Race Reports 2004

Mallory Park - 26th / 27th August

Big Gulp here's for the report about how i crashed my bike not once but twice;

Sunday.

We arrived at the circuit on Sat night raring to go for the last weekend racing for Team Imberg. After Brands Hatch confidence was on a mega high and i had trained hard to make sure we did well here.

Qualifying 1.

We stuck on new Bridgestones and new pads (cheers Pretech) and i raced out to the circuit, MRO had decided to use the stupid Gerards chicane whoich i had not practiced on before but after 2 laps to the scrub the tyres in i started to go for it, the chicane was tricky and after 5 laps 3 times i overshot the chicane leaving me on the grass, the rest of the circuit was good though especially the braking at the hairpin. On lap 6 a red flag was out due to an accident, we came in and after 5 mins we resumed, i started to get a tow from Keiron Blair and hunted him down , after placing on pole i reeled in Keiron then lost the front into the poxy chicane whilst the bike rolled over onto it's roof. I was dismayed but thought we could fix it.

Qaulifying 2

Loz Tweek and i bent the bike back into shape (sort of) whilst me Dad got the hump and went home saying it could nolt be fixed. We journeyed out onto the track but the master cylindere was weeping so after 3 laps i pulled inand retired the bike the hose was split and the ignition casing cracked so back to work it was gonna be a long weekend!

Race 1

After replacing the case and bodging the hose we jpourneyed out again, i got a fair start from 3rd on the grid and was in 3rd on lap 2 when the bike died on me, in the crash the fuel line was dislodged and the bike cut out.

Monday

After a sucessfull warm up we journeyed out for Race 2 a 13 lapper.

I got a fair start into 4th place from 5tth on the grid but made a few mistakes letting Pete Baker past, i trailed him a Aaron Brown for 5laps until i made another mistake at the Chicane and i helplessly watched them pull away, i was stuck in 5th place but Aaron Brown overshot the chicane a few times and i started reeling him in. With 3 laps to go i consolidated my position and ended up in 5th place, overall it was a result but not what we where looking for.

Race 3

I felt more confident for this one and held my position into the first corner, on lap 2 i started to attack Baker and Brown but into the chicane Brown and Baker moved lines making me change my line, into the Gerrards chicane the front tucked and i fell off again summing my weekend up.

Review

Well this season has ended on a sour note but overall was really good , until Mallory we had been on the podium at every round thus far and i have 2 wins to my credit, just gotta go better on the big races on Sunday eh!
Thanks go firstly to LOz my Mech who has provided great support and never given up, he got a ride on the bike as pymnt and enjoyed it, thanks mate your a star.

Thanks also to the sponsors

PLI Consultants who saw me win a Lydden and bin at Mallory, cheers for the tyre support it meant loads to us, next up Mark Neate at No Limits, Chris and Steve at Pretech, MJK GLF Acessories (Graham), Keith at Held (the gloves stood up well at Mallory as i def needed them,the now defunct Motorcycle HQ, Flitwick M/C, Holbeach Tyres
& Richard the web-lord.

Also the crew Ratty, Tweek, Chris Imberg, Malcolm, Olli, Jamie, Tori, Shell,Stephanie,Reckless (top man), Mercer and the other Bemsee lads.

Brand GP (OUR BIG ONE)

We fitted a new clutch for Brands Hatch after Snetterton so a big thanks before we even start for Loz and Gerry Pell for fitting and getting me the bits.

After arriving late on Friday night due to being caught in the rain thru Aylesbury ( i had to collect a hire van from Les Liney as Ratty who jointly owns the van took it away for some 2smoke TDR weekend in Wales) we arrived just in time for a beer. Thanks to neighbours Flitwick M/C (Olli) for saving some space as the paddock was rather full this being the GP round it's the best attended meeting Bemsee have on the calender.

Saturday

We were due out at 10.55 for our first qualify, 2 BSB Superstock lads (Mercer and Ventnor) had entered so i knew it was gonna be a tough but exciting weekend.

AS we were due to go out light rain started to come down , i drove out on the track but the rain was real light so after warming the tyres up i slowly increased my pace, on lap 4 i passed Michael Thompson and did an okish lap to record 7th fastest then the rain lashed down ending qualifying which was no good as i suffered a loss of track time which i thought was imperative.

Second Qualify. Well i watched some the of lads who did not place in a banker try to go fast in the wet (which none really did) and remained 7th on the grid watching from the paddock with pole sitter Mercer having a cup of tea.

Qualifying race.

On the warm up lap away from the line i noticed the clutch was dragging/juddering and was not releasing properly, as we lined up i got an o.k start and managed to pass Ventnor and JPS into second place after some pushy riding, at the end of lap 2 the race was red flagged, Elsemere had gone down in a big way but was physically unscathed.

Restart. Now the clutch just felt awful and i tried to be delicate away from the line but the bike bogged and i was about 10th into Paddock, i then went fuckin mental for 2 laps and got up to 5th place were me , JPS and Snet foe Keiron Blair were having a rare old dice, JPS went wide out of Paddock and i overtook but it was a 4 lap race and i pushed on to attack Blair. On the last lap i outbraked Keiron into 3rd place and held it to the flag but still the clutch felt awful and it seemed that it was not letting the slipper clutch work properly into corners so the whole race was a bit hairy from my perspective.

Once we got the bike back Loz stripped the clutch but we could not find a fault and rebuilt it, i also asked to change gearing as we were not revving out.

Once done it was off to collect my trophy swallow a few John Smith XTRA Colds and walk the track. Jamie (YPM lad) had got another top 10 and treated us to some gay Top Gun moves (worrying but hilarious anyway)

Sunday

After a good 3 lap warm up Mercer came past and i tagged onto him freshening up my lines.

I knew in my heart of hearts that a 3rd place would be as good as a win if Mercer and Ventnor both finished, they are as good as professional riders and have 2 R1(2007) at there disposal, unlimited tyres and good engines which is an unbeatable combination against us who are in truth a good club outfit who try our best.

Race 1

The clutch felt better but my start was o.k.until Mercer nearly wheelied into the side of me , i shut off to avoid him but was then engulfed by the pack, i managed to get thru to 4th place by the end of lap 3 and started to close on Blair who had Ventnor and Mercer about a second in front of him, the pace quickened and if I'm honest i was struggling to keep on Blair's pace until lap 5 where i started to get more inspired, Keiron had lost the leaders tow and was going off slightly. On lap 7 i really closed in and could smell the podium but Keiron was quicker on the Indy part of the circuit than me where as on the GP part i was faster so it was a great game of cat and mouse. On lap 8 (final lap) i held back an overtake into Paddock Hill as Brands GP is a long lap and i did not want him to have time to retaliate so i held off but stayed in his tow till the last left hander (Stirlings) where i dived up the inside gave Keiron no room and snatched 3rd place. Well i was elated as we crossed the line because i rode a real smart race, the whole team congratulated me as it was a big effort from 7th into the first corner and we had a high hopes for race 2.

Race 2

Again i got an o.k start (5th into Paddock) i followed JPS and Blair on lap 1 then on lap 2 i passed Blair again into Stirlings and got JPS into Hawthorns on lap 3. I then made a beak following Mercer and Ventnor but the bike was power-sliding no end so as i pushed away from the dice for 4th and consolidated 3rd place but we were having lots of little moments as i was riding very aggressively.

The last lap came around and i finished 3rd about 3 seconds clear of JPS and Blair so again i was really happy with my riding and results.

Many Thanks go to;

Loz,Dad,Gerry Pell,PLI Consultants,No limits, Pretech,Holbeach Tyres,GLF Accessories,Flitwick M/C,Richard Ives (web-man), Jamie, Ollie,Helen, Catherine,HM (AKA Stephanie),the Mrs and all the other supporters of Imberg Racing.

Snetterton 7th-8th July

Well it was back to the MRO after competing in NG Club for Brands, i really thought we'd struggle with horsepower for Snetterton but was to be surprised.

Sat.
Loz, Jamie,Michelle and i turned up late friday night and got busy setting up our home for the next 2 day's, we were then joined by Tori, but no Kelly as she was busy spending money on our forthcoming wedding in Oct (you darlin)

Qaul 1.
We left some used tyres on but ran in new pads for qual 1 session, the weather was good and i started to tag onto JP Scott until about 8 laps into qualifying where the rear tyre cried enough so i pitted 2 laps from the end, i had posted a 1min10.6 which placed me in 4th place (front row) which was good considering this was my 1st time at Snet this year.

Qual 2
We changed the gearing (1 tooth less) as i was hitting the limiter and swopped to my fresh Bridgestones for 2nd qual, my aim was a low 1min 10 high 9. On lap 5 i started to really press and i stated to get a draught from some other riders (JPS I think and posted a 1 min 10.08, i continued and posted several low 10's until i was done then 1 lap from the end i quit as i only had 1 pair of tyres for the weekend so did not want to spank them. I had placed 2nd with Keiron Blair pipping me for pole by 1/10th so we were pleased , Baker was 3rd on a 1min 10.2 and the rest were 0.3 adrift.

Qual Race
I lined up 2nd on the grid for this and anticipated a top 3 showdown as Keiron, Baker and i were close on times, i got a reasonable start 4th into Richies but Sam Bishop holeshoted from row 2 to lead, i passed Baker into the Esses and quickly disposed of Sam for 2nd. On lap 3 i closed in on Blair and led into Sears only to be draughted back past on the Revitt's straight. I stayed in Keiron's slipstream but to be honest his bike had more top end and more punch out of the corners so i planned a last lap attack.
The last lap came and my planned overtake did not come to fruition, i tried into Russells but it was a bit to die than do so i lost the win by 1/10th over the line, it was cool though as i got the fastest lap a 1min 9.8 which was considerably faster than anyone else.

Sunday
Race 1

After a good night and a couple of pints we were ready for action.
Again i was to start from 2nd, this time i holeshotted and tried to make a break, on lap 3 into Richies yellow flags were aloft, i backed off slightly and was passed by Keiron on the revitt's straight again, the red flag's came out by the time we got to the bomb hole, JPS-Bish & Onions had crashed but all were o.k.

On the restart i was pushed back to 3rd away from the line but passed a new Kawasaki into 2nd place out of the Richies, i made the ground up to Keiron and stayed in his slipstream awaiting a last lap attack, on lap 10 of 12 i changed into 3rd gear out of Sears and my gear peg sheared/fell off and i managed to continue changing gear with the rod, i lost 2 seconds but still managed to hold onto 2nd place by the chequered flag which was very fortunate indeed and unlucky in some respects.Again fasatest lap by me a 1min 9.7 dead.

Race 2
Again we were ready for this one and i felt confident that i could defeat Keiron, i got a great start and Keiron and i dualled on lap 1 already breaking away from the following pack, on lap 2 i thought the engine was screaming a bit too high and realised that we had some clutch slip, finishing the lap the clutch was getting really hot and it was pointless continuing so i parked it which was sad.

Review
Well well at the start of the weekend i said to LOz that if we made top 5 i'd be happy but to come away with 2 second places and i think fastest lap of the weekend for any solo (1min 9.64) was brill, the bike even though not as quick a the GSXR's still outcorners them and outbreaks them.

Many thanks go to
Loz the spanner/sex addict(not with me i must add) Tori-Jay(TOP8YPM)-Shell-Malc-Nigel & Missus-Graham and all my sponsors
PLI Consultants-No limits-Pretech-Holbeach Tyres-Fastbikes.org-GLF Accessories-Flitwick M/C- Held Gloves-Paul Russo(ta for the paint) and Kellie Burns(wife2B) who paid for the paint job :)

race pictures to follow!

Brands Hatch 16th-17th June

After the crash at Brands 4 weeks ago it was time to get the bike back in some order and get racing (o.k. paint still not so good eh) I was due to race at Lydden Hill but that race was cancelled (lack of entries) so i joined the north Gloucester club for there annual Brands Hatch meeting

Saturday
Due to the fact i didn't really know anyone i stayed away on Friday night and slept round me Dad's in Harefield and we journeyed there early Sat morning, weather forecast very changeable but was dry when we arrived.

Practice
1 Ten minute practice in the damp proved that the bike was going o.k. and we slithered around alright and i got my groove on in tricky conditions.

Qualifying. WE changed the suspension setting slightly for this and i stuck on the new tyres (slicks) for a just dry qualifying session.
After the 1st 4 laps the session was stopped and we were held for another 20 minutes until we resumed for qualifying, at that point i was 4th on a 50.3.
We resumed qualifying but getting a clear lap was difficulty, with 4 minutes remaining i posted a 49.8 and was then slowed by heavy traffic, i backed off and Bob Collins came past so i tagged onto him and my last lap as a 49.4 (2nd) i missed pole by 100th of a second to a 2 smoke (Alex Kenchington)

Race 1
After qualifying it was clear that the new rearsets are not rearset enough and my toe slider was paying the penalty but the rain fell 3 races before mine so we donned the wets and waited to be called out.
I ran in a new front wet in practice so we had a fair set up.
I lined up on the grid and was ready for a reduced 10 lap race, my start was o.k. 5th into paddock and it took me 4 laps to find a groove, i was following a Yamaha R1 for 4 laps but passed him into paddock for 4th place after leader Gary Teague fell off at Druids. I was now on the case of a Mille (The Reaper) and with 2 laps to go the top 4 was covered by a second. With 2 laps to go i pounced on the reaper ( o.k. used my straight line advantage) and slotted into 3rd, Bob Collins managed to make a bit of a break thru some back markers and it was left for a last lap showdown between Micheal Thomspon and me for 2nd place, both of us were baulked by a backmarker into Graham Hill and i levelled with him but he got the advantage into Surtees so i went wide into Clearways and just about got round the outside of him when another backmarker started to get in the way, as we exited Clearways i went round the outside of the backmarker and Michael went up the inside and i stole 2nd place on the line by 1/2 a wheel length hee hee Michael shock my hand on the slow down lap then called me a w*nker which summed up the move but i felt good and it put my last wet crash to bed so was pleased especially as i won £75 quid as well:)

Sunday
Practice was dry so i went out and fired in a few laps catching and passing the slipstream racing Yamaha R1 in the process, my sponsor PLI made it quite clear that we need to beat this team this weekend as there sponsor Faith & Mellhuish are friends of his.

Qualifying
I went out on a new rear slick for this one and spent 4 laps getting it scrubbed in right before starting to reduce my time, again we were red flagged after 7 minutes (rider down on track) and we were held for 5 minutes and let out again. I struggled in this qualify and only recorded 49.7 3/10ths off my sat qualify, on my slow down lap i realised the braked were dragging and i brought it in for LOz to look at, i only qualified in 5th place so was disappointed.

Race 1
After refurbing the calipers we went out with high hopes, i got a great start from 5th and was 3rd into Paddock after a bit of jossling, Symonds was leading Bob second me third and Bevan 4th. Bevan passed me on lap 3 into Druids and on lap 5 i passed Symonds into Paddock Hill, Bob was leading but we were covered by only a second 1st to 3rd, on lap 7 Bob had a big moment and nearly binned it out of Clearways and Bevan took the lead and started to push away, i was starting to look for an overtake on Bob for 2nd place but on lap 11 my brake leaver came back to the bar, i cruised round for a lap and half with no front brake then the lever worked again so i consolidated my 3rd place brought the bike home, i had a 4 seconds gap to 4th so 3rd was the best i could do in the circumstances.

Review
After we finished it looks like when we cleaned the pads the brake fluid got contaminated so Pretech will refurb the calipers and i will now start hunting for better rearsets as my boot on my right hand side is knocked out. I won another £50 so overall i was a happy with the meeting.

Thanks go to
Loz for getting wet, helping out and helping me repair the bike, Dad for help on Sat and the accomadation,Malc for the support, PLI (the tyres and we beat your mates team)glf + No Limits for track time and Flitwick M/C for some bits.
Graham at GLF (got any spare boots mate?)
Held Gloves (The Best even MCN say )

Brands Hatch - 12th-13th May

Well as i have not raced for a while (the whole of April) i thought it was time to get the bike out and start racing, to any of you who don't know this year we are not trying to go for any Championship's so i'm really riding for myself in selected MRO and Open 1300cc Bemsee meets

Lydden Hill - 24th-25th March

Well it was back to my favourite place Lydden Hill, i ordered my Bridgestones in preparation for the meeting as the Dunlops we tried just were'nt for me

Thank God for Sharpy and Ollie (Flitwcik M/c) as they let me or should i say the bike stay in their awning as the weather was flipping freezing.

1st Qualifying was held in 5 degrees on a dry but damp looking track, it started o.k. but was overtaken by Neeves and Thompson mid- way through, i followed them around and recoreded the 5th fastest time at 44.1 but was thoroughly miserable as i could not get motivated in these conditons

As we lined up it started to drizzle heavier so after 2 warm up laps (on slicks) Pete Baker drew along side and fell off, i decided enough was enough and pulled in to see what the weather was gonna do but it never improved so i stayed in 5th place as no-one went any faster.

The drizzle turned into light rain and we donned the wets (in my head it had actually warmed up slightly) so i felt quite up for it when we went out. On the warm up lap i felt like we had some grip so sped off from the second row and passed J P Scott to lead on the 1st lap.

On lap 3 i cocked up the left hander and had a bit of a moment (Highside) but got it under control and pushed on for my 1st win of the year. I got fastest lap by 1/2 a second as well so was pretty pleased with this.

In the warm up i scrubbed in my slicks and threw down some times (3laps genuis eh)

JP Scott holeshotted with me second, i followed him for a few laps and he gained a bit on me , on lap 7 i started to close him down but made a mistake and knocked my toe slider off into Chessons Drift, on the last lap i closed again but had no chance to overtake so came 2nd (not bad)

The team decided to run the same rear as race 1 as only 1 lap to scrub in a new slick at Lydden (1 left hander) is not satisfactory.

I got a fair start from pole and was 3rd on the 1st lap , JP Scott was leading with Pete Baker in 2nd. On lap 3 i outbraked Pete into the hairpin and set my sights on JP Scott. I closed on John Paul but hung back for a last lap effort, at this point both of us were sliding alot and grip was at a premuim. On the penultimate lap i misseed a gear out of the hairping and JPS put in his fastest lap on the last lap so the atack did not happen, again i got 2nd which i was pleased with but cursed my might of be's.

i recorded a fastest lap of 42.2 secs 3/10ths of a second better than my fastest lap on the Kawasaki ZX10R so things are looking up.

Real pleased to be back on form for this meeting, must thank the crew, Loz, Dad, Malc (my personal photographer eh), Chris,Chris (PLI), Gray, Oiley , Sharpey and the all the rest of my supporters + Web Lord Rich for promoting this on the site

Hi all, we're back for the Powerbike 2007 season and after telling everyone i'm doing Forza Extreme Bemsee rung me up to say that i have to do MRO Powerbike, it seems they have lots of Forza novices so i was to overqualified to go into that championship.

1st round was to be my home favourite Brands Hatch and we are trying the new Dunlop Redline Slicks out as well.

After setting a high 49 secs lap and finishing off 5th in 2nd qualifying i posted a mid 49 to finish off 4th in the second session. I was struggling for grip on front and back ,Loz and i changed a few things for race 1 (pressures and suspension) to see if we could make the tyres work better.

I got a great start and rode round the outside of Steve Mercer into Druids, after following Rob Elsemere for 3 laps i had a few sniffs at an overtake but again the rear started to lose traction, on lap 4 Mercer tried to stuff it up in the inside but i managed to hold him off to finish 3rd. My best lap was a 49.3 which is good but i have been quicker so we looked forward to Sunday

After a quick 5 minute practice i was ready to attack again, we had changed the suspension to try and get more grip. I got an o.k. start but was held up in 6th place by Shaun Gilbert, i managed to draught him on the start and finish to gain 5th but after this more tyre problems occurred, i pulled away from 6th place but could not make an impression on the top 4 so 5th was the best i could do

Got an even worse start in this race and was 7th into Paddock, i passed John Paul Scott into 6th and set onto an attack on Shaun Gilbert, Shaun was covering his lines well and again the tyre lost traction and on lap 8 nearly spat me over the highside out of clearways,\on lap 9 i fell back by 1/2 a second to try and make a final attack on Shaun , i closed on him and tried to go up the inside of clearways on the last lap but did not make and to add salt into the wounds J.P.Scott got me round the outside so i finished 7th. This race was a nightmare and i will certainly not be using the Dunlop Redlines again so lesson learnt.

I was pissed off for about an hour but have now come to my senses that all was not so bad, points on the board and a trophy!

LOz(cheers dude for the laughs and help),Dad, Chris, Unc Brian,Malc,Bazza PLI,No Limits, GLF Acessories, Pretech, The HQ, Flitwick m/c and Gerry Pell.

Brands Hatch	10-11th March	Powerbike
Lydden Hill	24th-25th March	Powerbike
Brands Hatch	12th-13thMay	Powerbike
Brands Hatch	16th-17th June	Open 1300
Snetterton	7th-8th July	Powerbike
Brands GP (OUR BIG ONE)	21st-22nd July	Powerbike
Mallory Park	26th-27th August	Powerbike