S.A.D (Snetterton Absenteeism Depression) !

Well, unfortunately I had to give the Bemsee Snetterton round a miss. After spending a lot on items needed to improve the performance of the bike, it meant I had to reduce expenditure elsewhere and 1 round of race entry fees seemed the best way. I was ok with this decision until the results and lap times came out for this weekend. Top 5 was attainable doing the same lap times I did last year with warped brake discs i.e no braking power!! Gutted, could have had a win or two if I had been there. Oh well, roll on Cadwell.
Big shout out to my team mate Chris Boland and his wife Jacqui, who will be missing the next couple of rounds. Both are in the RAF and are on tour in Afghanistan for 8 weeks. Apparently ticket sales are going really well!! Joking apart, stay safe mate and see you soon.

I'll Make You Famous !

In the papers again ! Bikesport News Issue 232 that was out on Tuesday 24th March. You can see me in second place on No. 77, I think this is from the first race on Sunday at Mallory Park which I won.

If you double click on the paper clipping below you can read the report from the paper, Leigh gets a mention too.

And don't forget to watch MotorsTV next Monday at 7pm.

MY HORSES HAVE BOLTED!!

Well, it seems the crash at Brands Hatch has done more damage to my bike than we first thought! Even though the results from Mallory weren't too bad, they should have been a lot better. Injuries aside, every man and his dog could and did pass me on the straight. Apparently the loss of power was bloody obvious even from the pit wall as bikes of lesser power ploughed past me with ease. So, the question is, where have I lost the power? Unfortunately, it's back to the process of elimination with no obvious answer prevailing. Having said that, I have decided to fit a power commander, which enables more precise tuning from our friend John King ( J K Tuning ). Fingers crossed, we'll have the bike sorted for Cadwell and climb a bit further up the championship.

Tigcraft KTM Update

Had a quick chat, that turned in to a long chat, with Dave Pearce today to see where we are at with the Tigcraft KTM. We are currently waiting for the swingarm to be completed and the engine to be built up. All the new parts have now arrived for the motor and it should be built up in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately it does mean we may miss the ThundersportGB round at Cadwell with this bike (I will still be riding the ZXR) that we were due to enter and use as a shakedown test in preparation for the first Supermono round in May. We will have to look at somewhere to test the bike prior to this meeting, possibly a race as this is when you get a true understanding of a bike, but we will see.

Big Bore

Speaking to Birdy today and it looks like we might be going to a 440cc big bore kit (the picture is what happened the last time Birdy was talking to me, only joking mate) on the ZXR. As the Junior Powerbike rules allow a four cylinder bike to be up to 450cc we are looking to take advantage of this. This will hopefully get us up to the class limit of 80 horsepower and make my job a bit easier !

Another Good Day At The Mallory Office

As you can see from the photo and the number of trophies in front of our bikes we have had a pretty successful weekend ! The weather was nice and sunny for Sunday and the wind from the previous day had dropped so conditions were ideal for racing. I had a cracker of a first race with Steve Tomes and Rob Ellesmere, we were passing each other every lap but I took the chequered flag first by 1/100th of a second, that is something like half a bikes length, pretty close, I think you'll agree. Even John Bird who owns the bike got a little over excited when he ran up to give me a hug after the race, and I thought it was only footballers that did that. I also had to do my interview for MotorsTV as the races are to be shown in two weeks time. Leigh was happy to finish 5th in his class as he was struggling with the bike mysteriously losing power. He wasn't sure whether to take part in the final race after checking the bike over revealed nothing obviously wrong, but as he is 4th in the standings it made sense to try and salvage some points and this he did with another 5th place. I had another good battle at the front for the last race but lost a couple of seconds through the bus-stop when I caught a backmarker at the wrong point so I had to settle for 3rd place this time round. I am currently joint leader in the Junior Powerbike Championship. Overall a bloody good weekend and lets hope for more of the same to come. You can catch the races on MotorsTV (on sky and Virgin) on Monday 30th March at 7pm. A quick thanks to Roger of RMKD for giving us a top notch engine for the bike.

Triple Success at Mallory

After the first race was stopped twice I managed to come home the winner, but this was not without incident as I had to avoid two fallen riders. Leigh also got on the podium in the Minitwin class bringing the bike home in third place. The second race was also stopped due to a crash at Gerrards corner, in the restart I once again had to avoid a fallen rider losing me several places, but I managed to come home in second place, setting a new class lap record in the process. This time Leigh just missed out on the podium coming home in fourth position. All in all a good day at the office. Lets hope for more of the same tomorrow when the TV cameras are out ! Leigh’s team mate Chris (pictured in the centre on the picture) also had a good day with a win and a seond place in the Minitwin class.