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Hi everyone here is the latest update from Oulton Park last weekend.
Friday started well with me just familiarising myself with the track again which didn’t take long as we have already been to Oulton this year and with it being my favourite track I was enjoying being back on the bike. Unfortunately it was drizzling when my 1st practice came around and I couldn’t learn too much about the setup of the bike, even the Superbike class limited itself to only doing 8 laps for some riders during their hour long practice. Luckily 1st qualifying was dry and I posted a 1m43.8 which was not bad considering the track was very green in that all of the rubber that had been laid down by other race meetings had been washed off so there wasn’t much grip on the exits of some corners. I knew I could probably knock at least 0.5 of a second off that time if the track stayed dry and it ‘rubbered’ up and we got a dry 2nd session sadly it wasn’t to be and the heavens opened on the Saturday morning so I sat the session out completely knowing I or anyone else wouldn’t improve on their times from the Friday. Fingers were crossed by all for a dry race and we got one! I got a good start and managed to clear 4 riders and an entire row in front of me on the grid to arrive at the 1st corner in 20th place. I was determined not to get swamped like last time at Oulton yet my defensive riding caused its own problems in the stiff cross winds and I managed to miss two gear changes down the back straight which lost me all of my good start. I settled into a rhythm but knew something wasn’t right with the bike as on the warm up lap the front of the bike was wagging its head under power and the brakes were intermittent with their biting point in the end I had to dial the steering damper up to 6 clicks off maximum. All of this didn’t help me to ride smoothly, something crucial to a fast pace around Oulton. I ended up having a battle with my team mate Rhys Boyd but by half distance I knew I was powerless to hold him off and he passed me on the brakes where I was really suffering. I held onto the back of him until the chequered flag to finish 23rd, I was keen to find out the cause of the differing brake biting point on the lever come Parc ferme. Putting a new set of tyres on for our 2nd race of the weekend the Metzeler technician called me over when he was balancing the front wheel and pointed out a very slight buckle in the rim. It was nothing really but it was enough to have been oscillating the brake discs in between the brake pads and pushing them into the callipers so when I came to pull the brake lever the biting point would be completely different to where it was before. So one corner it would be instant, the next corner I’d pull the lever and there would be nothing. I’d pull again and the brakes would slam on with the rear wheel off the ground wagging in the air, like I said not conducive to a fast lap time. I left the tyre changing place and brought back my wet front wheel and changed the dry tyres over to that wheel and was all set to go for the race on the Sunday which was featured live on Eurosport 2. I made another good start but this time ex Factory Superbike rider Kieran Clarke decided after his bad start he would ride diagonally across the rest of the field. This resulted in him hitting my front wheel and I was lucky to stay on. Something I have watched back on the live TV coverage and it is plain to see his badly thought out move… Luckily this didn’t cost me much and I still got a good 1st lap under my belt with a much better feeling from the front of the bike with the different wheel and better feeling brakes. I got into a good battle with Stu Wilson and we swapped 21st and 22nd place all race long more times than I can remember but the timing sheets later told me it was no less than 7 times… A great battle but local boy Stu won. I was still happy with my result as my lap times were a lot quicker than with the bad wheel in the bike and it was a very enjoyable race. My team mate Rhys Boyd fared less well. He caught Stu and me during the race and in trying to push on hard to pass us he managed to highside right behind me live on TV with him flying through the air Jorge Lorenzo style. He came out of it battered and bruised but luckily is okay other than that, but his bike fared less well. For this reason and a financial one Rhys and I have decided to sit out the long haul up to Scotland and Knockhill in 2 weeks time so the next time I will be out will be at Cadwell Park in 4 weeks time. I may try and enter the Castle Coombe Superbike meeting in 2 weeks time as it is closer (down the M4 near Bristol) and keeps me race ready for Cadwell.
Cadwell details are below as usual. I’m looking forward to that weekend as I have had some track time there already this year and maybe we will even have some hot English summer weather as well.
Michael #72
Cadwell Weather http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=1597&links http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/em/lincoln_forecast_weather.html
How to get to Oulton http://www.motorsportvision.co.uk/cadwell-park/find-us.asp#cadwell-park
Results and Live Timing http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=major&season=2008&series=BSB&event=races
Eurosport 2 TV Schedule http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15042008/58/eurosport-2-british-superbikes-schedule.html Snetterton took place last weekend and was an interesting weekend to say the least. I had to pick the bike up from the Official Yamaha garage as I had left the bike with them after Donnington. The engine was due a refresh and before the long straights of Snetterton was an ideal time to get it done. The bike came back to me with a few bits and pieces still needing to be done and after the bodywork was fitted I was all set to go on Friday morning in 1st free practise on old tyres as is the norm.
My times (low 1m10s) were decent enough come the end of the session but the surface of the track really wasn’t offering much grip but I knew things would improve with a new tyre for qualifying so left the suspension alone and the gearing was spot on. 1st qualifying I thought I’d just set about getting into a rhythm and keeping in clear space rather than chasing any slipstream tows down the straights from other riders and with the engine feeling quick my times tumbled and I set a 1m9.3. Again, like all the other circuits so far this year, faster than I’ve ever been round Snetterton. I pitted and felt I could maybe sneak into the 1m08s so set out of pitlane again with 10 minutes of the session remaining. I quickly got up to speed and knew I had a good lap going but came out of the last chicane leading onto the start/Finish straight in 3rd instead of 2nd gear. The engine wound up quickly but not as quickly as 2nd would have. The lap wasn’t ruined, far from it as I went 1 tenth quicker and set a 1m09.2 but it should have been a high 1m08 if it weren’t for that mistake but a provisional 20th place on the gird had me in good spirits Friday night.
2nd qualifying wasn’t until midday Saturday and I went out on the same tyres as they still had some good times left in them but immediately the track felt slippery. Indeed 3 laps in Sam Warren the former British Supermotard Champion slid off his R1 onto the back straight right in front of me. The yellow flags were out again come the esses at the end of the back straight on the same lap with another rider sliding off the track so it wasn’t just me suffering from a lack of grip. By this point I knew the tyres had given their all for an outright good lap time but my times were still good running in high 1m09s, half a second off my QP1 pace but a good race pace so I set about a 16 lap stint to get a feel for the old tyres. The tyres were sliding but not overly when 4 laps later exiting my favourite last chicane I wound on the power and the rear slid out to a point where I knew I was off. You have a split second to make a decision to fight the bike and try and regain control, something I have tried before and ended up getting tangled with the bike. This time as soon as the rear of the bike swung back in once I had shut the throttle and started to pitch me off in a classic high side I decided to keep as much distance between me and the bike as possible. Unfortunately the aftermath was a smashed and written off crash helmet some seriously scuffed leathers and a damaged bike. My injuries were just a bad head ache and some all over bruising and a sprained possibly cracked thumb. Everyone rallied around and the offers of help from fellow competitors were very good of them all. We all set about dismantling the bike and had it down to a bare chassis and engine and front suspension by 6 o’clock ish and I was paying visits to the Yamaha garage asking for all the necessary spares to get me out on the Sunday for the race. A special thanks to Holly, Rhys, Tony, Steve H, Kev at Astro Kawasaki and the Virgin R1 Cup guys (for the spares) for their help in fixing the bike. By the time we finished at 01:30 in the morning I had a bike I could take out in the 10 minute warm up on Sunday morning to shake down and hopefully get set for the race which was 1st of the day at 11:30. Warm up went well and I was able to get straight back into the 1m10s laps just bedding myself back in and felt confident I could have a good race. 5 minutes before the race start I set off on the sighting lap from pit lane to come and form back up on the grid to take the start. Coming down the back straight I tried changing down the gears but the bike wouldn’t respond. I eventually managed to get it to respond and go down the gears but pulled straight into Pitlane as I couldn’t pin point the cause. It wasn’t something that had come up in the warm up and there was no time to start stripping the linkage down. I decided to try and take the start of the race from Pitlane and see if the linkage would free off. It wasn’t to be and all I completed was one lap stuck in 1st gear with an Audi R8 pace car stuck up my exhaust waving me to go faster…. We managed to trace the problem and it was all fixed for the 2nd race of the day when the weather played its part and delayed proceedings so much so that our 2nd race was cancelled. By this point I wasn’t too disappointed to hear that news as the weekend was turning into one to forget but I’m going to take the positives away from it and especially my pace as now I’m able to comfortably run in the 1m09s.
Oulton is up next in 4 weeks time so plenty of time for the bruises to heal and to get the bike ready. I’ve decided I’m not going to take the full 4 weeks off though and have entered some club races in between to keep up to speed and shakedown the bike again properly.
The details for the next BSB round at Oulton are below and it would be a great circuit to come to if you can as I would rate it as the best for all reasons, facilities, the track itself, spectating and the general atmosphere with it being set in the middle of a park. This race report and all of the previous ones are now available from my website.
Thank you to those of you that have sponsored me in some way so far up until this point in the season, now we are at the midway point hopefully I can have a better run in for the 2nd half of the season and get some good race finishes for you to hear about.
Michael #72
Oulton Weather http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/nw/crewe_forecast_weather.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=1597&links
How to get to Oulton http://www.motorsportvision.co.uk/oulton-park/find-us.asp#oulton-park
Results and Live Timing http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=major&season=2008&series=BSB&event=races
Eurosport 2 TV Schedule http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15042008/58/eurosport-2-british-superbikes-schedule.html
Apologies for the late email update. Donnington was the next round after Brands and I wasn’t sure how the races were going to go. Donnington hosts the British round of the MOTOGP World Championship on the calendar and is a track of 2 sections mainly due to the completely different nature of the track with the fast flowing section for the 1st two thirds of the track with the last third being slow 1st and 2nd gear corners requiring a completely different setup for each. Not a track I dislike but not one I would list in my top 5, having said that I had some good races there at the end of 2007 so was hoping for some more of the same.
I tried a much much stiffer spring setting than normal on the front and rear suspension for Friday free practise due to the velvet like smooth surface Donnington has and it seemed to work well with reasonable lap times but more importantly the rear tyre not tearing like is usually the case and still plenty of grip. The front was still bottoming out under brakes so another few clicks of compression went on for 1st qualifying when the pace and braking forces would be harder due in part to the extra drive the new tyres would give.
I immediately took 1.5 seconds off my lap time from free practise and was feeling good with my race pace and the general feel of the bike. I started a good lap by hooking up the apexes of the 1st 3 corners (crucial to a fast lap) through the Craner Curves, the 5th gear swooping bends at the beginning of the lap. Following a more experienced ex Factory Kawasaki rider during the last few laps of Free Practice had showed me a completely new line through the next section from the old hairpin up through Schwantz Curve leading up to McLeans allowing me to hold the throttle wide open in 5th gear longer than before. This definitely felt like it picked up a lot of time and the time sheets proved as much afterwards with my middle sector time being 16th fastest over the entire weekend. Must follow him for some more tips soon… You never stop learning especially in this company. The end of the lap with the tight slow corners would normally be taken with slightly defensive lines during a race to prevent overtakes. However in qualifying wide sweeping lines carrying as much momentum as possible are the order of the day. Unfortunately having to pass a few riders on out laps or in laps during this section lost me some valuable time and 2 laps later after pulling into pit lane I knew my time should have been 0.5 seconds faster than it would be but the rear tyre was starting to give up some of the grip. I was pleased to learn at this stage I was as high as 17th on the provisional grid but I knew this would slip back as other people hooked up entire laps and sure enough by the end of the 30 minute session I had slipped to 25th. 2nd qualifying was held on the Sunday with this being a Bank Holiday race weekend and was a complete washout with half of the field electing not to venture out as times would obviously not be improved upon due to the torrential rain.
Monday warmup came and went with no changes as the bike was running well, just more time to come from the rider hopefully in the race. We had a late race start and set off on the warmup lap under dark by dry clouds. When the lights went out I had a plan to hold an outside line into the 1st corner to take a nice wide line in as the apex is a late one and managed to get a scorching start and clear the entire row in front of me. No 1st lap 1st corner incidents this time round and with the flowing start to the lap it was a much more measured start from everybody. That was until the end of the lap when a few overtakes occurred into the slower corners, 99% of them fair and I held my own. Unfortunately two riders tangled and went down right in front of the midfield pack which included me and created a split in the field of 2-3 seconds. The rest of the race, a group of 4 of us including team mate Rhys Boyd set about trying to bridge that gap to the last point scoring places up the track. Rhys had qualified well and was setting a good pace at the front of the group to bridge that gap on his newly refreshed bike. By this time the people in front were starting to fade, tyres were starting to go off and the general hairpin out brakes were happening providing us an opportunity to take advantage then the race was red flagged due to rainfall that had been falling for 2 laps. It was light rain but the decision was the right one as the limit of adhesion can soon be reached when the track turns from dry with drizzle to a film of greasy rain and the tyres cool especially at the notoriously slippery Donnington track in wet conditions.
My result was a decent 22nd place and although not as good as I’d hoped after the good start and how I and the bike were feeling for the last few laps I was happy with it.
Snetterton in Norfolk is up next in just over a weeks time and is one of my favourite tracks with good memories where I had a 2nd place finish a few years back in the National Superstock Cup so I’m hoping for a good result and some good weather. Some new Photos and Video will be up on the website in the next few days from Donnington. All the usual details on Snetterton are below for those able to make it up.
Michael #72
Snetterton Weather http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/ee/norwich_forecast_weather.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=2879&links
How to get to Snetterton http://www.motorsportvision.co.uk/snetterton/find-us.asp#snetterton
Results and Live Timing http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=major&season=2008&series=BSB&event=races
Eurosport 2 TV Schedule http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15042008/58/eurosport-2-british-superbikes-schedule.html
Another weekend and back to back races saw me making the short drive round the M25 to Brands Hatch for the rescheduled Round 1 with slightly different conditions greeting us to the last time we were at Brands when it was under 3-4 inches of snow. This time it was blazing sun and 28c heat on the Saturday. As the qualifying positions had already been set back in April prior to the snows arrival, we only had one 30 minute practice session on the Saturday to dial things in for the race on Sunday.
With the bike having felt good only 4 days earlier at Oulton Park I went out with the same suspension setup but Brands gearing, things felt very different and the bike felt like a very different one from the one I was riding at Oulton and was extremely jumpy. Even the slipper clutch (which stops the rear wheel slowing too quickly changing down the gears) felt like it wasn’t working too well and was making corner entry a little interesting with the rear wheel jumping around. I decided to stay out rather than changing any settings and try riding around the problems but if anything they got worse so time to get the suspension thinking hat on come Saturday evening. I spoke with a few suspension people around the paddock as well as team mate Rhys Boyd and it seemed the general direction people were taking was more rebound adjustment on the suspension due to the extreme heat which was effecting the oil viscosity and in turn adjusting the rebound settings by changing the flow of oil through the rebound valves.
So all change for warmup on Sunday morning with more rebound dialled in and some compression taken off on the rear to get some more grip driving off the two crucial left handers at Brands onto the Indy circuit back straight and onto the run down Pilgrims drop to Hawthorns, a 120mph right hander at the back of the circuit. The changes definitely worked and the bike installed a lot more confidence and allowed me to push more than I had been able to on Saturday even though the times didn’t back that up I was sure it was the right direction to go in for the race. New tyres in and some more minor adjustments and all set for the 12:15 race. Off the start I got a great drive from 23rd on the grid and managed to pass the row in front of me when the carnage started, two riders in front locked handlebars and bounced off each other with the result being one rider catapulting off to the left (the 1st corner at Brands being the right hander Paddock Hill) and into the armco barrier. The rest of the field me included carried on up to Druids the 180 right hand corner with a rider trying to make a pass 3-4 bikes in front of me on the brakes into the corner. It looked like the front tyre tucked on him taking the other rider down with him leaving both their bikes lying in the middle of the track right in front of my path causing me to have to turn left into the gravel at 50mph instead of right round the corner…. Ploughing into the gravel the front started to dig in eventually going so deep to stop and send me off the side of the bike. The marshals were great and got to me very quickly and the other bikes that had gone down and lifted me and the bike out of the gravel and started about clearing the gravel from the locked front wheel and informing me the race had been red flagged due to the earlier incident into the 1st corner. I didn’t know it but at this point I had 7 minutes until the restart. Making my way steadily back to pitlane I was accelerating and braking trying to throw the gravel from the bellypan of the bike and wherever else it had got into but being mindful to do this off the racing line as I would not have been to popular doing it there…
Back to pitlane and Holly, Chad and Tony got the bike up on the stands and set about cleaning me down and fixing the luckily minimal damage to the bike. With 1 minute to go things were checked over as best they could be and with a drink of water the bike and I were as set as we could be for the shortened race restart.
This time with a bad start I was boxed in for the 1st 4 corners and lost several places and knew I had my work cut out as the pack were already making a break. I took a few laps to get into a rhythm and soon picked up the pace. I started to pick off the groups of slower riders in front then pull a gap and close up to the next group closing gaps of 1-2 seconds each time but never getting a clear full lap in which showed in the timing at the end of the race as my ideal clear laptime was 0.5 of a second quicker. With some good overtaking and a reasonably high attrition rate meant I was sat in 17th place at the start of the last lap with quite a few sideways moments trying to get the power down on the overheating tyres; luckily other people were having the same issues with quite a few riders dropping by the wayside and with the 16th placed rider having a huge slide on the last lap allowing me to pass him and close in to be 0.5 seconds behind 15th by the flag and finish 16th. A great result after the events of 1st race start although I did have to hold my hand up to my team for not seeing my pit board for the last 5 laps so did not realise how close that last Championship point for 15th was in front of me which if I had probably would’ve driven me onto having a last lap effort under the brakes but as it was I had to be happy with a my best result yet considering it is only 3 races into my 1st season in the National Superstock Championship.
Donnington Park is the next round in 2 weeks time up the M1 right next to East Midland Airport and all the usual details are below for those that would like to come along. Some new photos and videos are up on the website and the Eurosport 2 highlights package of my race is on this Thursday the 15th of May at 19:15-20:15.
Michael #72
Donnington Park Weather http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/em/castle_donington_forecast_weather.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=1653&links
How to get to Donnington Park http://www.donington-park.co.uk/about/location.asp
Results and Live Timing http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=major&season=2008&series=BSB&event=races
Eurosport 2 TV Schedule http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15042008/58/eurosport-2-british-superbikes-schedule.html
Hi Everybody,
Only 2 weeks later and the next email to let you know how Oulton Park went. Oulton is probably my joint favourite circuit that we go to with Thruxton so I was hoping for a good result.
The weekend started okay on Saturday but the front suspension was using all of the travel and more on the braking into the last corner Lodge as the circuit is extremely undulating and puts extra strain on the suspension there. A few clicks of extra compression on the front to solve that and with new tyres going in for qualifying later in the day I knew I would need some compression added to the rear to harden the rear up as well as coming out of some of the dips on the circuit the rear of the bike was sitting down a bit too much and not recovering quick enough needing some rebound taking off as well. So all set with the perfect setup for 1st Qualifying later in the day.. well as perfect as one free practice can allow you to change things.
I managed to put myself in 21st place on the provisional grid and set the fastest lap time I had ever done around Oulton, further confirmation the move to the Yamaha for this year was the right one and I felt I was riding well and within myself. 2nd qualifying was on Sunday and looked to be a wet affair until the sun came through and started to dry the circuit. I built up pace learning the circuit grip again after rain had wshed away the rubber laid from Saturday and where the damp patches where the but I could not match my time from Qualifying 1 due to the 2nd chicane remaining damp all through the session as the water was coming through the ground rather than from rain as the rest of the circuit was dry. I pushed hard but held back a little through that section to keep myself and the bike in one piece for the race on Monday as it was very easy to crash as 3 other riders in the session showed. I was happy enough with my time as it was only 0.7s off the time from Saturday however less happy when I saw 3 people had gone faster somehow in the conditions and demoted me to 24th on the grid.
Onto Monday and race day, warm up came and went without issue on a slightly damp track from the overnight rain so no option to dry any new settings to find some more time. I made a good start but was boxed into the inside on the 1st corner and was then held tight on the inside for the 2nd corner before the overtaking starting happening into the 3rd left hander which I was helpless to defend to. I was still 24th holding my grid position come the end of lap one thinking of now starting an attack forward when the action kicked off in front with some wild overtakes by some riders which were hopeful to say the least losing all of us time as people were forced wide. Eventually the riding took its toll with 2 riders going down but unhurt. Good news for me as I managed to get my head a down and make a break with 3 other riders in search of some point scoring places. The lap times dropped as we made use of the new tyres before the edge started to fall off and I lapped a further 0.4 under my qualifying time such was the pace, which again took its toll on a few riders who fell trying to keep the lap times. Come the end of the race I had seen off a determined effort from a rider to catch me in the last 5 laps to seal my 1st race finish of the year in 21st with my last 2 laps under my qualifying time. I’m happy to get a race result on the board and extremely happy with the lap times but points are still a little way down the road yet so come Brands this weekend where our qualifying will be taken from earlier in the year that feat will even more difficult from 28th on the grid but I will try my best.
Brands Hatch details are below for those that would like to come along and hopefully see you there. I will be trying to upload some photos and video footage from Oulton to my website in the next day or so and the Eurosport 2 highlights package of my race is on Thursday at 1915-2015.
Michael #72
Brands Hatch Weather http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/se/maidstone_forecast_weather.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=1612&links
How to get to Brand Hatch http://www.motorsportvision.co.uk/brands-hatch/find-us.asp#brands-hatch
Results and Live Timing http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=major&season=2008&series=BSB&event=races
Eurosport 2 TV Schedule http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15042008/58/eurosport-2-british-superbikes-schedule.html
Another email to update you with how Thruxton went. Firstly thank you to all of you that made it down on the Sunday and hopefully enjoyed the sunny weather and racing. The weekend started well on Friday with free practice showing the bike had good pace and the engine pulling well important with how fast Thruxton is. 1st Qualifying was also on the Friday and I managed to put myself in 22nd place on the provisional grid which I was more than happy with especially as I knew there was more time to come from the bike and me. 2nd qualifying was on Saturday and was a bit of a wash out so I decided not to venture out in the extremely wet conditions and watched from the sidelines as no one improved their times from the dry Friday session however with Thruxton having the most abrasive surface of all of the circuits some riders were only 5 seconds off dry lap record pace in the pouring rain! Sunday warm up came and there was a slight problem with the front brakes as new pads had gone in to be bedded in for the race later in the day. The problem was found however and all was looking good with the Sun shining for the 16:30 race start. I made a good start and made up a few places off the start and was holding my own in 20th place when a crash brought out the safety car for 2 laps. Unfortunately on the restart 2 riders who were over 2 seconds behind me at the point the car came out managed to squeeze by on the brakes and the bike was feeling different than before the safety car period but I put this down to a cooling of tyre, brake and suspension temperatures but worse was to follow 2 laps later as I was trying to mount a challenge back past the two riders who weren’t getting away to move up to 15th for a points scoring place. Entering the final chicane the lap after whilst applying the brakes a vibration came through the bars, then the whole bike and as I decelerated turned into a shudder which forced me to pull off the track as it was so violent it had blurred my vision. The marshals held the bike for me whilst I tried to inspect it for any damage however neither they or I could find anything wrong with the bike but by now with only 5 laps remaining I had been at the side of the track for some 40 seconds meaning re joining would leave no time to achieve a result. Deeply disappointing but I can take away I lapped faster than I had ever done at Thruxton and look forward to Oulton in 2 weeks time another track I like.
Oulton details are below for those that would like to come along and hopefully see you there.
Michael #72
Oulton Weather http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/nw/crewe_forecast_weather.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=1597&links
How to get to Oulton http://www.motorsportvision.co.uk/oulton-park/find-us.asp#oulton-park
Results and Live Timing http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=major&season=2008&series=BSB&event=races
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Update from Round 6&7 Oulton Park 2