Two-Stroke of Luck

Our friend Sean Kelly has come up trumps for the Gold Cup at Olivers Mount, Scarborough on the 19th & 20th September by offering us the use of his 2007 Honda RS 250. He is currently fine tuning the bike ready for its outing. As you can see from the picture, the bike is on the dyno being checked out. Having previously raced 250 GP bikes from 1997 to 2001 in the British Championship I relish any chance I get of jumping on one these days, you can’t beat that two-stroke rush. As well as the 250 we will have Birdy’s ZXR so this will give us 4 races per day over the weekend. Happy times.

And the MotoGP Winner is…. Rossi? Stoner? …. No, its bloody Leigh !!!!!

What can you say, Leigh has not won a race before and was beginning to think it would never happen but what a place to do it, at the MotoGP at Donington Park. Now before you all get carried away he didn’t actually win the MotoGP race beating the likes of Rossi, Stoner, Pedrosa et al but the Minitwin support race with an equally impressive line up of Boland, White and Jones etc.
Leigh managed to qualify 4th quickest Minitwin just half a second down on Boland and White with Jones on Pole. Qualifying was held in dry conditions but come the race it was lashing down. This seemed to suit Leigh down to the ground and after a flying start pulled out a gap of 10 seconds over the next Minitwin rider which he held onto the finish.
He appeared to be in a state of shock when he returned to the paddock and was informed of the good news.

The funny thing for me was I nearly won the Junior Powerbike race only losing out by 0.005s after coming from 3-4 seconds back, but the first thing Birdy had to say to me when I returned back to the paddock was ‘your kid had a blinder of a race’. Thanks John ?

Still the day was Leigh’s and he proved the saying to be true ‘That Winners are Grinners’.

Podiums A Plenty At Snetterton

Well after what seems like an absolute age it was great to be back racing a bike again at Snetterton. We were back on Birdy’s Kawasaki racing in the Junior Powerbike class with the ThundersportGB club. We did some testing on the Friday to ensure things were all tic-a-tee-boo and after a few suspensions modifications to help the bike hold a line better, as it was running wide on the power exiting corners, we were confident we had a good set up for the weekend.

This proved to be the case straight away when we managed to secure pole position in qualifying by 0.009s from young Sam Coventry on the 800cc Ducati with Rob Elsmere on his Aprilia SXV550 in third on the grid only another 0.1s further back. This looked like ensuring some close races were to follow.

The first race was exactly like this, after a good start for our bike, which meant I only dropped to 5th or 6th place I was soon up behind Sam and Rob. Once passed Sam, Rob and I passed each other 2 or 3 times every lap which made for a fun exciting race. Rob’s Aprilia was a little quicker than our bike and he could pull around 5 bike lengths on us out of the slower corners. Unfortunately this was to be our downfall as I led out of the last corner but Rob with the extra drive of his bike and my slipstream meant he crossed the line in front of me by 0.043s, bugger, but a bloody close race.

In the remaining three races of the weekend we were hampered by very poor starts, we knew this would be a problem with our bike as it has a close ratio gearbox which means it has a very high first gear, this coupled with the peaky power delivery of a 400 makes it very difficult to get off the line when compared to the bigger V-twins. This meant that I dropped to around 6th or 7th place off the start and by the time I had made my way through the traffic into second the gap that Rob had opened up was too big to close down. In each race I managed to get the gap down to a little over 2s, but I just ran out of time in each race. So four 2nd places was not too bad a weekend and I did however manage to set the fastest lap of the weekend for our class, so some consolation. I have moved up to joint second place overall in the championship but quite a lot of points behind first.

Leigh had an average weekend (his words not mine), managing 5th in the Mini-Twin class in all four races. Again the heat and his fitness levels were a large contributory factor i.e. it was too bloody hot and it’s time to stop smoking! Unfortunately Tim Jones now leads the championship but only by 4 points. One highlight of the weekend however was being the leading Hutchinson for half a lap. Managing to jump from 11th to 5th from a blinding start, overtaking whoever was in pole position. Oh, that’s right. It was me. The picture left was taken during Sunday morning warm up when I followed Leigh for a few laps then showed him the way around to try and give him some tips.
We enjoyed a few beers in the clubhouse on Saturday evening and the one thing we found strange was that my dad had managed to get his photo up above the bar as you can see in the photo on the left. Actually it is some Formula 3 racing driving but the resemblance had us in hysterics.

This was closely followed when one of our friends, Clive White (a MiniTwin racer that can be seen in the picture with me to the left) raised his glass during a charity auction and unknowingly managed to put a bid in for a set of leathers for £420 !! The panic on his face when he realised what he had done was a picture.

A quick well done to ThundersportGB for another extremely well run meeting, if you get the chance to get to one of these it will be well worth it.

Our next outing is on Thursday 23rd July at Donington Park MotoGP. The day is organised for the charity ‘Riders for Health’ and therefore a great cause. Hopefully we will see you there.

OULTON OVERHEAT.

Well, Oulton park last weekend was a disaster! After finally getting the bike fixed, it's bloody me that breaks down!

Went out for practice on Friday morning and was quite happy with my lap times coming down after each session but by dinner the severe heat was getting to me. This was not good as qualifying was in the afternoon. Drinking loads of isotonic lucozade wasn't helping either, as soon as it went in, it had to come out almost immediately! Feeling a little faint, I went out for qualifying and managed to go 2 seconds slower than I had in the morning. Still 17th on the grid out of 36, just have to do better on Sunday.

Sunday came and I felt worse, kept having to have a lie down rather than fall down. Got up to 15th from the start in the first race but got slower after each lap, finishing 19th. I was shaking like a sh*tting dog, could hardly breath and about to fall over at any given point.

I really wasn't looking forward to the second race and unfortunately only managed 22nd after going increasingly slower again. Actually thought I was going to fill my helmet with sick at one point.... before I had taken it off. Chris, the young and fit chap he is, managed to do better, taking 10th in the 1st race and 12th in the second. Smiled and congratulated him as is only proper, then covered his bike with sarcastic notes and giggled like a kid when he said his gearbox is fooked! Mind you, I know how that poor old gearbox felt after being thrown around the garage by Alex trying to peel my leathers off me. Cheers Al. As you can see from the picture, Alex was very impressed with my lack of performance and that's him in a good mood!

Misfire Mystery

After going through Leigh's bike with a fine tooth comb it looks as though we may have finally cured the misfire. Rob re-ground the valves as we had a bit of blow back, hopefully this cured the bike running lean but did not sort the misfire. We then changed just about every sensor on the bike as we were sure it was electrical but this did not sort it. We were just about at our wits ends and finally decided to try a new wiring loom even though we had stripped and check the original one. This appears to have cured the misfire and we can only assume it was breaking down somewhere. The bike will be back on the dyno this week for final checks prior to Leigh racing at Oulton again in a weeks time.

Snetterton BSB Last Year

I pinched these couple of photos of my mate Aria Lane. He took them at the Snetterton BSB meeting last year. This was the Tigcraft KTM's first outing and the bike had only just been finished the night before the meeting. Partly due to a bit of luck with the weather (it rained for the race) we managed to bring it home in 2nd place on its debut in a European race. Not a bad result at all. Dave Pearce the one with the beard on the left it the man responsible for building the bike. This goes ot show with all the improvements over the winter its a pity we didn't manage to get to race it this year. You can see John McGuiness behind me taking a keen interest in the bikes.

Oulton Park....Swimwear Optional!!

Well, unlike Alex, unfortunately I arrived, knowing I had problems to contend with.

Firstly, my broken thumb was still in plaster but only for a short while. Upon arriving at Oulton, some expertise with a stanley knife meant my hand was free but my thumb was not going to bend anytime soon. Break out the painkillers, worry about that later.

After Rob, my step dad, had spent a week rebuilding the engine, checking sensors and other components, the bike was still misfiring. No-one could fathom out the problem or where it lie, so after disconnecting one sensor we managed to get it running without a misfire, however we didn't know what effect this had on the performance until the first session where I managed 1 lap before pulling in!

After trying numerous suggestions, we still couldn't get it running properly but I had to learn the track so decided to ride it anyway. Dinner came and the lap top came out to try different power commander settings and maps. It was only guesswork but it made the bike run a little better and by the end of the practice day, I had just managed to reach Chris' ( my team mate ) lap times.

Race day came and so did the rain. I had my reservations but was quite happy with the rain, it meant everybody would be going slower. I managed to get 4th place in the first race, which I thought was a bloody miracle! My thumb was seriously hurting, I couldn't feel the rest of my fingers in cold wet gloves and I couldn't see where I was going because my helmet had fogged up! Needless to say, that race felt like an eternity. Chris, however, was a different story. Lucky barsteward managed 1st place and did it quite easily by all accounts. Not a bad homecoming present after fighting Yeti's in Alaska!! Well, I think that's where he's been, it never really got mentioned.

The second race was cut to 5 laps (thank God!) and I managed 5th place. Chris managed to get another win - bloody showing off now, Cookie! No, seriously; well done,bud. Ok, so I didn't get a podium this weekend but all things considering I think it went rather well and believe it or not I've extended my championship lead to 49 points.

Just got to sort out this mystery problem with the bike now. Hopefully I'll get it sorted before Snetterton and let Chris make do with 2nd place!

Big thanks to Rob for all your time and patience, it is much appreciated, ya little bald, fat f****r!

Alex's 'Orrible Oulton

In life we all have things that we find frustrating, I think I have finally reached that point with motorcycles. I am not sure what it is but something, somebody, somewhere is not too keen on me doing much racing this year. With the issues that have already arose this year you would think a little good fortune would not be too much to ask, but alas it was not to be.

Birdy had rebuilt the Kwacker ready for the Oulton Park Round and although we were not too confident in the forks we had borrowed I was sure I could adjust them to somewhere near what I needed. The first practice session on the Friday started well and the bike was feeling ok apart from the forks being too stiff and not having enough rebound damping on them. This session was red flagged after 3 or 4 laps due to a crash out on the circuit.

Out on circuit for the 2nd practice session and I was circulating with Mike Edwards as we started to push the pace a bit and the lap times started to tumble. Unfortunately or fortunately the session was also red flagged due to yet another crash, I pulled into the pit lane and set about adjusting the forks again when I noticed water being sprayed on to my glove. The radiator had been rubbing against the front tyre and had worn through. End of session.

A quick phone call to Birdy and he had another radiator that he could leave at Ian ‘now not so’ Popularwell’s house for his Mrs to bring on the evening. Disappointing to miss the rest of the practice day but at least I knew we would have the bike ready for race day. There was obviously an error in communication as the radiator had been left on their kitchen table, about 150 miles from where it needed to be. At least the table wouldn’t overheat! With this disastrous news I attempted to repair the radiator but alas this was all in vain as we could not get the thing to seal.

Race day came and after a long bout of sulking came round to do Leigh’s pit board for him. What made things even worse was that Rob Elsmere who was leading the championship had two DNF’s so this could have been our chance to close right back up on him.

So there you go, circa £270 for the practice and race entry fee to do a total of 8 laps. £33.75 per lap. Not too good eh ?

I’ll let Leigh tell you his Oulton Park story shortly.

Leigh's Pembrey Pumelling

You can see Leigh's tumble from Pembrey on this video. At least between us we keep doing it in front of the cameras for your viewing pleasure !

Leigh's Gone Potty

Well as you know Leigh had a 'little' off in the first race on Sunday at Pembrey and being the concerning person that I am promptly sent him out in the second race despite him complaining of a bit of pain. I quickly dismissed this as just a bit of bruising and advised him to 'just get on with it'. I think you will now agree that I don't have a future in front of me as a doctor, as Leigh decided a visit to the hospital was necessary on Tuesday as he was still in some pain, this showed he had broken his thumb and fractured his ankle. Oops. I still think my diagnosis was correct but I may be should had added 'severe bruising'. Hopefully he will be fit for Oulton Park at the beginning of June.