Wet, Wild and Windy at Anglesey

For round 7 of the ThundersportGB GP2 championship we headed off to Anglesey in north Wales. This basically meant that we drove west until we reached the Irish Sea and then when the wheels started to sink in the sand we had arrived at the circuit. The circuit was totally revamped around 4 years ago and I had heard very good reports about the layout of the track so was therefore looking forward to the weekend ahead.
Due to having a few issues with our 440cc engine at the previous meeting at Brands Hatch we had to revert back to our tried and trusted 400cc motor for this weekend. Not the ideal situation as we need all the speed we can muster to ensure a good end to the season but the smaller engine is still a quick bike and Roger Middleton who builds ours is well know for his top class 400 engines.
As I had never raced at Anglesey before, we took the decision to take part in the practice day on the Friday which turned out to be a sunny if rather windy day. My first session out on circuit and after only 20 minutes we were lapping within 0.5 seconds of the lap record, this was starting to look good for the weekend. For this session we also tried a new shorter carbon fibre exhaust can supplied to us by Delkevic, the sound this made was awesome and everyone who heard it commented on the bike sounding like a mini Formula 1 car. A few issues did come to light though from the first outing which mainly centred on a lack of ground clearance. The track surface is quite abrasive and therefore very grippy, this means we were able to carry a large degree of lean angle but it meant the side of the bike was touching down in certain corners. We raised the rear ride height and dropped the forks back through the yokes to lift the full bike by a full 10mm, which is quite a large amount, this gave us enough clearance and in the second session we managed to equal the lap record for the class. This is what doing a test day is all about and we were confident we had a good set up for the weekend’s races.
Saturday morning and we went into qualifying in a confident mood after having set some very good times in the practice day on Friday. The track was dry and I circulated for a few laps but was getting held up a little in places, then I posted a lap time of 1 min 12.5 sec, this was inside the lap record and placed me 3rd on the grid behind Conner Tagg and Alex Heaton. The only upsetting part about this is that if you add both their respective ages together it equals my age!
By the time the first race came around the heavens had opened and given the track a good soaking, this meant the wheels were changed to wet tyres and we were ready to go. The lights went out and as usual I struggled to get the 400 off the line too well. This meant I slotted into around 7th place into the first corner. Over the course of the first lap I managed to claw my way up in to 2nd place and set about catching Clive White who was in the lead and had pulled a slight gap on me. Clive had managed a 1min 21sec first lap compared to my 1min 26sec which had given him a good advantage. By the time we were half way around the 2nd lap I had managed to close this gap down and was right on his back wheel. Not wanting to stay behind Clive too long I shot up the inside on the brakes heading into Rocket corner. The problem was I had gone in a little too hot and as Clive turned in we collided resulting in us both hitting the tarmac. I put my had up to this one and admit I went in to the corner slightly too quick, this was a shame as it looked as if we could have had a good win and I should have held on a little longer to make the pass. But hindsight is a wonderful thing. Clive was ever the sportsman and immediately shook my hand understanding it was a ‘racing incident’. On a positive note our championship rival Alex Heaton only managed a 7th place and with it 9 points, so the damage was not as bad as it could have been.
After the disappointment of the first race I knew I could not afford another non-finish. Thanks to Leigh and Chris for getting the bike repaired in time for the next race. The race started and as we entered the banked banked hairpin, Gautrey lost the front of his machine on the inside of me and crashed out. I thought that he was going to hit my bike and so prepared for the worse. Much to my surprise his bike missed mine by what must have been only millimetres. After a good race I took the chequered flag in 5th place with Heaton behind us in 6th place. Not great but it was a damn site better than the first race.
We all awoke on Sunday morning slightly disheartened to here the pitter patter of rain on the van roof. The weather had not subsided at all during the night and we realised that it was likely to continue for the rest of the day. Not wanting to add in any additional risk we decided to miss morning warm up as we felt there was very little to be gained from going out. So it was straight into to race 3 of the weekend. I have to admit after crashing the previous day I was still riding in safe mode not wanting to make anymore silly mistakes. I managed to come home in 4th place but more importantly finished ahead of Heaton once again.
We nearly missed our last race of the weekend as we heard the call over the PA system that the previous race was half race distance, the next call we heard was the GP2 class were taking to the grid. At this point we were all still stood in the awning trying to keep dry. The Holdroyd tyre warmers came off in record time, the bike started and I just made it to the grid in time for the start of the warm up lap. That was close. As it was the last race of the weekend and we hadn’t stood on the podium yet I was hopeful of a good result. Another bad start actually worked in my favour when a few of the other riders got tangled up at the first corner allowing me to slot into 2nd position. This I held for a couple of laps until Matt Davies a wild card rider for this weekend came past. Matt was obviously riding with a lot of confidence as he had just finished in 5th position in the British 125cc Championship race at Croft the previous weekend. Unfortunately for Matt he couldn’t hold on to 2nd for long as he highsided and crashed coming on to the start and finish straight. After dicing with Ben Gautrey for a few laps I decided that taking the points was better than another crash in very difficult conditions so settled for 3rd place, 1 place ahead of Heaton once more. Well done to Connor Tagg who won the race with a sterling display of wet weather riding.
We now stand 31 points clear of Alex Heaton in GP2 Championship which after the mistake in the 1st race could have been a lot worse. We now have only Mallory Park and Donington Park left to go, that means 8 races and 200 points still up for grabs so there is a lot of work to do. We are busy trying to get our 440cc engine rebuilt in time for the next round, keep your fingers crossed we get it done.
Thanks to Glyn Richardson for the photos.

A Perfect Weekend ? Almost ?

Last weekend we made the trip down to Brands Hatch for round 6 of the ThundersportGB GP2 Championship. Having just returned from Hong Kong the day before I was feeling the effects of jetlag a bit, but hoped that a good night’s sleep would sort it out. Well that is what I hoped for, still laying there wide awake at 4am I knew this was not going to be the case.
Saturday morning came and the rest of our competitors took the opportunity to do some practice sessions whilst I tried to catch up on some much needed sleep. Our tactics surprisingly appeared to work as I woke up 40 minutes before qualifying was due to start at 2:30pm, leathers on and off I set down pit lane. Within 3 laps I had managed to post a time that was quick enough to qualify for the front row and by the end of the session I had posted a time of 50.7 seconds which secured us pole position. This was also around 0.5 second under the lap record. We were also nearly a second quicker than second place man Connor Tagg on his Aprilia 450 with our championship rival Alex Heaton on the Knight Road Racing Ducati in third place. So it just goes to show, like your mother always said, ‘you do need your sleep’.
Second qualifying was held on Sunday morning and we were reasonably confident that no one would beat our time from the day before. This proved to be the case and the only improver was Heaton who manage to improve into 2nd on the grid.
We all lined up on the grid for race 1 and as the lights went out I made a pretty good start to slot in to 2nd place around Paddock Hill bend, this soon changed as I out-braked Heaton going into Druids and took the lead. Over the next few laps I managed to set a new lap record of 50.8 seconds, this pulled me clear of the chasing bunch and I took the chequered flag to win the race by a clear 6 seconds. A good start to the weekends races that was made even better when Heaton was deemed to have jumped the start and was docked 10 seconds relegating him down to 5th place.
As race 2 approached the heavens opened and some heavy rain soaked the track. After our dominance in the dry this was not what the doctor ordered. The wet tyres were fitted to the bike and off to the grid we went. Another good start saw me take the lead into Paddock Hill and once again I pushed for some good laps. Out in front and with the track conditions changing every lap it was difficult to judge how hard to push, but after 5 laps I had managed to pull out a 4 second lead over the guys behind. This was good enough for me and I settled down to some consistent laps to claim another win by 3.5 seconds. If only all racing days were like this?
Bank holiday morning came around and we were greeted with glorious sunshine. This is exactly what we wanted for race 3 of the weekend. On to the grid, lights out and off we went. As in race one I managed to clear off at the front of the pack. With no one to challenge us I rolled off a little for the last few laps and took the chequered flag with a clears 6 second advantage over 2nd place. Another win, I was starting to enjoy this!
With our 100% record for the weekend so far, we went into the last race in a confident mood. I knew if pushed I could lap in the low 50 second lap bracket and I was pretty sure that the rest of the guys would not be able to match that pace. I had another great start and led going into the first corner, brilliant, just what I needed, the chance to get my head down and put in some quick laps. The plan was working well until coming out of Clearways on the second lap the bike lost all power. I knew this wasn’t something that would rectify itself so I cruised to the side of the track and parked up against the Armco opposite my pit board. At least the team could see what had happened and that I was ok, but it was a disappointing end to what had been a highly successful weekend. To rub salt into the wound Heaton won the race and taking the 25 points to boot.
We now lead the GP2 Championship by 34 points with 421 points to Heaton’s 387. With 3 rounds to go it means there is still a possible 300 points still up for grabs so it is still all to play for.
The races from Brands Hatch can be seen on MotorsTV on Sky in the next couple of weeks so keep an eye out for them.
The next round is at Anglesey in Wales on the 18th/19th September. I am looking forward to this as it is a track I have never raced at before but I am told the circuit is awesome to ride.

The Sidecar Smiths

Leigh and I have seen the future and its not looking good. This could be us racing circa 2030! Only joking gents, it could be 2029! Mick and Gary Smith got to go for a ride in the F1 Sidecars around Brands Hatch in a charity event and therefore needed some leathers to do it in so we loaned them ours. The good news is that we obviously have time to grow into them. Both of them thoroughly enjoyed the experience which was a little better than the three guys that actually fell out! It was funny to see these two get off the sidecar after only three laps and both were completely knackered, bloody hilarious. It was a great event organised by ThundersportGB to raise money for 'Help the Heroes'.

The Happy Crew

Thanks to Sean and Andrea for sending me through this photo of the happy crew at Scarborough last year. They are enjoying it really you know.

Dyno Time at Cadwell

After the race at Cadwell we had to have our bike dyno'd to check that we were within the class limit of 80hp. As you can see from the photo, John is keeping a close eye on his little baby! Thanks to Clive and Debs for the photo. PS This is John's best side!

And the Winner of the Macau GP is .......?

Only joking folks, but while I was away in the Far East I took the opportunity to nip across to Macau to have a look around the street circuit that is used for the Grand Prix that is held there. This circuit sorts the men from the boys as it is lined with armco barriers and has no run off whatsoever. I would love to get the chance to race there at some point but we will have to see. This year will be the 57th Macau Grand Prix and runs from the 18th-21st November, if you get the chance to go and watch this one off race it is certainly worth doing. Whilst we were there we went and had a look at the Grand Prix Museum which is located close to where the circuit runs and as you can see from the photos of the bikes it has certainly had some top class winners and competitors over the years.

Top Weekend Out at Cadwell

Firstly I will apologise for the short write up, although some of you may be thankful of this, as I am due to fly off to Honk Kong on Tuesday so time is a little limited.
We had an absolutely top weekend, the new 440cc motor Roger Middleton had built for us, it was absolutely flying and it made the bike probably the quickest on the grid. This provides both good and bad points though, firstly it gives us a better chance of winning but secondly it means I don't have any excuses anymore!
I qualified 3rd on the grid which we were all happy with as it means a front row start which is ideally where you want to be. The two races on the Saturday were absolutely corkers. They both came down to a duel between myself and Alex Heaton (the miserable looking one) on the Knight Racing 800cc Ducati. In both races we were passing each other a couple of times each lap and in the process we both went 1.2 seconds under the existing lap record. The lap times we were doing would have put us in the top 7 of the 600 race and the top 4 of the GP1 race. The outcome of the races was that I won the first race and Heaton took the second.
Sunday was expected to be much of a repeat of the day before but on the 3rd lap of the first race Heaton crashed out at Mansfield corner. This meant I had a relatively comfortable victory, with Danny Murphy posting the best times of the Aprilia 450's and coming home in 2nd place. Danny is another young lad that is going places and will probably be at the sharp end of British Championships in the not too distant future. The 2nd race saw the battle recommence between Heaton and myself, I led for the first few laps until he came past on the brakes into Park Corner. There was quite an amusing tale about Park Corner, on this corner they have 300, 200 and 100 yard braking markers. Now we normally brake around the 200 yard marker, well imagine our surprise when on the first lap charging up to Park past the 300 yard marker, looking for the 200 yard marker only to realise that it was not there as you approached the 100 yard marker. For some reason the marker had disappeared. I am not sure how we managed to stop for the corner but it just goes to show how late you can brake ! Although not one I want to repeat. Anyway, back to the story, I followed Heaton around for the last few laps and was contemplating having a go but then I remembered Pippa had come to watch by now and if it all went wrong and I missed the flight to Hong Kong she would probably kill me, or just have gone on her own. Due to this I decided 'discretion was the better part of valour' and came home in 2nd place.
This now means we have extended our lead in the championship from 5 points to 25 points. This sounds good but there are still 400 points up for the taking from the last 4 rounds so it is still up for grabs.
One of the funniest parts of the weekend was seeing Ian Popplewell throwing a big girly sissy fit in Parc Ferme after the race when he had been black flagged from the race due to a smoking bike. He only needed to start jumping up and down on the spot and we would have had the full shebang!

I get back from Hong Kong on Thursday 27th August and drive down to Brands Hatch on the 28th, I hope the jet lag is not too bad?