Month: April 2015

Brands Hatch, the venue for round 2, with beautiful brisk spring weather to set the scene over the short, sharp and demanding Indy Circuit.

I was really looking forward to this race, Brands Indy is one of the shortest circuits on the calendar, and this leads you in to a sense that it would be the simplest, however this is not the case. To acquire a fast lap time you must gain enough grip to generate a lap just a few hundredths of a second faster than the man next to you, and on a lap where you’re pushing to finish in just 46 seconds, these hundredths are impossible without a bike which is working with, and for you.

In practice we got away well and went to work on generating grip and control of the rear shock, of which had plagued us with issues at Donington Park.
We made some changes to generate feel from the bike, however the session would end before a balance could be found. After the session, several changes to the bike’s geometry were changed to try and generate grip.

Qualifying 1, we improved again with a longer bike and several suspension and geometry changes. I pumped and slid my way to 9th spot, I was pushing hard with around 6 laps before the new tyre started to unmask the ongoing issue of losing control on the rear suspension. Q1’s efforts for 9th place would be achieved with a 47.4 second lap time.

After first qualifying we made changes again with spring rates on the front and rear, Q1 had me focused on a smooth and fast lap time, as the session was very frustrating with the unpredicatble nature of the grip given. Qualifying 2 I had the plan of doing a few laps to get my head up to speed then put a new tyre in to push for a lap time.
We did a time good enough for 11th on the grid, which was achieved on the new tyre but after 6 laps we were sliding and losing control. This wore the tyre quickly which had me concerned for the length of the race.

Further changes were made for warm up, and we found more grip again, with the new set up I was as confident as I had been and ready to sink my teeth in to the race.

The launch off the line was good and I was in the mix on the first lap, overtaking people on the exit of druids and in to clearways. Pushing hard I got through to 8th place but on lap 4 a massive moment was to come at the bottom of clearways. My strongest overtaking spot has always been paddock hill bend, so as I came out of clearways I needed a good drive to get alongside for Paddock Hill Bend. I did exactly that, drove hard off the turn but as I hit the dip at the bottom of clearways the back came right around on me and pinged me out of the seat, I held on as the bike was heading for the grass on the inside to finally grab a hold of the bike, rush along the grass, hit a foam advertisement sign and re join.
With the pack so close I was a way back in 17th place but got to work straight away on making the places up. Mostly in to paddock hill bend I picked off as many people as possible, to finally finish in 9th place.

This 9th place also puts us in 9th place in the championship standings. I know when we find a consistent set up, we will be able to push towards the top 5 and grab podiums in the not too distant future, I’m excited for the season ahead.

Thank you to the entire team, with special thanks to my mechanic and chief tech Dave Hopkinson for his relentless efforts.

Further thanks go to our treasured sponsors who provide 100% support from their respected positions. Thank you to my personal sponsors Walters Medical.

Thank you all, I will keep pushing until we get there.

James

A cold and bleak winter’s testing was followed by a sunny weekend for round 1 of the championship at Donington Park.
Photo: Colin Port

43 riders strong, the Superstock championship has a line up of varied riders and machines for 2015, with the usual contenders of recent years on the Kawasaki ZX10R, but many competitors choosing to run the all new BMW and Yamaha machinery.

We got off to a great start, with both me and Hego in the top 10 in practice, me 7th and Dan 8th with average times in the 1:34’s.
I didn’t feel comfortable in the practice session, the bike was moving a lot and hard to bring down to an apex, so we reviewed the data and went to work on an improvement for qualifying.

Qualifying practice didn’t go to plan, I quickly found that we had gone the wrong way with the set up and the bike was very difficult to ride with very little grip. I was unable to put a good time in so again we put in some work to bring a new set up to Qualifying 2.

Qualifying 2 saw us improve the bike however it was still violent on the throttle with seemingly little grip to be found. I pushed as hard as I could without putting myself in to a position where a crash was likely and we got to a time in the 1:33’s good enough for 15th on the grid.

We changed spring rates and the bike’s geometry for Warm up which worked, we hold solved some of the pumping issues and gained some stability, so with the bike feeling the best it had felt, we kept the newly found set up for the race.

A good launch kept me with the row in front in the first corner. I got on the throttle early and drove inside many people at Hollywood to get away with an early group.

Making my way through the group I got to the front and 8th place on lap 4 and started to go for the Top 7 in front of me, but on lap 6 a big warning was to come when I exited the foggy esses. The bike broke grip once, twice and the third time kicked me out of the seat, at which point some of the people in the group around me started to come by.
The new tyre had masked over a set up problem looming, and from lap 6 I had major problems with grip and pumping. I was out of the seat and sliding just trying to hang on for the end of the race, and at the end we would finish in 13th place.

I am happy to get off to the start of the season on the championship table without any setbacks in terms of a crash, we have a lot of work to do in testing, but I am confident we will be able to push for podiums on more familiar circuits in the coming rounds.

My team mate Dan had the worst luck with an un predictable electrical fault, turning his bike off and forcing him to retire. I’m wishing him the best of luck for his next race this coming weekend at Scarborough.

I can’t thank my team enough for the opportunity and package given, and Dave Hopkinson of Downshift Motorsport And Mountain bike for his hard work.

Thank you to our sponsors collectively, and my personal Sponsor Walters Medical, for they’re in put, I can’t wait to get to work for Brands Hatch, round 2, where I hope to bring them and the team as a whole closer to, or better yet, on the podium.