2009 Race Reports

Seasons update

Hi Guy's, just a quick picture of the trophy awards we received in this years MRO Stocksport series, out of 6 meetings we managed to podium in every one bar 1 (start of the season Brands Hatch)

A big thanks to everyone who contributed with help,time and sponsorship, at this period in the year it's hard to say which direction Imberg Racing will go next year but for sure we will be out there, i'm racing in Australia at Philip Island on Len Manchester's TZ750 in Jan and will make my UK racing decisions when i return.

Again many thanks for your help and support in 09, we ended up 5th in the MRO Stocksport Series 1st Triumph and 3rd Senior Cup.

Brands Hatch 26-27th Sept

After missing the Snetterton round in Early Sept i decided to enter the last round of the MRO Stocksport Championship, after Cadwell Park i had crept upto 5th position in the Championship but 4th position was some 70 points away so decided to save money as the likelyhood of increasing my Championship position further was scarce.

Sat Qual 1
Loz and i got fresh tyres on the bike ready for this I'd also on a spur of the moment entered the Champion of Brands race as well (Oli requested i go for it as he was riding the R1 at this round as well)
The first 5 laps were quick, i had set myself a benchmark of 49.6 as the target time for Sat but the laps were untidy missing apex's at Druids at Clearways , i quickly got down to 49.9 then 49.8, but before you knew it the session was over and i had placed 6th in qual.
The bike seemed to be handling well but running a bit wide so we decided to soldier on a bit before making changes.

Qual 2.
Stuart Wickens tagged on behind me and i placed a 49.58 quite early on , he then overtook me and i tagged behind him recording a string of 49.6's to finish the session, this placed me 5th overall in qualifying and again lead Triumph.

Champion Of Brands Qual.
I went out to record 6 laps as we were trying to save tyre life for the races, Loz and me obviously got our wires crossed as he gave me a lap count down but no times, i rushed into the pits going off on one, we then consulted and i went out and put in a 49.55 which placed me 11th on the grid, 2nd 600 .

Race 1.
For an 8 lap race i managed to make a great start and tagged onto the leaders for 4 laps, the R6's then started to pull away, i could see Staurt Wickens and Danny Buchan about 3 secs in front and had a 3 sec gap on 6th place so i recorded sweet 49.6's all race and bagged a good finish, 5th in the race 3rd senior.Richard quickly took over as ace signboard man for this race.

Sunday
After an enjoyable evening and a trophy Loz,Tweek and i decided to sharpen up the steering a bit by dropping the forks a mil, in Race 1 Sat i had pulled an advantage on 5th place in Championship from Del and had a 15 point advantage.

Race 1
Another good start was achieved but this was a 14 lap race, from lap 2 i was 5th position but had Simon Gardner on his r6 right up my chuff, Simon tailed me for the whole race, on about lap 10 we started to pull in Stuart Wickens but i could not quite catch him for 4th place, on the last lap i rode a brilliant last lap ensuring Simon could not get passed, he came up to me afterwards to congratulate me and said that i just put my bike where his should have been for every corner so i suppose experience counts in certain circumstances. I finished under 1 sec behind Stuart with Simon a couple of Hundreds behind me so it was def a tight 5th place (3rd senior) again top Triumph.This race also confirmed that i had now taken 5th position in the MRO Stocksport Championship which after missing 3 rounds was great result.

Champion of Brands
I had decided to veto the last race of Stocksport to concentrate on the Champion of Brands Race. I had qualified 1 place in front of my mate Olli Linsdell but was pretty sure he would not like his garage mate and old bike defeating him, he lent me a 190 rear tyre as my tyre was shagged from the Stocksport race so cheers for that.
I lined up on the grid and got another killer start dicing with Michael Neeves into Druids and Paddock on his R1, the first lap was weird as i struggled for grip and because of the 190 tyre (i usually run a 180) it threw my gearing out, on lap 2 Ollie came past and diced with a Honda Fireblade, he pulled about a second but the gap remained static as he tussled with the Fireblade, on about lap 10 i started to close but Olli finally passed the Blade and i got stuck with him for a lap, i passed him into Surtees but Olli had extended his gap so i brought the bike home for 10th place which was 2nd 600 and very reasonable again dipping into the 49's.

Review
A really good season was had by all , my thanks must go to Loz for Spannering and my sponsors PLI Services and No Limits Trackdays, helpers from GLF Accessories, Held,HJC Helmets,James@CrazyKat, Carl Rosner and Flitwick M/C. We have achieved results on a very standard Triumph 675 and the bike has been great all year.
Also a quick thanks to mates and riding buddies Tweek for signboard and help, Jamie Cooper (looking good/Ypm)team Cooper Camilla and Stef , Chris Burridge adversory and friend,Richard Ives web-site,Ratty and finally my wife Kellie for letting me go and play.
If everything goes to plan i should be riding Arnie Fletchers TZ750 in Oz in Jan so here's looking forward to that.

Cadwell Park 22nd Aug - 23 Aug

Snetterton 6th - 7th June

Time for round 4 of the MRO Stocksport series at Bemsee, after a succesful race at Cadwell we were looking forward to Snet but my worry was the pace of the Yamaha R6 down Snets straight compared to the Triumph.

 

Qual1 .

 

Loz and i travelled up Friday night to share Jamie's (YPM Bitch) awning, Jamie had set up the awning and got things right in the paddock and we then shared my Generator for the weekend.

I went out on spent tyres for this one saving the newbies for Qual 2, the session was dry and i started to lap in the 1min 13's , gearing was spot on and it was not too windy, Tom Young came past to give me a tow but to be honest his bike was mega quick pulling 50 -100 yrds on mine in a straight line , i managed to post in a 1min 12.3 which at the end of the session qualified me in 10th place, to be honest about 7 riders in front of me were JS Stock boys and my main championship regulars were behind me.

 

Qual 2 .   We put the new tyres on (Metz Racetechs) and i managed to slipstream a few R6 's to post a 1 min 11.8 qual me in 9th place just behind Powerbike Pole man Mark Lister, Tom Young qual on pole with a 1min 10.3 which is amazing, well done . P.S.  He si the same size and weight as Danny Pedrosa.

 

 

Race 1. 

I had a quick chat with Loz and as the wind picked up i changed my gearing, i knew i needed a good start to get in the mix at the front but was pretty sure as the laps wore down that i maybe a sitting target.  I had placed a new screen on the bike and lost some body weight to try to make me faster at Snet to max out my chances.

 

I got a great start and followed Mike and Grant Whitticker (they are both about 11 yrs old i think :) and placed about 5th on the 1st lap, i was then caught in a slipstream dice for 4th for about 4 laps but then the race settled down, on lap 5 i made 2 mistakes and lost the tow and on lap 7 James Dye pushed past relegating me to 8th then on the last lap Max Hunt slipstreamed so i finished where i started in 9th. Best lap was 1min 11.8 and i finished in front of all the Triumphs and Cadwell's winner Simon Palmer.

 

I reviewed the race with Loz on the last 2 laps the wind died down leaving me hitting the limiter a bit and the lap time was certainly fast , i just felt 7th was there if i did not make the 2 mistakes. In any case i finished 3rd in the senior cup so had a pot to my name when the trophies were announced.

 

 

Sunday

 

Race 1.

After a fair but difficult (weather wise) practice we were up for a bit more racing, the rain had held off and i lined up in 9th, again i got a cracking start and was in 4th place into Sears, down the long straight i was passed by 2 R6 's but kept with the dual for 3 laps then , i notices the bike was miss-firing at the top end , i checked the temperature and the Trumpet was running hot, i was again passed on lap 4 and decided to pull in.

 

Loz and i (Martin inc) started to pull the air box off whilst i started to ring around for advice, airbox looked o.k,, fuel-oil and water good, i belled Lawsy (he works in F1) and explained the problems , he advised pull the airbox completely off as it was an air leak.

Lawsy was correct a pipe had come off the bottom of the airbox sensor, we re-attached and Tweek my pit girl got everything set tyre wise.

 

Race 2 .

 

It was tipping it down so we donned the wet's and went out to see what we could achieve, i was not sure the bike was 100% but on the warm up lap it felt fine.

I got a fair start but was fairly cautious into Richies, into Sears i made up a place and we chugged on down to The Esses, it was close fought going in and James Dye came past and fell off taking another R6 with him, into Bombhole Lister went down and i found myself in about 5th place, we passed Grant Whittaker and was then overtaken by another R6, he was riding well and pulled on me , Liam Lyons was leading with Simon Johnson 2nd R6 bloke 3rd and me 4th, i started to up the ante and closed on the Red R6 , on lap 6 he was in my sight and i fired the bike out of Russells then nearly spat myself over the top, i help on to the 675 but it was luck not skill.

The race then settled down , i had 2 cool laps then started to up the pace yet again to push for 3rd, on Lap 12 the leader Liam Lyons binned leaving me in 3 rd place and the team (Loz , Rat &Tweek) signalled the gap behind was massive, on the last lap i tried to catch the Red R6 in 2nd but ran wide at Sears then brought the bike home.

 

Man the team were pleased and so was i , we beat all other Triumphs out there and by some margin and managed a sub 12 which the TTC Cup struggle to do.

 

Thanks must go to

Loz , Tweek, Nicki, Jamie Cooper (TOP3 BOY), Ratty, Camilla, PLI Consultants, Held, Carl Rosner M/C  , No Limits, EBC, HJC , Glf Accessories and Held Gloves.

 

P.S Ollie boy, the Bemsee paddock wish you a speedy recovery and get back on the grid soon.

 

Cadwell Park - 16th - 17th May

About time i entered and raced the Triumph for round 3 of the MRO Stocksport Championship, i missed round 2 as i was instructing in Portimao (Portugal) with No Limits but I'm not doing all the rounds anyway so Championships are out of the question this season.

Qual 1

After getting to Cadwell late on  Friday night my mechanic (wrench) for the weekend Nick Chadwick had saved me some space and helped me set up my kit.

It was wet for 1st Qual and we had about 15 mins to sort out tyres as the weather was changeable but threw it down to make my mind up just in time, the tyre warmers had not been on long so i took it easy for 2 laps then started to push a bit more and i started to gain on Chris Burridge in front of me, on my last lap i overtook another 2 riders and was on Chris's tail and recorded and 1 min 48s which placed me in 5th.

Qual 2.

At last a bit of Sunshine, Nick and i changed the wheels went to dry settings and put the tyre warmers on full roast, for a few years now i have not raced at Cadwell but i regularly instruct there. I went down to Qual early as i wanted to get clear clean laps, i had new Metzeler's on and spent the 1st lap just scrubbing them in then pulled the pin, i quickly went into the 1min 37's then 2 laps later recorded a high 1min 36 then a 1min 36.6 , i started then to hold gears thru the mountain section thinking it would be quicker but was actually a few tenths slower.

When the chequered flag came out i had qualified 4th which was pretty good.

Race 1.

After a chat with Nick and Phil i changed the gearing a tooth as the bike was on the limiter in 2nd round the twisties.

I lined up and was up for it, Chris Burridge was 5th with Jay, Simon and Mark Lister on the front row (3 on the front row whats that all about)

I got a Good launch but the bike missed a gear from 1st to 2nd gear and i went into Coppice in about 7th place, i thought to myself as it's only a 7 lap dash that we better get a wiggle on early so i started to overtake as soon as i could, on about lap 3 i was chasing down Chris and Mark when Mark made a mistake going into the chicane and i passed both of them, Chris came back at me as we were dicing for 3rd and he wanted my trophy.

I then overtook Chris at Mansfield where my bike was really strong and pulled a gap, on the last lap the gap to the leaders were about 3 secs in front and i had pulled a 2 sec advantage on Chris and Mark, i held it to the line and finished a solid 3rd, best lap was 1min 36 dead which is pretty good about half a sec down from the best lap time of the race.

Race 2.

Sunday (wet)

The weather was really horrible and banks of dark clouds hung over all day, when i went out to race conditions were bad, standing water thru the start and finish and at Park.

I lined up in 4th and made a cautious start away from the line, i was in 8th place following Danny Buchan for 2 laps and waited for my tyres to warm up a bit , being a 10 lap race we had time and on lap 3 i started to make my move, i passed Danny and Del then drew up alongside a GSXR 600 which i overtook into the hairpin (abit close that one ) then i moved up passed Chris into Mansfield then spent then next 3 laps closing down Mark Lister and Steve Palmer, Steve upped his pace but Mark was in my zone for the last lap, he knew i was catching him and left the door open at Mansfied where i tucked it under him to grab 4th, into the mountain section Hall Bends had waved yellows and Jay had lobbed it at the mountain promoting me to 3rd (Thankyou)

Review.

 Great meeting and the Triumph was great all weekend, i must thank Nick C and Phil for their help ver the weekend.

Incidentally the Triumph TTC were racing at the same meeting, our bikes are the same and in my dry race the race time back to back i would have won by 3 secs so we know that i am riding the 675 and a competative pace, in the MRO Stocksport i was the only Triumph out there whch i ashame.

Brands Hatch - 7th & 8th March

After a long hard winter it's back to racing and doing what i do best (trying to go round in circles as quickly as poss)

The Triumph i bought late last year had been freshened a bit with a service, catalytic converter cut out and replaced (Cheers Hilly) and the Arrow map installed(Cheers Flit m/c) . James at KrazyKat Dyno took care of some fine tuning work on his dyno and we were set to roll.

 

 

I entered the MRO Stocksport races for Brands to see if the Triumph was competitive against the all conquering R6 for the Bemsee 1st round. I set myself personal targets of Sat mid 50's then race day if dry low 50 or late 49 as the target.

 

Sat Qual 1.

 

No practices in Bemsee MRO just straight out and on it , i felt a bit of an old man out there as there were half a dozen Junior Suicide cup riders in the race so competitive it would be.

After 2 laps getting the tyres up to temperature the lap times started to come down, the bike was handling OK but the harder i pushed the settings were a bit soft for my pace, i got into the late 50's then about 12 mins in recorded a 50.6, after this there was a big stack at Paddock and the session was halted.

 

Sat Qual 2.

We put on fresh scrubs for this qual session and after the 1st qualifying session (fin 9th) I needed a low 50 to get on the first 2rows. After a few laps i started to push but the harder i rode made no difference and i hit a brick wall with my times (about a 50.5). I made a big effort and started to catch a ZX6R i was in his slipstream coming out of Clearways when he had a big highside, he caught it but i backed off and recorded a 50.3 which left me 10th in the session but strangely 12th overall.

On the slow down lap there was another big crash as these young uns were trying very hard, in fact overall too hard and although they were recording low 49's high 48's the reality of it is that if you go fast and crash you still score no points.

 

 

Race 1.

In the meantime before Race 1 a wheelbarrow dumped oil all over Paddock and Druids, as my wrench Loz says the clues in the name Side CAR (SO F7CK OFF AND RUN WITH CARS)

We had 1 warm up lap and the reality was with all that oil down i was not prepared to really risk my bike and stick my neck out, I got an o.k. start but was soon in about 13 th place after a red Yamaha R6 and Freddie Russo charged passed, i could not really get in the swing of things and circulated with a 5 bike group for 5 laps. On lap 6 i got my head down passed the Red Yam then another orange R6 ,i was tailing young Freddie Russo, into Clearways on the last lap i nipped up the inside and dragged to the line only to here Freddie's bike overtake me at the death on the line. I recorded an 11th which was Mediocre at best.

 

Sunday Race 2.

With the oil no cleared and some fresh tyres on i felt a lot better, Loz and i had changed suspension settings and gearing and i felt a bit more tuned in for this one. The weather was colder but in warm up the bike felt o.k.

In the Kentagon on Sat night Tweek my pit boarder said i was riding o.k. but lacked a bit of determination out there, a frank talk but it pepped me up a bit .

I lined up next to Chris Burridge (3 yrs ago i instructed him at Brands for his first track day , he was a complete loony but a nice lad off the bike) and i knew he really wanted to beat me.

I got a pretty good start but young Freddie wanted to get involved, on lap 3 into Druids Fred went wide and i passed him then passed the Orange R6 and onto the tail of Burridge and Bilton. From lap 7 i was involved in a dice for 4th one of the leaders binned it at some point but the pace was fairly quick, all the R6's had straight line performance on me but the Triumph was a joy to ride between Druids and Surtees. On lap 9 Chris had a moment and i snuck passed him then started to look at Stefano who was chasing Bilton, on the last lap Chris was all over me and i knew i had to make my move on Stefano to stop Chris going for me, into Graham Hill i stuck it underneath Stafano for 5th and into Clearways had a bit of a dig at Bilton but err'd on the side of caution. I crossed the line in 5th place 1st Triumph home by 26 secs and recorded a 50 flat.

.

 

Race 2.

It hailed then rained then dried out, i went to the race on the wrong tyres lasted 4 laps then pulled in to save destroying my wets.

 

Review.

Good meeting and got my race pace on, I'm now off to Portimao to instruct with no Limits (24th-28th March) then back to Brands (i think) for the mid April races.

Thanks to

Tweek, Loz, Rob W , Dad, Graham and Les for the support.