http://www.roadracers.co.uk ....

 

Home









 

Kevin Jones falls off !! - Mallory Park 30th / 31st October

After two successful seasons staying on the bike, despite riding aggressively enough to win a few and remain fairly consistently in the top 5, the law of averages finally averaged and I tumbled to the floor on the first lap of race one at Mallory on Sunday.

This was unfortunate, to say the least, for two reasons:-

1. I never do the last race of the year at Mallory. It was only because we needed to be in the area anyway to drop off my son's cousins that I raced.
2. I expected to fall of at the Devil's Elbow and actually came off as I exited the Esses. How surprised was I?

So how did this out-of-fairing experience occur?

Flag dropped and off we went. I got baulked by a slower rider off the line and Dean Wain deliberately boxed me in. I tried to go round the outside at Gerrards which picked up a few places and headed into Edwina's just behind Dean, round the right hander and into the left toward the hairpin. I stayed to the right of Dean into the left-hander and gunned it up the hill to outbrake him onto the hairpin, 'cept I never got that far. As I came out of the Esses.. bang! the back came round so quickly all I remember was being thrown to the ground, roughly. I tumbled and slid along vaguely aware of the bike following me down the road as we headed for the barriers (I can't help thinking of the Tanker in Terminator II that slides forever), anyway the bike gently nudges me along until we both slide to a halt in a big muddy puddle. Funnily enough the first thing I think of is how to let Tara know I am OK, so I jump up and walk across the track waving my arms... must have got hit on the head.

Anyway despite falling off at at least 80mph both myself and the bike came out of it relatively unscathed, apart from the mud. In fact If my right arm hadn't felt so bad, I came down heavily on my wrist and elbow, I could have cleaned the bike, removed the screen and straightened the brake lever and gone out in race two. But it did hurt quite a lot and I was quite happy to watch from the sidelines.

Unfortunately Adrian Grove was caught up in the accident and didn't come off well. He has a broken left humerous, broken left thumb,shattered little finger on the right, possible broken left foot and severe bruising of the back. Which sounds pretty much one of eveything that you have two off. So not at all happy. Whilst not aware of any contact with Adrian I can only assume that it was in taking avoiding action that he crashed. So heartfelt sympathies to you, Adrian, and we all wish you a speedy recovery.

So that is the end of the 2004 season. As for 2005 we have a major problem with finance for next year, so as much as I would love to race, and I have my eye on the MRO Supertwins, I will need some help to get there..... but we'll see.

SO HUGE THANKYOUs TO :-

Dean and Roy Wain - for all your help and good humour throughout the year.
Dean and Roy Wain - for doing my washing up, putting up the awning that they let me share with them, taking down the awning that I share with them and waking me up with nice cups of tea.
Phil Ayliff Products aka Dunlopad - for their excellent brake pads
Techmoto - for the supply of Wavy Disks
Pro-Mach - for the time and patience to build the R1 Calliper brackets.
Bob Farnham - For building a fantastic engine in the first place and then making it even faster.
Davey Wood - For bike and tyre advice, I probably wouldn't have fallen off if I hadn't been on slicks
MC Technics - For tuning the suspension and creating a bike that I am still to find the limits of..... or have I?
Dale Harry at the Richmond and Twickenham times for two great articles and pictures that I am sure will help in my sponsorship quests for 2005.

And Extra Huge thanks to :-
My wife Tara who puts up with my obsession with good humour and a brave face even when hubby has chucked himself down the road.

 

Donington Park - Jones returns to Rostrum with a WIN and a 2nd spot

A wet and cold Donington Park was the venue for the final round of the New Era Superclub Championship. A Championship which I had only dabbled in by just doing those rounds at circuits which I liked racing at - Oulton, Brands and now Donington.

October is not a good time of year to go racing in and the constant rain and drizzle that I drove up in on Friday night was definitely and indication of things to come.

Qualifying
Saturday morning was a bit of a wander round on a very slippery track, although on full wets there were definitely places more slippery than others but a 2nd row 7th spot on the grid was not too bad considering.

Race 1
The run up to race one was the usual stroll to the pit wall and back about a hundred times to see if the track was drying. Which it wasn't, the blanket of wet and spongy grey cloud and a cold breeze did very little to dry the track, a brief moment of hope appeared when a 600 in Race 1 decided to lay a little oil down just to help things along a bit. This delayed the racing by around half an hour which was enough time for me to decide that intermediate 207's (kindly loaned by Lee Reveley) were the tyre to use.

Although they were possibly the tyre to use I really couldn't get my head around them. I think moving from slicks to intermediates really screws with you're brain, well mine anyway. I will try to place a positive spin on finishing second to last, but why bother. The only amusing moment from a dull rather soulless ride was coming up next to Alan Walker on his 888 after the chequered flag had dropped to see him sticking one finger in the air and pointing at me... with my thumb up I nodded enthusiatically......... it is very hard to convey the message that actually I had been following him around for 6 laps and hadn't been coming up to lap him as he thought! Oh well, at least he believed in me.

Race 2
Nearly dry track and the slicks were gently steaming under the covers. The main competition would be Simon Nutall on his new Ducati, Reveley on Aprilia, and Hoogenboom on Marsden's ex championship winning Ducati. The race was probably the best of the year, with Nutall taking the lead initially and seeming to pull away until all three of us caught him up. Then ensued a four-way battle for the lead resulting in Hoogenboom winning by .007 of a second over myself in second place. I did think I was going to get it after he outbraked himself and wobbled through the chicane, but a move over to the left as we exited the left hander had me closing the throttle to avoid his back wheel and he secured the win.

Race 3
Actually this was the best race of the weekend with Lee Reveley and myself battling it out for the win after Adrian Grove had a major slide on the exit from Coppice on lap 3 which dropped him back out of contention. We swapped positions virtually every lap until I managed to pip him over the line by .001 of a second after he also swerved to the left across the track not knowing I was actually on the right. Hey ho.... Still, a nice surprise. Apart from the rrophy and winner's garland, I got a cheque for £50 from those nice people at the Donington Park Supporters Club. Thankyou for that!

Race 4
Slicks were gently steaming under the covers for race 4 as well, right up to the point it rained. A quick change to wets and we were off to a pretty uneventful second place behind Lee, sometimes I can ride in the wet sometimes not just depends on me moods, today was an off day.

Last race of the year comes up at Mallory on the 31st October, which will no doubt be wet and horrible. Still with 4 of us all battling for 4th in the championship it should be an interesting day.

  Castle Combe - September 18th / 19th

Combined first practice and qualifying for the Sound of Thunder proved to be a nightmare. The new chicane meant a change of gearing was needed, but this resulted in a shortened wheelbase causing the bike to be very unstable on what is a very bumpy and undulating track. Really struggled to get the bike to settle down before hitting the braking markers, especially for the new chicane and Quarry.

End result was a disappointing qualifying in 14th spot - 4th row on the grid. Leading up to the first race drizzle drizzled down. This should have caused a flurry of activity in the Jones camp, but I decided to stick with the slicks as the rain was light and we only had five minutes before the start of the race. It was also an opportunity to see how well slicks went in increasingly damp conditions ... the answer was better than expected. Riding as smooth as a cashmere cod-piece I slipped and slithered around the circuit to eventually take the win in the SOT class. I even passed a couple of guys on full wets!

There was a dry line for the second race but the risk of hitting a damp patch on slicks at full throttle and ending up on my ear rather tempered my enthusiasm so finished a disappointing 2nd...... how hard to please am I ?

The Sunday was the SOT race proper ...... or so we thought. Aggregate score from the SOT would result in the eventual winner being decided. Or so we thought.

Three very attractive, proper silver trophys proudly engraved with the "Sound of Thunder" were the spoils for the winner. Or so we thought. The night before, rumours of £500 cash for the winner were banded around but by the following morning this had come down to £250 ....... or so we were told.

It seemed from the weekend so far that my main rivals for the win would be Kenny Whatmore on his new Ducati 999 and Dean Wain on the Triumph, who was putting in some good lap times and riding with so much commitment on the Saturday that he binned it twice in his enthusiasm to get to the front, fortunately without injury.

Both races were dry but a lousy start in Race 1 left me with a lot to do to catch Kenny and the leading group, despite a determined effort and a 1:18 lap time it was not enough to prevent Kenny taking the win. So, one down and one to go. Race 2 was much better, with me chasing Kenny and Kenny chasing Lee Reavely on his new ZX10 (in the Pro Bike class). Lap 2 saw Kenny run wide at Tower Corner giving me the opportunity to dive under him and lead into Bobbies Chicane.

The next lap saw me slowly close on Lee, who although in the PB class would be a handy buffer if I could get him between me and Kenny. I dived under him at Quarry Corner and managed to block him on the exit to stay in front. Two laps later he tried the same move on me only to run wide and allow me to cut back under him on the way out of the turn to re-claim the lead which I held to the chequered flag.

So a win each in the SOT class and a new fastest lap for me at 1:17.40. How would the aggregate results aggregate to decide the winner?And the winner is ....... Kenny Whatmore, who managed to attain a higher position overall than I did. Still, as the nice Sound of Thunder trophies had been given to the overall winners in the Pro Bike class (despite them saying Sound of Thunder on them) and there being no prize money, it didn't really matter that much.

So the end result was:-

1st Kenny Whatmore
2nd Kevin Jones
3rd Dean Wain (and deservedly so)

Still it was a fun weekend and I already had two trophies.

KRJ

 

Cadwell Park - 9th and 10th September

Cadwell Park was the opportunity to reclaim my 4th place in the Championship. I missed Pembrey as a negotiated exchange for doing the Superbike Grand National at Castle Combe and messing with the big boys, which had an added bonus of getting me in the local paper for the second time, the first being 2 seconds and two 3rds at Brands Hatch some weeks previously.

The round at Silverstone was too close to Cadwell which would have been 3 nights away, which for a Dad with a young family is a lot to expect of my long suffering wife, especially as we also inherited Nick the amazing exploding dog. He has botty problems and needs walking so often I am considering buying some new trainers.

A move to slick tyres has improved my lap times considerably, so I was fairly confident of a top 5 placing. However the competition was likely to be strong, Michael Pensavale was hoping to wrap up the championship, Howarth from previous form is strong at Cadwell, Lee Reavely was looking to secure a second spot and also had good form at Cadwell and Dean Wain and Kenny Whatmore had been showing strong form ... well right up until Kenny dropped it twice at Silverstone and beat himself up and Dean's Triumph dropped a valve guide and he had a week to repair and rebuild the damaged engine.

Practice was not very reassuring with me not getting any better than a 1:44 which was 3 seconds slower than earlier in the year. However, I was able to confirm that my gearing was about right. This had become an issue as a trip to the Bob Farnham emporium of engine tuning had squeezed an extra 4 bhp out of the engine (bit of re-mapping and more significantly raising the rev limiter by 500rpm) and then I had changed from 180 tyres to 195, so my gearing was all different from the historical data I had.

What was more concerning was a mysterious engine noise which put a premature end to practice and a lot of quizzical faces gathered around a partly clothed TL1000. The end result was thatI didn't do race 1 on the Saturday whilst I investigated the problem, which seems to have been down to a cam chain tensioner, either way the problem did not return and the bike ran sweetly for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday

Race 1 - Trophy Race
Due to on-going engine investigations I enjoyed Race 1 from the Wain hospitality box. Which unfortunately gave me prime spot to see the awful start line smash which left four bikes on the floor and riders in in various degrees of distress. Basically, as occasionally happens, one guy in the middle of the field stalls at the start and everyone just manages to avoid him apart from one unlucky sod whose visibility is obscured. Anyway I wish a rapid recovery to Drew Lovell who came of worst with a broken leg and collarbone and Matthew Whitehead who strangely ended up with a badly cut and blackened eye and a broken toe. Nigel Slater, who seems to bounce well, survived relatively unscathed apart from turning the air blue on his return.

Race 2 - Championship Race
Having found no problem with the engine and the noise having disappeared after some cam chain tensioner twiddling I decided to enter the Champ race in the afternoon. Having not completed practice in the morning this meant I had to start from the back of the grid in 27th spot. When the flag dropped I got a good start managed to get to the middle of the filed by the time we exited Charlies, I was helped by seeing Les Liney's bright blue leathers up front in around 6th spot so made a bee-line for him. Two superstocks and a Dean Wain later I passed Les and was chasing down Kenny Whatmore's 999 Ducati. I eventually passed Kenny to take a very satisfying 4th spot and some very valuable points to put me back on track for 4th place in the Championship. Best lap 1:41.6

Sunday

Race 1 - Trophy
A great start...again, took me to 3rd spot behind Michael Howarth and Laurence Burton by lap 2. Howarth and myself passed Burton to take 1st and 2nd respectively and a nice silver trophy. Best lap 1:41.4 getting quicker.

Race 2 - Championship
Thankfully I return to my rightful place on 6th place on the grid. Another good start an we pile into the first left hander with me picking up places as we flick into the right of Charlies 1, I contemplate tipping inside Howarth into Charlies 2 but think better of it and let him go, 3 abreast on the exit as Dean Wain on my left gets a massive wobble through the compression as we head up the hill of Park Straight. Pensavalle 1st, Lee 2nd, Howarth 3rd me 4th. Howarth outbrakes Lee into Park on lap 2 to go into 2nd whilst I try to stay in touch with the leaders, lap 5 as I exit the new Chicane I see a Lee relaxing in the middle of the track having highsided on the exit...race stopped.

Lee is ok and the decision is to re-run the race for 6 laps. Although I have now taken to measuring my fuel I have enough (6 ltrs to run the next 6 laps, as does Dean who has the same amount) a quick warm up lap and the flag drops. Michael Pensavale who had some problems in the warm up starts from pit lane leaving me to take the holeshot and lead out of Charlies 2. Two laps later I am still in the lead but as I never look behind me I don't know for how much longer, lap 3 I hear the sound of another twin and spot a ominous shadow on the ground from the low sun as I head out of Park. At the sharp left hander that is Mansfield he dives up my inside only for me to nearly take him back on the exit however as this leaves me on the outside as we head into the chicane, it is not a great move. The lap timer is showing 1:39.4 which is good but I know he can do low 1:38's I hang on to the back of him as best I can, but also in the knowledge that Pensavale can't be far behind and he wasn't. Lap 5 Pensavalle relegates me to 3rd. Still that's OK. Lap 6 and 3rd place is in the bag....... right up until I ran out of petrol...... The End!


PS: Dean Wain took 3rd as I watched from the tyre wall, so there was some consolation in that.

  Snetterton - 8th and 9th May

So it is back to Snetterton for a light dip into the Bomb-hole and hopefully out again.

We enter rounds 6 and 7 in 6th place in the Championship and are ever hopeful of coming away in 5th place depending on the form of one Kenny Whatmore over the weekend.

A quick look at the program led to some concerning news as I found myself way back in 25th place on the grid for the Trophy race and 16th place for the Championship round. The reason for this is that New Era had decided that it wasn't fair to put the Pre 87 Superstocks at the back of the grid….again, so for a change they let them go to the front, hence we all shuffled back and were left to stare at the ass-end of something out of Mad Max till the red light went out and we left the majority of them in a haze of exhaust fumes.

Now this wasn't all bad as it happened as due to this piece of grid tweaking I ended up being 2nd into the first corner both times in the Championship race, which lifted spirits considerably.


The Racing

Trophy Races

Trophy Race: Probably the most exciting as back in 25th spot on the grid I was boxed in at the start and spent the whole race battling up to what should have been a 3rdth place if it wasn't for my failure to recognise a Saxon Triumph on the last lap. Thinking it was a Superstock I rather stupidly let him go without re-challenging the pass which pushed me back to 4th and no Trophy.

Championship Race

Championship Race: I was in 16th spot on the grid but fortunately was right on the inside and had a clear line to the first right hander, unhindered by slower bikes I was able to stuff it right up to second place before the first right hander and pull a bit of a gap enabling me to hold 2nd for around a lap before being outgunned by the superior horsepower and skills of Paul Noble on his ex BSB Honda SP1 and Michael Pensavalle, who despite being on an old BSB hand-me-down Ducati rode impressively to claim a second in race 1 and a win in race 2

Paul Noble, who had wisely retired from racing for this season made a dramatic return after emptying his piggy bank and buying Dean Skippers ex BSB SP1…see results. We in the Sound of Thunder welcome his return and look forward to slipping down the Championship table as his return to form continues.

Lee Reveley, yet again was on form making up for his lack of horsepower with an impressive ride to 3rd in Saturday's Championship race and leading Sunday's race right up until he fell off in a burst of over-confidence …. muppet.

Dean Wain had an emotional return to his 2001 bike due to valve problems on this year's bike a few weeks earlier. Always positive and cheery, the weekend was more to retain some points and get in some practice than challenge for the podium. A few oil leaks and a couple of misfires didn't help matters but he still managed to finish just out of the top 10.

Technical Update

Two misfires during the second race led to concern and prompted me to replace the plugs which hadn't been touched since the start of last year. Rather than resolving the problem the bike then refused to start … oops!

Those with a good memory will recall that I lost the 2002 Championship due to not having any diagnostics on the bike as the muppet that originally built it decided they were not needed and discarded the original instrument cluster with associated wiring. At the time I resolved this situation with the help of JB Racing by replacing the whole wiring harness, which then identified the Camshaft Sensor as the culprit. Well, a re-application of the onboard diagnostics again led me to the camshaft sensor which was duly replaced and quickly resolved the problem.

But why does it eat camshaft sensors ? Answers on a postcard.

Huge Thanks - To Steve Howlett, who lives up the road from Snetterton and now has a TL1000R without a camshaft sensor. Thanks mate, a new one is in the post!

By the way we're now up to 5th position in the championship … and doubt we'll get any higher.

  Cadwell 11/12th April

Dean, Kevin and Roy ... motley crew

We head into the 4 & 5th rounds of the 16, and now it appears 17, round Club Championship lying in 7th place. Which is not as good as we would have hoped.

Cadwell however is a circuit is one of my favourites and, to be honest, the others were not. Snetterton is a fairly featureless "big bike" circuit where a nice lump of horsepower will work wonders for those riders less happy with high corner speed and Mallory I suppose is the opposite in many ways, where a lack of confidence around Gerards will ruin an otherwise good lap-time. That'll be me, then.

It was over 18 months since I last rode Cadwell so failure to make a practice afternoon on the Saturday due to family commitments was more than a little disappointing and meant I had to get back into the swing of things during the 10 minutes allowed for Sunday morning practice. This proved to be quite an eye opener as work through the winter had changed the circuit significantly.

Hall Bends to the Hairpin has been completely opened up with the bank and trees being removed and a lovely muddy run-off area installed where there used to be a nice comfy tyre wall to pile into. This gave an initial and confusing impression of roominess as you flicked the bike from right to left and back again only to nearly hit the grass on the exit, this only lasted for a few laps until you got used to it, or one lap if you didn't.


The borrowed Honda

A new Chicane between Mansfield and the Mountain (I assume due to Kagayamas crash) was even more interesting and had me completely confused. It was not as severe as the Bus Stop at Mallory but a bit more that Ewina's and initially proved troublesome when it came to which gear to approach in to be able to put the power down on the exit. In the end, with perfect timing and excellent hand,eye and bum co-ordination I found a solution which worked throughout the weekend, I am not saying what it was but you can probably guess.

The Racing

I left Cadwell quietly satisfied with my performance, especially considering the amount of money that people now seem prepared to invest in winning the SOT Championship.

Not only were ex BSB Ducati's on hand for those with the money to invest, but Ray Stringer was on retainer for one lucky rider, who no doubt justified the rumoured £500 per-day retainer by fiddling and fettling to his heart's content.


The noble Paul .. er, Noble. Generous to a fault

Meanwhile the Suzuki TLR, despite it 97 vintage and being little more than a converted road bike, "so are the Ducatis I hear you say" …. yeah, right, that's why they're 50k a pop .... showed that it was still a force to be reckoned with by securing a 5th and 6th in the Trophy Race and two 7ths in the Championship rounds. A flying start in the last race led to a roller-coaster of emotions as I held second for the first lap and then gradually slipped backwards as the Ducati gang mugged me one by one, not forgetting the storming Lee Reveley on his Aprilla who continued his fantastic form and was again well up the placings.

Dean Wain having borrowed Paul Nobles Honda SP1 due to the Triumph suffering valve handling problems (they couldn't handle going up and down quickly) had a solid ride on a strange bike that he would have to pay for if he fell off. We are confident of the Triumph reappearing for Snetterton.

Sunday - Race 1
Race Pos Number Class Name Sponsor Machine & cc
7 1 8 ST Craig ROOKS RS Motorcycles.co.uk Ducari 996
7 2 4 ST Paul SAVILLE Star Garage Ducati 998
7 3 14 ST Michael HOWARTH Azzurri Ltd Ducati 996
7 4 55 ST Lee REVELEY www.MILNE.co.uk Aprilia 998
7 5 98 ST Kevin JONES   Suzuki 998
7 6 150 ST Laurence BURTON Edge Diamond Tools Aprilia 1000
7 7 47 ST Les LINEY www.BIKE6.com Ducati 996
7 8 36 ST Matthew WHITEHEAD John Carr Motorcycles Aprilia 1000
7 9 19 ST Gary BLOW R Hall homes Ltd Honda 998
7 10 7 ST Kenny WHATMORE Moto Rapido Ducati 996
             

Sunday - Race 2
Race Pos Number Class Name Sponsor Machine & cc
15 1 2 ST Michael PENSAVALLE GMC Motorcycles Ducati 996
15 2 8 ST Craig ROOKS RS Motorcycles.co.uk Ducari 996
15 3 77 ST Lee REVELEY www.MILNE.co.uk Aprilia 998
15 4 14 ST Michael HOWARTH Azzurri Ltd Ducati 996
15 5 4 ST Paul SAVILLE Star Garage Ducati 998
15 6 59 ST Carl MARSDEN MCRS Ducati 996
15 7 98 ST Kevin JONES   Suzuki 998
15 8 36 ST Matthew WHITEHEAD John Carr Motorcycles Aprilia 1000
15 9 7 ST Kenny WHATMORE Moto Rapido Ducati 996
15 10 47 ST Les LINEY www.BIKE6.com Ducati 996

 

Monday - Race 1
RaceNo Pos Number Class Name Sponsor Machine & cc
7 1 14 ST Michael HOWARTH Azzurri Ltd Ducati 996
7 2 59 ST Carl MARSDEN MCRS Ducati 996
7 3 77 ST Lee REVELEY www.MILNE.co.uk Aprilia 998
7 4 4 ST Paul SAVILLE Star Garage Ducati 998
7 5 8 ST Craig ROOKS RS Motorcycles.co.uk Ducari 996
7 6 98 ST Kevin JONES   Suzuki 998
7 7 123 ST John CARSON   Aprilia 996
7 8 47 ST Les LINEY www.BIKE6.com Ducati 996
7 9 36 ST Matthew WHITEHEAD John Carr Motorcycles Aprilia 1000
7 10 30 ST Dean WAIN Hughenden M40 Triumph 955

Monday - Race 2
RaceNo Pos Number Class Name Sponsor Machine & cc
15 1 2 ST Michael PENSAVALLE GMC Motorcycles Ducati 996
15 2 14 ST Michael HOWARTH Azzurri Ltd Ducati 996
15 3 8 ST Craig ROOKS RS Motorcycles.co.uk Ducari 996
15 4 59 ST Carl MARSDEN MCRS Ducati 996
15 5 4 ST Paul SAVILLE Star Garage Ducati 998
15 6 77 ST Lee REVELEY www.MILNE.co.uk Aprilia 998
15 7 98 ST Kevin JONES   Suzuki 998
15 8 47 ST Les LINEY www.BIKE6.com Ducati 996
15 9 7 ST Kenny WHATMORE Moto Rapido Ducati 996
15 10 36 ST Matthew WHITEHEAD John Carr Motorcycles Aprilia 1000

 

Technical Update .... Brakes are stonking. Nuff said.


Next Race ..... Snetterton 8th and 9th May.

 
  Mallory Park 21st March 2004

We had a nice day weatherwise on Wednesday, didn't we? Well I suspect that was just God getting his breath back from the Weekend. Saturday night at Mallory Park was bloody awful, in fact so bad that we left the bikes in the van all night just in case they abandoned the race on Sunday. They didn't.

Race day, Sunday, was a small improvement, with the wind dropping slightly but still disrupted by showers.

Mallory was a one day event in the Club Championship calendar and as such I decided to enter both the Pro-Bike open and the SOT just to fill the day nicely and as a little warm up before each of the main SOT races.

I must admit to approaching the Pro-Bike Open race a little more casually than I should and consequently was a second a lap slower than I was in the SOT, but it was still fun and gave me the chance to pit my wits and machine against the GSXRs and R1s that dominate the event.

I do not recall my results and can't really be bothered to find out. The only one comment I will make, as I like to be controversial, was the amazing display of incompetence that I witnessed in the first lap of the second race. Firstly lets assume, that there was nothing wrong with this guy's bike and if there was I wholeheartedly apologise ... but here's how it went:

The red lights go out and we all disappear into Gerrards. Out the other side all still intact and a fast approach the new chicane called Edwina's. What caught my eye for what was about to unfold was not the brightly coloured bike or the lairy leathers, but the shear speed that this guy was approaching the corner "up the inside" when all around were clearly slowing down. How on earth he ever thought he was going to stop escapes me. Anyway, despite the fact that he probably had around 6 bikes to choose from and could have gone for a "strike", he only managed to T-bone one unfortunate soul, but Christ did he hit him. Luckily both seemed to be able to walk away even if with a pronounced limp.

Why am I having a rant ? After all, it is racing .. not? Yes it is racing and we all miss our braking markers and overshoot from time to time (I did it in the following race), but this guy was either thinking about a nice cup of tea when he got back to the caravan, or alternatively, which I is more likely as he was speeding up the inside, figured that all his fellow competitors were braking far too early and he could make it to the front by the second corner.
My point? It is a club race for which you get a plastic trophy. We all take a chance from time to time and go in a bit hotter than we would have liked just to get past the man in front, but this guy was miles faster than anyone else. You want to crash ? Have a good look around make sure you're not going to take anyone else with you and the kitty litter is all yours……. That's it, all finished now lets move on.

Sound of Thunder

Despite the ominous looking clouds, both races were strangely dry. But not after the customary, "oh it's intermediates" but look at the cloud approaching "it might be wets" In the end it was dry, if very, very breezy.

First race was fairly uneventful apart from meeting a very nice chap on another TLR, apparently purchased due to my idle ramblings on this very site. Unfortunately this was quickly qualified as being due to a re-direction of funds and someone offering him the bike cheap …. hey ho. So no one believes that TLRS are competitive, reliable and a cost effective racing machine? I'll show 'em.

A 9th in race 1 (in the wet, running bizzarly an intermediate front and a wet rear) and a 6th in race 2 (running, far more traditionally, a wet front and an inter rear - unfortunately it was bone dry!) was a reasonable performance resulting in a few more points for the Championship bag. Race 2 was unfortunately stopped on lap 7 due to the on-set of rain. This was particularly disappointing as by the time the race was stopped I had passed Kenny Whatmore and another guy who had slowed due to the rain to pick up places. This was particularly galling as last week when it suddenly rained I slowed, assuming they would stop the race and they didn't. This week I pressed on gaining two places and the stopped the race and counted back a lap. Bugger.

Lee Reveley made an impressive start to the season with a 3rd in race one and a 4th in race two. I tried to catch him but couldn't make much of a dent as he gradually pulled away, mainly round Gerrards, which has always been a bit of a bogey bend for me and fast one for him. It must be, he's always crashing there.

Dean Wain had his usual strong start in Race 1 and was running well, right up to the point he was punted off during a racing incident at the Hairpin, his luck continued to desert him as he incurred a penalty for an alleged jump start in race two.

Results

Race 1 - SOT Bike
1 Carl Marsden D
2 Michael Pensavalle D
3 Lee Reveley A
4 Stuart Maclure A
5 Kenny Whatmore D
6 Kevin Jones S
7 Doug Johnson S
8 Les Liney D
9 Matthew Whitehead A

Race 2 - SOT Bike
1 Michael Pensavalle D
2 Carl Marsden D
3 Lee Reveley A
4 Stuart Maclure A
5 Kenny Whatmore D
6 Kevin Jones S
7 Doug Johnson S
8 Les Liney D
9 Matthew Whitehead A

Next race is Easter bank holiday, 11th & 12th, at Cadwell. Now I like Cadwell, all that leaping over the Mountain and stuff.

Technology Update

The R1 calliper conversion seems to have been successful apart from some initial misgivings when two of the original disks "dished" (this is where the disk contact area dishes out either inwards or outwards, like a dish(!), usually due to overheating). A new set of pattern disks supplied by TE Motorcycle Spares (http://www.te-motorcyclespares.co.uk 01472 344211) saved the unfortunate position of having three sets of wheels and one set of disks. I ran them at Snetterton, a heavy braking circuit, and am pleased to say they are as good as the originals and were as straight at the end as at the start. As they retail at not much more than a set from the breakers and are NEW I would highly recommend them.

My, er, quick wheels for the dry are Marchesinis and for these I thought I would have a look at these new trendy wavy disks (well, trendy in 1998). The Italian company "Braking" are the main manufacturer of wavy disks and I believe actually invented the buggers. In the UK they are imported by Talon so sometimes may go under that name.

Tekmotive came to my rescue with these and kindly supplied a new set of "Braking" Wavey disks (http://www.tekmotive.co.uk) They can be contacted on 01707 265000, ask for Mark or Geoff. These were even more impressive and combined a bit of weight saving with excellent performance and a strange wavey look, kind of apt considering the weather.

So the R1 calliper conversion can be considered a success……eventually.

A word of warning. If you ever consider doing this, the gap the disk runs in on an R1 calliper is half that of a TLR and I suspect any Suzuki running the 6 pot callipers, about 5mm compared to 10mm. If you consider that the disk is 5mm in thickness this leaves 2.5 mm either side, so whoever is making the bracket has got to be accurate. Something else I learned was that the distance between the disks on aftermarket wheels, e.g. Marchesinis, can vary. Mine were 2mm wider than the standard wheels. I am sure you can work the rest out for yourselves. Luckily I used a reputable company Promach (01455 213233) to carry out the engineering work so we were able to overcome this particular problem.

 

  British Superbikes Test Day - Silverstone

This week your resident club racer and roving reporter Kevin Jones was to be found down at Silverstone for the first official test day of the British Superbikes including of course the Supersports and Superstocks supporting classes.

I say first, as there had been a "bit of a do" on at Donington the week previous. However, by all accounts this seemed to be more of a photo opportunity than a proper test.

The reason I was at Silverstone in the first place was to provide technical assistance to Adam Hitchcox who was competing for his second year in the Privateers' Cup. I must admit, I don't quite understand why it is that you can quite happily compete at club level without any help whatsoever and then as soon as one moves to National level all knowledge of basic motorcycle maintenance goes out the window. Or maybe it's because all of a sudden a lot more people are interested in helping you out for a little reflected glory, especially as it permits one to rub shoulders with the good and the great.

Adam competed last year in the hastily reintroduced Privateers' Cup. If you recall, the BSB organisers in their infinite wisdom decided not to have a Cup last year, and then when they had about 6 bikes on the grid thought better of it. Overall Adam did extremely well, the highlight being a 15th overall at the round held on the Brands Hatch GP circuit. You could even spot him on the telly if you looked really closely. As you would expect as with all great sportsmen, while he was doing this he was also competing in the New Era Club Championship which he went on to win in the final round at Mallory Park.

Since then he has reaffirmed his commitment to bike racing, invested a considerable amount in the bike and gone on the sponsorship trail, seemingly with some success. Which of course leads us to Silverstone on a rather pleasant afternoon with me fiddling with Adam's clutch.


Michael Rutter - HM Plant Honda

Glen Richards - Hawk Kwacker

Yukio Kagayama - Rizla Suzuki

The net result of all this was that I managed to combine my knowledge of the workings of the internal combustion engine with the opportunity to bring to you, what seems to me, the first feedback from the test day.


Steve Plater - Virgin Mobile Yamaha R1

The weather was absolutely fantastic, for which I must admit to a being a little bitter and twisted after the weather trauma I suffered at my own first round at Snetterton at the weekend… but it seems even God is warmed by a little kudos from rubbing shoulders with the likes of Emmet, Rutter and Reynolds.

Of course now you're expecting me to rattle of with some times and stuff. Well, tough. It doesn't work quite like that. To get any sensible view of what's going on you need to be timing every lap for every rider, which just ain't going to happen, especially when the only stopwatch you've got is called G-Shock and is stuck on your wrist.

 


Michael Rutter - Fireblade

What I can say is that Adam did a 1:32 which is faster than any other Privateer that I managed to stick a clock on. The BSB guys were doing around 1:28's.

Interestingly, last week at Donington another good friend of mine Warren Scott, Sound of Thunder Championship Winner in 2001, was second fastest overall, this included the BSB guys. However he did also manage to fall off and break his collar bone. So whilst appreciating his huge talent on Superbike we will reserve judgement on his consistency throughout.

Either way between Dennis Hobbs, Adam and Warren I think we are looking at the three front runners in the Privateers Cup.


Sean Emmett - Monstermob Ducati

HM Plant Honda Racing Fireblade

 

  Snetterton 13/14th March

First race of the season in the middle of March ??

Well at least the Nogaro winter testing in winter conditions was put to good use. The BBC 5-day weather forecast for the weekend said sunny on Monday, overcast on Tuesday, more overcast on Wednesday, wind and rain on Thursday, hell and damnation on Friday …. strangely they missed out snow, which arrived during signing-on on the Saturday.

Of course, in the good old days, we were only subjected to one day at Mallory Park for the first race of the season. In 2004 it seems 2 days on a windswept ex WW2 airfield is the only way to wheedle out the men from the boys and my God it was cold.

The weekend was notable for a few things:-

1. I cooked for the gang on Saturday night. Chilli Concarne with extra chilli powder for turbo power up the straight. This was very pleasant apart from making farts a little warmer than one might be comfortable with.

2. I used every combination of tyres possible in the space of two days:-

Practice - Full Wets

Race 1 - Metzeler Rennsports front and rear.

Race 2 - Intermediate front, wet rear. This was due to a quick rainstorm and insufficient disks for the front. The option being a dry front, an intermediate front, or a wet front with no brakes - for extra corner speed.

Race 3 - Intermediate front and rear

Race 4 - Wet front and intermediate rear. This was in anticipation of a rainstorm from a fast approaching big black cloud that never approached quite near enough.

3. The unfortunate transformation on lap 2 of the cleanest and possibly poshest bike in the paddock (not mine, I should add) into the muddiest bike in the paddock accompanied by matching rider. This was caused by the run off areas becoming so churned with mud that even a slight off-road experience resembled something from the Somme in the heat of battle.

4. Speeding down the start finish straight during a closely fought battle for 4th place with Kenny Whatmore on his Ducati only to run into a stair-rod rain shower right on me braking marker. Fortunately all three of us, for we had been joined by Colin Young on his SP2 at this point, managed to stay on …. right up to the point Colin fell off at the next bend. Which was silly.

Results were not as I would have liked partly due to wrong tyre choice and partly due to going too slowly. Well mostly, actually.

Saturday
Kevin Jones
Dean Wain
Race 1
9th
11th
Race 2
10th
7th
 
Sunday
Race 1
6th
8th
Race 2
11th
*DNF (boo!)

*Its OK he didn't get his Triumph muddy, just got caught out on Wet tyres and no rain, so wisely came in.

Summary

Not too bad a start to the season but I need to sort my disks out to give me a full tyre choice at short notice. The brakes (R1 calliper conversion) are stonking but have caused two disks to dish (like a plate) I suspect due to overheating (not overeating, then?). The supply of some fine pattern disks from Dave Johnson at TE Motorcycle Spares 01472 344211 at short notice fortunately gave me two sets of disks to play with and these gave no problems even after some serious back straight braking.

Next race is at Mallory on the 21st. Not my favourite circuit but hopefully by the time we get here the wild card entries will have reduced down to just those doing the New Era Club Championship …. hopefully just me and Dean Wain.

Having only done half a season in 2003 the bike didn't need much doing to it apart from the usual check and running repairs. I did however need to do something about the front brakes, these had always dragged slightly and were now in need of replacement. What to do, PFM's, Brembo's ?.

A full set up is going to cost around £1,200.00+. I already had a Brembo master cylinder which was an addition in 2003. This gave far more consistency through the race and much better feel over the standard item. Keith, my constant advisor and the man who got me into racing in the first place, came up with an interesting suggestion: dump the 3 pot calipers - too much fluid, too heavy and generally the drawbacks outway the benefits.

Why not fit calipers from a later bike with better brakes? GSXR, SP2, all had good brakes …… not as good as an R1 though.

The engineers amongst you will note one obvious problem, they ain't going to fit.
A quick search around on the web came up with a company called Pro-mach (01455 213233), they make bits for the Virgin Team and the like and do a very nice range in rear sets etc .. I rang and spoke to Mick who ran the place and after a bit of fork measurement on his CNC machine he reckoned he could make up some tasty brackets to fasten my R1 calipers securely to the fork legs..

The end result are some very effective brakes for around £300 including the price of some brand new R1 calipers from a breaker.

How do I know this ? 'Coz like all professional teams, myself and Dean (Triumph) went winter testing in Nogaro which is in France, near Bordeaux, 600 miles away. Problem was, what we wanted to do was to go testing in foreign summer like conditions whilst in the middle of the British winter. What we actually did was went winter testing in winter like conditions after having driven 600 miles for the privilege! Still, the food and company were excellent and the snowman was the envy of the village. We did get some laps in even if we did end up with wind-burn and a cold.

The 2004 season starts on the 13th & 14th March at Snetterton. So we'll just see how well we do with our new brakes. Alfie won't be coming to the first race 'cos it is too cold. He does however enjoy watching WSB and GP and sat on his first race bike when he was 2 months old, much to the pride of his Mother, as you can imagine ....