James East National Superstock 1000 2013
Round 6 Snetterton
Increasing temperatures throughout the weekend made it fantastic conditions for the British Superbike Championship at Snetterton and with this round being the last of the first half of the season it was time for me to bring together all I’ve learnt so far this season to see what was now needed to push for podiums in the 2nd half of the season
Free Practice
I felt comfortable straight away as we had tested at Snetterton the Tuesday before. I improved straight away from our test time by 0.4 with a 1:52:641 which put me 3rd overall on a crowded track of 52 riders.
Qualifying 1
We pushed a bit harder in this session and I ended the session in 5th place and improved by 3 tenths.
I found the bike to be sat a little low once we pushed in to the low 1:52’s so made some changes but wasn’t completely satisfied. The qualifying time was 1:52:354.
Qualifying 2
In this session we put some more weight on the front of the bike and it helped me to hold a line but the rear of the bike was unpredictable and quite unstable.
I improved anyway by pushing a little harder, but not over the limit, to a time of 1:52:235, this put me 5th in session again but qualified 6th as Jimmy Storar had a faster time from the first qualifying session.
I was happy with the 2nd row position as this is what we set out to achieve but wasn’t satisfied with the setup, we was looking for some more grip on the side of the tyre but didn’t quite find it. Either way my confidence was up, I knew I could run the pace whether I was comfortable with the bike or not.
Warm Up
Dave and I tried a softer spring for warm up to try and generate some feel from the rear of the bike but this was unsuccessful, it made the bike softer naturally but I didn’t gain the feel I wanted. The added squat meant that in the fast corners the bike was sitting down making the front rake out a bit too far forcing me wide. It was worth a try but we would return to the qualifying set up with some slight damping changes. My practice starts were awful to, so I was concentrating on the start for the rest of the day.
Race
I got a great launch but Jimmy Storar moved over into my path making me check my throttle. I held my own though on the first lap and was in 9th.
On lap 2 I moved past Filip Backlund at the Bomb hole, it was pretty last minute but I made it stick and set off after Jimmy Storar. The gap was about a second or just over but I closed most of that in a lap. I felt really strong at the start of the race.
On lap 4, 5 and 6 we were behind the safety car after Josh Day crashed at the left after the back straight. He was fine but it spread dirt and grass across the track. This did me a favour and closed the pack up despite Hudson Kenaugh trying to play games from 5th place under the safety car.
When the race was restarted I quickly realised I was losing some drive off the turn to the other riders and I’d have to make the time up on the brakes. I stuck with them but didn’t make any sudden over takes as the front tyre was on its limit in many of the braking areas and had been giving me warnings.
On lap 8 I pushed by Jimmy Storar to move to 6th and moved up behind Lee Johnston who was strong on the brakes, he however lost the front and fell at the hairpin on lap 9 which moved me to 5th.
I was safe here and Initially closed up to the leaders but had warnings again from the front tyre doing so, I had to change my lines slightly braking earlier as to not lose the front which must of been scorching hot on the 49 degree track temperature.
I missed a few gears on a couple of laps coming on to the back straight which made me lose a second or so combined so I was stuck in 5th.
On the start of the last lap I thought to myself do all you need to do to keep the bike up right to the finish and was overtaken going in to turn one by Filip Backlund. I was strong into turn one and he run wide so I retook him and defended but he still made a move at the hairpin, he clearly had more grip than I did and I did everything I could to get on terms with him but at the flag I was 6th with a best time of 1:52:190.
All in All I am pleased with the result. It is the first time I’ve run at the front and my best qualifying and finish of the season so far. It also confirmed that I have learnt how to ride the bike and from now on we will push for podiums. The business plan as such which was agreed at the start of the year was to learn the bike and class as much as possible in the first half of the season then bring it all together so I could flick the competitive switch in myself to push for race wins. I think this is very possible after I turned up the pace and brought home this finish just 4 seconds off of the race win.
I can’t thank my mechanic Dave Hopkinson of Downshift England enough for his commitment and general hard work this weekend, also for Idaq Motorsport for giving me the best chance to be competitive this year in this class as well as both Pauls of PCR Performance for putting together a fantastic motorbike.
Brands Hatch GP is the next round which is my favourite track. Round 7 will be the first race of the 2nd half of the season. Here I will be pushing for a race win but will be looking to bring home valuable points no matter what. Top 10 in the championship is my goal for the season.
Thanks go out to James’s Personal Sponsors
Homechoice Carpets-Leeds – Idaq.com – GHM Services – ToiletSpares.co.uk -Cougar Leathers – Bikers Division Ltd – Daytona Boots – R&G Racing – Samco Sport By Racebikebitz Ltd – Paul ‘Noddy’ Brown