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All my latest race reports and new's can be read here.
After last year’s successes at the Manx Grand Prix in August and a lifetime following Dad on the island, the step up to the TT races was understandably the main objective of this year’s season. Team Black Horse Yamaha’s experience in everything road racing would certainly give me the best chance possible of achieving my aims of a 120mph lap and top twenty finishes. We had less than a week in between getting back from the Northwest 200 before leaving for the TT races. I would be competing in the 2 Supersport 600 races on the R6 and the Superstock race on the R1. The day after arriving was spent signing on etc before the first practice session in the evening. The first practice session was officially untimed and it was decided that I should complete two laps on the big bike with a possible third on the 600. 2008 TT was the first to include two 600 races. Because of the nature of the 600 machine, their high state of tune and the fact that my engine had to be used at the Northwest, TT and Ulster GP it was important that I did as few miles as possible in practice. I had only ever ridden a 1000cc machine twice, once at the Northwest 200 and a few sessions at Valencia. I set off down Bray Hill and was once again amazed by the speed of the R1! The first lap was spent mostly missing apex’s and just trying to get my brain up to speed with the entirely different mindset needed on the island. By the second lap the course was coming back to me and I was becoming more comfortable with the acceleration and extra weight of the big bike. The R1 seemed to be coping with the bumps really well and there wasn’t really anything that I wanted changing until I had upped the pace a bit. It was useful that I had gone out on the R1 first as when I jumped on the 600 it felt slow and enabled me to always be one step ahead, like you should be, even at this early stage in proceedings. There was only enough time to complete one lap, as planned and the bike felt fast, but was very jumpy over the bumps. Between Ginger Hall and Ramsey it actually felt like someone was punching me in the kidneys! The next practice session was on Monday evening and we made some changes to the R6 forks to soften them off in the midrange of travel. I completed 2 laps on the 600 with a best speed of 114.7mph and a further 2 on the Superstock bike at 115.5mph. I was pleased with these lap times because it was faster than I had gone the year before and I was convinced I would go faster without too much effort. The 600 was still struggling over the bumps while the 1000 floated over them, even though the speeds were much higher. It seemed that the extra weight really helps bikes through certain sections of the course and it might be difficult to get the same sort of feeling from the much lighter 600 without compromising the handling in other sections too much. Unfortunately Tuesdays practice session was cancelled due to rain. Rain also settled in on Wednesday and the new Clerk of the course took a brave decision and went ahead with practice. Only about 10 people bothered to venture out with a fastest speed of 87mph so I was glad that we stayed in and made a few more changes to the 600. We had now lost 2 evenings practice, about 30% of the total time available, so it was important that the rest of the week was sunny. Thursday was indeed sunny and I wanted to do 2 laps on each machine once again. Unfortunately after coming in to make some changes and change a tyre I missed out on a second lap on the R1 by no more than ten seconds! It was a disappointing evening as I had hoped to up my pace once more but only managed 115.2mph on the 600 and 114.6mph on the 1000. The final evening of practice was Friday and I planned one lap on the 600 and 2 on the R1. I had a fairly steady lap on the 600 wit a lot of traffic at 114.2mph then a pleasing lap of 117.95 on the bigger Yamaha to become the fastest Linsdell round the mountain course…..although Dad did 117.5 it in the early nineties… My first race was on Monday with the Superstock first, followed by the first Supersport in the afternoon. We had spent mad Sunday relaxing on the traditional fishing trip where Sharpy took back the TT fishing challenge trophy from Helen (although she was not in attendance…) It rained on Sunday evening and I was praying it had fully dried up by the time the race was due to start. Unfortunately it was still very overcast and I was worried that I would run into problems on the mountain as I had one evening in practice. I got a great start and by the time we were at Balacraine I had caught and passed Paul Shoesmith who had started ten seconds in front and I was feeling confident about a good result. Unfortunately as I entered Ramsey the visor started to steam up. The mountain was very misty and visibility was down to about 80 yards in some places. By the time I came round for the second time drips of condensation were running down the inside of my visor it was slowing me down a lot and frankly, was becoming dangerous. I came into the pits and unfortunately I had no clear pinlock visor ready, so it was swapped for another regular tint. There was a struggle getting the new visor back in and then to top it all of it all the bike wouldn’t start so I ended up losing a minute more than I should have. About half way round the next lap the visor steamed up again so I just tried to make the best of the situation. There was a little window at the top right of the visor that I could sort of see out of so on the last lap I pushed on a bit harder which resulted in a 119.2mph lap. I ended up in 32nd position with a 114.9mph average and a Bronze replica. I was a bit disappointed as without the visibility issues and the lost time at the pits I was sure that I could have had a strong result and managed the 120mph lap without too much trouble. After the mornings result I was even more fired up for the 600 race. I had made some changes to the visors (involvind some tape and my nose!) and had a good first lap to come round in 21st place at 117.7mph. This time the pitstop went well with no visor change needed because the weather had cleared up into bright sunshine! At this point I had moved into the top 20 in 19th with a slowing down lap of 118.4mph. The good stop meant the next lap was 113.2 including the time spent in the pits. I once again pushed hard on the final lap to record a 119.150mph lap, a 117.081mph race average and a Silver replica to place me 18th. I was pleased with this ride as after practice week I thought that 120mph would be difficult on the 600, but now it seemed like a very reasonable aim for Wednesday’s second race! I had also got my top twenty position with a good average race speed. Wednesday was fair and bright for the second Supersport race. I struggled to get going for the first half of the lap and then came round Ginger hall to find an accident had just happened and lost a lot of time. By the time I got to the 34th milestone there was another incident with oil all over the circuit so I finished the lap at 116.750 in a disappointing 24th position. My second lap was once again disappointing as I struggled to find the all important rhythm and moved up to only 22nd at 117.000mph. A good stop and a better third lap put me into 20th position at 114mph (with a pitstop) going onto the final lap. I pushed hard to try and achieve the 120mph I had aimed at on the final lap but the remaining yellow flags at Ginger Hall and the 34th milestone meant that 119.554 was the result, remaining in 20th and this time picking up a Bronze replica at a slower race average. Oh well. There’s always next year! Overall it was a fantastic fortnight and I was pleased with the results. Of course there is always room for improvement, but I’m sure we will be back next year, this time aiming higher once again and looking to break into the top 15! A big thank you goes out to Mum, Dad, Brother Dave, Ian, Jo, Merv, Sharpy, Mr and Mrs Bus and anybody else who helped out at my TT debut! A special mention for ace tech's Dave, Martin, Norman and Des for working pretty much non stop the whole fortnight to keep the bikes running perfectly – great job boy’s!! We will be back on the short circuits next weekend at Snetterton where I hope to make the transition back as quickly as possible……..See you there!
2008 Kennedy International Northwest 200 Road Races.
The Northwest 200 was the first road race of 2008. After a strong result at Brands Hatch I was feeling confident of a good result and couldn’t wait to get going!! I would be riding the Blackhorse Supersport R6 in the two Supersport races, The Superstock R1 in the Superstock and main Superbike race and our trusty little 400 in the 400/650 race…..Busy day then…. Dad, Merv, Helen and I flew out to Belfast on the Monday morning after Brands and checked in to the old favourite – Greenhill House! First practice wasn’t until Tuesday night so we went to the paddock and made last minute tweaks, fitted tyres etc. The weather forecast for the whole week was dry and sunny. I always seem to get lucky with the weather there – three years without any rain – lets hope it continues! Tuesday evening was still dry and bright and I was out first on the mighty R1. Ideally it would have been the 400 first, then the 600 then the 1000 but it was the wrong way round. My lack of experience showed and I struggled with the shear speed of the thing, suffering from unexpected and therefore scary top gear wheelies! The 600 was next up and the engine felt really good but the forks, setup for short circuits felt far too harsh and the bike leapt about over the bumps compared to the heavier R1. After only two laps the session was stopped due to an accident and not restarted. The last session was the 400 and by this time it was getting quite late and therefore cold. I did an out lap and the bike was running very cold so cruised round and pulled in for some tape. The bike ran warmer and as I started the flying lap the temperature and pressure gauges went mad and I didn’t want to risk it after the temperature problems. I pulled in again and we wriggled the sensors a bit but as soon as I went back out they went mad again so I took it easy for one flying lap and ended up 2nd, albeit 12 seconds off my pace from last year. Thursday was the next practice evening and it followed the same timetable as Tuesday. We had made some changes to the big bike to help stop the wheelies. It went much better and I managed to improve my lap time substantially to qualify 36th out of 72 in Superbike and 39th in Superstock. The Supersport session saw me go faster than I did on the thousand and qualify a pleasing 17th from 83 qualifiers. The final session was to be the final 400 qualifying and I was hoping to improve my time after we had fixed the problems of Tuesday night. The session was delayed and when we finally got out on track the session was red flagged and ended in tragedy with Robert Dunlop being killed at Mather’s Cross. Robert Dunlop, brother of Joey, was a road racing legend and it came as a massive shock to the whole paddock. It’s very hard to work out in your brain that a man that you stood on the podium with only a year ago had been taken away by the sport that you love. The races were on Saturday and I had a very busy schedule, with 5 races in a row! First up was the Supersport 600 race 1. I have never pretended that I like mass starts at road races as I struggle to be aggressive enough to barge through. This meant that I lost a few rows by the time the pack had settled down and I spent the race battling with James McBride and an impressive Lee Johnston. The wind had swung round since the practice sessions and the bike struggled to pull maximum revs. Eventually I go the better of Lee Johnston but just lost out to James McBride. I was pleased to pass Adrian Archibald in the closing stages to finish 17th with a fastest lap speed of 113.915mph. It was straight from the 600 and on to the 400. We didn’t have a lot of practice but I was still confident as the other riders had to go a minimum of 11 seconds faster to match my pace from last year. I got away in second position and was soon in the lead. I spent the first two laps with Leo Aldersley in close attention until we got caught up with the 125’s when I put the hammer down a bit. The rest of the race was quite lonely. I managed to break my own lap record on lap three and ended up winning by 24.5 seconds from Paul Dobbs after Leo broke down trying to keep him at bay.
From the 400 it was onto the R1. Bit of a change then….. I had high hopes for the thousand as I believed that if I could get my braking markers a bit better there was a lot of time to come. Another advantage was that I would be starting from the second row of the second wave. This meant that I was unlikely to come to a near halt in the slower corners of the first lap and could hopefully pull away and run my own race in some space. Once again my start left a lot to be desired and after two laps I found myself about 7 seconds down on the lead 2nd wave group. However on the third lap something clicked and I went about 7 seconds faster than in qualifying and eventually reeled in the group of four in front of me, passing Chris Palmer in the final chicane to take 15th overall on corrected time with a fastest lap of 116.5mph. This was well above my expectations given my lack of experience on a litre bike. Valencia is a bit different to the Northwest!
There was enough time for a tyre change and a drink before it was back out on the R1 for the 6 lap Superbike race. Unfortunately this time I was on the back row of the first wave so spent most of the first section almost stopped. I managed to get my head down and started picking people off. I was up to about 24th position and still pushing hard (although a bit knackered!) when I ran out of petrol on the final lap. The final race was the last Supersport event. Once again I was starting from 15th on the grid and wanted a strong result to finish a good week. The race got underway ad I made a reasonable start and was hoping to be more forceful. Unfortunately James McBride had made a blistering start from the row behind and clipped me, forcing my hand off the bar. It shocked me and images of the start line incidents over the past 2 years flashed through my mind. By the time I had re-grouped I was at the back of the group. When we got round to Black Hill the red flags came out and I decided not to participate in the restart as my body was really feeling the effects of 5 races in a row! Overall we had a fantastic week and it was a really good shakedown for the TT. Once again the team worked really well together and we have learnt a lot about how the bikes react to the real road racing circuits. Roll on TT 2008! BSB Junior Superstock Round Three – Brands Hatch GP.
Brands Hatch GP was to be the first event in a very busy month for Team Black Horse Yamaha. We had Brands Hatch, and then straight off for the Northwest 200 for a week followed a week later by the start of the TT races… Brands Hatch had now become the third round of the British Superbike Championship, after the initial date set as round one was cancelled due to the heavy snowfall. The qualifying times from the original meeting would be used to set the grids which meant I would be starting from row four and 16th after a fairly incident filled qualifying. After a disappointing result at Oulton Park I was determined to get my season back on track and go into the International Road Races, one of the main targets of the season, full of confidence. I had done a lot of thinking and started training again after my injury at Thruxton. Ian and the team had already left for the Northwest 200 straight after Oulton Park leaving us with one bike and minimum spares. Ian had spoken to K-Tech who had arranged to do some more work on the forks to try and resolve the problems we had been experiencing since the start of the season. The track conditions were very good for the first free practice session with warm dry weather finally gracing the British Superbike Championship! I immediately felt more at home on the bike and the new forks offered a lot more feedback mid corner. I came in a few times throughout the session to make minor adjustments and managed to go over a second faster than I had qualified in at 1.34.7 leaving me in tenth position just 0.7s slower than the fastest time set by Allen Jon Venter on the Triumph. This was confidence building after the poor results at Oulton. There were a few changes that I wanted to make and was sure I could improve further. The next day was the final practice session before the afternoon race. The changes had been made and the day was very hot. The session was quite frustrating because the tyres were overheating slightly and becoming quite greasy. Some of the changes made to the bike worked well and others didn’t so the session was spent weeding out which did work and making final tweaks. Because of the extra heat I needed to re-calibrate to riding with a more loose style – just like in Valencia earlier in the year. I ended up marginally slower than on Saturday and in 14th position. It would be imperative to make a good start from 16th and try to get tagged onto a faster group and hang on until the end. It turned out that a few riders that were present at the qualifying round were not at the re-scheduled date so I was moved up two places to 14th on the grid. The start went really well and was actually the best I had made probably in my whole career! Starts and first laps are not my strong point but at the end of lap one I had made two positions in 12th and was on the back of a big group including Alex Gault and championship leader Robbie Brown. I swapped positions with the group until the safety car came out on lap. This was a bi of a chance for a rest and to re-group. After the restart I suddenly found a whole lot more pace and quickly moved to the front of the group and 8th position, comfortably lapping as fast as those in 5th/6th at 1.33.7. The final three laps saw an unfortunate incident with Chris Northover and Allan Jon Venter promoting me to my first top ten finish of the year in 6th! My rear tyre was past its best and during the final few laps the shoulder injury played up a bit meaning Alex Gault managed to close back up for an exciting finish. I was really pleased with this result and won the ‘Metzler Racetech Merit Award’. It took a lot to pick up from the poor result of only a week before, and make the necessary changes. It is also the perfect confidence boost ahead of the Northwest 200 and then the TT races and I can’t wait to get going with the ‘Real Road Racing’!!
BSB Junior Superstock Round Two – Oulton Park.
Oulton Park and Round two of the British Superstock 600 series was just two weeks after separating my shoulder in a qualifying accident at Thruxton. As it was not a track I have raced at as much as somebody who has spent a lot of time in the British Championship and its one of the most physical circuits on the calendar I expected it to be a hard weekend. The weather was forecast to be mixed all weekend. First session was Free Practice and it didn’t go as planned. I struggled with a vague front end and ended up in a disappointing 24th position 3 seconds off the pace. That evening Ian and I took a walk around the circuit and thought about what could be done to make it better and how it would affect the overall package around the WHOLE circuit. The changes were made and I went to bed sure that it would help me to find a big chunk of time the next day in first qualifying. Unfortunately it turned out that we had gone entirely the opposite way we should have. The problems had worsened and it was frustrating as the harder I tried the worse the problems became and no matter what we twiddled with it didn’t get any better. We had dropped the forks through but in fact should have taken more weight off the front end – not something that can be done in the pit lane during a 25 minute session. By the time a red flag came out I had slipped to the final qualifying spot, a shameful 40th position. We had a bit of a rethink and I had a relax and tried to clear my head before the second qualifying and race on Monday. Unfortunately it rained before second qualifying and although it had dried sufficiently to not physically affect lap times I have never been able to ride well in the damp. Despite this I managed some damage limitation and clawed back up to 26th position. Not ideal but better than 40th! The race didn’t really go according to plan either. Somebody beside me on the grid started to creep and the starter held the lights for what seemed like a minute and I followed. I stopped just as the lights went out and wasn’t aggressive enough for the first lap. The upshot of this was 39th over the line for the fist time. I slowly made my way up the field which was made more difficult by the 2 or 3 laps under the safety car. It is also very difficult when all 40 riders are covered by a difference of less than 3 seconds. In the last lap I managed to overtake a further three riders to end up a disappointing 18th position. I learnt a lot over this weekend. Actually, more like a lot that I already knew was confirmed this weekend. In the British Championship you can never afford to have a single lazy lap. Every single one has got to be right on the limit so you can make useful adjustments in the small amount of practice available. Qualifying is all important and the most important part of the race is in the first lap…. All of these are areas that I need to work on for the next round at Brands Hatch!
BSB Junior Superstock Round One (2) - Thruxton. After the disappointment of Brands Hatch the team couldn't wait to get going at Thruxton. Not being a circuit I have much experience at, Thruxton is very unlike most other short circuit in the country. It is very fast and in places bumpy, while also being very wide so it is easy to get 'lost' if you don't get enough practice. However most people would be in the same boat so we headed into the new round one full of confidence. The week leading up to the meeting was very busy. I worked a 14 hour shift on Monday to try and make up some of the time needed to miss on Friday. On Tuesday I flew over to Ireland for the Northwest 200 press conference. It was a fun but very long day. To begin with Conor Cummins, Myself and Michael Rutter had a look at the new starting lights to try and figure out the correct position, angle and brightness, as this is the first year lights will be used instead of the traditional flag. Then it was off to the beach! The following few hours were bizarre and saw us eating ice-cream, sitting in deck chairs, paddling and ultimately surfing in the North sea! It was a good ‘crack’ (to quote Ryan Farhquar), and I’d like to have another go sometimes, though it was a bit cold! Farqhuar managed to stand up and get a short distance a few times but Conor, Myself and Cameron Donald were less successful...
We then moved on to look at some new course markers around the circuit and then on to a boat trip and a live feed for BBC Northern Ireland. Straight from there it was back to the press conference until about 10 o'clock when I had dinner with Ian and the Black Horse men. I was up at 5 o'clock the next morning for Cal Crutchlow’s dad to give me a lift to the airport, arriving at work in Hemel Hempstead by half past nine - no rest for the wicked! Now. On to Thruxton.... I picked Dave up at half past seven on Thursday evening from Luton airport and we headed straight off in the car. I stayed in Ian's truck and Dad came up in ours on Friday morning. There was only one free practice session on Friday before the two qualifying sessions on Saturday, so Friday morning was spent putting up the awning and preparing. We weren't out on track until 2.45 and it was still dry although windy. The forecast for the weekend didn't look very promising and it was possible that this would be the only dry time over the weekend. As I said earlier Thruxton isn't a circuit that I have alot of experience at and I struggled from the off. I spent most of the session riding round getting stuck behind huge gaggles of people and never stringing together two corners, let alone a whole lap. It was frustrating because I couldn't really make any changes to the bike apart from gearing as I was going nowhere near fast enough to make it worthwhile. I needed more time on the track to fully commit to the fast, bumpy sweepers that are so unique to Thruxton. I ended up 27th but knew that there were still massive chunks of time to come simply by stringing laps together and pushing a bit harder in a qualifying situation. My ideal laptime was 0.6 seconds faster than my actual time and I had made a hash of each corner in the two sectors so I just hoped it would all come together in the two qualifying sessions the next day. As it turned out, the next day was wet. This suited me fine as it would help my lack of track knowledge and also take advantage of my wet weather pace. It was forecast to be dryer in the morning session and by the time the second session came around at at 5.20 it would be torrential. It was therefore the plan to try for a time in the first session. We swapped to the spare bike with softer springs as I like a bike to have definite weight transfer in wet conditions. After about five laps I pushed on although it was very difficult with the number of people on track. Again I suffered the problem of not getting any clear track only the problem was magnified by not being able to see anything when behind somebody because of the spray! I tried dropping back to find some space but this didn't work because there was no space .....people just overtook you in a constant stream when you slowed, so the only answer was to ride it like a race and overtake people as quickly as possible. I got a board with P4 on it about midway through and it went up and down between 3rd and 6th for the rest of the session. As is usual in qualifying, the last laps saw me (and everyone else) really push. I had a bit of bad luck catching people in sections that were impossible to pass and was unable to improve. I ended up 8th on the provisional grid but was quite happy as it was the inside of row two and as good a place as any. The first part of my previous prediction was correct - it had been raining all day and there was no let up so the track closely resembled a river. However the second part of my prediction- that nobody would go any quicker - was proved incorrect in 3 laps. I rode round for the first half of the session really struggling for space (again!). I kept getting behind huge gaggles of riders who were just stuck at each others pace, and would take two laps to get through them, then do half a lap before I caught the next one. I couldn't see my pitboard and didn't think anyone would be going quicker in the horrendous conditions so I pulled into the pits after 7 laps to find out that I had dropped to 17th overall! I went back out and had to pull something out of the bag. A few laps later Dad and Sharpy had moved further down the pit wall and I had moved back up to 8th. I improved further each lap but so did everybody else. I went into the last lap with only one person and then what looked like some clear track in front. I was in ninth position at this point and caught the rider in front perfectly to outbrake him at the first chicane without losing any real time. I then ducked under another going into Seagrave. The first sector was my fastest and the speed trap time was also well up with the best. I was pushing alot harder than I had been because of the clear track, a luxury! Going into the final corner I flicked right, then the rear slid slightly on the left. When I flicked right again and into the final corner the suspension unloaded quickly because of the extra corner speed I was holding and just as I tapped on the power I was flicked over the highside.......
As soon as I got up I knew exactly what I had done. A quick trip to the medical centre confirmed that I had separated my AC joint but this time on my left shoulder. Unfortunately this meant that there was no way I could race on Sunday as my shoulder could not even support the weight of my own arm. Obviously both myself and the whole team were very disappointed. We had worked hard and we are sure that a top six was possible in the race. However I refuse to take anything but positives from the weekend. Thruxton is a very difficult circuit and we proved that we could run with the best and managed to make progress after setup issues at Brands Hatch. Fair enough I fell off but its racing and it happens. At least I fell pushing to try and bump up to the front row and was bang on the pace. It is a long season and we also have the international road races to look forward to. I do however have to say sorry to Ian and the team. Two crashes in two meetings isn't the best start to my time with a new team.... I went back to work on the Wednesday after the meeting and my shoulder is getting better by the day so we will be back at Oulton Park on the 3rd/4th/5th May aiming to put in another good qualifying but this time turning it into points in the race! See you there!
BSB Junior Superstock Round One - Brands Hatch GP. We arrived at Brands Hatch for Round one on Thursday afternoon full of confidence after the Valencia test. Thursday afternoon was spent putting the awning up, sorting out tyre's and just generally preparing. The timetable had us down for one 30 minute free practice session and one 25 minute qualifying session in the afternoon. Friday morning dawned warm and sunny and we felt confident of a good showing after setting the bike up in spain. However it soon became clear that the smooth Spanish track was far different from Brands Hatch and the bike was far too soft both front and rear over the bumps. I came in and we gave it two clicks of compression and it made no real difference, we then gave it two more and two turns of preload but again it made no difference. By now the suspension was getting out of its optimum range so we decided the springs would have to be changed for 1st qualifying. The session ended with a laptime of 1.36.7 putting me in 14th position, 1.8 seconds off the quickest time set by Luke Jones. I was confident that there was allot of pace to com once we had sorted he gearing and suspension settings. We made the changes and fitted the first of our three sets of allocation tyre's for first qualifying. We had seen the weather forecast for Saturday and it said it would be freezing cold and possibly snowy. This meant that this would probably be the session that set the grids for Sundays race. To begin with I wasn't totally sure that we had gone the right way as the bike didn't really feel like it was loading up the suspension at all. I started to push harder and it started to work better. There are 58 registered riders for 600 Superstock and this means that getting any clear track time was a nightmare. After 7 laps I upped the pace that shot me into ninth position from nowhere with a lap of 1.35.5. I was feeling comfortable and was sure there were big chunks of time to come in the next few laps. I went past a group of two or three riders into Hawthorns and by Stirlings I had caught another. I could see that there was nobody in front of him so decided to get past him on the way into Clearways and hopefully have a few clear laps. I didn't brake massively later than before but for some reason best known to myself went down an extra gear than normal. This locked up the rear wheel and generally unsettled the bike, and resulted in me going very wide and eventually crashing on a dirty bit of track when almost round! This was a bit of a nightmare situation and i was angry at myself because it was a silly crash not caused by going to fast. The marshall told me that they were understaffed and could not get me back to the pits and the spare bike so all I could do was watch myself slip down the order to 16th. We would have to pray for some dry track time tomorrow....! Saturday morning was dry although our session wasn't until late afternoon. As our time neared we dared to hope that we would get away with it ....WRONG!!! Literally 5 minutes before our session it started raining, which then turned to serious hail..... This combined with very low temperatures meant it would be impossible to improve qualifying times and I would start from 16th on the grid for Sunday race. It was a good opportunity for me to have my first decent test on the Metzeler wets and I was right on the pace with about 6 of us within a second. Joel Morris put in a stonking lap but I really hadn't taken any chances and I'm fairly confident of my wet pace when it matters. One thing we did notice was that the suspension was still bottoming right out. This caused us to wonder whether it was just doing it over the big bumps at Surtees and Sheene curve and then not working properly for the rest of the lap. t might be that these bumps are something that we would have to sacrifice for the overall setup as they weren't really slowing me down. Race day was Sunday and I couldn't believe it when we awoke to a few inches of snow and literally blizzard conditions. It was only forecast for sleet later in the afternoon. Not this at half past 7 in the morning! It carried on snowing and the only things we accomplished was for the team to drink tea and watch world Superbikes on the telly! The meeting was finally cancelled at about eleven o'clock and we headed home. It was still snowing at Brands at 3 in the afternoon. Ironically as soon as we left, before even the M25, it had stopped and there was not a flake of snow on the ground! Somebody doesn't want BSB to succeed this year! The meeting was immediately re-scheduled for the 10th/11th May with the grids standing from the first qualifying, so it looks like I will have to contend with 16th on the grid at least once this year...This is the weekend before the Northwest 200 so it will provide the team with a logistical challenge. next up is Thruxton on the 18th/19th/20th April where hopefully we might get some sunshine and NO snow. ... Yamaha Europe Official Testing - Valencia, Spain. After the terrible weather at Snetterton the weekend before we were praying for some good weather as it would be the only testing before the first round at Brands Hatch. Ian and Jo had gone pretty much Straight from Snetterton to spain and picked Martin up from his house in France. Dad, myself and Helen flew out on Thursday morning. We were staying at a hotel about 500m from the circuit and we had dinner there the first evening. Ian was riding the spare 600 and we were sharing the Superstock R1 so he decided he wanted something 'light' to eat. In the end he decided on veal....this is what turned up at the table.....got a little bit lost in translation I think. ..
The next day was our first chance on track. Valencia is a place I had never been before and its certainly very different to any British circuits. Its a bit like a go-kart track, its all contained in such a small area and there is very little chance for a rest and there are very few bumps. It is a very technical circuit with undulations and most corners being decreasing radius, as well as it being anticlockwise so most being left handers! The weather was comfortable at about 23 degrees although there was a slight wind. The first session was used just to learn the place and setup gearing etc. It turned out to be faster than Snetterton, which you wouldn't have said by looking at the place! We used the afternoon to try and get a base setting for suspension settings. The Wilber shock was working well pretty much straight out of the box with only ride height adjustment necessary. We spent the first day just twiddling away with the K-tech internals just to see exactly what effect different changes would have on the bike. Because of the new circuit and bike I wasn't really going fast enough to make any changes that were likely to be relevant the following day and for the rest of the year. The next day started slightly cooler than before but also less windy. Straight away both Ian and Myself felt more comfortable with the circuit and the bike and pushed on. Within a few laps had gone two seconds faster and started to make meaningful changes to the bikes. It was pleasing to see that even thought they have different rules (Kit ignition boxes etc) our bikes were competitive against the european 600 superstock bikes. By the end of the day we had fiddled around and got a good base setting and changed the geometry of the bike slightly as well as made changes to make the bike more stable on the brakes, the one area I felt was losing me most time. In the last session of the day I had my first ride on the teams Superstock R1 that I will be riding at the international road races this year. Once I had got used to how fast the thing goes through the gears and the fact that it is pretty much wheelying whenever your on the throttle, I really started to enjoy myself. It quite suited my riding style because you had to stop it and then fire it back out instead of holding loads of corner speed. The extra weight was actually quite helpfull in making the bike feel more planted and far more stable on the way into the corner. This was the same feeling that we needed to chase on the R6. The only downside was that the ground clearance on the bigger bike was too low and most of the Valencia track is spent leant right over. ... By the final day we were running low on tyre's and decided to just do a couple of sessions on the 600's with the last tyre's and try to push for times. The new tyre's immediately gave a few seconds a lap and at this new pace I started to really learn what the tyre's do at this level. Its the first time I have ever really felt comfortable going in to corners knowing that I will lose the front but catching it. The Metzeler racetech's give so much confidence to 2 wheel drift or get the thing spinning up on the way out. It was a good experience as this is how hard I will have to ride this year every single lap if I want to be at the sharp end of the grid! My last flying lap was my fastest of he weekend and just pipped Ian by about a tenth so was quite happy. i also had two more sessions on the R1 and improved further. The big bike is nowhere near as intimidating as I thought I might be and is actually very user friendly. I will have no reservations in riding the bike at the road races now, its just like a fast, lazy 600 that will pull in any gear! The first round is next weekend at brands hatch so will update afterwards!
Snetterton Official BSB Test - Easter. My first ride on the teams new Superstock Spec Yamaha R6's was to be at Snetterton and the official BSB test. I was looking forward to riding the bikes and starting to learn about the members of the team. I was already quite sharp with 3 or 4 track days under my belt (albeit on the Triumph) and was eager to start learning the very different characteristics of the four cylinder R6. However the week leading up to Snetterton was forecasting very bad conditions for all three days (why do they insist on holding it at Snetterton?!) Things didn't get off to a wonderful start on Friday when we tried to put the awning up and it was ripped off the side of the truck by the gale force winds. We decided we would run out of the back of the truck. ... Saturday was to see the first track action. We awoke to sub zero conditions, hail, sleet, snow and gale force winds. Only the brave ventured out on track and it wasn't until the final session when we decided to go out and do a few laps just to get initial impressions and set lever heights etc. The bike felt very fast and I was impressed (and a bit relieved) at the mid range power compared to the 2006 R6, the last 4 cylinder bike I had ridden. In fact it is comparable with the Triumph 675! It also felt very balanced and was filling me with confidence to go faster despite the terrible conditions. I had to let my brain take charge though and pulled in after only 6 laps to let my hands thaw out. ... Sundays conditions were no better. In fact they were about a hundred times worse when my first view of the outside world in the Morning was Chris Northover constructing a Snowman at about half past 8.... It wasn't until the final session of the day that it had thawed enough for us to decide to do another session. Once again it was wet, cold and windy so a laptime of 1.23.232 was only possible. It put me at the top of the 600 Superstock leaderboard by some four and a half seconds but we couldn't really read too much into it due to only 10 people making it onto the track. The final day of the test was easter Monday and once again it was cold and white in the morning so no track activity started until 11 a.m. In their ultimate wisdom the organizers decided to go to lunch during the best weather of the weekend - Sun, dry track and no wind. Sure enough 5 minutes before we were meant to go on track, as the marshals were walking back to their posts, the snow started again. .... It only lasted five minutes so we decided to go out and get some dryish tracktime. It was nice to ride on the racetech's and as I had found on the the Triumph they are a very stable and predictable tyre. However it was too cold for any true testing and I had only completed 6 laps when it started hailing again.... I clocked a lap of 1.17.3 which was about 6 seconds slower than the expected pace at Snetterton but was fast enough to be not only officially the quickest Superstock 600 time but the fastest rider from any class over the weekend! This probably illustrates just how bad the conditions were and although too much cannot be read into the results it was a good confidence boost for myself and the team. The real testing will have to wait until we go to Valencia in Spain next week, and hopefully a bit of sun! Its so important to me that I give something back to my Sponsors and supporters, and so for this season, we have formed the Olie Linsdell Race club. The idea is that for a small membership fee of £50.00, each and every one of you can be a part of our team, and my success. This is what you get for your £50.00......
So if you want to be a part of the Team, click on the picture below, download the membership form, and e-mail your details (as shown on the form) to me, including a contact telephone number, or just send it to Flitwick Motorcycles, Station Road, Flitwick, Beds, MK45 1JR- we will contact you for payment and set up your membership- it's really that simple!
Right. First of all I must apologise for the length of time since my last report. I have been very busy for the past few months. A lot has been sorted though and I can’t wait to get going now, it's now only 6 weeks until the first round at Brands Hatch.... As you have probably heard I have signed to ride with Ian Lougher and team Blackhorse Yamaha, riding 2008 Yamaha R6 machinery in the new Junior Superstock series at BSB events and I'm really excited about getting started. I have been training hard and I’m fitter that ever. I'm full of confidence and we are 100% sure that with Ian and the whole team around we can make a real impression this year. We will also be riding with team Blackhorse at the international road races, the TT, Ulster GP and Northwest 200, on Supersport and Superstock Yamaha machinery. Hopefully I can use 2008 as another learning year on the roads and try to up my speeds on the bigger bikes ready for 2009. Helen and I have been over to the island twice in the past few weeks, first of all for the Manx Motorcycle Clubs annual dinner. It was a really good evening and it was interesting to talk to the people who make the events that we have enjoyed so much possible. On Saturday night we were back on the island for 'A night of motorsport memories', an event organised by Chris Heyes and it turned out to be a real success. Over £15,000 was raised for various charities and it was a really good opportunity to let my hair down and get a few laps in before the hard work really starts. It was also a good opportunity to meet some of the people that I will be racing with this year as well as being a good excuse to get away somewhere with Helen the day after Valentines.... I will be back on track again for the first time this year on Saturday at Brands Hatch then again on Sunday at Snetterton. This is the beginning of an extensive schedule that see's 6 trackdays, a three day official BSB test and 4 days at Valencia in Spain before the first round on the 4th, 5th and 6th of April. I really can’t wait to get going. I will check in again before the first round if I can fit it in between the college work, a full time job, training, testing and trying to raise further backing.....While I’m on the subject if you know ANYONE who can do ANYTHING to help please be in contact as soon as possible....
The following press release has been issued- Needless to say we are all exited and delighted! Olie is at present up to his ears in promotional launches and all the ancilliary work nescessary to get ready for the challenge, and in addition is off to the Isle of Man on Friday evening for the Annual Manx Motorcycle Club dinner, as one of the guests of honour! Olie's own write up on his new signing will follow as soon as possible, following his return from the Island on Monday- watch this space! Olie Linsdell signs for Team Black Horse Yamaha Flitwick's motorcycle race ace Olie Linsdell will ride for the Yamaha UK official road-race Team in 2008. Olie will be riding at the BSB British Superstock rounds in the all new Junior 600cc Superstock series, with the full backing and support of Team Black Horse Yamaha, under Ian's guidance. Olie, just 20 years old, an apprentice engineer with Bedford based Wichita Clutch, had a phenomenal 2007 race season, winning the international North West 200 400 race, the youngest ever to do so, and setting a new race record in the process. He also took two wins in the Isle of Man Manx GP, entering the History books by setting a new record for the largest winning margin in the history of the Manx races. Linsdell said: "I'm delighted to be involved with Ian and Team Blackhorse. They are one of the largest and long established teams in the paddock, and their wealth of experience will be invaluable to myself as rider on his way up. Olie is currently looking for additional sponsors to assist with the additional expense of the step up, contact his through his website at www.olielinsdellracing.co.uk if you think you can help. Thought I had better bring you all up to speed with what I've been up to the past month or so. We are currently in the discussion stages with a number of teams with regards to next years plans. The most exciting of which would see me riding in the newly announced Junior Superstock category at BSB as well as the three major International Road Races - the TT, the Northwest 200 and the Ulster GP. I have been over to Milan to see our great friend and supporter Giovanni Cabassi and his amazing MAD Exhibition. Hopefully we will be again riding his Paton next year but mainly in europe at IHRO meetings and hopefully a round of the Italian Championship at Vallelunga. While we were there he said he would like us to test his new bike at some point - the legendary Britten V-twin! Combine this with the Saxon Triumph and the Paton 500 2-stroke and it will be a once in a lifetime opportunity! I have started my winter training regime and aim to be in the Gym every other day with some motocross at the weekends. I need to be fitter next year if i'm to tackle the mountain course on a big bike and compete in the longer national races. This week the TT unveiled their 2008 advertising campaign and I'm lucky enough to have been included! Watch out for the advert in national and Motorcycle press in the coming months and download the PDF file by clicking on the link below. It makes a good read! I'm currently working on this years portfolio pack and am aiming to send it out within the next 2 - 3 weeks. Speak to you again after the NEC on the 1st December!
The Final Round! CRMC Race Of The Year. The final race of my 2007 season was to be at Croft on the Paton for the Race of the Year. It was a very important meeting because I was trailing Mike Smith in the race for the National 500 title by just one point and therefore had a chance of my first championship! The club races were to be used as practice for the big National race on Sunday and Andy Molnar had very kindly agreed to lend me his 350 Manx Norton to get some more track time. The weather forecast was good for the weekend which was a bit strange for Croft but nobody was complaining! Practice was first up and I was glad to find that the Paton's power had returned after going back to Italy for a refresh due to the 'big end' incident at Snetterton. Croft is a circuit that I usually go well at and seems to suit the Paton so I was confident ahead of the afternoons races. The little 350 also felt perfect and I knew I could do a good job with some more time. The first race was a 500cc Club race on the Paton. Lea once again managed two very fast opening laps and pulled a bit of a gap while I settled into second. I managed to reel him back in and was fairly close on the last lap. Going into the complex for the final time I caught a back marker at the wrong moment and Mike Smith managed to squeeze through for second. I wasn't too worried as there was plenty of pace still to come. Next up was the first of the 350 club races. I was drawn in grid position 8 which was better than expected since I had not done any of the 350 club races before. After a very poor start that saw me 12th into the first corner I managed to up the pace and work back to 6th position posting the 5th fastest lap of the race. I was fairly happy with this result but needed to figure out how to get the thing off the line. There had been a lot of stoppages during the day so the second 500 race turned out to be the last of the day. I got a really good start and got my head down to pass Lea on the second lap. I can put very fast lap times in on my own but struggle to replicate them whilst around others. Once I hit the front I started lapping 2 seconds inside the lap record at 1.32.2. Lea could manage a 1.32.7 and my main rival for the national title was struggling further at 1.33.2. Things were looking good as I crossed the 7 tenths before Lea and 3.5 before Mike. The 350 race would be run in the morning at the beginning of the timetable. I was understandably confident on Sunday morning. Croft has a real problem with noise and therefore aren't allowed to start racing until 12.00 on a Sunday. This gave the club time to run a charity push bike race around the circuit - in which I entered Dads 1930's Royal enfield much to the amusement of most of the paddock ....Unfortunately the chain came off while fighting for the lead on the run into the first corner so I will have to wait until next year to win the big one! The 350 race was before any practice and it felt odd going straight into a race situation. I had talked to Andy about getting a good launch and it paid off holding 6th into the first corner. The race was only 4 laps but I managed a 4th place finish and the third fastest time. If I could keep making these improvements it would be okay by the end of the weekend.... Race one was the last club race on the Paton. As it was the last contest of the season it is given the title 'Race Of The Year' with a separate trophy and Garland. This time I got a fantastic start and didn't let Lea get away on the first lap. I passed him at the start of lap two and once again got my head down and produced another string of fast laps together to take another second off the record at 1.31.2. I finished 1.7 seconds ahead of Lea and a reassuring 4.1 in front of Mike. The bike was setup perfectly and I couldn't be happier going into the national race, knowing that I had the pace and probably had a mental advantage over Mike. As the afternoon went on the weather started to look slightly dodgy and sure enough it started to spot with rain about half an hour before the national race. I was angry because although I had fantastic pace I knew it would mean nothing in the wet as I had never ridden the Paton in anything other than bright sunshine. By the time we were sent out to the grid it was very greasy. I knew I just had to push outside my limits to ovoid letting Lea and Mike getting away in the first few laps. It was very slippy but I managed to pass Lea for the lead half way round. I had a quick look behind after a few laps to see no Lea and a fair gap back to Mike. All I had to do was keep my head and keep and eye on Dad and Merv' hand signals to maintain the gap. I crossed the line to finish 1.7 seconds ahead of Mike and take my first championship victory! It turned out that Lea had fallen off trying to join me up front. What a brilliant end to the season. was very happy that I had managed to win even in my unfavoured damp conditions. My final outing of the year was on Andy's 350 in the race of the year. By this time it was well and truly soaking wet. Mike pulled in after the warm up lap and I managed to get a good start and Passed Lea and Phil Sharp for the Lead. From then on I never looked back and comfortably lapped at between 4 and 8 seconds faster than anybody else to win by an amazing 44 seconds! The avon tyre's really were brilliant in the wet and I have to thank Andy for the loan of the bike. Its such fun to ride and I was pleased to reward him with the race of the year! So my first year of Classic racing has ended in the biggest championship in the country - the National 500. I couldn't have asked or hoped for more and have a lot of people that I need to thank. First of all Mum, Dad, Dave and Helen for their help and support through the hard times. It wouldn't be possible without a strong family and a Dad that knows so much about classic bikes! We couldn't have achieved what we did without Merv for his fantastic mechanic duties this year and Sharpy for his pit signals, talks, driving, the list goes on! I thank you for being at every round. Hanson building products and Wheeler Electrical have also been of massive help this year along with my other sponsors and everyone else that has provided support for our campaign. It goes without saying that the biggest thank you has to go to Giovanni Cabassi, Paulo, Roberto and everybody else at Paton for the loan of their fantastic bike. Lets hope this is the first of many victories and we can once again make the Paton name great in the Racing world! Roll on 2008!
Olie Linsdell on his way to Victory Croft 2007 Pictures courtesy of Russell Lee Sport-pics.co.uk Brands Hatch Indy Young Guns September 07. Off to Brands Hatch for the final round of the Triumph Triple Challenge / Michelin Young Guns series, it seems no time at all since the first round in April! I had been working hard in the gym since the disappointment of the previous round and my head was in a far better frame of mind. I wanted to go out with a bang!! I would also be riding Dad's Hub center steered 750 creation that I had ridden at the Silverstone track day earlier in the year, having entered in the prestigious Champion of Brands race. For this reason we had decided to do our first Friday test day of the year! It would also be an ideal opportunity to try out a few things on the Triumph. So long as the weather held.... Dad and I went up early on friday morning so we could miss the traffic. The clouds were looking very threatening although the forecast had said it should be dry until midday. First up was the Triumph and I just tried to ease myself into the weekend with a few laps. There was plenty of time to up the pace later on. I went out and did a few laps on the GTS immediately after and was pleased with the performance of the, lets face it, odd looking bike..... After this session it started to rain. I did a further session in the damp conditions on each bike, then one more on full wets (this was the first time I had used wets for 2 years!) By this time the heaven's had opened and rivers were forming down Paddock Hill bend. The rest of the weekend had been forecast as dry so it was decided a pointless (and risky) exercise to stay out on track. The rain continued through the afternoon and into the evening. Saturday dawned damp and first qualifying was held on wets. I was still re-learning wets after two years off and managed to post a pleasing 54.1 in the wet conditions, putting me in a provisional 5th on the grid. I knew that there was plenty more pace to come if the races were to be held in similar conditions. By the time it came round to warm up for the Champion of Brands it had started to try nicely. It was too late to change wheels therefore things started to get a bit slippy on the overheating wet tyre's towards the end of the 10 minute session..... Second qualifying was entirely dry on the Triumph and I was really up for continuing my excellent qualifying record in the series. After a few laps I had scrubbed in the new tyre's and pushed on, going past first Michael Booth then championship leader Jimmy Dye. I got a P1 board on lap four and then improved every lap until I came in on lap ten. I had done a 50.210 s lap and had taken my 4th pole position (out of 6 rounds contested) by a few hundredths from Steven Smith, who was certainly riding well. We were in turn half a second up on Rob Guinan and Jimmy Dye. The next outing was aboard the 750 in the first 20 minute Qualifying session. we had fited a new set of slicks and went out with the aim of qualifying for the A group. There was a huge 77 bike entry with the first 38 bikes after qualifying going through to Group A and the rest contesting group B. After I had scrubbed in the tyre's and got a feel for slicks I started trying to up my pace- a very different bike from the 675! I was really struggling with next to no feel from the rear end and trying to cope with the bike spinning up coming out of every corner. As I got used to this happening the times came down and on the last lap of the mammoth 19 lap session I posted a 50.8 second lap to place me a pleasing 16th position. After having a 'Debrief' with dad it was discovered that he had wound the compression right in to take a note of the settings but failed to wind it back - affectively making it as hard as possible...... The first race of the weekend was the Superpole on the Triumph. Starting from pole I made a fair start (by my standards) and was third on the first lap. Jimmy Dye had managed to do his usual disappearing act on the first lap and I was left to chase Michael Booth who had also had a great first lap. I ended up in third position and was fairly happy with my ride, I knew I had the pace to win the main races on the Sunday. I also prefer starting from the inside at Brands and actually consider pole to be a disadvantage. The second qualifying session on the GTS provided more feel from the rear, but was slower than before. The track was quite greasy and nobody improved their earlier times, lots of rubber on the track with the Sidecars running! Once all the sessions had been combined I ended up 32nd on the grid, in the A group! The warm up on the Triumph was used to scrub in a new set of Tyre's and the GTS saw me trying one of Danny Imbergs old Bridgestone slicks to see if it offered any more grip. Race one was the first Triumph outing and I managed to get the best start of the year and actually make a place into the first corner!!! Shock horror.... I had a few moments chasing Jimmy Dye and had started closing him down when the red flags came out on the 8th lap, following an accident. It seemed I had been dragging Steven Smith along with me and we had both posted a 49.9 second lap on the final circuit, although it was not counted in the results because of the red flag. I was happy with second and was going to go out of my way to make the final race of the year mine along with the first. The first Champion of brands race finally got away after a second lap incident saw a red flag come out. This was a shame because a brilliant start had seen me make it inside the top 20 off the line! The second attempt was not as good and I was last into Druids. I picked the pace up and soon found myself chasing down a large group of 10 riders battling from about 15th - 25th position. I caught them rapidly but struggled to pass them in the remaining few laps. The end result was a solid 28th position (not bad from 77) and a time of 50.5 seconds. We made a few adjustments for the next race. The last Triumph race of the year was definately going to be a corker. Jimmy Dye had already secured the championship but second, third and fourth were still up for grabs. Whatever order Steve Smith, Michael Booth and James Wainwright finished in the race would be the order of the championship. Add to this myself and Rob Guinan and there was sure to be a good race! As three of us entered Druids side by side on lap one I knew my prediction was somewhere about right.....For the whole race the previously mentioned riders passed and re passed each other in what was the most enjoyable race of my career. More than once did I go into druids fifth or sixth and come out second!! On the last lap it was mayhem and I entered clearways 4th and crossed the line 2nd! In fact all 6 of us finished within a second. Believe me, its going to make good telly!! We finished a thoroughly enjoyable first year of the TTC with an open topped car ride around the famous circuit for the top three and it was nice to see such a good crowd who had obviously loved the action that had unfolded in front of them. All that was left was 15 more laps of the 2007 MRO campaign on the GTS. Another fair start saw me more in the pack than before. I found it quite difficult to find anywhere to go in the first few laps. I haven't started 32nd on the grid since probably my first ever race and wasn't used to having so many people around. It was chaos!! After it settled down I started picking a few people off until Danny's old slick finally gave up the ghost a few laps from the end. I finished 24th which both myself and Dad were very pleased with. Another encouraging point was that my final lap was 50.2, on knackered tyre's so perhaps there is more to come from the early 90's creation....? Overall it was a solid and thoroughly enjoyable weekend that gives me the much needed confidence boost before the all important CRMC championship decider at Croft next weekend and on to next year. If any of you can make it up to Croft, please do. We need all the support we can get to try and Bring both myself and Paton their first Championships!!
It was back to Snetterton for the Second time in a fortnight and the last time this year for the penultimate round of the Michelin Young Guns series. It was the circuit that I had dominated at earlier in the year but I knew it would not be that easy this time... It was the first time I had ridden a modern bike on a short circuit since the Manx and I thought I would struggle slightly. Right from the first qualifying session it was clear that I had suffered by missing the two rounds while I was contesting the Manx GP. I struggled to get back into the groove and when I did try and push I kept going in very hard on the front end, only to scrub all my speed in the middle of the corner and fail to get back onto the throttle. All this ended up with a very disappointing speed of 1.14.9 and 6th position on the provisional grid. To put this into context I had done a 1.12.4 on my first ride on the 675 in March. We changed a few things for the second 15 minute qualifying session and were finally experimenting with the lower tyre pressures that everybody had been running very low all year (24psi!?). I was once again making little headway into my times until I pulled the pin on the lst lap and produced my best circuit of the weekend with a 1.12.4 to put me fourth on the grid. The tyre pressures were better (we had only gone as far as 27psi) and we went slightly lower for the superpole race. I got a fairly poor start and was sixth for the first lap. After a couple of laps the race was stopped because of a fall resulting in LOTS of oil at the esses. We waited around while it was cleared and had two warm up laps to try and get some heat back into the tyre's. When the race finally got going again it was a near carbon copy of the first, slotting into sixth and being very cautious over the masses of oil rode to a uneventful 5th place finish at the end of the 5 lap sprint. The lower tyre pressures did not work this time and the bike was harder to turn and would not hold a line on the throttle. It had also produced far worse wear compared with our usual pressures. It didn't get much better on Sunday. I was to start the first race from fifth on the grid and I managed to get a reasonable launch and held position into the first corner. Onto the back straight I got such a tow from the four bikes in front of me that I found myself going about 5mph faster than normal! I tried very hard to get the thing stopped and only just had to stand it up and take to the grass. As I did so I felt an almighty thud as Ricky Chadwick hit me. As I hung on over the bumps there was another bike and rider overtaking me cartwheeling through the air. I rejoined the track in last position and was sure that it would be red flagged. When it became apparent that it would not I got my head down and tried to make up some lost ground and managed to fight my way back up to 9th position at the flag. The last race was probably my worst ride so far this year. No matter how hard I tried I just kept getting 1.13.7 on my board. This made me very frustrated and I made mistakes. I ended up in 9th position and not happy about the weekend at all. I had a lethargic feeling the whole weekend and was very tired after a hard few weeks. No excuses though, I know that I have the pace and I must do better at the final round in a few weeks. Everybody remembers the last race!! We were back on the short circuits on the Paton at the CRMC race of aces on 8/9th September. I had high hopes for the weekend as it was a track that the Paton could finally stretch its legs! Sharpy and I went up on Friday afternoon while David and Dad followed up early on Saturday morning. David Syzmanski was also parading the second Paton on the Sunday as well as having a hospitality box for employees and customers. I was given grid number seven for the first race, which was effectively three because we were sharing the grid with a Scandinavian club who were holding their final round in England! I got a reasonable start and was about fourth coming round for the first lap. Lea Gourlay very nearly highsided coming out of the chicane - a common mistake because of cold left hand side of the tyre at Snetterton - and took to the grass. I settled into second behind Luke Notton until he fell off at the chicane. I was left in the lead a led for the rest until I was very badly baulked coming out of the bombhole by a 350 Goldstar who used NO track. I had to overtake him on the right hand white line - coming out of a right hand corner!!! This let Lea Gourlay come past for the win - he said afterwards he was laughing at how doing the right thing had lost me the race... The second race was a repeat of the first. Lea won from myself and Vernon Glashier third. There had been allot of oil dropped from the other races and we were all struggling for grip. I also believe that Snetterton is not as grippy as it used to be - Lea and I were nearly 2 seconds off his lap record, but pushing very hard. I felt that the bike was not as fast as it should be and was having quite a few problems with my brakes getting hot and the lever coming right back to the bar. Sundays first club race had looked to be going the same way, with Lea out front and me sitting in a comfortable second until I went down the gears as normal at the end of the Revvet straight only to hear a horrible noise when I let the clutch out. As I tipped into the left hander the rear end broke away. Luckily I managed to catch it on the clutch (If you look at my pictures i'm ALWAYS covering the clutch - 2 year of riding the Aprilia 125......) and take to the grass. Upon further investigation we found that the engine had run a big end. Luckily we had the other Paton and we now had some work to do to change the front end, gearing etc, to comply with the classic rules. The second club race going to be a practice to get used to the bike before the important national race later on. I got a flyer of a start and was into the lead into the first corner. I led comfortably and the bike was feeling back to how it should be - fast! At the bomb hole the bike jumped out of gear which allowed Mike Smith and Lea past. It did it again coming out of the chicane then at the end of the straight the brake came right back to he bar - after only two laps. I pulled in as the brake really wasn't safe and I didn't want to hurt the engine by missing gears with the national coming up. The final race of the weekend was the national. I once again got the holeshot and led for the first half a lap. The same thing happened with the gears and I'm sure it was getting worse as the race went on. The brake was much better and I was sitting in a comfortable third. Mike Smith tried a little too hard and fell off in a spectacular accident at Corams- bike and rider soaring over the tyre wall! This left me with second place and just one point off the lead in the championship going into he final round at Croft - have a look at the championship points! Close- the final round should be interesting........
Friday Ultra Lightweight Race. The final part of the Manx GP adventure was to be the Ultra lightweight race on the trusty 400 Yamaha. It was a race that I had a good chance of winning if I could up my pace and join the 4 or 5 other riders that were very close to the top of practice leaderboards. The race was delayed from the scheduled start of 10.15 first to 11, then to 12 and eventually 1.15 because of low cloud on the mountain. I had been given number 41 and was pleased that there was nobody at 42. This meant I would have some clear track to set off on. It was dry and I decided to push hard from the start, conscious of advice that Dad had given me - Isle of Man races are usually won on the first lap.... By the time I reached Glen Helen I had caught and passed the pair in front of me which meant I was going pretty well and had at least ten seconds on that pair. By the time I had got to the gooseneck I was up with a group of 5 400's including Andrew Kirkwood and Maria Costello. It was raining lightly on the mountain which meant it required a bit more respect than normal. Unfortunately Sharpy and David had not expected me round so early and they missed me with the signal board. This meant I would have to wait another lap for an indication of positions, lap times and gaps etc. It turned out that lap one saw me leading Tim Sayers by 23 seconds with a speed of 106.373. I got a board at the gooseneck on lap two that indicated I had around a 30 second lead, although I knew this would only have been from Glen Helen. At the end of the lap Dad, Merv and Helen, who was making her debut in the pit, did a brilliant job and I left the Pits with a 41 second lead over Tim Sayers and a lap speed of 107.643. I felt that i still hadn't realised my potential speed on the 400, so continued to ride hard. Lap three saw me continue to push and even with the pitstop I managed 105.901 to stretch the lead to 1 minute and 13 seconds, still over Tim Sayers. On the final lap I decided to try for the lap record while still trying to be kind to the engine. All was going well and I continued only revving the engine to 14,000 instead of 15. Then it began raining slightly harder on the mountain and the fog begun to return around the bungalow, so I had to back off a little. At the end of the final lap I had managed 108.922mph and won my second Manx GP race of the week by 1 minute 56.14 seconds, averaging 107.1 for the race. Tim Sayers came in second, and Keith Costello third. However the post race ceremony was marred by controversy because after the top ten 400's had finished the race was red flagged due to deteriating conditions, and therefore final results were declared from the end of lap three. This meant that Joe Phillips had been promoted to 3rd instead of Keith Costello even though both men had completed the scheduled 4 laps!! Fortunately the result was reversed when an appeal from Keith was upheld. The fact that I won two races in my debut TT course meeting means that, due to a gentleman's agreement that states that no winners of a MGP can return (with trhe exception of a newcomers race) unless on a classic, I will have to either ride the Paton next year or move onto the TT - Perhaps even both...... It has been a brilliant experience for it to finally have been my turn and we have exceeded all expectations that anybody had, myself included. The two race wins are a great testament to how hard Dad, Merv, Sharpy, Mum, Helen and everybody else who was there supporting have worked in the last few months and during the fortnight itself. Its a huge team effort and achievement for us all. I also need to thank Peter Wheeler of Wheeler Electrical for the 675 triumph, Hanson Building Products, Flitwick Motorcycles and Giovanni Cabassi of CR&S and CMM for their continued support this year as well as Held gloves, Forcefield Body Armour, MJK, Putoline Oils, Feridax and Tuitus Media (You can breathe now....) I am back on the short circuits at the weekend at Snetterton on the Paton. Hopefully I'll see lots of you there! The second race of the week was to be the Junior Manx GP on the Wheeler Electrical 675 Triumph. Practice had gone well with laps of 110mph well within my limits. I had decided that a good aim would be for a top twenty position and to average around 110mph for the race. I would also be upset if I did not manage a 112-113mph lap. Because of my performance on Monday and my good practice times I had been moved from number 55 to 48. I wanted to try and push on during the first lap and for the fist time had used tyre warmers. Immediately I felt at home on the bike and pushed harder than I had done during practice week. Towards the end of lap one I was started to get very tired and didn't even think I would be able to finish the race! I relaxed a bit as I went onto the second lap and immediately felt better. My first lap had been just over 113mph from a standing start. At the end of lap two I had to stop for fuel and even with the slowing down for the pit stop I had done 19.54 - About 113.8mph. Lap 3 Included the pit stop so was 20.53 - about 108.5. The final lap was to be the only flying la of the race and I pushed quite hard. Often in the Isle Of Man the harder you try the slower you go, and i missed a majority of the apex's at the slower corners (Ramsey Hairpin, Gooseneck, Signpost, Governers Bridge etc). It was still enough for a 114.5 mph lap and average speed of 112.354 for the whole race. It was also good enough for 13th place overall and best newcomer - by just 0.67s! I was very happy with my performance as I was quite comfortable at that pace and Believe I could go quicker with more fitness. The high speed changes of direction are very difficult on the upper body. The last race of our 2007 Manx GP adventure will be the ultra lightweight on Friday morning. Hopefully we can repeat Mondays performance, although it is sure to be a bit more of a challenge!! Speak then The Weather forcast for Mondays races was cloudy in the morning, and possability of showers later in the day, so everything was looking good. My first race was to be the Newcomers C aboard the Hanson Building products Yamaha FZR400, a four lap race over the 37 mile TT course.. I was slightly apprehensive after the problems with the engine because it looked as though I was in with a god chance if I did not get black flagged or something stupid. We were rushed up to the line and before I knew it I was off. At the Manx you set off in pairs and my partner got the drop on me although I had got back past by Ago's leap. I pushed on quite hard during the first half of the lap and Sharpie's pit board at the Gooseneck told me I had a minute and 30 seconds over the second place man....at that point it started to rain. The second lap had rain flags on almost every corner and as I came into the pits with a 130 second lead I could barely see anything through my visor. Lap three was horrible with a few places being properly wet, and visibility was poor in places, but we had chosen the correct tyre's with dunlop intermediates! By lap three I had a huge lead and I set off onto the last lap just needing to get home. It had started to dry at this point and I pushed a bit harder. The result was a winning margin of 13 minutes and 36 seconds............ The largest winning margin ever in the Manx GP! My opening lap was 105.7 from a standing start with the rain and I averaged 102.8 for the race despite the horrible weather in the middle. I was very happy and to cap it all off Dad had one of his best rides I had ever seen to finish third in the senior classic and lap at 107.9! I still have a lot to learn! Wednesday will be the Junior race and then I will be gunning for glory in the ultra lightweight on Friday. Keep you posted. After a morning at Jurby trying to make the 400 smoke (and failing), Saturday was to be the last evening of practice and it was decided that I would spend a lap following Dad on the Paton to try and pick up a few tricks. The weather was overcast but dry. The first lap went okay just following behind Dad which helped me to answer a few question that I had about places that I wasn't 100% sure that what I was doing was right. , Dad pulled in at the end of the first lap while I carried on for a flyer. All was going well until I began loosing oil pressure at Sulby bridge. The bike still seemed to be going okay but I thought I had better stop before I did any damage. This was frustrating as I had to just sit an watch the remainder of practice. The 600's had only done half a lap when the session was red flagged because of poor visibility on the mountain. At least I would get home for an early dinner! Merv and Dad worked very hard and late into the evening and found a problem that they assured me was the route cause of both the smoking, lack of oil pressure and oil consumption- so hopefully everything will be okay on the day. Oh and as a footnote Dad and I were first and second through the speedtrap at Sulby tonight! Friday evening would be my first chance to do 2 laps on both the bikes and to try and get some true pace out of the 400. 400 was out first and I set off slowly and built up to a good, but not all out pace. I came through for a flier and decided to try and really push and see what sort of time I could manage. The first lap was 104.2mph from a standing start and the second lap was going alot better when I got black flagged at bungalow as the bike had been reported smoking. After a chat with the marshals and a check over the bike was found to be dry and I as allowed to continue. This lap was still 100.8 so who knows what might have been? The Stewards said afterwards that if it was seen smoking in the race I would have been black flagged jus the same. Something would have to be done. Next up was the 675. Again I was just going to use this session as more track time and I rode round at a comfortable pace. The second lap was spent battling with another newcomer on a 750 suzuki and turned out to be 109.8mph without too much trouble. This upped my confidence with the bike and I have set my targets as top 20 for the race and around 112mph. Saturday will be my last chance to perfect the bikes and gain some more course knowledge. Helen and I had done a lap on the FZ6 during the day and had found that visibility was down to about 50 yards on the mountain. I was surprised when the first session got off pretty much on time. The Ultra Lightweight and Classic machines had been given the first session to make up for the disappointment of last night. I set off slowly as the bike was very cold because we forgot to start it early enough..... After Crosby I upped the pace and was feeling very comfortable at the faster pace. I caught and passed established classic stars such as Johnny Barton and Ryan Farqhuar and learn alot from the time spent behind them. The closer I got to Ramsey the more the cloud was closing in and it became apparent when I got up the mountain that the fog was still a huge problem. Corners would come out of nowhere and the visibility was down to nearly zero. Going at no more than about 50% pace I simply 'got over' the mountain and was relieved when the fog dispersed at Kate's cottage. The session was red flagged at Governers Bridge so I did not accelerate over the line. This meant I was very pleased to be only a couple of seconds slower than Monday from a standing start and with all the time lost on the mountain. I'm sure that my pace on the 400 would now be around 104-105 and I cant wait to do a few more laps and make it a reality. Obviously because of the fog the 600 session was cancelled. We now only have Friday and Saturday practice sessions left so please pray for some sun! Speak tomorrow Last night was the first evening that newcomers were allowed to practice with the senior and junior machines. This meant there was an opportunity for me to do 2 laps on both the 675 and the 400. Weather conditions looked brilliant from the grandstand but david had rung in saying that there was some mist on the mountain. We went off first on the Wheeler Electrical 675. We hadn't made any real changes from the night before apart from a few clicks of compression. Everything felt fine with the bike and I was going noticeable faster than before. My second lap was very busy traffic wise and I got stuck behind someone from quarry bends all the way to ramsey. Even though I was much faster than him it is so difficult to get past when the roads are so narrow. It is also a problem when they have a faster bike, making it impossible to pass down sulby straight. A few other big mistakes caused by inexperience saw me happy with my lap speed of 106.944mph. I'm sure that without the hold up it would have been nearer 108 and we will aim for that tomorrow evening. We were meant to go out in the second session on the 400 but unfortunately it was cancelled due to low cloud on the mountain. This means we really need to do a couple of laps tomorrow evening and will be aiming to up the pace to around 104-105mph. We have already managed to qualify everything and are still fastest in newcomers C by about 2mph. The time on the 600 makes me 6th fastest newcomer on a 600 which I'm pretty happy about considering I'm a night down with the bike and have a standard engine. Speak tomorrow. We needed to start getting some miles on the 675 and I had prepared myself for a completely different ride to the 400. After the crash and very nervous nature of the bike, and several chats with people such as Paul Dobbs and Richard from Maxton it was decided that the Michelin's were most likely the cause and that we should use Metzeler Racetech's. I could tell almost instantly that this was the case and the bike had been transformed into the stable machine that gave me the confidence I needed to think about what I'm doing rather than the bike. The course was entirely different on the 675, with corners that were nowhere near corners on the 400 forcing sharp intakes of breath when you appeared at them 20mph faster than before! I had made the mistake of wearing a dark visor and really did struggle to pick out the kerbs under the trees - not good! It also had the affect of making everywhere look wet. When all is considered I was pretty happy with my speed of 104.096mph as it would have put me third 600 newcomer the previous evening when everybody else rode their 600 for the first time. I'm sure here is plenty more to come when I can see where I'm going! Tomorrow night see's the sessions allowing newcomers in both sessions so i should be able to do two on each bike. I will keep you posted. After the weather had seen that saturdays practice session was cancelled I was anxious for the adventure to begin on Monday evening as planned. Luckily the weather was fine and dry, ideal conditions for a newcomers tentative first steps on the TT course! The schedule saw newcomers doing a speed controlled sighting lap with experienced riders, then the senior and junior machines (with no newcomers) followed by the classic, ultra lightweight and all newcomers. As both of our bikes had to be used in the same session it was decided to just concentrate on the 400 and run the engine in and get some miles under my belt. The speed controlled lap was a bit of a waste of time as the pace was not hot enough to learn anything and I spent a majority of it looking at the back of the person in front, trying to ovoid hitting them when they braked randomly in the middle of sulby straight! The next session was the real one and i spent the first lap running in the refreshed motor. I felt comfortable and knew what was coming next on any point of the course. The 400 is such a lovely little bike, and I had enough time to think about what dad or Johnny Barton had said on the tours. I took absolutely no risk and didn't rev the bike hard and was very please to discover that I had lapped at 101.1mph on only my second lap of the place! This made me fastest newcomer C by some 1 minute 21 seconds or 5mph. That'll do! Dad had a bit of a nightmare session with a faulty tyre disintegrating, with lumps of rubber the size of a ten pence piece coming off. Tomorrow we will try and get a couple of laps in on the Wheeler Electrical 675. From wednesday onwards I will be able to practice both bikes every evening as newcomers will be allowed out with the main Junior and Senior sessions. We arrived at King William College in the Isle of Man at 11.30 last night after a VERY rough crossing from Liverpool. Today we had a busy (and soggy) day, with bikes to prepare, briefings to attend, and a guided coach tour for newcomers. This evenings practice has been cancelled due to the horrible weather conditions, and tonight's schedule has been transferred to Monday evening. It looks like I'll have to wait a few more days!! I will keep you all posted on my progress as the week continues.. CRMC Cadwell Park – 4th/5th August
The 4th and 5th of August was the first of two weekends that were to be spent at Cadwell Park immediately prior to the Manx. CRMC were the hosts and I would be defending my lead in the Summerfield 500 National series and hoping for some strong results in the 4 club races. I began work early on the Friday so we had enough time to get to Cadwell and have an afternoon of testing to try and get a good setting for the new Maxton fork internals. Unfortunately we were stopped from testing as the bike was too noisy. It is so frustrating, because we had done as much as we could. We had huge ugly silencers, we made up some restrictors and re-packed the pipes with more or less packing. Nothing works. The rules really do lend themselves to the singles. Having such a short stroke engine and gear driven cams make it almost impossible- but we will keep trying. Running at 6,300RPM means that the engine is sounding so rough and nothing like what it does on the track, as was proved on the Saturday when a number of bikes that had passed noise tests at 103db were far noisier on the track, as tested by the meter. It looked like David was going to get lucky with the weather again in his second meeting. Saturday dawned dry and bright. Practice went okay, with only a change of gearing needed for race one, which was held almost immediately. I got away from the line well and settled into second place behind Gourlay where I stayed for the remainder. It became clear that I would suffer from arm pump again on the physical circuit. Lea and I were nearly a second faster than anybody else, posting 1.41.3 and 1.41.4 respectively. I knew there was a fair bit of pace still to come and was confident going into race two. Once again I got away well and was right with Lea coming round to complete lap one. I closed on Lea going into Hall Bends, only for his handlebar to snap coming over the rise which saw him crash out. I got my head down and pulled a few seconds lead on the pack. I was maintaining a fair pace but not really pushing when I made a stupid mistake in the last lap, and got a false neutral hooking up for the final corner, barn. I had so much time that I could have thought about it, stood it up and carefully matched the road speed to the revs. Unfortunately in the heat of the moment I just banged it up a gear, locked the rear wheel in the process, and then, for the second time this season found myself soaring above the bike in a highside like accident. As soon as I hit the floor I knew it was not good and I was sure that I had suffered a broken collarbone. A trip to Louth hospital resulted in confirmation of a separated shoulder and damaged ligaments. My weekend was over before it had really begun….. A stupid accident at a stupid time. I now face a battle to be fit for the Manx which starts exactly 14 days after the incident. I have been to see Brian Simpson in Ipswich which has helped and I’m confident that I will be okay for the start of practice week. Thanks for everyone’s help at the weekend; Dad, Mum, Helen, Merv, Janet, Jack, Alex, Andy Molnar (For again lending his 350 Manx Norton – Shame I didn’t get to ride it….) and anyone who cheered me on- and well done to David who finished the race, after I crashed just in front of him! I will be skipping the Cadwell Park round of the Triumph Triple Challenge to concentrate on getting fit for the Manx. I will try to find an internet connection and keep you all posted on progress from the island- if your over look out for me in the paddock! Brands Hatch GP Michelin Young Guns. For the second meeting in a row it was off to Brands Hatch to contest in Round five of the Michelin Young Guns on the Wheeler Electrical Triumph 675, but this time on the GP circuit. The weather was looking very dodgy in the week leading up to the meeting and it was looking as though I would finally get to try out the wets… Sharpy very kindly took Helen, I and the lorry up on Friday afternoon and we were set up by half past 5 ready for the morning. The morning dawned dry but very overcast. It soon became apparent that it would be necessary to push my times hard in the first qualifying as it was very likely to rain by the second. As usual most of the main contenders had been testing on Friday. I decided to try and spend no more than two laps familiarising myself with the circuit (You hardly ever get to go on the full GP circuit), then really try and push for a time. I had a huge moment when I went down too many gears at Stirling’s and what started as a graceful Nicky Hayden style slide into the corner went slightly overboard…. After that everything went smoothly and I continued to go harder, ending the session on provisional pole position with a 1.36.657. This put me a few tenths ahead of Steven Smith and a whole second clear of Boothy in third. It was also quite pleasing to see Jimmy Dye qualify thirteenth, although he did have an off on Friday which may have contributed! Sure enough by the time second qualifying came round it had rained. The track had begun to dry but it was clear that nobody would be able to beat the morning’s times. Those sort of conditions are usually terrible for me but I rode round and managed to do the third fastest time at only eight hundredths slower than the quickest man, James Wainwright. By the time superpole came round it had dried fully. After my success in the King of Brands meeting a few weeks previous I decided that I needed to try and do a hot first lap and make a gap as I ride better when I can set my own pace. I have always thought that pole position at brands is more of a disadvantage than anything as you have to beat the whole front row cleanly by at least a bike length otherwise they stuff it up the inside. Steve and I went into paddock together and I came out second best. I tried to push hard and went into Surtees aiming to get a good drive down the next straight. I realised that going in quite so hot on the first lap was a mistake on the modern tyres when four riders crept up the inside as I struggled to keep the bike on the black stuff. By the time I had gassed it back up another 2 had driven past. 6 positions in one corner is not good in a 5 lap race! I then proce |
