MRO Powerbike Tour:
MRO Powerbike Tour:
| Date | Circuit (click link for report) |
| 21-Mar-04 | Snetterton |
| 04-Apr-04 | Croft |
| 08-May-04 | Oulton Park |
| 31-May-04 | Brands Hatch (GP) |
| 27-Jun-04 | Pembrey |
| 11-Jul-04 | Brands Hatch |
| 22-Aug-04 | Cadwell Park (GP) |
| 26-Sep-04 | Silverstone |
| 10-Oct-04 | Lydden Hill |
| 24-Oct-04 | Brands Hatch (Indy) |
Brands Hatch
Well off to the last round to compete in the final race of the year. James Toseland had decided to come down and show off his World Superbike title and complete in demonstrations for the fans that was an added bonus.
Warm up
We went out on a drying track, bike seemed to be o.k. but I made a mental note that the gearing was a little bit off. I started to up the pace a little on the final 2 laps and everything was o.k.
Qualifying
Track was completely dry; we had gone down a tooth on the rear sprocket so I could hold onto a gear longer after graham hill bend and through the start and finish.
I started to circulate and caught up with Luke Palmer again and my lapboard showed that I had posted a 49.8 sec lap, I tried further to up the pace some more but the bike would not turn into Druids Hairpin losing me corner speed and drive. Consequently I only qualified 11th so we got the bike back and borrowed Phil Seton’s axle stands to up the rear ride height.
Race
On the warm up lap the bike started to misfire ala Lydden Hill again, ahhhhhhh not what I needed, as the green light flashed I got a good start only for the bike to die on me into Paddock corner.
I spent the next 5 laps following Chad Hashmi on his Aprillia waiting to see if the misfire would cease or cut the bike out for good. On lap 6 the misfire cleared and I got my head down and passed Chad and Joachim Ritter recording a 49.2 second lap, right height had made a slight improvement. On the last lap I tried to overtake Michael Weller and Phil Bevan but the backmarkers were a nuiscence and held me up.
I only recorded a tenth place result which was enough for me to finish 4th in the Championship.
Review
Not too upset on the whole, we could have been stronger throughout had we not made or tried so many different set up’s.
I would like to thank all my sponsors and supporters for this year and I hope to do the same next year as long as we can raise the necessary funding.
Big Shouts go to...
Kawasaki UK (Thanks Simon Belton & Andrew Squires) Richard Ives (RMSi sight Ltd) Mark Neate (No Limits) Barry (BB Plastics) p.s when do you want the fibreglass mate? Motorcycle HQ (Barbara & Keith) Pretech Engineering (Chris) Graham Falke (GLF/MJK) and Steve (Flitwick Motorcycles).
Supporters are Dad, Kells, Malcolm, Chris, Nick, Malc’s mate and wife, Martin ‘Ratty’ Ratcliffe (Cheers dude for support) Nick Chadwick, Kingy, Ollie & Sharpey (Many Laughs) my Mum and sister Claire for the phone calls.
Hmmn racing in October, time to get the fleeces and coats out for the always sunny but cold trip to Lydden Hill near Dover.
This is one of my favourite circuits, it's only a mile but can be quite tricky, and also it's fair to say that the run off is not plentiful so a delicate throttle hand is needed!
Bike seemed o.k. for the 5 minute warm up, I could feel a hint of a misfire and when I came in I asked the old man to have a look at the wiring for me just check everything is O.K.
Qualifying
The MRO qualifying was to be held on the Saturday with 2 non-championship races after this, then the Powerbike MRO on Sunday as well as the Lord of Lydden race.
The hint of a misfire was still there when I went out for qualifying but I managed to secure a front row start with 4 th place on the grid. Qualifying was not without its disasters though as my left knee slider was ripped off as I clipped the rumble strip on lap 4.
I lined up on the front row of the grid and managed a good start; Carl Hunton and Gary Johnson lead away, with Luke Palmer and Myself battling for 3 rd place. I soon outbraked Luke into a tight left hander and tried to make a break of it, Richard Freshwater had a go at outbraking me and subsequently squeezed Michael Weller onto the grass whilst being three abreast, so much for keeping it safe for Sunday eh!
I managed to break the pack and finished third. The bike was still missing a bit at about 9000 rpm so as soon as I got off the bike we knew we had to diagnose a problem.
I called Road and Track and Chris advised me to lean off the fuelling on the power commander.
The bike was missing even more by the warm up lap and I subsequently got an awful start into turn 1. I cruised round to finish in 8 th place , my riding went to pieces as once you have a small problem like a misfire you seem to concentrate on listening to your engine more than race lines.
Once back in the paddock I threw all my toys out the pram (Sharpy) and disconnected the power-commander on the advice of Darren Jones who believes they are a load on nonsense.
In the warm up on Sunday the bike decided to run clean (obviously Kawasaki have reliable fuelling maps).
I lined up on the front row really ready for the race. The T.V camera whizzed past me and we were ready. I got a good jump away from the lights just about holding my position. On lap 4 I managed to tuck into third place so I decided to make a break for it. Unfortunately on lap 6 at the hairpin I got a bit greedy on the power and managed to break the front screen with my helmet, the rear tyre was starting to overheat!!
I managed to hold on to 3 rd place until a Suzuki manages to outbreak me into the tight left-hander. I managed to go with him and on lap 16 of 18 I went for a big lunge into the hairpin, I thought as I braked for the hairpin that I was in 3 rd gear but as I changed down I realised I was in going into 1 st , the bike slewed sideways and I nearly wiped out Andy Denyer and Michael Weller so dropped to 5 th place. Michael decided to have a go at falling off out of Paddock Corner on the last lap and myself, Andy Denyer and Michael decided on the last 2 corner to go completely suicidal in the charge for the elusive 3 rd place. I crossed the line in 5 th, as I was unable to find a gap through but between 3 rd and 6 th was covered by 1.5 secs.
I stuck on a new rear boot for this race, but was only on the 3 rd row of the grid for this one.
I managed to get a good start crossing the stripe on the first lap in 5 th place, Ricardo Ballerini on his 250GP Yamaha was in front and was holding me up. Lydden Hill is such a tight circuit that it was jolly difficult to overtake a lightweight bike as straights are in short supply.
On lap 6 I managed to overtake Ricardo and put some good laps in (best lap 42.5) and I finished in 4 th place at the end.
Lee Dickinson managed to win the race on his 250cc Honda with Kenny (Powerbike Champ) and Carl Hunton 3 rd .
Pretty happy with this one, I managed to beat Luke Palmer in the main races on his Sun sponsored Yamaha and only my stupid desperate overtake in the MRO Race cost me 3 rd , which I lay squarely at my feet.
The Kawasaki was absolutely brilliant on the brakes and I recommend anyone to use Lucas brake pads with the ZX10R callipers.
It was nice to see Flitwick compatriot Ollie Linsdell (or Lunger as his now known) really show well in the Superteen races, just need to break in the top 10 in the 400's and then he's on his way.
Roll Call. My Dad for his hard work, Sharpy(Piss taker), Steve (Flitwick Motorcycles), Graham (MJK) Les, Danny and his Dad for their support.
Copyright DDS Photographic
Silverstone Chicane's 1000 yard stare.
Hmmm, I was looking forward to this one as it's my home track and I think after Cadwell we have turned a corner with the bike.
Race Day
I was unable to attend the race the day before as my friends Malcolm and Gail were getting married but I managed to stay sober on there evening do so I was up bright and early getting the Ginger Rat Van ready for Silverstone which is about 35 mins away from my house.
Practice
Everything seemed to go well for my 5 mins of practice; I caught up with Richard Freshwater and managed to follow him and his curious lines.
I managed to sneak in an extra lap as well but don't tell the marshals, (what chequered flag)?
Qualifying
I wanted to keep the worn slick on the rear so I kept the new one fresh for the race, this proved a bit of a mistake as after 5 laps the back end started to move round a bit, Zak Barry was behind (getting a bleedin tow) and reckons I have now learnt how to back a bike into the corners, well Zak your wrong, I've leant how to ride with f***ed tyres that's all.
Anyway I managed to qualify on the 3 rd row which was a touch disappointing but hey I knew that I could expect a bit more of myself in the race.
My Dad and I chatted about gearing and decided to run a higher box as the last complex is difficult to find the correct gear through.
Race
I had a look at the people who were in front of me and decided that not many should actually be in front of me so I was gonna chance some big moved early on.
As the green light flashed I dumped the clutch and got a big wheelie, then got my head down and managed to make 3 places into the first corner.
I managed to finish the first lap in 8 th place, then I started to catch Zak who was really good at every corner bar the tight chicane which he was absolutely crap at!
I managed to squeeze past him and started to close on the Sun sponsored rider Luke Palmer. On lap 8 I managed to record my fastest lap (a 1 min 4.9) but the bike started to get a bit lively over Silverstones notorious bumps. I held Luke right until the end but could not manage an overtake as his bike seems to be better on the medium slow corners and the Kwaka seems better on the brakes and fast corners. (Time to meddle with rear ride height)
I finished in 6 th place which was pretty good, Francis and Neil F both DNF'd which was good for me as I needed a bit of luck.
Review
Quite pleased with this result as my fastest lap was only a second slower than the fastest lap, which means we are closing the gap to the leaders.
Lydden next which should be exciting, and we are 4 th in the Championship and pulled some points on Damien Haywood. Who is in 5 th ?
Ratty Ratcliffe got his present for supporting me by riding the ZX10R the day after at a NO Limits track Day at Silverstone, he reckons it's a weapon and explained that he thought it's like playing space invaders with al the other track day folk.
Thanks to my supporters for this round, roll call goes as follows;
Dad, Kells, Uncle Brian, Cuz Chris, Bazza, Richard-Stuart & Kids, Simon & Tracy and family, Ratty & Becky, Chadders & Family, Graham and Lesley.
MRO Round 7
Back to the annual Cadwell Park round for the year. I had been sneaky and managed to test/instruct (Thanks No Limits) here on the Monday so I felt confident that we could make an impression. The only worry was how many BSB riders would appear, as there is a Cadwell Round the week after the MRO.
I drove the spare van (Ta Martin) to Cadwell Park on Saturday afternoon, fortunately Flitwick Motorcycle's had saved me a space and Ollie also had just made dinner when arrived.
After setting up the van and working out how to erect the spare Gazebo (Ta Graham GLF/MJK) I wondered around the paddock finding out the gossip.
I was nice to see Nick Chadwick back in racing and Martin and Malcolm had also come up to help me spanner and encourage me.
After a couple of pints it was off to bed!
Warm up
Martin and I changed the front tyre before qualifying so I had 3 laps to scrub it in as well as get settled in before qualifying. No probs in warm up bike ran well.
Qualifying
I had decided to stiffen the rebound as the bike was getting a little unsettled on the brakes into Barn Corner and increase the preload one division as the front Dunlop I was using seemed to have a different profile to the Pirelli I had tried.
Once two laps were completed I started upping the pace, I had a new rear tyre on so I had to wait for that to tack up.
On lap 5 I managed a decent lap that placed me 6 th on the grid. I pulled in because I was catching up 5 riders, I asked somebody in the pits how long was left and they said that the session had 4 mins remaining, I waiting 30 secs for a clear track then resumed qualifying.
As I built up speed on the lap I exited Barn Corner only to find the chequered flag was being waved.
I had slipped down to 8 th on the grid but second row was not too bad.
Race
Once fuelled up I was ready for it, only ½ a second covered 8 th place from 3 rd so I thought it might be a tight race.
I managed a good start only for the bike to grab a false neutral as I clicked into second gear. I had not had time to get a new linkage for my rear sets to connect the quickshifter which was my undoing.
Into Coppice I was in 9 th place, the Suzuki in front of me was riding quite well and I was stuck behind him for 7 laps.
Into Mansfield I managed to outbrake him but there was waved yellow flags so I had to roll it off and let him back.
Another 2 laps and I finally got by outbraking him into Park corner and made sometime on Matt Layt in front of me.
On the penultimate lap Aaron Zannotti who had been following me managed to overtake, on the last lap I managed to get him back finishing the race in eighth place.
I had managed to get the gap from 3 secs to under 1second to Matt Layt but should have forced the issue on the Suzuki rider earlier to try and get 7 th pace.
The bike for once actually handled pretty well for the meeting after we had changed back to the original rear shock. The only place I was suffering was that the back end wanted to lose traction into Barn Corner.
Overall.
We managed to go half a second quicker from Qualifying to race which was good and my lap time was as good as Carl Hunton who finished in 5 th place.
4 riders in front of me were British Superstock runners so I actually improved on Championship points and I am now closing on 4 th place.
I managed to be top Kawasaki beating Dean Johnson and Doug Cowie in the race.
The next mods will be to replace the original rear spring with an Ohlins one and to reconnect the quick shifter from Silverstone.
Piccy Courtesy of Pete Wileman
After getting back from Pembrey the bike went over to Road and Track Dyno to get the quickshifter looked at. Chris had to reprogrammed the power commander and everything worked o.k. after this. Chris also made a on off handlebar switch for me so if the same problem occurred during the race I could switch the shifter off, so thanks Chris.
I made my way down to Brands Hatch with my mate Martin Ratcliffe in tow who was to be chief gofer for this round. We set up next to Flitwick Motorcycles truck and fired up the BBQ.
After a few beers it was off to bed ready to see if my bike would actually go round Brands without my usual handling dramas.
Qualifying
Once scrutineered the usual crowd of Malcolm, my Dad, Chris & family, Nick, Deputy Watford Mayor Derek Scudder and Uncle Brian all made themselves very welcome.
Off for my 5 minutes warm up and everything seemed o.k but to my dismay the bike was still shaking it’s head through the start and finish even with the 10-kilo spring (answers on a postcard pls).
An hour later and a quick gearing change it was off for qualifying, I was warming up nicely until the halfway point, once I was catching Richard Defago on his Suzuki gixer1000 my rear tyre started to slide quite badly.
This really stuffed up my qualifying as the rear tyre had overheated.
Also the bike did not seem to be able to hold a tight line round Paddock or Druids either so pretty dismal in all, once the sheets were out I had qualified 12th on 50.00secs pretty crap!
Race
We changed the rear slick (cheers racing lines) for a new tyre and again altered the gearing as I was still revving out between Graham Hill bend and Surtees having to change to change up twice.
On the G of green and managed to fire the bike away from the line and sneak into 8th place going into Paddock Bend, the Kawasaki has a real good gearbox on it and away from the lights it’s pretty magic.
Into Druids I tried to ride round the outside of Neil Faulkner but he closed the door on me a touch, into Graham Hill bend I managed to pass him and another rider only to have the back step out on me on the way out forcing me to bag off a little.
Into the second lap I managed to catch up with Luke Palmer on the Sun sponsored Yamaha R1 (shut it Sharpey and Steve) but could not see a good overtaking manoeuvre.
My pit board showed that I was P7 + 6 which meant I could really work on my overtake later on in the race.
As the laps counted down I felt I was stronger at Druids, Graham Hill and Surtees but Luke was making time from me on the exit of Clearways it seEms when I try to put the power down exiting the corner with Luke he would get grip and my bike would slide and spin up!
On the last lap I gave it everything and I managed to slip up the inside of some backmarkers into Clearways only to be baulked a bit mid corner letting Luke just nick me to the line for 6th place.
Race De Brief
I felt that again we are still lacking a bit of overall handling on the Kawasaki my best lap in the race was a 49.3sec lap which is not bad but last year I was nearly a full second faster which is disappointing.
I now have a month to think about what changes I will do to try and stop the bike being so nervous. On the Tuesday after I went to Donnington and tried a slick Pirelli tyre that seemed to help the bike turn in better. I will also sent the rear shock away for a slight mod to reduce travel length that Stuart Hicken has told me about.
W are still learning everytime I go out on the bike but even though I may sound dismayed I just need to look at the Kawasaki and know that once sorted I will find the elusive half a second I am missing.
My thanks to my sponsors especially Richard from RMSI and Mark from No Limits who are always encourages me to do my best and the team of supporters who back me and come to the meeting
Copyright DDS Photographic Surtees corner at Brands Hatch.
So it was round 5 of the MRO Championship and off to Wales just west of Llanelli at the lovely Pembrey race circuit.
The race team was Dad, Malcolm and I for this one, I had entered the club race day on Saturday as I needed some track time at this circuit as I have not raced at Pembrey since 1999.
Nationwide Club Day.
The rain woke me up at 5 in the morning so we knew the weather report was gonna be right rain all bl**dy day.
Dad and I changed the wheels to wets and I filed out to practice.
I managed 6 laps and everything seemed o.k. We had placed a harder spring on the rear hoping to stop the stability problems I have been having but in the wet you will not get useful feedback as the profile of tyres are different and speeds are reduced.
Bemsee had placed me on the third row the grid for this race, I predicted the lights well and managed to lead the race into the first corner, in hindsight probably not what I wanted to do as I did not really have a clue where I was going, I ran wide into the hairpin relegating me to third place.
Into the double right-hander before the back straight (it aint straight) my foot slipped off the footpeg, which entailed to a bit of a moment and Carl Hunton got past.
I managed to tag on to the group fighting for 2 nd place but was contented to stay in position as I did not want to risk dropping the bike.
Damien Haywood managed to come past at the hairpin on the last lap when I got caught up with backmarkers and I crossed the line in 6 th place.
Race 2
I decided to up the pace a little more in this race as I was getting more track time and had a better flow for this event.
As the green light flashed on I managed to enter the chicane in fourth place, I managed to tag on the group for the lead and had a go a third place 2 laps from the end. On the last lap I got caught up with backmarkers again and Damien Heywood got past on the last corner relegating me to 5 th place at the end in a bit of a risky move if you ask me!!!.
My fastest lap was within 0.4 of a sec from the fastest of the race so I was happy with that but disappointed that both races were wet and the weather report was good for tomorrow.
On Saturday night we spent sometime with Team Flitwick Motorcycle beating them hands down at the flywheel challenge and enjoying Steve, Sharpey and Ollie's company.
A big thanks to Steve for changing my rear spring on my rear Ohlins the week before & Martin for Sidi's.
Sunday MRO Day.
We had 5 mins practice to get my dry settings sorted; I had stiffened the front and rear suspension a bit and obviously put the new slicks on the bike.
On lap 4 I posted a 1.03 sec which was o.k but I was suffering from lack of dry track time and my lines into the double left hander in Debeni Bend was shameful.
I was ready for qualifying this time and went out and quickly posted a 1 min 1sec lap but cooled a couple of laps when Ben Mossey lost it into one of the left handers, I tried to up my pace again but the brakes went off a bit and I was trying to hard and wrestling with the circuit not being particularly smooth.
I managed to post a 1 .13 sec lap placing me 6 th on the grid.
As the green light flicked on I grabbed a good start but wheelied a bit leaving me 6 th into the first corner, I followed a chap on a GSXR100 for a lap until sticking it up the inside into a right hander leaving me a second gap in arrears to the leading group. On lap 3 I really pushed and managed the catch up with leading group, Mark Cheetham who was second in the Championship and fallen at the first corner so I knew a good result could elevate me well in the Championship.
I followed Damien Haywood and Luke Palmer on lap 4 and knew that an overtake was possible but the bike started to hesitate on the throttle a couple of times.
On lap 5 the bike cut out real badly and I had to retire, at first I thought the fuel pipe had come loose cutting the fuel injection but it transpired that the quick shifter had started playing up cutting the engine out completely what a pi55er!!!.
Well not good for my championship this DNF but hey that's life, after a quick shout at the crew (me Dad) we packed up and went home.
On Tuesday I ran the bike at No Limit's track day and with the quick shifter plugged out it ran all day!!
The bike's at Road and Track being sorted I hope and let's see if Brands brings me more luck eh!!
On the handling point of view the bike and myself are riding better let's see if we can end the season with good firm results.
Since Oulton I had managed to get out on the bike at a Donnington Park test day that went really well (thanx No Limits).
The weather has now improved and we are hopefully looking for some good dry races.
We put some new brake pads on (thanks Pretech) for Brands and I had made some front end suspension alteration which seemed to work well at Donners
Warm Up
There was a lot of good riders who had come to Brands Hatch so it was gonna be mighty competitive but I felt rather upbeat.
Out for my 5 mins practice I expected all to work well but unfortunately the Kawasaki started shaking it’s head down the back straight turning into quite violent tank slappers.
I was quite perplexed at this as we were running the same suspension settings and tyres as at Donnington where the bike behaved impeccably!!
Qualifying
The team (that’s me Dad, Chris, Malcolm, Barry, Graham, Richard, Martin ) all had a think about why the bike tankslaps at certain circuits. Dad and I wondered whether I had the forks set too hard and reduced some rebound and compression to see if that helped.
Out on circuit the bike behaved worse, I came in half way through for some adjustments and Roger returned to the settings I had originally placed on the bike.
2 laps into the session further the gear linkage snapped and I toured back things were not going right!!!
Race
I had qualified 16th on the grid which was absolute sh*te!!!
I spoke with Clive from Racing Lines who asked us to reduce preload and ride height which meant I had to take the rear shock out which in this time scale could not be done, so instead we placed the rear wheel back as far as it can go to lengthen the wheelbase to see if this cures it.
I lined up on the 4th row of the grid as the green flag dropped I got a great start going into Paddock corner in 11th place, the bike’s weave had not disappeared but was a little better but still a handful down the back straight where I was losing about ½ a second a lap.
On lap 2 the race was red flagged after an accident so it was rerun.
The green light came on and my initial start was not so good but I was strong into Paddock and Druids finishing the first lap in 7th place with 3rd place in view.
The bike was not 100 % all race but I managed to claw my way up to Simon Wright on his Yamaha R1 (O4 NEW ONE) once I was up with him he seemed stronger on certain parts of the circuit, I tried to overtake into Paddock but drifted wide as the front end was pushing a bit.
On the last lap I tried to get good draught down the back straight but the bike weaved again so an overtake was not on, into Westfield I tried to dive up the inside but Simon was late into the corner so I held position. Onto the start and finish to top it all Damien Haywood managed to outdrag me to the line leaving me in eighth place.
Not so good but better than finishing 16th I suppose.
On the championship front I am now in 3rd place as Carl Hunton fell off at Brands and I managed to claw a couple of points back from Mark Cheetham in second spot.
We are again testing before Pembrey which is next, the Kawasaki is a fickle bike because when it is behaving it’s really quick but the handling is very sensitive which leads to a lot of head scratching.
Incidentally the only other ZX10R in the race finished in 20 something position and he was having the same problems so I am trying my best out there!!
Well beaten but not broken once we get a hold on stability then I’ll look at the engine!
Oulton Park MRO Round 3
Before we went to Oulton I completed a track day at Silverstone that was mainly wet. It was on the G.P circuit that I can tell you was damn quick Snetterton fast if you know what I mean.
Race Day
The team arrived at midnight; Steve Lindsell from Flitwick Motorcycles had kindly kept us a space in the paddock so as soon as we parked up it was straight to bed.
The Watford boys were coming to watch so I new it was gonna be a busy old day.
The weather report was not so kind when we awoke in the morning it was wet tyres all round again!!!!
Free Practice
Everyone managed 2 laps of free practice, the bike seemed to be going o.k but I was a little worried, as the front tyre was not really giving me any feedback.
Qualifying
I went out with the same set up and got into a fairly good rhythm early on, the front end was still giving me a vague feeling but I caught up with Carl Hunton and Neil Faulkner, I thought I had managed a respectable time and pulled in not wanting to risk any accident damage.
My Dad was unable to find any lap times leaving us without a clue to how well I was going.
Consequently I had not pushed enough and only managed to qualify in 10th place (not good).
On the de brief I made a decision to put on a new wet tyre (Michelin) as they have had good press plus the Dunlop’s I get are not the latest compounds.
Race
After loads of delays and a nasty accident in the 600 race we lined up for a shortened 8-lap race.
I knew that this day was really a salvage job as I had not been on the pace in qualifying.
My start was very good and I spent the first 2 laps behind a Mille rider Daniel Tarratt, once I felt my front tyre had come on song a passed him into Lodge and got into a steady rhythm.
My times improved during the race but my only complaint bar myself being a pansy was that the rear Dunlop refused to start hooking up. Coming out of Foulstons chicane that would spin quite violently and not give me any confidence.
I was pleased to see the chequered flag and I finished an average 6th.
Analysis
I have had a couple of days to chew on my thoughts, I am not the best rider round Oulton Park but I did manage to catch some points back on Carl Hunton and I’m only a point away from 3rd in the Championship.
Kenny Everest and Mark Cheetham have drawn further away and I’m still not quite happy with the bike set up.
I am due at Donnington to test towards the end of May so some dry time and hard laps are needed.
I now must start to push a little harder so everything will have to be 110% as Haga would say.
Croft Circuit. Should have bought a jet ski eh?
Many thanks for the support from
Richard at RMSi sight Ltd
Chris, Martin, Nick, Dad, Steve, Ollie, Sharpey, MHP, Motorcycle HQ, MJK, Pretech, No Limits and BB Plastics
3rd & 4th April
Welcome back for the next instalment in the MRO Powerbike series. Bemsee had decided to send us right up north for this round; Croft circuit is situated just outside Darlington so a fair travel from Bedfordshire was needed.
Saturday
I had only managed to race once before at Croft so we decided that I needed the Saturday to accustom myself with the circuit.
We arrived late Friday night and thankfully Steve Linsdell had saved a space for us as well as letting us share his awning as his son Ollie was riding in the Superteen series.
We had managed to change the rear shock for an ohlins unit that I tested at Oulton Park on Tuesday. The Ohlins had made the bike more stable and also given greater feel at the rear end.
Practice
Being only a club race day we had a few things to try on the bike, practice was held in wet conditions so we softened the suspension and slapped on the wet wheels.
The bike seemed o.k. during practice, but the track was quite bumpy with a good combination of fast and slow corners.
Race 1
I have not previously scored any points in the Bemsee National Races so I was placed 17th on the grid (5th row!!).
Weather was still wet but a dry line had appeared on half the track, we decided to go for full wets as we only had them or slicks!!
I got a fair start and soon made up ground to about 10th place were I started to ride against more familiar names of Damien Heywood, Zak and Keith Webster.
On lap 4 or 5 I passed Damien and Zak and approached Webbo who I managed to overtake on the last lap into Tower Corner (a 3rd gear right hander). Webbo had a look to get me back into the penultimate corner but I managed to block him to come home in 7th place.
Race 2
Since finishing 7th on the first race I knew had a second row start for the next race.
I chatted with Zak and Damien at lunch and also showed a mate (Paul Davison) around the paddock.
My Dad made me aware that the next race should be run at 95% and now way should I take any chances with the MRO being held tomorrow.
Just before race 2 the heavens opened and we were all faced with a proper wet race.
As the lights went green I managed to get a great start off the 2nd row and went into the first corner in 2nd place that I managed to hold until lap 4 out of 7.
On lap 4 Neil Faulkner managed to get past after riding into me around the first complex, I followed Neil hoping for a mistake on the last lap, I didn’t realise that my old sponsor Keith “the maniac” Webster was also on my tail and going into the closing stages of the last lap he slipped through the inside into 3rd place, the only problem was that he carried a bit too much speed and managed to collide into Neil which I thought was only fair since Neil had run into me, well this played to my advantage so I snuck up the inside of them both and held 2nd place to the finish…
I was well pleased with that particular ride as I had not raced since 02 in the wet, so it was a good result and I definitely had a little more to come.
On the upside Ollie Linsdell also managed a top 5 result in the second race on Saturday (prod 125) so a happy camp it was on Saturday night especially when Ollie’s mechanic/helper (Sharpey) bought some black whiskey with him so Dad, Steve and Sharpey talked about the TT and Manx all night with my Dad asking for secret tips I think as Steve’s a 120mph man round there.
MRO
As I opened the curtains on our luxurious motor home (mercedes f*-*9+- van) Croft seemed to have some sunshine, could we be in for a dry day here in the North East!
We had decided to firm the front end up a bit to deal with the bumpy nature of the circuit.
Qualifying
Qualifying was to be held in the dry so we fitted a new pair of slicks, I’m running 17 inch rims this year as lightweight wheels have a tendency to bend and let me say not be so crash resistant.
I went out in the 3rd group which proved to be a mistake as I spent most of the session getting past slower riders, also Croft has only one racing line in certain sections so I found myself baulked.
The bike was also tank slapping on the straight to Tower corner that was costing me a second a lap.
On the last 2 laps I found a rhythm and got my head down and qualified in 5th place. I knew if we could stop the bike tankslapping then I would be able to make sometime up in the race.
Race
About 15 mins before the race started the weather decided to change again and it absolutely pissed down, so we changed the tyres again for what seemed to be the 100th time and was now waiting for a wet race.
I lined up on the 2nd row of the grid awaiting the green light.
Into the first corner I got an o.k. Start and was about 6th into the first corner, Neil Faulkner came hammering past into the chicane and promptly fell off costing about a 1 second gap to the leading bunch, into Tower Corner I made sometime up on the brakes but as I tapped on the power the bike span sideways and tried to violently highside me off, in trying to save this I managed to run on the grass losing loads of places.
Past the line on the first lap I came through in 17th position, bikes were crashing everywhere and I slowly made some places up not wanting to risk another close shave.
On lap 7 I managed to catch up with Zak, Damien and Webbo who 2 laps later I managed to pass them and was getting good drive out of corners.
I then managed to close on the 5th place rider who I passed with ease and was closing on Kenny Everest and Carl Hunton; I managed to make some ground up to them but nearly binned again coming out of Tower Corner that slowed me down slightly.
On the last lap I had managed to reduce the gap to a second and a half but caught a lapped rider who I was lapping for the second time in the one line chicane, the lapped rider looked behind saw me and still chopped my line forcing me to back off and lose my rhythm through the chicane.
He made the gap impossible to reduce so I managed 4th place over the line.
I felt pretty depressed after the race, I knew I had ridden well and should have finished at least in 2nd place but also I can say that I was so close to crashing that it was only good fortune that kept me on the bike.
I must thank a few people this weekend for helping me, Thanks to Steve Linsdell and Sharpey and also Martin Ratcliffe for lending me his van when needed and helping me prep the bike. Also a big thanks to Graham Flake of MJK for repairing my leathers after Brands Hatch.
Welcome back, a new season is ahead of us and Santa has brought me a new bike (didn't know Santa was Japanese?).
I had been in touch with Simon Belton and Andrew Squires from Kawasaki Motors UK over the winter and they seemed keen to let me have a new bike for the season to compete in the MRO Powerbike.
Obviously I was keen as mustard to try this as I'm a bit of a sucka for Kawasaki's and did not have any rides opening elsewhere.
We received the bike at the end of February; Warren Scott kindly collected it for me as he has 2 for the BSB Series.
After 2 hard weeks of getting the bike set up we were off to a No Limits Track Day at Brands Hatch.
Practice Day.
After showing some punters round the swoops and curves of Brands Hatch in the morning I started to up the pace in the afternoon. Unfortunately after 6 laps in the afternoon I managed to fall off my pride and joy losing the front end into bottom bend. I could not believe it, really annoyed, fortunately the bike was not too bad but it's really good to have friends like Barry from BB Plastics and Mark at M.H.P.
Race Day.
Due to tight financial constraints I did not compete in the racing the day before or the practice day on Friday, it was a good job too as the weather had not be good for the last couple of days.
We finished repairing and spraying the bike on Saturday and drove up to Snetterton on Saturday night.
After finding some cover in garage 19 we hooked up with Pete Lawrence and his son who was racing in the SS600 class.
After changing tyres via Clive at racing lines we were ready to rock.
I just tooled round in practice trying to evaluate the bike; the wind was pretty strong throughout the day which that affected the times greatly.
On the last lap I got in Zak Barry's slipstream and was delighted that my bike in pretty much stock trim held it's own down the straight so pretty good for a stock bike!!!
After an hour we headed out for qualifying, the bike seemed a little over sprung into the bomb hole but overall bar the mighty wind at Snetterton it was not a bad package.
On the second lap I saw spots of rain on my visor so I tried a bit harder to rescue a time in case the weather turned on us, on my 3rd lap; 4 riders had monumental crashes into the esses so it was red flagged.
The tanoy gave us all 10 minutes to get ready and the rain stopped but there were banks of it on the horizon.
As soon as pit lane was open I went out and placed pole position on the second lap, on the 3rd lap I was baulked by a slower rider so had to calm down, into the third lap the rain started gain so qualifying was all over.
As I came back in the team told me I had qualified 2nd which was pretty good, I was a bit annoyed though as we needed laps on the bike, not a frantic qualifying session.
Race.
I lined up on the front row ready for the race, I felt that even though qualifying had gone well I was probably not in a position to challenge for victory due to so limited time on the bike and the fact we are still waiting for the rear shock and powercommamnders to be fitted.
I got a bad start when the bike slipped out of 2nd gear, that left me about 15th into the first corner.
The race was run over 15 laps so I knew I had time, by lap 3 I had worked my way up to 7th place and just kept my head down evaluating the performance of the bike.
We started decking out the pegs into Corams a touch but the brakes were superb the whole race through.
I had a little battle with Damian Heywood on his super fast Suzuki but after passing him twice into Russells I managed to pull away in 5th.
With 3 laps to go I found myself closing in on Craig Fitzpatrick on his Suzuki, but was just too far back to make a go of it so settled for 5th place.
Once the race was over I thought we had done pretty well compared to the set up and time others have had this season.
The Kawasaki will hopefully go from strength to strength and for Croft hopefully we should have the Suspension and P/commander fitted.
Many thanks to RMSi, MHP and BB Plastics so far for helping me out with crash damage and other bit's and pieces and to Motorcycle HQ and Flitwick Motorcycles/GLF Acessories for bits and bobs.
Photo Courtesy of Pete Wileman Coming out of Russells Chicane
