Hi there folks, if you fancy watching one of the races from Mallory Park earleir this year click on the link below. This includes some good onboard footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB8zVKEdY5k
Saturday 18 December 2010
Wednesday 24 November 2010
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Donington Duel
Donington Park – 22nd/24th October 2010
For the last round of the season we travelled down to Donington Park near Derby, the circuit has only recently re-opened after it closed following the collapse of the Formula 1
bid which promised a great deal but delivered nothing. I have spent many hours and laps circulating around Donington in the past, having instructed for the Race School there and I was really looking forward to going back. Heading into this meeting we had a 78 point lead in the championship and therefore with a maximum of 100 points up for grabs we needed 23 points to secure the title. I have to admit that it is nice to have a decent points lead but people had us down as having already won and as anybody knows it is not over until the ‘fat lady sings’. I think because of this it made Birdy and myself more nervous than normal and this certainly had an effect on my bowel movements leading up to qualifying and the first race.
Qualifying was held on Friday afternoon in dry but quite cold conditions, I guess this should not have been a surprise being the end of October. We had found a good set up for the bike during the practice sessions in the morning so we were confident of a good performance in qualifying. Out of the blocks I managed to set some pretty good lap times and with each circuit I came across the start/finish line to read my pitboard saying P1. I was happy with this as I was a little unsure of how hard to push in the cool conditions which does not help tyre grip at all. In the last few minutes of the session James Folkard managed to pip me for pole position pushing me down to 2nd. This was fine with me as it meant we had the front row start we were after.
We woke on Saturday morning to the wonderful sound of rain bouncing off the top of the van, as if we weren’t nervous enough the rain was just adding to our anxiety. The wet tyres were fitted to the bike and after several trips to the toilet I set off to form up on the grid for race
one. Every man and his dog had been telling me ‘take it steady’, ‘don’t do owt daft’, ‘you only need to finish’, if only it were that simple. With these mantra’s ringing in my ears, the lights went out and off we set. I settled in to 3rd place and thought great, that will do! Over the next two laps I rode ‘steady’ and didn’t ‘do owt daft’, that was until three riders overtook me including Heaton. ‘Well that’s great’ I thought, ‘that plan didn’t work’. So forgetting everybody’s advice I got stuck into a great five rider battle for 3rd position. With the track now drying and all the riders on wet tyres people were slipping and sliding all over the place. With two laps to go I had fought my way back to the front of this group and into 3rd position, then the red flag came out and the race was stopped. This meant I was 2010 GP2 Champion! What a fantastic feeling, it was as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Chris had got the pitboard ready with P1, 2010 on it ready for the last lap but due to the race being stopped early he didn’t get the chance to show it, oh well. As a nice surprise The Boland’s brought out a cake with 2010 Champion on it, thanks very much, it was lovely cake!
As we had wrapped the title up in the first race, the rest of the weekend’s races were purely about having some fun. I say fun but the rain had started again and the track was awash. With the forecast for Sunday a lot better I wasn’t going to stick my neck out in these conditions. I had a fairly lonely ride for most of the race in 2nd position once Folkard had crashed out down Craner Curve’s. It was lonely until coming out of the last corner on the last lap I took a casual look behind me to see the follow
ing rider’s right behind. I quickly turned back around and hit the throttle as hard as I could, this was not quite enough and I was relegated to 3rd place. A bit of a schoolboy error that one, but not one that I could get too upset about.
Sunday morning arrived and as there had been some rain overnight I decided not to go out in the morning warm up as the track was still slightly wet and I felt there was nothing to be gained, plus being a true Yorkshireman this saved us some fuel and a little on tyre wear which is always a positive!
11am and it was time to kick off the first race of the day. James Folkard got the holeshot into the first corner and I slotted into 4th place. I quickly passed Conner Tagg and Ben Gautrey and set about chasing James down, after a couple of laps I had passed Folkard but then was surprised when Heaton came passed from his 15th place on the grid. What ensued has to be one of the most fun races I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of. The three of us swapped places at every opportunity with no quarter asked nor given. Whilst heading down the start/finish straight with Heaton on lap 6 I looked directly across at him to see him looking back! I was laughing to myself for nearly the whole of the next lap. It all came down to the last lap; I was in the lead coming out of Coppice corner but knew Heaton would try on the brakes into the chicane. I braked as late as I could but sure enough Heaton was there on the inside, I pulled my bike in tight an
d as soon as we flicked over left nailed the throttle. We nearly touch as we crossed the finish line but I managed to bag the win by 0.027s. Now that was close. Folkard followed up less than a second behind in 3rd place. How the three of us actually made it to the finish line I am still unsure. Absolutely fantastic. I nearly didn’t make it back to parc ferme though, as when we pulled off the track and Heaton realised he was going the wrong way, jammed the brakes on and I ran into the back of his bike! Ooops, a bit of damage to the fairing, an apology to Birdy and we were ok. We stood on the podium to take our winners trophy but none of us could stop gibbering about the exciting race we had just taken part in, I hope the spectators enjoyed it as much as we did. This is one race you need to watch on TV.
After the excitement of the race earlier in the day I wasn’t sure I could take much more, but with the championship out of the way these really were fun races so I was more than up for a fight! I actually made a pretty good
start, heading for the first corner I quickly switched to the inside to outbrake Tagg and came out of the Redgate corner behind Folkard. I manage to pass Folkard on the run up to Coppice and got my head down. As we came back to Redgate for the second time the Yellow flags were out for 4 crashed riders including my brother Leigh, the yellow flags were out again for another crashed rider Ian Popplewell at Craner Curves. Poppy was the 47th rider to have crashed at Craners over the weekend, which is quite a statistic, not that he was number 47 but that there were so many fallers at the same corner. Once past the carnage I felt very comfortable and was hopeful of another win. Unfortunately exiting MacLean’s on the lap two I lost all power and had to cruise to the edge of the circuit and park the bike up against the tyre wall. Not the way we wanted to end the season but these things happen. Folkard went on to a well deserved win with Heaton following him up in 2nd place and young (even younger than Heaton) Josh Daley making it onto the rostrum in 3rd. Well done lads.
This year I have had the pleasure t
o race against some great people including a lot of youngsters, who all have an astounding amount of talent and a lot of them will be at the sharp end of the British Championships in the not too distant future. To all of you I wish the best of luck.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people and sponsors who have helped and backed us this season, without this we would not be able to compete at the level we do. It is greatly appreciated. Also thanks to Roger Middleton of RMKD for keeping us on track with the motors.
A special thanks to John (Erv Kanemoto) Bird for providing the bike for the season and for just getting on with looking after it at the meetings. He might be a manager in BSB before long!
A quick mention also, to ThundersportGB for running a fantastic championship and all the marshals and officials for making the series a pleasure to be a part of.
Remember to keep a watch out on MotorsTV next week for the Thundersport programme which will show both of our Sunday races from Donington Park.
For the last round of the season we travelled down to Donington Park near Derby, the circuit has only recently re-opened after it closed following the collapse of the Formula 1
bid which promised a great deal but delivered nothing. I have spent many hours and laps circulating around Donington in the past, having instructed for the Race School there and I was really looking forward to going back. Heading into this meeting we had a 78 point lead in the championship and therefore with a maximum of 100 points up for grabs we needed 23 points to secure the title. I have to admit that it is nice to have a decent points lead but people had us down as having already won and as anybody knows it is not over until the ‘fat lady sings’. I think because of this it made Birdy and myself more nervous than normal and this certainly had an effect on my bowel movements leading up to qualifying and the first race.Qualifying was held on Friday afternoon in dry but quite cold conditions, I guess this should not have been a surprise being the end of October. We had found a good set up for the bike during the practice sessions in the morning so we were confident of a good performance in qualifying. Out of the blocks I managed to set some pretty good lap times and with each circuit I came across the start/finish line to read my pitboard saying P1. I was happy with this as I was a little unsure of how hard to push in the cool conditions which does not help tyre grip at all. In the last few minutes of the session James Folkard managed to pip me for pole position pushing me down to 2nd. This was fine with me as it meant we had the front row start we were after.
We woke on Saturday morning to the wonderful sound of rain bouncing off the top of the van, as if we weren’t nervous enough the rain was just adding to our anxiety. The wet tyres were fitted to the bike and after several trips to the toilet I set off to form up on the grid for race
one. Every man and his dog had been telling me ‘take it steady’, ‘don’t do owt daft’, ‘you only need to finish’, if only it were that simple. With these mantra’s ringing in my ears, the lights went out and off we set. I settled in to 3rd place and thought great, that will do! Over the next two laps I rode ‘steady’ and didn’t ‘do owt daft’, that was until three riders overtook me including Heaton. ‘Well that’s great’ I thought, ‘that plan didn’t work’. So forgetting everybody’s advice I got stuck into a great five rider battle for 3rd position. With the track now drying and all the riders on wet tyres people were slipping and sliding all over the place. With two laps to go I had fought my way back to the front of this group and into 3rd position, then the red flag came out and the race was stopped. This meant I was 2010 GP2 Champion! What a fantastic feeling, it was as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Chris had got the pitboard ready with P1, 2010 on it ready for the last lap but due to the race being stopped early he didn’t get the chance to show it, oh well. As a nice surprise The Boland’s brought out a cake with 2010 Champion on it, thanks very much, it was lovely cake!As we had wrapped the title up in the first race, the rest of the weekend’s races were purely about having some fun. I say fun but the rain had started again and the track was awash. With the forecast for Sunday a lot better I wasn’t going to stick my neck out in these conditions. I had a fairly lonely ride for most of the race in 2nd position once Folkard had crashed out down Craner Curve’s. It was lonely until coming out of the last corner on the last lap I took a casual look behind me to see the follow
ing rider’s right behind. I quickly turned back around and hit the throttle as hard as I could, this was not quite enough and I was relegated to 3rd place. A bit of a schoolboy error that one, but not one that I could get too upset about.Sunday morning arrived and as there had been some rain overnight I decided not to go out in the morning warm up as the track was still slightly wet and I felt there was nothing to be gained, plus being a true Yorkshireman this saved us some fuel and a little on tyre wear which is always a positive!
11am and it was time to kick off the first race of the day. James Folkard got the holeshot into the first corner and I slotted into 4th place. I quickly passed Conner Tagg and Ben Gautrey and set about chasing James down, after a couple of laps I had passed Folkard but then was surprised when Heaton came passed from his 15th place on the grid. What ensued has to be one of the most fun races I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of. The three of us swapped places at every opportunity with no quarter asked nor given. Whilst heading down the start/finish straight with Heaton on lap 6 I looked directly across at him to see him looking back! I was laughing to myself for nearly the whole of the next lap. It all came down to the last lap; I was in the lead coming out of Coppice corner but knew Heaton would try on the brakes into the chicane. I braked as late as I could but sure enough Heaton was there on the inside, I pulled my bike in tight an
d as soon as we flicked over left nailed the throttle. We nearly touch as we crossed the finish line but I managed to bag the win by 0.027s. Now that was close. Folkard followed up less than a second behind in 3rd place. How the three of us actually made it to the finish line I am still unsure. Absolutely fantastic. I nearly didn’t make it back to parc ferme though, as when we pulled off the track and Heaton realised he was going the wrong way, jammed the brakes on and I ran into the back of his bike! Ooops, a bit of damage to the fairing, an apology to Birdy and we were ok. We stood on the podium to take our winners trophy but none of us could stop gibbering about the exciting race we had just taken part in, I hope the spectators enjoyed it as much as we did. This is one race you need to watch on TV.After the excitement of the race earlier in the day I wasn’t sure I could take much more, but with the championship out of the way these really were fun races so I was more than up for a fight! I actually made a pretty good
start, heading for the first corner I quickly switched to the inside to outbrake Tagg and came out of the Redgate corner behind Folkard. I manage to pass Folkard on the run up to Coppice and got my head down. As we came back to Redgate for the second time the Yellow flags were out for 4 crashed riders including my brother Leigh, the yellow flags were out again for another crashed rider Ian Popplewell at Craner Curves. Poppy was the 47th rider to have crashed at Craners over the weekend, which is quite a statistic, not that he was number 47 but that there were so many fallers at the same corner. Once past the carnage I felt very comfortable and was hopeful of another win. Unfortunately exiting MacLean’s on the lap two I lost all power and had to cruise to the edge of the circuit and park the bike up against the tyre wall. Not the way we wanted to end the season but these things happen. Folkard went on to a well deserved win with Heaton following him up in 2nd place and young (even younger than Heaton) Josh Daley making it onto the rostrum in 3rd. Well done lads.This year I have had the pleasure t
o race against some great people including a lot of youngsters, who all have an astounding amount of talent and a lot of them will be at the sharp end of the British Championships in the not too distant future. To all of you I wish the best of luck.I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people and sponsors who have helped and backed us this season, without this we would not be able to compete at the level we do. It is greatly appreciated. Also thanks to Roger Middleton of RMKD for keeping us on track with the motors.
A special thanks to John (Erv Kanemoto) Bird for providing the bike for the season and for just getting on with looking after it at the meetings. He might be a manager in BSB before long!
A quick mention also, to ThundersportGB for running a fantastic championship and all the marshals and officials for making the series a pleasure to be a part of.
Remember to keep a watch out on MotorsTV next week for the Thundersport programme which will show both of our Sunday races from Donington Park.
Final Championship Standings
Alex Hutchinson 603
Alex Heaton 527
Conner Tagg 436
Andy Lawson 400
Ben Gautrey 353
Alex Hutchinson 603
Alex Heaton 527
Conner Tagg 436
Andy Lawson 400
Ben Gautrey 353
Monday 11 October 2010
Mallory Park Mayhem
For round 8 of the ThundersportGB GP2 Championship we headed back to Mallory Park where we kicked off the season way back in March. The lead up to the meeting had been extremely hectic trying to get the bikes prepared in time and I must say a big thank you to Roger Middleton of RMKD for pulling out all the stops to provide us with a top notch engine for the meeting. Thanks also must go to Birdy, as he had been run ragged all week and it was reported on local news that he was actually seen to break sweat at 11:15 on Thursday morning of the 7th October in the year of our lord 2010.
If you have been keeping up to speed with our progress throughout the season you will by now know that our main championship rival is a miserable looking 19 year old by the name of Alex Heaton, who rides a Ducati for the Knight Road Racing Team. One evening whilst surfing the internet I happened to stumble across his new website only to find he had nicknamed himself ‘The Hitman’! Not wa
nting to waste an opportunity I quickly drafted some posters up for the weekend ahead, billed as ‘The Fight of the Year’, but I needed a name for the posters too. Now I am showing my age but the nickname ‘Hitman’ reminded me of the great boxer, Thomas ‘The Hitman’ Hearns and one of his great rivals was Sugar Ray Leonard. Job done, Alex ‘Hitman’ Heaton v Alex ‘Sugar Ray’ Hutchinson. The posters were pinned up all around the paddock and they went down really well and I thought the wind up was complete. But there was more, Steve Day our lovely commentator decided we should have a handbag fight on camera ready for the TV show. This was quite funny to do and I hope it comes out well on TV, especially the part when we turned on Steve and started hitting him instead. The posters have backfired slightly though as it now appears that I seem to have adopted the nickname of ‘Sugar Ray’, oh well, the wind up was worth it, just to see Heaton’s face!
Saturday morning came and we went out on track for our qualifying session, it was slightly overcast but it was dry and not too cold. I got my head down from the off and by my 4th lap had posted a 55.8s lap to put me in provisional pole position. Unfortunately I was then black flagged due to some smoke coming from the bike, so I pulled straight off the track at the hairpin. I therefore had to stand and watch the remaining 15 minutes of qualifying and it was only towards the end when Connor Tagg and Alex Heaton posted quicker times demoting me to 3rd on the grid. Still it was a front ro
w start and as we only completed 4 laps we couldn’t complain too much. Standing at the hairpin it did give me chance to have a chat with Stu the scrutineer who had unfortunately suffered a heart attack shortly after the Anglesey meeting; hopefully he will be back to full fitness soon. Although I am not sure he was ever that fit! Once we got the bike back to the awning we quickly traced the cause to a hairline crack in the clutch cover casing, which was allowing a minute film of oil to leak out onto the exhaust, thus creating the smoke and making it to appear a lot worse than it was. The cover was quickly changed and we readied ourselves for the first race.
The first race of the weekend got away well and into Gerrads for the first lap I was in 2nd place behind Heaton on his booming orange Ducati. We battled it out over 14 laps passing each other at least twice a lap, Heaton was a little better on the brakes into Edwina’s chicane and the hairpin whereas I had the speed around Gerrards and out of the Devil’s Elbow. This made the race a cat and mouse affair with neither of us able to make the break. Throughout the race Connor Tagg was nipping at our heals ready to take advantage of any mistakes we made. Finally heading into the hairpin on the final lap we approached two riders to lap, Heaton shot down the inside of them both and I shot down the outside. We were neck and neck as we turned in to the hairpin but Heaton had the inside line. This gave him the lead whic
h he managed to hold to take the win leaving me in 2nd place. This was a great race to be involved in and sums up what racing is all about.
The second race on Saturday turned out a little different, Heaton once again got the holeshot and I looked in behind him in 2nd place. After a lap I could see his rear brake caliper was hanging off. At this point I was very worried as I knew this could easily cause him to crash. Not wanting to get tangled up if he did come off I dropped back by about 6 bike lengths a rode around pointing at his bike trying to get the marshals attention. They had just readied the black flag for him when his rear wheel locked at Edwina’s chicane and down he went. On the one hand it was very unfortunate but on the other it was very lucky that it happened on one of the slowest corners on the circuit. I had a quick check behind me and Tagg and Gautrey were right on my rear wheel. Tagg managed to get past but I knew 2nd place was a good 20 points now that Heaton was out of the race and settled for that.
Sunday morning dawned and a new Dunlop rear tyre was fitted by the top guys at Holbeach Tyres. We took the decision to sit out the warm up session to preserve the tyre as it had to last the days two races. Although we had made changes to the suspension during the weekend the long 100mph+ corner of G
errards was taking its toll on the rear tyre and we thought the least amount of laps we do on it the better. The weather had improved over Saturday, and with the sun shining it was down to T-shirts for the day.
For both of today’s races I was also carrying the onboard camera for the TV footage and hopefully we have given them some good shots to use on the Thundersport programme.
We lined up on the grid for the first race of the day and as the lights went out we all charged away. This was to be an epic race. I slotted into 5th place entering the first corner and over the next few laps managed to fight my way to the front of the pack but all the time there were 5 of us covered by less than a second. James Folkard came by me at Edwina’s chicane on lap 7 but as we headed up to the hairpin we clashed fairings. James ran a little wide and I re-took the lead. This I held for the next 2 laps until the red flags came out due to a crash involving Phil Cox at Gerrards corner. The result was therefore taken from the previous lap and we had our win, but boy was that hard work! The racing should look great on TV!
The last race of the weekend didn’t get away too well when after less than a lap the race was red flagged due to 3 riders falling at the Esses with one being our good friend Ian Popplewell who I am pleased to report is not as bad as first thought and will soon be on the road to recovery. On the restart I jumped off the line with only Heaton and Gautrey ahead. After a couple of laps I managed to hit the front but could not hold on to this for long as Folkard managed to get passed and pull a small gap. Concentrating on keeping hold of second place I managed to hold this position until the chequered flag. It was only after the race that I realised Heaton had crashed out again, this time at the hairpin giving us another han
dful of points.
We now have a 78 point lead in the championship over Alex Heaton with only Donington Park remaining. That means there are still 100 points up for grabs so the job is not done yet. Keep your fingers crossed for the 23rd & 24th October when we will be trying to bring the championship home.
Remember to keep a watch out on MotorsTV next week for the Thundersport programme which will show both of our Sunday races from Mallory Park including the onboard footage and the handbag fight!
Thanks to Chris Boland for all his help over the weekend and to his Mrs for keeping us fed!
Also thanks to Glyn Richardson for the photos!
If you have been keeping up to speed with our progress throughout the season you will by now know that our main championship rival is a miserable looking 19 year old by the name of Alex Heaton, who rides a Ducati for the Knight Road Racing Team. One evening whilst surfing the internet I happened to stumble across his new website only to find he had nicknamed himself ‘The Hitman’! Not wa
nting to waste an opportunity I quickly drafted some posters up for the weekend ahead, billed as ‘The Fight of the Year’, but I needed a name for the posters too. Now I am showing my age but the nickname ‘Hitman’ reminded me of the great boxer, Thomas ‘The Hitman’ Hearns and one of his great rivals was Sugar Ray Leonard. Job done, Alex ‘Hitman’ Heaton v Alex ‘Sugar Ray’ Hutchinson. The posters were pinned up all around the paddock and they went down really well and I thought the wind up was complete. But there was more, Steve Day our lovely commentator decided we should have a handbag fight on camera ready for the TV show. This was quite funny to do and I hope it comes out well on TV, especially the part when we turned on Steve and started hitting him instead. The posters have backfired slightly though as it now appears that I seem to have adopted the nickname of ‘Sugar Ray’, oh well, the wind up was worth it, just to see Heaton’s face!Saturday morning came and we went out on track for our qualifying session, it was slightly overcast but it was dry and not too cold. I got my head down from the off and by my 4th lap had posted a 55.8s lap to put me in provisional pole position. Unfortunately I was then black flagged due to some smoke coming from the bike, so I pulled straight off the track at the hairpin. I therefore had to stand and watch the remaining 15 minutes of qualifying and it was only towards the end when Connor Tagg and Alex Heaton posted quicker times demoting me to 3rd on the grid. Still it was a front ro
w start and as we only completed 4 laps we couldn’t complain too much. Standing at the hairpin it did give me chance to have a chat with Stu the scrutineer who had unfortunately suffered a heart attack shortly after the Anglesey meeting; hopefully he will be back to full fitness soon. Although I am not sure he was ever that fit! Once we got the bike back to the awning we quickly traced the cause to a hairline crack in the clutch cover casing, which was allowing a minute film of oil to leak out onto the exhaust, thus creating the smoke and making it to appear a lot worse than it was. The cover was quickly changed and we readied ourselves for the first race.The first race of the weekend got away well and into Gerrads for the first lap I was in 2nd place behind Heaton on his booming orange Ducati. We battled it out over 14 laps passing each other at least twice a lap, Heaton was a little better on the brakes into Edwina’s chicane and the hairpin whereas I had the speed around Gerrards and out of the Devil’s Elbow. This made the race a cat and mouse affair with neither of us able to make the break. Throughout the race Connor Tagg was nipping at our heals ready to take advantage of any mistakes we made. Finally heading into the hairpin on the final lap we approached two riders to lap, Heaton shot down the inside of them both and I shot down the outside. We were neck and neck as we turned in to the hairpin but Heaton had the inside line. This gave him the lead whic
h he managed to hold to take the win leaving me in 2nd place. This was a great race to be involved in and sums up what racing is all about.The second race on Saturday turned out a little different, Heaton once again got the holeshot and I looked in behind him in 2nd place. After a lap I could see his rear brake caliper was hanging off. At this point I was very worried as I knew this could easily cause him to crash. Not wanting to get tangled up if he did come off I dropped back by about 6 bike lengths a rode around pointing at his bike trying to get the marshals attention. They had just readied the black flag for him when his rear wheel locked at Edwina’s chicane and down he went. On the one hand it was very unfortunate but on the other it was very lucky that it happened on one of the slowest corners on the circuit. I had a quick check behind me and Tagg and Gautrey were right on my rear wheel. Tagg managed to get past but I knew 2nd place was a good 20 points now that Heaton was out of the race and settled for that.
Sunday morning dawned and a new Dunlop rear tyre was fitted by the top guys at Holbeach Tyres. We took the decision to sit out the warm up session to preserve the tyre as it had to last the days two races. Although we had made changes to the suspension during the weekend the long 100mph+ corner of G
errards was taking its toll on the rear tyre and we thought the least amount of laps we do on it the better. The weather had improved over Saturday, and with the sun shining it was down to T-shirts for the day.For both of today’s races I was also carrying the onboard camera for the TV footage and hopefully we have given them some good shots to use on the Thundersport programme.
We lined up on the grid for the first race of the day and as the lights went out we all charged away. This was to be an epic race. I slotted into 5th place entering the first corner and over the next few laps managed to fight my way to the front of the pack but all the time there were 5 of us covered by less than a second. James Folkard came by me at Edwina’s chicane on lap 7 but as we headed up to the hairpin we clashed fairings. James ran a little wide and I re-took the lead. This I held for the next 2 laps until the red flags came out due to a crash involving Phil Cox at Gerrards corner. The result was therefore taken from the previous lap and we had our win, but boy was that hard work! The racing should look great on TV!
The last race of the weekend didn’t get away too well when after less than a lap the race was red flagged due to 3 riders falling at the Esses with one being our good friend Ian Popplewell who I am pleased to report is not as bad as first thought and will soon be on the road to recovery. On the restart I jumped off the line with only Heaton and Gautrey ahead. After a couple of laps I managed to hit the front but could not hold on to this for long as Folkard managed to get passed and pull a small gap. Concentrating on keeping hold of second place I managed to hold this position until the chequered flag. It was only after the race that I realised Heaton had crashed out again, this time at the hairpin giving us another han
dful of points.We now have a 78 point lead in the championship over Alex Heaton with only Donington Park remaining. That means there are still 100 points up for grabs so the job is not done yet. Keep your fingers crossed for the 23rd & 24th October when we will be trying to bring the championship home.
Remember to keep a watch out on MotorsTV next week for the Thundersport programme which will show both of our Sunday races from Mallory Park including the onboard footage and the handbag fight!
Thanks to Chris Boland for all his help over the weekend and to his Mrs for keeping us fed!
Also thanks to Glyn Richardson for the photos!
Thursday 23 September 2010
Wet, Wild and Windy at Anglesey
For round 7 of the ThundersportGB GP2 championship we headed off to Anglesey in north Wales. This basically meant that we drove west until we reached the Irish Sea and then when the wheels started to sink in the sand we had arrived at the circuit. The circuit was totally revamped around 4 years ago and I had heard very good reports about the layout of the track so was therefore looking forw
ard to the weekend ahead.
Due to having a few issues with our 440cc engine at the previous meeting at Brands Hatch we had to revert back to our tried and trusted 400cc motor for this weekend. Not the ideal situation as we need all the speed we can muster to ensure a good end to the season but the smaller engine is still a quick bike and Roger Middleton who builds ours is well know for his top class 400 engines.
As I had never raced at Anglesey before, we took the decision to take part in the practice day on the Friday which turned out to be a sunny if rather windy day. My first session out on circuit and after only 20 minutes we were lapping within 0.5 seconds of the lap record, this was starting to look good for the weekend. For this session we also tried a new shorter carbon fibre exhaust can supplied to us by Delkevic, the sound this made was awesome and everyone who heard it commented on the bike sounding like a mini Formula 1 car. A few issues did come to light though from the first outing which mainly centred on a lack of ground clearance. The track surface is quite abrasive and therefore very grippy, this means we were able to carry a large degree of lean angle but it meant the side of the bike was touching down in certain corners. We raised the rear ride height and dropped t
he forks back through the yokes to lift the full bike by a full 10mm, which is quite a large amount, this gave us enough clearance and in the second session we managed to equal the lap record for the class. This is what doing a test day is all about and we were confident we had a good set up for the weekend’s races.
Saturday morning and we went into qualifying in a confident mood after having set some very good times in the practice day on Friday. The track was dry and I circulated for a few laps but was getting held up a little in places, then I posted a lap time of 1 min 12.5 sec, this was inside the lap record and placed me 3rd on the grid behind Conner Tagg and Alex Heaton. The only upsetting part about this is that if you add both their respective ages together it equals my age!
By the time the first race came around the heavens had opened and given the track a good soaking, this meant the wheels were changed to wet tyres and we were ready to go. The lights went out and as usual I struggled to get the 400 off the line too well. This meant I slotted into around 7th place into the first corner. Over the course of the first lap I managed to claw my way up in to 2nd place and set about catching Clive White who was in the lead and had pulled a slight gap on me. Clive had managed a 1min 21sec first lap compared to my 1min 26sec which had given him a good advantage.
By the time we were half way around the 2nd lap I had managed to close this gap down and was right on his back wheel. Not wanting to stay behind Clive too long I shot up the inside on the brakes heading into Rocket corner. The problem was I had gone in a little too hot and as Clive turned in we collided resulting in us both hitting the tarmac. I put my had up to this one and admit I went in to the corner slightly too quick, this was a shame as it looked as if we could have had a good win and I should have held on a little longer to make the pass. But hindsight is a wonderful thing. Clive was ever the sportsman and immediately shook my hand understanding it was a ‘racing incident’. On a positive note our championship rival Alex Heaton only managed a 7th place and with it 9 points, so the damage was not as bad as it could have been.
After the disappointment of the first race I knew I could not afford another non-finish. Thanks to Leigh and Chris for getting the bike repaired in time for the next race. The race started and as we entered the banked banked hairpin, Gautrey lost the front of his machine on the inside of me and crashed out. I thought that he was going to hit my bike and so prepared for the worse. Much to my surprise his bike missed m
ine by what must have been only millimetres. After a good race I took the chequered flag in 5th place with Heaton behind us in 6th place. Not great but it was a damn site better than the first race.
We all awoke on Sunday morning slightly disheartened to here the pitter patter of rain on the van roof. The weather had not subsided at all during the night and we realised that it was likely to continue for the rest of the day. Not wanting to add in any additional risk we decided to miss morning warm up as we felt there was very little to be gained from going out. So it was straight into to race 3 of the weekend. I have to admit after crashing the previous day I was still riding in safe mode not wanting to make anymore silly mistakes. I managed to come home in 4th place but more importantly finished ahead of Heaton once again.
We nearly missed our last race of the weekend as we heard the call over the PA system that the previous race was half race distance, the next call we heard was the GP2 class were taking to the grid. At this point we were all still
stood in the awning trying to keep dry. The Holdroyd tyre warmers came off in record time, the bike started and I just made it to the grid in time for the start of the warm up lap. That was close. As it was the last race of the weekend and we hadn’t stood on the podium yet I was hopeful of a good result. Another bad start actually worked in my favour when a few of the other riders got tangled up at the first corner allowing me to slot into 2nd position. This I held for a couple of laps until Matt Davies a wild card rider for this weekend came past. Matt was obviously riding with a lot of confidence as he had just finished in 5th position in the British 125cc Championship race at Croft the previous weekend. Unfortunately for Matt he couldn’t hold on to 2nd for long as he highsided and crashed coming on to the start and finish straight. After dicing with Ben Gautrey for a few laps I decided that taking the points was better than another crash in very difficult conditions so settled for 3rd place, 1 place ahead of Heaton once more. Well done to Connor Tagg who won the race with a sterling display of wet weather riding. 
We now stand 31 points clear of Alex Heaton in GP2 Championship which after the mistake in the 1st race could have been a lot worse. We now have only Mallory Park and Donington Park left to go, that means 8 races and 200 points still up for grabs so there is a lot of work to do. We are busy trying to get our 440cc engine rebuilt in time for the next round, keep your fingers crossed we get it done.
Thanks to Glyn Richardson for the photos.
ard to the weekend ahead.Due to having a few issues with our 440cc engine at the previous meeting at Brands Hatch we had to revert back to our tried and trusted 400cc motor for this weekend. Not the ideal situation as we need all the speed we can muster to ensure a good end to the season but the smaller engine is still a quick bike and Roger Middleton who builds ours is well know for his top class 400 engines.
As I had never raced at Anglesey before, we took the decision to take part in the practice day on the Friday which turned out to be a sunny if rather windy day. My first session out on circuit and after only 20 minutes we were lapping within 0.5 seconds of the lap record, this was starting to look good for the weekend. For this session we also tried a new shorter carbon fibre exhaust can supplied to us by Delkevic, the sound this made was awesome and everyone who heard it commented on the bike sounding like a mini Formula 1 car. A few issues did come to light though from the first outing which mainly centred on a lack of ground clearance. The track surface is quite abrasive and therefore very grippy, this means we were able to carry a large degree of lean angle but it meant the side of the bike was touching down in certain corners. We raised the rear ride height and dropped t
he forks back through the yokes to lift the full bike by a full 10mm, which is quite a large amount, this gave us enough clearance and in the second session we managed to equal the lap record for the class. This is what doing a test day is all about and we were confident we had a good set up for the weekend’s races.Saturday morning and we went into qualifying in a confident mood after having set some very good times in the practice day on Friday. The track was dry and I circulated for a few laps but was getting held up a little in places, then I posted a lap time of 1 min 12.5 sec, this was inside the lap record and placed me 3rd on the grid behind Conner Tagg and Alex Heaton. The only upsetting part about this is that if you add both their respective ages together it equals my age!
By the time the first race came around the heavens had opened and given the track a good soaking, this meant the wheels were changed to wet tyres and we were ready to go. The lights went out and as usual I struggled to get the 400 off the line too well. This meant I slotted into around 7th place into the first corner. Over the course of the first lap I managed to claw my way up in to 2nd place and set about catching Clive White who was in the lead and had pulled a slight gap on me. Clive had managed a 1min 21sec first lap compared to my 1min 26sec which had given him a good advantage.
By the time we were half way around the 2nd lap I had managed to close this gap down and was right on his back wheel. Not wanting to stay behind Clive too long I shot up the inside on the brakes heading into Rocket corner. The problem was I had gone in a little too hot and as Clive turned in we collided resulting in us both hitting the tarmac. I put my had up to this one and admit I went in to the corner slightly too quick, this was a shame as it looked as if we could have had a good win and I should have held on a little longer to make the pass. But hindsight is a wonderful thing. Clive was ever the sportsman and immediately shook my hand understanding it was a ‘racing incident’. On a positive note our championship rival Alex Heaton only managed a 7th place and with it 9 points, so the damage was not as bad as it could have been.After the disappointment of the first race I knew I could not afford another non-finish. Thanks to Leigh and Chris for getting the bike repaired in time for the next race. The race started and as we entered the banked banked hairpin, Gautrey lost the front of his machine on the inside of me and crashed out. I thought that he was going to hit my bike and so prepared for the worse. Much to my surprise his bike missed m
ine by what must have been only millimetres. After a good race I took the chequered flag in 5th place with Heaton behind us in 6th place. Not great but it was a damn site better than the first race.We all awoke on Sunday morning slightly disheartened to here the pitter patter of rain on the van roof. The weather had not subsided at all during the night and we realised that it was likely to continue for the rest of the day. Not wanting to add in any additional risk we decided to miss morning warm up as we felt there was very little to be gained from going out. So it was straight into to race 3 of the weekend. I have to admit after crashing the previous day I was still riding in safe mode not wanting to make anymore silly mistakes. I managed to come home in 4th place but more importantly finished ahead of Heaton once again.
We nearly missed our last race of the weekend as we heard the call over the PA system that the previous race was half race distance, the next call we heard was the GP2 class were taking to the grid. At this point we were all still
stood in the awning trying to keep dry. The Holdroyd tyre warmers came off in record time, the bike started and I just made it to the grid in time for the start of the warm up lap. That was close. As it was the last race of the weekend and we hadn’t stood on the podium yet I was hopeful of a good result. Another bad start actually worked in my favour when a few of the other riders got tangled up at the first corner allowing me to slot into 2nd position. This I held for a couple of laps until Matt Davies a wild card rider for this weekend came past. Matt was obviously riding with a lot of confidence as he had just finished in 5th position in the British 125cc Championship race at Croft the previous weekend. Unfortunately for Matt he couldn’t hold on to 2nd for long as he highsided and crashed coming on to the start and finish straight. After dicing with Ben Gautrey for a few laps I decided that taking the points was better than another crash in very difficult conditions so settled for 3rd place, 1 place ahead of Heaton once more. Well done to Connor Tagg who won the race with a sterling display of wet weather riding. 
We now stand 31 points clear of Alex Heaton in GP2 Championship which after the mistake in the 1st race could have been a lot worse. We now have only Mallory Park and Donington Park left to go, that means 8 races and 200 points still up for grabs so there is a lot of work to do. We are busy trying to get our 440cc engine rebuilt in time for the next round, keep your fingers crossed we get it done.
Thanks to Glyn Richardson for the photos.
Thursday 2 September 2010
A Perfect Weekend ? Almost ?
Last weekend we made the trip down to Brands Hatch for round 6 of the ThundersportGB GP2 Championship. Having just returned from Hong Kong the day before I was feeling the effects of jetlag a bit, but hoped that a good night’s sleep would sort it out. Well that is what I hoped for, still laying there wide awake at 4am I knew this was not going to be the case.Saturday morning came and the rest of our competitors took the opportunity to do some practice sessions whilst I tried to catch up on some much needed sleep. Our tactics surprisingly appeared to work as I woke up 40 minutes before qualifying was due to start at 2:30pm, leathers on and off I set down pit lane. Within 3 laps I had managed to post a time that was quick enough to qualify for the front row and by the end of the session I had posted a time of 50.7 seconds which secured us pole position. This was also around 0.5 second under the lap record. We were also nearly a second quicker than second place man Connor Tagg on his Aprilia 450 with our championship rival Alex Heaton on the Knight Road Racing Ducati in third place. So it just goes to show, like your mother always said, ‘you do need your sleep’.
Second qualifying was held on Sunday morning and we were reasonably confident that no one would beat our time from the day before. This proved to be the case and the only improver was Heaton who manage to improve into 2nd on the grid.
We all lined up on the grid for race 1 and as the lights went out I made a pretty good start to slot in to 2nd place around Paddock Hill bend, this soon changed as I out-braked Heaton going into Druids and took the lead. Over the next few laps I managed to set a new lap record of 50.8 seconds, this pulled me clear o
f the chasing bunch and I took the chequered flag to win the race by a clear 6 seconds. A good start to the weekends races that was made even better when Heaton was deemed to have jumped the start and was docked 10 seconds relegating him down to 5th place.As race 2 approached the heavens opened and some heavy rain soaked the track. After our dominance in the dry this was not what the doctor ordered. The wet tyres were fitted to the bike and off to the grid we went. Another good start saw me take the lead into Paddock Hill and once again I pushed for some good laps. Out in front and with the track conditions changing every lap it was difficult to judge how hard to push, but after 5 laps I had managed to pull out a 4 second lead over the guys behind. This was good enough for me and I settled down to some consistent laps to claim another win by 3.5 seconds. If only all racing days were like this?
Bank holiday morning came around and we were greeted with glorious sunshine. This is exactly what we wanted for race 3 of the weekend. On to the grid, lights out and off we went. As in race one I managed to clear off at the front of the pack. With no one to challenge us I rolled off a little for the last few laps and took the chequered flag with a clears 6 second advantage o
ver 2nd place. Another win, I was starting to enjoy this!With our 100% record for the weekend so far, we went into the last race in a confident mood. I knew if pushed I could lap in the low 50 second lap bracket and I was pretty sure that the rest of the guys would not be able to match that pace. I had another great start and led going into the first corner, brilliant, just what I needed, the chance to get my head down and put in some quick laps. The plan was working well until coming out of Clearways on the second lap the bike lost all power. I knew this wasn’t something that would rectify itself so I cruised to the side of the track and parked up against the Armco opposite my pit board. At least the team could see what had happened and that I was ok, but it was a disappointing end to what had been a highly successful weekend. To rub salt into the wound Heaton won the race and taking the 25 points to boot.
We now lead the GP2 Championship by 34 points with 421 points to Heaton’s 387. With 3 rounds to go it means there is still a possible 300 points still up for grabs so it is still all to play for.
The races from Brands Hatch can be seen on MotorsTV on Sky in the next couple of weeks so keep an eye out for them.
The next round is at Anglesey in Wales on the 18th/19th September. I am looking forward to this as it is a track I have never raced at before but I am told the circuit is awesome to ride.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
The Sidecar Smiths
Leigh and I have seen the future and its not looking good. This could be us racing circa 2030! Only joking gents, it could be 2029! Mick and Gary Smith got to go for a ride in the F1 Sidecars around Brands Hatch in a charity event and therefore needed some leathers to do it in so we loaned them ours. The good news is that we obviously have time to grow into them. Both of them thoroughly enjoyed the experience which was a little better than the three guys that actually fell out! It was funny to see these two get off the sidecar after only three laps and both were completely knackered, bloody hilarious. It was a great event organised by ThundersportGB to raise money for 'Help the Heroes'.
The Happy Crew
Thanks to Sean and Andrea for sending me through this photo of the happy crew at Scarborough last year. They are enjoying it really you know.
Dyno Time at Cadwell
After the race at Cadwell we had to have our bike dyno'd to check that we were within the class limit of 80hp. As you can see from the photo, John is keeping a close eye on his little baby! Thanks to Clive and Debs for the photo. PS This is John's best side!
Thursday 26 August 2010
And the Winner of the Macau GP is .......?
Only joking folks, but while I was away in the Far East I took the opportunity to nip across to Macau to have a look around the street circuit that is used for the Grand Prix that is held there. This circuit sorts the men from the boys as it is lined with armco barriers and has no run off whatsoever. I would love to get the chance to race there at some point but we will have to see. This year will be the 57th Macau Grand Prix and runs from the 18th-21st November, if you get the chance to go and watch this one off race it is certainly worth doing. Whilst we were there we went and had a look at the Grand Prix Museum which is located close to where the circuit runs and as you can see from the photos of the bikes it has 
certainly had some top class winners and com
petitors over the years.
certainly had some top class winners and com
petitors over the years.
Monday 9 August 2010
Top Weekend Out at Cadwell
Firstly I will apologise for the short write up, although some of you may be thankful of this, as I am due to fly off to Honk Kong on Tuesday so time is a little limited.We had an absolutely top weekend, the new 440cc motor Roger Middleton had built for us, it was absolutely flying and it made the bike probably the quickest on the grid. This provides both good and bad points though, firstly it gives us a better chance of winning but secondly it means I don't have any excuses anymore!
I qualified 3rd on the grid which we were all happy with as it means a front row start which is ideally where you want to be. The two races on the Saturday were absolutely corkers. They both came down to a duel between myself and Alex Heaton (the miserable looking one) on the Knight Racing 800cc Ducati. In both races we were passing each other a couple of times each lap and in the process we both went 1.2 seconds under the existing lap record. The lap times we were doing would have put us in the top 7 of the 600 race and the top 4 of the GP1 race. The outcome of the races was that I won the first race and Heaton took the second.
Sunday was expected to be much of a repeat of the day before but on the 3rd lap of the first race Heaton crashed out at Mansfield corner. This meant I had a relatively comfortable victory, with Danny Murphy posting the best times of the Aprilia 450's and coming hom
e in 2nd place. Danny is another young lad that is going places and will probably be at the sharp end of British Championships in the not too distant future. The 2nd race saw the battle recommence between Heaton and myself, I led for the first few laps until he came past on the brakes into Park Corner. There was quite an amusing tale about Park Corner, on this corner they have 300, 200 and 100 yard braking markers. Now we normally brake around the 200 yard marker, well imagine our surprise when on the first lap charging up to Park past the 300 yard marker, looking for the 200 yard marker only to realise that it was not there as you approached the 100 yard marker. For some reason the marker had disappeared. I am not sure how we managed to stop for the corner but it just goes to show how late you can brake ! Although not one I want to repeat. Anyway, back to the story, I followed Heaton around for the last few laps and was contemplating having a go but then I remembered Pippa had come to watch by now and if it all went wrong and I missed the flight to Hong Kong she would probably kill me, or just have gone on her own. Due to this I decided 'discretion was the better part of valour' and came home in 2nd place. 
This now means we have extended our lead in the championship from 5 points to 25 points. This sounds good but there are still 400 points up for the taking from the last 4 rounds so it is still up for grabs.
One of the funniest parts of the weekend was seeing Ian Popplewell throwing a big girly sissy fit in Parc Ferme after the race when he had been black flagged from the race due to a smoking bike. He only needed to start jumping up and down on the spot and we would have had the full shebang!
I get back from Hong Kong on Thursday 27th August and drive down to Brands Hatch on the 28th, I hope the jet lag is not too bad?
Monday 2 August 2010
Ready for a ride out at Cadwell
We will be heading down to Cadwell this coming weekend ready for the next round of the ThundersportGB GP2 Championship. We will be racing on both Sat 7th and Sun 8th, so if you are at a loose end get yoursleves down to watch.I will try and see if I can get bigger air over the mountain this time !
I may not get a chance to update the blog for a few weeks as straight after the meeting I will be heading to Hong Kong with Pippa. You can always look on the Thundersport website for the results.
Monday 19 July 2010
Something To Tinker With
Not really got anything to do with racing this one but I thought you might like to see the little road bike I have just got my hands on. It is a 1991 Yamaha TZR250RS with SP engine, dry clutch and close ratio gearbox. These are quite rare as they were never officially imported into the UK and do appear to get a lot of interest. It gives me something to tinker with in the shed when I get a bit bored.
Monday 12 July 2010
Is This The Future ?
The guys at the Imperial College London have asked me if I would be interested in riding their electric race bike (pictured right). They have been developing the bike for some time now and there is a growing interest in this type of bike. The organisers have now successfully run two TT races and now have national series set up in a few countries. I will be heading down to London on Friday to have a look at the bike to see whether it is a good to go? I will give an update on my return but for the time being have a look at www.imperial-ttxgp.com/ and www.egrandprix.com/.
Friday 25 June 2010
Back from the MotoGP
It’s always nice to take part in a big event and in terms of motorcycling in the UK they don’t come much bigger than the MotoGP. Unfortunately I am not writing to inform you that I got a call to from Yamaha to replace Rossi for the weekend, but that we had an entry for the ACU 250GP race that was to be a support class. Our good friend Sean Kelly had asked if we would like to take part in this event on his Honda RS250 and who can turn down the chance to ride at the MotoGP?
It is about 10 years since I last rode at Silverstone and that was on a different track layout as we would be using the full GP circuit this weekend, in addition I hadn’t ridden Sean’s bike since the Gold Cup at Scarborough last year so we knew we would have our work cut out for us.
As we arrived at the circuit it was great to see the full MotoGP paddock laid out in front of us, with all the fancy trucks and hospitality suites. The good old Iveco Daily van fitted in just nicely, thank you very much!
As you can see from the photo Sean’s Honda RS250 was beautifully turned out in the team colours, even when the weather was dull it looked like the sun was shining when it was out on the track. Looking at the programme showed that over 55 riders were entered for the 250GP race so we had plenty of people to try and b
eat.On Friday we had a free practice session and were hoping for some good weather to help us learn the track. This did not quite happen as about an hour before the session was due to start the heavens opens and the rain came down. With the wet tyres slotted into the bike off we went to try the new circuit. I have to say the new Silverstone GP circuit is absolutely fantastic to ride, it is very quick and flowing, even the slow corners link up well. After feeling my way round the circuit for the full 25mins we were quite happy to find ourselves 14th quickest out of 51 riders that had ventured out. Speaking to a few of the other riders it was quite apparent that a few had done a test day a week earlier so already knew their way around, this made our position even more promising. A strip down of the engine showed that everything was working as it should and then it was off to watch the England game on the big screen!
Saturday came and the weather had improved, so in went the slicks and out for qualifying we went. It was great to be out on this fast circuit with near ideal weather conditions. As each lap passed we improved our times as I got more confident with the bike and the circuit. I got a good tow from Dan Jackson towards the close of the session but I got a little baulked by some slower riders towards the end of the lap, but the time was still good enough to promote us to 7th place on the timing sheets. With a couple of minutes remaining in the session a few riders posted a quicker time and we finished qualifying in 1
1th place which would put us on the 3rd row of the grid. Not too shabby at all. If we hadn’t been held up on our quickest lap I am sure we would have been on the 2nd row. Sean was over the moon with this, always a good thing to keep the bike owner happy! We checked the detonation counter and it showed that we were running a little bit lean on the carburetion so if the weather conditions were to be similar for the race on Sunday we would have to put in slightly larger main jets.Race day came hoping to put a display equal to or better than the GP boys we lined up on the grid, it was at this point that I realised I had not done a practice start on the bike and was therefore a little unsure as to how it would go. Holding the revs at around 10,000rpm, the light lights went out and we were off. To my amazement I got a cracking start and was up in to around 8th place as we headed out of the first corner. After a couple of laps I found myself embroiled in a battle that went from 6th place to 12th. Everywhere you looked there were bikes trying to overtake and it was great to be part of. The bike was running well but it didn’t quite have the speed of the kitted Yamaha’s but we were not far off. On lap 4 the Dutch rider Henrik Voit crashed his Aprilia right in front of me at Luffield corner, this slowed me a little and I lost a couple of seconds. I found it quite easy to catch the group back up as our speed round the fast corners was very good. A couple of laps later I was exiting Woodcote co
rner right on the back of the rider in front trying to get a slipstream down the start and finish straight when to my surprise we both ended up running on to the grass. This was at approximately 130mph with the bike sliding and bouncing its way along, to add to this the bike in front kicked up some stones one of which hit me on my neck, the bruise from which you can see on the photo. I lost about three places due to this excursion and had to work very hard to make these back up. The race seemed to be over in a flash and we took the chequered flag in 9th place only a second down on 6th place. Considering our lack of track knowledge and limited time on the bike we were very happy with the result. A good weekend all round.A big thank you to NG Road Racing Club for organising and running this race in a very slick and professional manner, a job well done.
As things are a little tight at the moment it is looking likely that we will have to miss the Cock o’ North at Scarborough and Aberdare meetings in July. This means our next meeting will be Cadwell Park on the 7th/8th August, but we may get a bit of testing done in the meantime.
Monday 14 June 2010
Off to the MotoGP !
We are off to the MotoGP ! We will be heading down to Silverstone on Thursday evening ready fo the GP weekend where we will be competing in the 250 support class on Sean Kelly's Honda RS250 (both pictured right). Here's looking forward to a top weekend. If you are going to the GP, give us a cheer and pop in for a cuppa.
Tuesday 8 June 2010
Cadwell Park on MotorsTV
Hi all, just to let you know that the races from Cadwell Park will be shown on MotorsTV from this week. You can see the screening times shown below. MotorsTV is available through both Sky and Virgin Media.
Friday 4 June 2010
ThundersportGB GP2 Championship Leader
The Bank Holiday weekend saw us take the first of our two visits to Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire. As this is our closest circuit it can be classed as our home round, the positive side of this is that we have a good following that come down to watch the races; the downside is that this tends to add a little more pressure to get a good result. We were still runni
ng our 400cc engine for this weekend as time had run a little short in trying to get the 440cc motor built. Hopefully this will be resolved by the next round, eh Roger?
Tony Young from Motorcycle Machining had popped down to watch for the first time this season so we were also keen to impress on that front. Got to keep those sponsors happy you know. Tony did chose a burger from one of the stands over our very well prepared buffet, so I am not sure if our hospitality unit is quite up to spec yet! With us not riding the Supermono at Cadwell this did give us the chance to concentrate on the GP2 races and this was a big help.
First qualifying was held in very wet conditions on Saturday afternoon, as this was my first outing of the weekend I took a steady approach but was still pleased to find myself 3rd quickest by the end of the ses
sion.
The second race of the day was once again hampered by the weather with everyone having to take a gamble on what tyres they should fit. We opted for a cut slick front tyre and a full slick rear tyre. As we headed out on the warm up lap I was confident we had made the correct choice as the track had a dry line all the way around. You can imagine my disappointment when we line up on the grid for the start and the heavens opened once more dumping a load of water onto the track. The lights went out and as you can imagine I was a little tentative for the first few laps as the slicks were not gripping at all on the damp track. By half race distance a dry line had appeared and I started to up my pace. With every lap we were getting quicker and passing riders who were out on wet tyres. It was a little too late though as I could only manage to get up to 4th place before the chequered flag came out. This was still a good result for the conditions.
Monday arrived and this time we were blessed with glorious sunshine, something that we have not seen too much of so far this year. After my performance in dry conditions in qualifying I was determined to get a good result. The race started and I found myself down in around 12th position into the first corner, but by the end of the first lap I had put in some very hard moves to pass 7 riders and cross the line in
4th place, that was a stonking 1st lap and I will apologise now if some of the overtaking manoeuvres were ‘a little close’! I got my head down and by the end of lap 3 had taken the lead. For the rest of the race I didn’t see anyone else but I know someone was close behind as each time I completed a lap my pit board told me I had +0s on the guy behind. It was only on the last lap when braking for the hairpin that I realised it was young Alex Heaton as he came flying past me sideways, totally missing the corner, ah the exuberance of youth. After a little chuckle to myself I turn the bike in and around the hairpin crossing the finish line to take the win by 2s. A good result and some very good lap times to boot.
We lined up on the grid for our last race of the weekend and after the win earlier in the day were confident of a repeat performance. As the lights went out we went backwards off the line and found myself in 7th place, I managed to pass five riders over the next two laps and was looking to take the lead from Alan Percival when the red flags came out due to a crashed rider. Oh well, we would just have to do it all over again. We had a bit of a panic for the restart when the bike would not fire, I must thank my dad and several others including Alan Knight the owner of the bike ridden by our main championship rival Alex Heaton who gave all their effort to push start the bike, eventually the motor spra
ng into life and I chased out of pit lane to catch the rest up on the warm up lap. The restart was to be run over a shortened distance and I actually got off the line pretty well and slotted in to 4th place by the first corner. Unfortunately as I headed down Park Straight I knew something was wrong with the bike as the clutch started to slip very badly. At this point I was very concerned that the bike would not make it to the end of the race. I had to adapt my riding to the slipping clutch and was riding around the corners in a gear higher in an effort to keep the revs down and to actually get some drive. We did make it to the chequered flag and managed to claim 5th place and not too far down on 3rd and 4th place, a good result for an ailing bike. Two starts in quick succession had obviously been too much for the clutch.
I had to do an interview for MotorsTV for being the winner of the first race of the day; the funny thing was, due to the logistics of Cadwell, with the start line at the bottom of the hill and the podium at the top, Steve Day the commentator could not be in two places at once. Therefore I had to do the interview for the first race straight after the second race, not confusing at all that is it? Therefore if I don’t quite come across as being totally on the ball this is the best excuse I have!
We left Cadwell leading the ThundersportGB GP2 Championship by 5 points from Alex Heaton in 2nd place, there is still a long way to go but at least we are in the mix.
Please remember that Monday’s races will be shown on Motors TV in the coming week so check the viewing times soon.
Our next outing is at the MotoGP at Silverstone on the 19th/20th June riding Sean Kelly’s Honda RS250 in a support race. This is something to look forward too as we get to ride the new GP circuit at Silverstone and it is always good fun to be riding at Britain’s premier motorcycling event. It will be a bit of an uphill struggle as we won’t have much time to learn the circuit and I have not ridden the 250 yet this year but we will see how it goes.
ng our 400cc engine for this weekend as time had run a little short in trying to get the 440cc motor built. Hopefully this will be resolved by the next round, eh Roger?Tony Young from Motorcycle Machining had popped down to watch for the first time this season so we were also keen to impress on that front. Got to keep those sponsors happy you know. Tony did chose a burger from one of the stands over our very well prepared buffet, so I am not sure if our hospitality unit is quite up to spec yet! With us not riding the Supermono at Cadwell this did give us the chance to concentrate on the GP2 races and this was a big help.
First qualifying was held in very wet conditions on Saturday afternoon, as this was my first outing of the weekend I took a steady approach but was still pleased to find myself 3rd quickest by the end of the ses
sion.Second qualifying was a different affair and with a drying track I got my head down to put in some good times. Throughout this session I saw P1 on my pit board and was pleased to hear I had qualified in pole position by a massive 2.3s from 2nd place man Alan Percival on a similarly mounted machine. My main championship rivals Alex Heaton and Will Hodgson were further down the grid in 6th and 13th respectively.
Our first race of the day came and the weather was not being kind, a short shower prior to the race being called ensured all of us had scrambled to get wet tyres fitted. When we collected on the start line the track was actually half dry and half wet making for very difficult racing conditions. After a poor start I picked my way through the field and it came down to a battle between me and Will Hodgson on his Aprilia as we had pulled cle
ar of the chasing pack. On lap 6 I had a slight altercation with a backmarker, locking handlebars and this lost me a couple of seconds to Will. There were still a few laps left to catch back up with Will but then the red flags were shown to stop the race due to a crashed rider and the result declared. 2nd position was not too bad a start to the weekend.
ar of the chasing pack. On lap 6 I had a slight altercation with a backmarker, locking handlebars and this lost me a couple of seconds to Will. There were still a few laps left to catch back up with Will but then the red flags were shown to stop the race due to a crashed rider and the result declared. 2nd position was not too bad a start to the weekend. The second race of the day was once again hampered by the weather with everyone having to take a gamble on what tyres they should fit. We opted for a cut slick front tyre and a full slick rear tyre. As we headed out on the warm up lap I was confident we had made the correct choice as the track had a dry line all the way around. You can imagine my disappointment when we line up on the grid for the start and the heavens opened once more dumping a load of water onto the track. The lights went out and as you can imagine I was a little tentative for the first few laps as the slicks were not gripping at all on the damp track. By half race distance a dry line had appeared and I started to up my pace. With every lap we were getting quicker and passing riders who were out on wet tyres. It was a little too late though as I could only manage to get up to 4th place before the chequered flag came out. This was still a good result for the conditions.
Monday arrived and this time we were blessed with glorious sunshine, something that we have not seen too much of so far this year. After my performance in dry conditions in qualifying I was determined to get a good result. The race started and I found myself down in around 12th position into the first corner, but by the end of the first lap I had put in some very hard moves to pass 7 riders and cross the line in
4th place, that was a stonking 1st lap and I will apologise now if some of the overtaking manoeuvres were ‘a little close’! I got my head down and by the end of lap 3 had taken the lead. For the rest of the race I didn’t see anyone else but I know someone was close behind as each time I completed a lap my pit board told me I had +0s on the guy behind. It was only on the last lap when braking for the hairpin that I realised it was young Alex Heaton as he came flying past me sideways, totally missing the corner, ah the exuberance of youth. After a little chuckle to myself I turn the bike in and around the hairpin crossing the finish line to take the win by 2s. A good result and some very good lap times to boot. We lined up on the grid for our last race of the weekend and after the win earlier in the day were confident of a repeat performance. As the lights went out we went backwards off the line and found myself in 7th place, I managed to pass five riders over the next two laps and was looking to take the lead from Alan Percival when the red flags came out due to a crashed rider. Oh well, we would just have to do it all over again. We had a bit of a panic for the restart when the bike would not fire, I must thank my dad and several others including Alan Knight the owner of the bike ridden by our main championship rival Alex Heaton who gave all their effort to push start the bike, eventually the motor spra
ng into life and I chased out of pit lane to catch the rest up on the warm up lap. The restart was to be run over a shortened distance and I actually got off the line pretty well and slotted in to 4th place by the first corner. Unfortunately as I headed down Park Straight I knew something was wrong with the bike as the clutch started to slip very badly. At this point I was very concerned that the bike would not make it to the end of the race. I had to adapt my riding to the slipping clutch and was riding around the corners in a gear higher in an effort to keep the revs down and to actually get some drive. We did make it to the chequered flag and managed to claim 5th place and not too far down on 3rd and 4th place, a good result for an ailing bike. Two starts in quick succession had obviously been too much for the clutch.I had to do an interview for MotorsTV for being the winner of the first race of the day; the funny thing was, due to the logistics of Cadwell, with the start line at the bottom of the hill and the podium at the top, Steve Day the commentator could not be in two places at once. Therefore I had to do the interview for the first race straight after the second race, not confusing at all that is it? Therefore if I don’t quite come across as being totally on the ball this is the best excuse I have!
We left Cadwell leading the ThundersportGB GP2 Championship by 5 points from Alex Heaton in 2nd place, there is still a long way to go but at least we are in the mix.
Please remember that Monday’s races will be shown on Motors TV in the coming week so check the viewing times soon.
Our next outing is at the MotoGP at Silverstone on the 19th/20th June riding Sean Kelly’s Honda RS250 in a support race. This is something to look forward too as we get to ride the new GP circuit at Silverstone and it is always good fun to be riding at Britain’s premier motorcycling event. It will be a bit of an uphill struggle as we won’t have much time to learn the circuit and I have not ridden the 250 yet this year but we will see how it goes.
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