have enjoyed most this season so far. I followed Adam on his 500 and passed him fairly early on - managing to keep him behind me all race. I put in my quickest lap time of the weekend, a 2m01.3secs and also improved total race time by another 3 seconds. I really like the circuit at Cadwell now I know my way round it a little better, and definitely feel I'm closing the gap to the bigger bikes as I'm getting quicker. It was also nice to do well with last seasons engine which I knew was down on power compared to the 2013 spec, and the bloody thing lasted all weekend despite sounding like a bag of spanners after the last race! Mike didn't go quite so well in the last race but posted another finish and ended the weekend with signatures towards loosing his novice status. Overall a challenging but successful weekend for both of us, roll on Pembrey in July...!
CRMC round 3 - Anglesey 2013:
Like a new bike on corner exit!
So having made the long 7 hour trip from home to Anglesey we were desperate for some decent weekends weather! Unfortunately Mike was unable to make it on the Vic Camp Suzuki this weekend due to other commitments - unlucky for some! The forecasts didn't look great through the week but once we got to the circuit it looked to be promising weather wise. Saturday morning practice went well - setting a 1:34.191 best lap placing me 24th on the grid amongst 36 starters. I was quite pleased with this time, the Anglesey coastal circuit is a lovely circuit and I knew I had lots of room to improve as I learnt my way round over the weekend. Race 1 got off to a decent start and I spent the first 2 laps feeling my way round a very busy / congested circuit as we had been paired with the Proddie's for this round. This makes life on track very interesting as the Proddie class is just as mixed ability wise as ours so I ended up racing amongst some of the slower FZ's, all taking lots of different line's / braking points than you might expect! Straight away I kept finding my bike was struggling to rev as I approached the hill to the top section, around 8000 it would hesitate slightly before revving on. When I got to the same place on lap 4 the engine dropped onto 1 cylinder so I had to limp into the assembly area to retire.
Back in the paddock having had a good look round the bike I could see nothing obvious wrong so we tried to start her up and it went straight onto 1 cylinder - the L/H pot simply would not fire. Having spent the next few hours systematically ruling out the cause of the problem - Nige Collier wandered over and asked If I had checked the reed petals? I put my finger down inside the inlet and found the problem - 1 petal was missing. Fortunately Brian Johnson very kindly lent me a spare set, so I got the top end off (Suzuki put the reed's under the cylinders!) and replaced both sets with the spares ready for Sunday's races. The L/H reed had 1 petal completely missing - no damage apparent inside the engine so guess it broke up and made it's own way out the exhaust!
Sunday's race 1 was going really well - until the red flag. I had got a great start off the line and had managed to stay in front of one of Brian's X7's and also the 500 Yamaha that I'd been circulating with in race 1 on the Saturday. Unfortunately for me - the red flag saw the race restarted and I didn't get going quite so well the 2nd time round. I lost the other X7, got mixed up with a couple of FZ's and also had to slow up for a bloody marshal who was on track collecting what looked to be someone's chain?? Nightmare, having said that I improved lap time by 2 seconds, although hitting the ground with my exhausts continues to be a problem on most corners.
Before Race 4 I had some advice from Mike Dollittle who had watched our first race in the morning - he suggested winding up the rear suspension to improve the ground clearance as it looked to be far too low coming out of corners. I made the adjustment to the rear and also Nige came over and had a laugh at the damping or 'lack of' damping from my front forks - so we put more oil in to reduce the air gap and improved the front end massively. Going out for race 4 things were much improved - the bike felt much more stable in corners - especially on exit and I wasn't hitting the ground as much with the exhausts. I also shifted my weight off the bike more to help the it turn without having to have more lean angle - this seemed to work also. I took another 2 seconds of my fastest time down to 1:30.523 and was consistently quicker throughout the race which was really pleasing.
In terms of race results it hadn't been a great weekend - but with a few changes made to the bike it felt so much better handling wise, with more time on the circuit I know I could have taken more time out my fastest lap. I'm definitely looking forward to going back to Anglesey as despite the ridiculously long journey to get there, once your there its a fantastic circuit and another one of my favourites.
Back in the paddock having had a good look round the bike I could see nothing obvious wrong so we tried to start her up and it went straight onto 1 cylinder - the L/H pot simply would not fire. Having spent the next few hours systematically ruling out the cause of the problem - Nige Collier wandered over and asked If I had checked the reed petals? I put my finger down inside the inlet and found the problem - 1 petal was missing. Fortunately Brian Johnson very kindly lent me a spare set, so I got the top end off (Suzuki put the reed's under the cylinders!) and replaced both sets with the spares ready for Sunday's races. The L/H reed had 1 petal completely missing - no damage apparent inside the engine so guess it broke up and made it's own way out the exhaust!
Sunday's race 1 was going really well - until the red flag. I had got a great start off the line and had managed to stay in front of one of Brian's X7's and also the 500 Yamaha that I'd been circulating with in race 1 on the Saturday. Unfortunately for me - the red flag saw the race restarted and I didn't get going quite so well the 2nd time round. I lost the other X7, got mixed up with a couple of FZ's and also had to slow up for a bloody marshal who was on track collecting what looked to be someone's chain?? Nightmare, having said that I improved lap time by 2 seconds, although hitting the ground with my exhausts continues to be a problem on most corners.
Before Race 4 I had some advice from Mike Dollittle who had watched our first race in the morning - he suggested winding up the rear suspension to improve the ground clearance as it looked to be far too low coming out of corners. I made the adjustment to the rear and also Nige came over and had a laugh at the damping or 'lack of' damping from my front forks - so we put more oil in to reduce the air gap and improved the front end massively. Going out for race 4 things were much improved - the bike felt much more stable in corners - especially on exit and I wasn't hitting the ground as much with the exhausts. I also shifted my weight off the bike more to help the it turn without having to have more lean angle - this seemed to work also. I took another 2 seconds of my fastest time down to 1:30.523 and was consistently quicker throughout the race which was really pleasing.
In terms of race results it hadn't been a great weekend - but with a few changes made to the bike it felt so much better handling wise, with more time on the circuit I know I could have taken more time out my fastest lap. I'm definitely looking forward to going back to Anglesey as despite the ridiculously long journey to get there, once your there its a fantastic circuit and another one of my favourites.
CRMC Round 2 - Darley Moor 2013:
Darley Moor is definitely not my favourite circuit as I said in the blog... To put it bluntly it's basically a triangle with 1 very tight haipin and flat out straights (the chicane / esses don't really slow anyone down!). Mike being away on holdiay was un-able to make Darley, so Natalie and I made the 4hr journey up starting out Friday lunchtime. Arrival to the circuit saw us waiting for a vintage racing car rally to clear off before we could get onto the paddock - much like Cadwell park last year. Other than that hold-up, getting our race set-up sorted was easy - no wind to make the gazebo hard work!
Timed practice session Saturday morning or 'Qualifying' as it might be known, does make a difference to your mindset - the temptation to push a little harder than normal for a decent time was ever present despite the fact the sensible thing to do would be to approach it as before and see what happens. Opinion is still divided over the timing / grid positions, not sure I'm a fan due to the fact I'm still learning circuits and tend to improve my times heavily over the weekend which, with the old system would be an advantage moving up the grid if improvements are made.
Race 1 - my practice time see's me 19th on the grid. I got a decent start off the line - unusual for me. The clutch is dragging slightly so when the flag goes up and I rev the engine, she's already pulling me off the line! Better that than clutch slip we had on the dyno I guess. At Darley the first chicane at the start of the race is carnage, 25+ odd bikes all piling into a corner with room for little more than 1 bike means people are on the grass / bumping over kerbs and bashing elbows. By the time I battle through the chicane mid pack, the front of the pack are already round Park Corner and by the time we reach the esses I'm amongst a bunch including a 500 Yamaha, 400 Honda, F750 triple and a 350 Yamaha. This basically set out the pattern for the weekend for me, coming out the corners the bigger bikes would sneak past me or creep away from me, by the next corner I would be back on their tail with later braking / faster corner approach, I would then be held up mid corner by the slower corner speed and then they would pull away from me again coming out the corner...Frustrating. For some reason in the first race I didn't feel very confident with the bike, although the motor was driving well I don't think I was relaxed enough to really get on top of the bike, by the end of the race I had switched places with the F750 several times which was fun and I was pleased to get it across the line having learn't loads about the circuit.
Timed practice session Saturday morning or 'Qualifying' as it might be known, does make a difference to your mindset - the temptation to push a little harder than normal for a decent time was ever present despite the fact the sensible thing to do would be to approach it as before and see what happens. Opinion is still divided over the timing / grid positions, not sure I'm a fan due to the fact I'm still learning circuits and tend to improve my times heavily over the weekend which, with the old system would be an advantage moving up the grid if improvements are made.
Race 1 - my practice time see's me 19th on the grid. I got a decent start off the line - unusual for me. The clutch is dragging slightly so when the flag goes up and I rev the engine, she's already pulling me off the line! Better that than clutch slip we had on the dyno I guess. At Darley the first chicane at the start of the race is carnage, 25+ odd bikes all piling into a corner with room for little more than 1 bike means people are on the grass / bumping over kerbs and bashing elbows. By the time I battle through the chicane mid pack, the front of the pack are already round Park Corner and by the time we reach the esses I'm amongst a bunch including a 500 Yamaha, 400 Honda, F750 triple and a 350 Yamaha. This basically set out the pattern for the weekend for me, coming out the corners the bigger bikes would sneak past me or creep away from me, by the next corner I would be back on their tail with later braking / faster corner approach, I would then be held up mid corner by the slower corner speed and then they would pull away from me again coming out the corner...Frustrating. For some reason in the first race I didn't feel very confident with the bike, although the motor was driving well I don't think I was relaxed enough to really get on top of the bike, by the end of the race I had switched places with the F750 several times which was fun and I was pleased to get it across the line having learn't loads about the circuit.
Darley Moor - Ground clearance clearly an issue! Photo by Russell Lee
Race 2 - Not quite as good off the line this time, got roughed up through the chicane and ended up on the grass at one point. Approaching Park corner I got a little over excited and made a move on a few bikes, unfortunately coming out the corner I had dropped the revs out the power band and a panic shift down got the bike going, but I had immediately lost the places I had made going into the corner. As you can see from the photograph above, ground clearance on the bike is an issue. I was hitting the ground round Paddock corner and also at the hairpin, which isn't a huge issue although it does unsettle the bike mid corner. This is something ill have to address ASAP with new pipes. Race 2 was mainly spent trading places with Nige Collier on his newly built XS, the XS again had a lot more drive out the corners which made it hard for me to pass him. I had a plan to nip in front of him going into the hairpin on the last lap and try and get a decent run down to paddock corner, I didn't quite get it right and lost out coming out the corner and then out-broke myself going into Park and finishing just behind him as we crossed the line. I decided to make a change to the gearing before sunday's races as I wasn't topping out on Pope straight and therefore not making the most of the accelertion available from the bike. I dropped 1 tooth on the gearbox to see if it improved things for me.
Race 3 - Sunday morning practice was a must to check the gearing change, after 1 or 2 laps things seemed much improved, managing to get into top gear before braking for Paddock corner, unfortunately the throttle slide stuck open on L/H cylinder cutting my practice short. I probably could have gone up a few teeth on the rear to help things further but opted not to change before the race (noted for next trip to Darley). The race itself was much better all round and thoroughly enjoyed racing the 500 Yamaha I was caught up with. I felt better on the bike and more confident with it now so had set my sights on improving my lap time significantly which I knew I could easily do, however when drawn into a race this wasn't possible. Same thing really, not able to make passes stick properly driving out from corners, something which I will be able to get away from as my riding improves and I keep the motor spinning in the power band more consistently round the whole circuit - every lap! Its a hard lesson when one mistake can take a whole lap to make up from when you haven't got the drive / torque in your motor to make up for a missed gear dropping out the power band or being held up mid corner!
Race 4 - Last race of the weekend and I was determined to get a decent start, theory being if i could get in front of the few I had been racing with over the weekend I'd have half a chance of setting an improved time with a bit of clear track. I got off the line well but still didn't manage to muscle my way into the chicane where I would have liked and had to settle in behind a big Triple F750. This made the race much the same as the morning one, a little dis-appointing in some ways as I didn't get my times down where I wanted lap time wise, but still a great weekend racing which is always good, when I look back to last season having spent large portions of races circulating on my own. Its always good to have a race with someone no matter how fast your circulating the track.
Have to say thanks to Gary Teague for helping me get the bike set-up and sorted ready for the weekend, lots of tuning / dyno time has seen a huge improvement power wise and as a 250 now I expect it to be very competitive against fellow 250's. Looking forward to Anglesey in a month.....
Race 3 - Sunday morning practice was a must to check the gearing change, after 1 or 2 laps things seemed much improved, managing to get into top gear before braking for Paddock corner, unfortunately the throttle slide stuck open on L/H cylinder cutting my practice short. I probably could have gone up a few teeth on the rear to help things further but opted not to change before the race (noted for next trip to Darley). The race itself was much better all round and thoroughly enjoyed racing the 500 Yamaha I was caught up with. I felt better on the bike and more confident with it now so had set my sights on improving my lap time significantly which I knew I could easily do, however when drawn into a race this wasn't possible. Same thing really, not able to make passes stick properly driving out from corners, something which I will be able to get away from as my riding improves and I keep the motor spinning in the power band more consistently round the whole circuit - every lap! Its a hard lesson when one mistake can take a whole lap to make up from when you haven't got the drive / torque in your motor to make up for a missed gear dropping out the power band or being held up mid corner!
Race 4 - Last race of the weekend and I was determined to get a decent start, theory being if i could get in front of the few I had been racing with over the weekend I'd have half a chance of setting an improved time with a bit of clear track. I got off the line well but still didn't manage to muscle my way into the chicane where I would have liked and had to settle in behind a big Triple F750. This made the race much the same as the morning one, a little dis-appointing in some ways as I didn't get my times down where I wanted lap time wise, but still a great weekend racing which is always good, when I look back to last season having spent large portions of races circulating on my own. Its always good to have a race with someone no matter how fast your circulating the track.
Have to say thanks to Gary Teague for helping me get the bike set-up and sorted ready for the weekend, lots of tuning / dyno time has seen a huge improvement power wise and as a 250 now I expect it to be very competitive against fellow 250's. Looking forward to Anglesey in a month.....
CRMC round 1 - Brands Hatch 2013:
Well, a mixed weekend all round - especially in terms of weather! With a poor forecast in the week leading up to the event it was always going to be dodgy, but I don't think many people expected what we ended up with....
Having arrived Thursday night in the pouring rain, we got ourselves set up in the lower paddock and got to sleep 100% expecting a wet test day all day Friday. Walking over for briefing a quick glance in the garage's indicated all were expecting rain - full wet tyres for most the superbike's in the advanced sessions. We had booked into the novice group purely because these were to be run in session's, particularly for Lee on the X7 which had only been run up a few times since rebuild and major work.
It hadn't rained all morning but the track was still damp, we missed the first allotted session, not wanting to rush around and miss any details in preparation. Lee's first session was spent circulating <4000RPM and Mike's first session settling some nerves on a new machine, on a damp circuit. Second session much the same for Lee, occasionally working the engine a little harder up to 6000RPM and experiencing some jetting issue's. Mike found the TS to be very capable and pleased with its straight line pull, just a little more practice needed keeping in the power range as the TS is very lumpy at lower revs... Unfortunately though this was to be Mikes last session, on returning to the paddock we noticed the front sprocket nut was missing and not carrying a spare meant it was beg, steal or borrow time. Lee found the X7 to be struggling to rev at times so made a jetting change (dropped the needles 1 clip) and found the bike much more responsive on the 3rd session, by which time the track had a decent dry racing line. At lunch Mike had made trips to local bike shops but had no joy, so his day was effectively over. A real shame as the TS was really showing promise and would have been nice to see it running at full chat.
After lunch Lee went back out with the same settings and pushed a bit harder, running up to 6000RPM only to suffer the embarrassment of running out of fuel with 3 laps of the session to go..Oops. Lee was experiencing issues finding first gear for the hairpin, which needs to be looked at before Darley, but didn't present a major problem for a running in day.
The last session saw the X7 rev out to 9500RPM along the straight, still running very rich but better safe than sorry at this stage. Extra seat foam added at lunch gave Lee that little extra seat height to make the bike as comfortable to ride as before, and this rounded off a succesful, dry test day for the X7 but not so much for the TS.
Saturday morning the weather proved to be the end of the weekend. It quickly became obvious no racing was going to take place, and no sooner than when the club announced this would be a non point scoring weekend we packed up and hit the road. The TS wasn't going to run, the X7 looked to have a gearbox issue and the weather conditions were shocking. Gutted really but some positives to take away and work to be done before the next meeting.
Having arrived Thursday night in the pouring rain, we got ourselves set up in the lower paddock and got to sleep 100% expecting a wet test day all day Friday. Walking over for briefing a quick glance in the garage's indicated all were expecting rain - full wet tyres for most the superbike's in the advanced sessions. We had booked into the novice group purely because these were to be run in session's, particularly for Lee on the X7 which had only been run up a few times since rebuild and major work.
It hadn't rained all morning but the track was still damp, we missed the first allotted session, not wanting to rush around and miss any details in preparation. Lee's first session was spent circulating <4000RPM and Mike's first session settling some nerves on a new machine, on a damp circuit. Second session much the same for Lee, occasionally working the engine a little harder up to 6000RPM and experiencing some jetting issue's. Mike found the TS to be very capable and pleased with its straight line pull, just a little more practice needed keeping in the power range as the TS is very lumpy at lower revs... Unfortunately though this was to be Mikes last session, on returning to the paddock we noticed the front sprocket nut was missing and not carrying a spare meant it was beg, steal or borrow time. Lee found the X7 to be struggling to rev at times so made a jetting change (dropped the needles 1 clip) and found the bike much more responsive on the 3rd session, by which time the track had a decent dry racing line. At lunch Mike had made trips to local bike shops but had no joy, so his day was effectively over. A real shame as the TS was really showing promise and would have been nice to see it running at full chat.
After lunch Lee went back out with the same settings and pushed a bit harder, running up to 6000RPM only to suffer the embarrassment of running out of fuel with 3 laps of the session to go..Oops. Lee was experiencing issues finding first gear for the hairpin, which needs to be looked at before Darley, but didn't present a major problem for a running in day.
The last session saw the X7 rev out to 9500RPM along the straight, still running very rich but better safe than sorry at this stage. Extra seat foam added at lunch gave Lee that little extra seat height to make the bike as comfortable to ride as before, and this rounded off a succesful, dry test day for the X7 but not so much for the TS.
Saturday morning the weather proved to be the end of the weekend. It quickly became obvious no racing was going to take place, and no sooner than when the club announced this would be a non point scoring weekend we packed up and hit the road. The TS wasn't going to run, the X7 looked to have a gearbox issue and the weather conditions were shocking. Gutted really but some positives to take away and work to be done before the next meeting.
The 2012 review
Just a quick review in Lee's own words of each round to give an idea of how 2012 went for us, highlighting the up's and down's of racing and how quickly you can become addicted to a sport - even though it frequently tests your patience, enthusiasm and most of all your pocket capacity! We have included Lee's recorded lap times (mainly for comparison in season's to come), and tried to highlight things we learnt on the way.
CRMC round 1 - Pembrey:
My first race meeting! One thing to recall about Pembrey is the surprising distance it is from Southampton where we are based. We drove for hours and it felt like an age to get there. Nerves set in once we arrived at the circuit - near on midnight with the paddock already full. We didn't stop there overnight as we had booked a Premier Inn for the night 15 miles away from the circuit - so this wasn't an issue. On arriving Saturday morning - I soon realised why its wise to arrive the night before. Sign on / Scrutineering of bike and clothing / collecting transponder all takes time 1st thing race day if your not adequately 'prepared'. Scrutineering immediately picked up the fact that I had no Chain guard on my bike - so we had stumbled at the first hurdle. Luckily I had packed lots of bits and pieces including steel cable ties, which held a shaped alluminium plate bought from a guy in the paddock surprisingly securely on the swing arm... Scrutineering passed. First practice called - bike only just passed, I threw leathers/helmet on, (forgot my orange bib), out on the circuit nice and steady, brake for the 1st corner and drop the bike, slide off the circuit. Foot peg snapped off, brake lever snapped, foot peg hanger shattered and I bashed my elbow. Stood at the hairpin watching all the guys doing practice - I did have an 'Oh dear' moment where I though perhaps this wasn't a good idea after all. Back into the paddock, quick assessment of what could possibly have gone wrong? No apparent oil on tyre, checked the tyre pressure's, 14 PSI in the front. Oops - a little low compared to the 28 PSI its supposed to be. Hard lesson learned, always check tyre pressures before going out on circuit. After a mad rush to rustle up a makeshift foot peg and hanger, new brake lever, remove the smashed fairing screen - Im ready for race one.
Now I'm not going to detail every race on this page - just pick out the salient points of any race at each meeting. So in writing this review post season 2012 - The main thing I remember about race one @ Pembrey is the overwhelming feeling of being slow! I expected this - but not to the level I had experienced it. Having Maria Costello blast past me on the Classic Suzuki Team's XR69 and crossing the line dead last probably didn't help this. However - the feeling of racing one of the slower PC Superbikes we were paired with on the grid and just beating him across the line by race 3 on the Sunday was a fantastic feeling. I also picked up a trophy provided by 'Ragged Edge Racing' for being the fastest Aircooled 250cc machine of the meeting - OK there were only 2 of us but still chuffed with that.
Some sound advice from one of the club scrutineers put me in good stead for Pembrey and the rest of my rookie season;
1. Your not Valentino Rossi and never will be!
2. Your not racing anyone in your first season really, your racing the clock and yourself.
3. Don't crash too often, and if you do just dust yourself off, get back on the bike and get on with it.
Best Lap Time - 1.19.707
Place In Class each race - 7th / 7th / 6th / 6th of 8 starters.
Now I'm not going to detail every race on this page - just pick out the salient points of any race at each meeting. So in writing this review post season 2012 - The main thing I remember about race one @ Pembrey is the overwhelming feeling of being slow! I expected this - but not to the level I had experienced it. Having Maria Costello blast past me on the Classic Suzuki Team's XR69 and crossing the line dead last probably didn't help this. However - the feeling of racing one of the slower PC Superbikes we were paired with on the grid and just beating him across the line by race 3 on the Sunday was a fantastic feeling. I also picked up a trophy provided by 'Ragged Edge Racing' for being the fastest Aircooled 250cc machine of the meeting - OK there were only 2 of us but still chuffed with that.
Some sound advice from one of the club scrutineers put me in good stead for Pembrey and the rest of my rookie season;
1. Your not Valentino Rossi and never will be!
2. Your not racing anyone in your first season really, your racing the clock and yourself.
3. Don't crash too often, and if you do just dust yourself off, get back on the bike and get on with it.
Best Lap Time - 1.19.707
Place In Class each race - 7th / 7th / 6th / 6th of 8 starters.
CRMC Round 2 - Cadwell park:
Cadwell - Another fair old trek to get there from home. Not to worry though, we arrived the friday night - so in good shape to get at least the bike scrutineered ready for Saturday. Well, would have been if the car track day hadn't had us all waiting outside the circuit for hours it would of done!! This time we come prepared having brought the caravan to sleep in and invested in a rather large gazebo to use as race hospitality. So mad rush saturday morning again, but newly fitted chain guard with U bolts and lock nuts gets me straight through. Noise testing this time round - 102dB with the comment from the tester - that's in good nick mate, nice and quiet. A good sign for the state of the engine. Practice in the morning see's me sat in the collecting area 2 bike's back from Guy Martin on the Suzuki XR69, Guy's abit of a legend in my book so in complete awe following him out onto the circuit, although lets face it I didn't follow him for long! (Please note no orange bib for practice again), On my second 2nd lap of practice I loose the front and slide off the circuit into the mud @ hall bends. Not sure what happened this time, Hall bends can be slippery under the tree's after rain - I took a knock on the head which wasn't nice. Still, as crashing goes a slow front end slide off is the preferred method so that's a positive. Back to the paddock in the rusty blue transit recovery vehicle - fitted new clutch lever, new makeshift foot peg hangar on the gear change side and remove the newly fitted, but now smashed fairing screen. It has to be said at this point from lap one I didn't really like Cadwell, its a hell of a lot to take in and you'll never learn it with 6 or 8 laps of practice ready for a race. With bike sorted, re-scrutineered, medical check done were ready for race one... Shall we say slow progress in race 1, finished dead last and although I learnt parts of the circuit - still not liking it much. I got knocked off line by one of the big bikes when I was least expecting it which was interesting! Positive thinking for race 2 though, cant get any worse than dead last so to improve lap time is most important. I got a reasonable start, followed the pack for most the first lap but dropped off in the chicane leading up to the mountain and over it, this is the bit I found most difficult. 2nd lap building confidence, I then got it all wrong over the mountain and had the front wheel in the air - I'm sure it looked spectacular, carrying extra speed though hall bends that I wasn't used to, getting to the Hairpin braking hard tipping in and sliding off, lost front end again. This time a bent clip-on (way beyond repair), another broken foot peg and lever and an obliterated fairing meant my weekend was over. It had to be back to the drawing board in terms of the bike though - I was struggling moving around comfortably as its so small! The foot peg positions are uncomfortable and changing gear is harder than it should be, the seat is too low so work to be done to get it all right in time for next round...
Best Lap Time - 2.16.883
Place In Class each race - 12th / DNF / DNS / DNS of 15 starters.
Best Lap Time - 2.16.883
Place In Class each race - 12th / DNF / DNS / DNS of 15 starters.
CRMC Round 3 - Lydden hill:
Lydden is probably my second favourite circuit that I have been to - behind Mallory Park. From a Novices point of view it's short and easy to learn, has a very grippy surface and suits a smaller capacity machine like my 250. Having spent some time on the Dyno with Gary before Cadwell (I noticed how slow my bike was on the straights at Pembrey), I was sporting an extra 5-6 BHP after some careful re-jetting work. I never really got to appreciate the extra power at Cadwell due to crashes and just generally trying to get to grips with the circuit. But the extra power was evident @ the Lydden test day though. Well - this was after some starting issues! I had left my starter at home and had planned to bump-start the bike on the day. This didn't work first nor last, and luckily Mike Dollittle was parked next to me and very kindly offered use of his Foxely starter which eventually got the bike running. Fuel sat in the crankcase after the Cadwell crash believed to be the issue, and sorry to Mike for the sore throat after swallowing un-burnt fuel thrown from my exhaust pipe! Out on circuit the bike felt better on the power than it did at Pembrey and I really built confidence throughout the day in the glorious sunshine. A new seat mounting height, re-machined adjustable footpeg hangars and new fully adjustable tommaselli clip-ons allowed me to find a comfortable stance on the bike. All positive so far. On our return to the circuit for the race meeting the following weekend the feeling was very good. We parked in around the guys in the PC500 class and got to know afew faces, Pete Odell and Pete Russell are both very helpful guys to be around in the paddock. I get the impression what Pete Odell doesn't know about 250 Suzuki's and 2-stroke tuning in general is not a lot - so a great guy to know in the paddock for advice. Practice went well, remembered my orange bib this time and confidence for 1st race was good. I must improve my starting off the line as I seem to be falling back early on but an excellent race finishing mid pack with an improved lap time from the practice day. 2nd race on the saturday, another strong finish mid pack and managed to learn a bit from the faster guys in the first few laps, improving lap time again. At this stage I realise the benefits of doing the test/practice day before the meeting - saves wasting practice and possibly race one learing the circuit, finding my limits. Sunday morning was very wet - race 3 was my first experience racing in the wet and to say I was cautious would be an understatement. Still, crossed the line in 8th position and got the bike round 7 laps of a dripping Lydden circuit so happy again. Race 4 Sunday afternoon was a more memorable race - I decided before leaving the collecting area that if the rest of the pack could push hard in the wet - stands to reason I should be able to do the same. Got a decent start off the line and pegged onto the back of Phil Luhr, Pete Russell and Daniel Rootes. Absolutely wet through the 4 of us swapped positions a few times with Pete out in front of the group. 2nd to last lap I managed to pass Dan on the left hander heading up the hill and followed Pete all the way round on the last lap. When we got to the hairpin, Pete took an un-usual line so I nipped underneath him and powered down the hill towards the last right hander - not realising Dan was right behind me, I carried a bit more speed round the last bend and just sneaked 6th position beating both Dan and Pete to the line. More confidence is now built from the fact that so far whenever I got involved in racing anyone circulating at a similar speed I managed to work them out and get past them - which is a great feeling.
Best Lap Time - (WET) - 1:01.789
Best Lap Time - (DRY) - 54.480
Place In Class each race - 10th / 8th / 8th / 6th of 17 starters.
Best Lap Time - (WET) - 1:01.789
Best Lap Time - (DRY) - 54.480
Place In Class each race - 10th / 8th / 8th / 6th of 17 starters.
CRMC Round 4 - Mallory Park:
I booked up early for the classic bike track day on the friday. Im really starting to enjoy the racing no which is a good sign, Lydden had been the most succesfull round yet and I was hoping to build on that at Mallory. The practice day went well - I had some issues with fuelling in the first few sessions though. The bike started OK but didn't rev out properly and seemed to be sluggish. I went down for the first session and soon as I got out I knew something was wrong. Came straight back in, check fuel etc and found no issues. Bike still wouldn't rev so I switched off the engine - whipped of the tops of the carbs and found the needle stuck in the needle jet on the left hand carb - the clip still in the throttle slide - luckliy!! How that happened we have no idea - but problem sorted. I also found that when banked over going round gerrards, the mixture was leaning off coming out the bend, losing power. The theory being that where the standard X7 carbs have single fuel supply and a balance line to feed one from the other - when leaning over for long periods one carb can run slightly lower fuel level leaning the mixture right off - hence the loss of power. The only solution seemed to be running more fuel in the tank hence more head pressure, bit of a strange one but more fuel fixed it so that was a relief. Race one found me circulating on my own with only 1 person behind me, a few retirements didn't help this with Daniel Rootes struggling with his GT250 reliability at this round. Race 2 was more interesting, had a race with Terry Davies on his Honda 500, again we swapped positions a few times but I managed to beat him to the line. Mallory is a fantastic circuit and due to the fact that I circulated most the 1st race on my own I focused on my movement on the bike - playing with lean positions with the challenge set to me by Mike Dollittle to get my knee down round gerrards. The aim wasn't purely to do this, but my movement on the bike is improving race by race and sure enough by race 3 I had knee down round gerrards - and seemed to be able to carry more corner speed for it. Race 4 saw my 1st experience of defeat, well in terms of racing somebody of similar speed. Claire Hancock on a Honda 500 had got a much better start off the line than me (still working on the starting), and I followed her round for the first few laps. I decided to make a move going into Edwina's on the brakes but unfortunately didn't get the bike turned as quickly and although I was ahead going into the corner I lost corner speed and she went straight past me coming out towards the hair pin. One thing I had noticed over the weekend was the shocking lack of braking power the bike had going into the hairpin, people were braking 10 or 20 yards later than I could as my bike simply wouldn't slow in time for the tight hairpin. This became apparent on the last lap when I attempted another move on Claire, again lost corner speed through Edwina's and never caught back up, finishing 2 seconds behind at the line. Even though I had improved lap time each race I was disappointed to have been out raced and beaten by someone of a similar speed to me. Still, I'm comfortable on the bike now, the rash on my knee sliders isn't just from falling off the bike and I improved Lap Time every race. Solid weekend all round, ready for a break from it all as missing the Donnington Park round due to getting married. What poor planning that was.
Best Lap Time - 1:08.838
PIC each race - 7th / 7th / 7th / 8th of 11 starters.
Best Lap Time - 1:08.838
PIC each race - 7th / 7th / 7th / 8th of 11 starters.
CRMC round 6 - Snetterton 200:
I was apprehensive to say the least about Snetterton 200. As my riding has improved massively since the start of the season @ Pembrey, Im starting to notice more that my physical size and the size of my bike will play a role on faster circuits. Having binned my fairing after Cadwell and running un-faired - this does not help either. All these concerns became apparent at Snetterton which has 2 very long straights, 1 of which has a fair incline to it. Having been to this circuit before and ridden the 300 circuit, I didn't bother travelling up for the test day (work commitments made it hard anyway). I was however, sporting a new AP Lockheed racing brake caliper and new front end/wheel on my bike to accomodate the brakes.
My main rivals in the PC500 Aircooled class, i.e the guys on 250cc machines are Daniel Rootes, Symon Woodward, Jeep Elton Payne and Paul Truelove. Dan's bike is very similar to mine and up to this point in the season he had struggled with reliability and getting his bike right. Symons bike goes very well for a 250cc, and he really sets the benchmark for me and Dan in our class. Race 1 saw me circulating on my own - which wasn't such a bad thing as lack of test day time meant I took a while to get up to speed having not raced for 2 months! I took 6th in class which is a reasonable enough result considering. This was the first test of my new brakes which didn't go well at all. Having scraped though scrutineering with what appeared to be an undersized master cylinder, the braking power was no improvement. On returning to the paddock I whipped off my master cylinder and fitted a larger one - Thanks to Pete Russell for lending me a Banjo Bolt that fitted the spare master cylinder! Race 2 was much closer, braking power was easily 100% better and I found myself getting caught up with the slower PC Superbikes that we are often paired with on the grid at most meetings - which can be frustrating. As we all know 2 stroke is about momentum and corner speed, Superbikes are about big brakes and big power, slow through corners and pull hard on the straights. When your circulating at a similar speed to these guys it can be hard, and being beaten to the line by one despite being faster through most the corners is annoying. Still - My lap Time improved again. Sunday saw the first signs of Dan getting his bike sorted, he pulled past me along the back straight with ease despite us both being neck and neck through the corner. His bike is quick! I managed to tag on the back of him and follow closely for the rest of the race, but no passing opportunity came along so I had to be happy with 6th in class and being beaten in a close race again! Race 4 Sunday afternoon I went out to make a point to myself not to get drawn into any following but to focus on my own riding and set a good lap time. I managed exactly that and somehow set a faster time than Dan despite finishing a second or so behind him in the race. So that was pleasing again. It has to be said despite finishing behind my main rivals in the class - having a decent race with someone is what is all about and the second race on the Sunday was one of my favourite of the season, I suspect Dan will be thinking the same.
Best Lap Time - 1:38.811
PIC in each race - 6th / 6th / 6th / 6th
My main rivals in the PC500 Aircooled class, i.e the guys on 250cc machines are Daniel Rootes, Symon Woodward, Jeep Elton Payne and Paul Truelove. Dan's bike is very similar to mine and up to this point in the season he had struggled with reliability and getting his bike right. Symons bike goes very well for a 250cc, and he really sets the benchmark for me and Dan in our class. Race 1 saw me circulating on my own - which wasn't such a bad thing as lack of test day time meant I took a while to get up to speed having not raced for 2 months! I took 6th in class which is a reasonable enough result considering. This was the first test of my new brakes which didn't go well at all. Having scraped though scrutineering with what appeared to be an undersized master cylinder, the braking power was no improvement. On returning to the paddock I whipped off my master cylinder and fitted a larger one - Thanks to Pete Russell for lending me a Banjo Bolt that fitted the spare master cylinder! Race 2 was much closer, braking power was easily 100% better and I found myself getting caught up with the slower PC Superbikes that we are often paired with on the grid at most meetings - which can be frustrating. As we all know 2 stroke is about momentum and corner speed, Superbikes are about big brakes and big power, slow through corners and pull hard on the straights. When your circulating at a similar speed to these guys it can be hard, and being beaten to the line by one despite being faster through most the corners is annoying. Still - My lap Time improved again. Sunday saw the first signs of Dan getting his bike sorted, he pulled past me along the back straight with ease despite us both being neck and neck through the corner. His bike is quick! I managed to tag on the back of him and follow closely for the rest of the race, but no passing opportunity came along so I had to be happy with 6th in class and being beaten in a close race again! Race 4 Sunday afternoon I went out to make a point to myself not to get drawn into any following but to focus on my own riding and set a good lap time. I managed exactly that and somehow set a faster time than Dan despite finishing a second or so behind him in the race. So that was pleasing again. It has to be said despite finishing behind my main rivals in the class - having a decent race with someone is what is all about and the second race on the Sunday was one of my favourite of the season, I suspect Dan will be thinking the same.
Best Lap Time - 1:38.811
PIC in each race - 6th / 6th / 6th / 6th
CRMC round 7 - Silverstone national, race of the year:
I had been looking forward to Silverstone since that last race @ Snetterton. I booked up the test day, £139 ouch!! And we arrived at the circuit on the Thursday evening, pouring with rain. The weekends racing was to be a welcomed break from an extremely busy month at work so I was determined to have a good weekend and most of all to relax and enjoy it. After Snetterton my engine was starting to sound, shall we say - 'loose & rattly' after races. This concerned me a little - but not having time to fettle the bike between Snetterton and Silverstone meant it was do or die for the bike. Luckily she 'DID' for the whole meeting.
The test day was slightly surreal in that there were only a handful of people at the circuit, and not many bikes going round at all. I went steady on the damp track in the morning, but the wind soon sorted things drying the surface out and I managed a best time of 1:22 seconds which felt to me like I was going well. Silverstone is a very wide circuit, my bike was geared up as much as possible as its also a very fast circuit. My favourite bit is the flick left then right before the last bend coming onto the start finish straight. I was noticeably gaining on people going thought this section and was enjoying scraping knee slider and exhausts on the track. I missed the last session due to heavy rain but wasn't to bothered as I felt up to speed and very confident for the weekend. In Race one I managed to knock 3 seconds of my quickest test time which I was very happy with, finishing in front of one of the big superbikes. I was struggling to keep up with Dan on his 250 - it seemed like they'd found more speed at top of the rev range and he was going very well indeed. Chatting to him and his dad in the paddock they are estimating 40+ horsepower minimum for his 250 which makes my 36 horsepower feel slightly in-adequate, I was going to have to get quicker.
Due to incidents/crashes and injuries the second Saturday race got delayed till Sunday, not that I complained as I was asked to Parade Andy's Yamaha Spondon TZ350 which was an amazing opportunity that I had to take! Thanks again to him for allowing me to have a go on it.
Sunday was damp in the morning - this is the chance for the slower guys to close the gap on the faster ones in our class - I managed to take 8th in class finishing in front of Ian Lucas on his RD400 which I haven't managed all season so was pleased with that. The final race Sunday was a 12 lap race (dropped to 10 due to lack of time) - a real test of the bike and of me and my concentration. One thing I have learned about racing over the season is the level of concentration required to be a fast racer is phenomenal. So this would be a good test. The circuit had dried and I had a small crowd watching from the start finish line which distracted me a little - silly considering its only family/friends but you want to do well when people you know are watching! I didn't get a great start but made a point to push really hard from the off in order not to fall behind. My main aim was to keep Dan in my sights and see if I could maintain the gap if he got past me. By the end of the 1st lap I was 50 or so yards behind Dan who had a couple of PC1 1300's in front of him to contend with. I suspected this would hold him up so concentrated on braking later and later into corners and closing the gap. I set a really good Lap Time on the 3rd or 4th lap and knew I had because the gap to the group in front had all but gone, unfortunately though I made a mistake on lap 5. Leaning into Maggots, carrying a lot more speed than I had done in previous laps I touched down the exhausts quite hard on the tarmac, this un-settled me and the bike and luckily I had my knee close to the ground to stabilise things. I had to sit the bike up and ran off the circuit which put me back where I started with a gap to close. Dan was still tussling with the big bikes so I made moves to close the gap again over the next 3 laps. By the last lap the gap had closed back up to half what is was, and as I was following the group ahead into maggots, the big bike sat Dan up mid corner and he ran off the track, I swept round the corner, looked behind me and could see the gap was to big for Dan to close in half a lap. I didn't brake as late into the Brookland section now I knew I had a decent gap - and crossed the line. Probably the most satisfying race of the season and although in the scheme of things a 10th in class finish @ the Race of the Year doesn't sound a huge achievement - I was very happy with my own performance in that race - and my spectators were dead chuffed too. To cap it all off I set a vastly improved lap time which rounded off a novice season that has gone from strength to strength each round.
Best Lap Time - 1:16.750
PIC in each race - 11th / 8th / 10th.
The test day was slightly surreal in that there were only a handful of people at the circuit, and not many bikes going round at all. I went steady on the damp track in the morning, but the wind soon sorted things drying the surface out and I managed a best time of 1:22 seconds which felt to me like I was going well. Silverstone is a very wide circuit, my bike was geared up as much as possible as its also a very fast circuit. My favourite bit is the flick left then right before the last bend coming onto the start finish straight. I was noticeably gaining on people going thought this section and was enjoying scraping knee slider and exhausts on the track. I missed the last session due to heavy rain but wasn't to bothered as I felt up to speed and very confident for the weekend. In Race one I managed to knock 3 seconds of my quickest test time which I was very happy with, finishing in front of one of the big superbikes. I was struggling to keep up with Dan on his 250 - it seemed like they'd found more speed at top of the rev range and he was going very well indeed. Chatting to him and his dad in the paddock they are estimating 40+ horsepower minimum for his 250 which makes my 36 horsepower feel slightly in-adequate, I was going to have to get quicker.
Due to incidents/crashes and injuries the second Saturday race got delayed till Sunday, not that I complained as I was asked to Parade Andy's Yamaha Spondon TZ350 which was an amazing opportunity that I had to take! Thanks again to him for allowing me to have a go on it.
Sunday was damp in the morning - this is the chance for the slower guys to close the gap on the faster ones in our class - I managed to take 8th in class finishing in front of Ian Lucas on his RD400 which I haven't managed all season so was pleased with that. The final race Sunday was a 12 lap race (dropped to 10 due to lack of time) - a real test of the bike and of me and my concentration. One thing I have learned about racing over the season is the level of concentration required to be a fast racer is phenomenal. So this would be a good test. The circuit had dried and I had a small crowd watching from the start finish line which distracted me a little - silly considering its only family/friends but you want to do well when people you know are watching! I didn't get a great start but made a point to push really hard from the off in order not to fall behind. My main aim was to keep Dan in my sights and see if I could maintain the gap if he got past me. By the end of the 1st lap I was 50 or so yards behind Dan who had a couple of PC1 1300's in front of him to contend with. I suspected this would hold him up so concentrated on braking later and later into corners and closing the gap. I set a really good Lap Time on the 3rd or 4th lap and knew I had because the gap to the group in front had all but gone, unfortunately though I made a mistake on lap 5. Leaning into Maggots, carrying a lot more speed than I had done in previous laps I touched down the exhausts quite hard on the tarmac, this un-settled me and the bike and luckily I had my knee close to the ground to stabilise things. I had to sit the bike up and ran off the circuit which put me back where I started with a gap to close. Dan was still tussling with the big bikes so I made moves to close the gap again over the next 3 laps. By the last lap the gap had closed back up to half what is was, and as I was following the group ahead into maggots, the big bike sat Dan up mid corner and he ran off the track, I swept round the corner, looked behind me and could see the gap was to big for Dan to close in half a lap. I didn't brake as late into the Brookland section now I knew I had a decent gap - and crossed the line. Probably the most satisfying race of the season and although in the scheme of things a 10th in class finish @ the Race of the Year doesn't sound a huge achievement - I was very happy with my own performance in that race - and my spectators were dead chuffed too. To cap it all off I set a vastly improved lap time which rounded off a novice season that has gone from strength to strength each round.
Best Lap Time - 1:16.750
PIC in each race - 11th / 8th / 10th.
