Nov 09

Photo Courtesy of LondonBikers.com

I’ve been out of action for the last week with a severe case [is there are other type?] of full blown man flu, I’m starting to come round now but my heads still a bit spaced from blowing my nose too hard and cold turkey withdrawal from Lemsip...

Now I’ve got this month’s excuse for spelling and grammar out of the way...

It’s been a busy month, and feels like a lot more than five weeks since the season finale at Oulton.

The last round went pretty well for us. Like Silverstone [see previous blog] the progress continued and was pretty clear.

Compared to the earlier meeting at Oulton Park in May I knocked a pretty hefty 2seconds a lap off my times. Racing a bit further up the pack with the likes of Gowland and with Mason, Richards, Walker [and even Ellison??] in sight, plus finishing the season only a handful of seconds off a top ten finish bodes well.

The improvement came from getting a consistent base set-up to work from, using set-up to find ways to make the bike easier to ride, and it sounds strange but I’m still learning how to get the best from a Superbike.

Oulton is a physical circuit especially on a superbike – back in May each run on track was equivalent to a very strenuous gym session, it was basically a wrestling match for 45mins and the winner [fortunately not by knockout] was the bike. But with the bike working with me this time it made so much difference. You can focus on riding; it’s safer, faster and easier [don’t get me wrong it’s still physical though!].

For me as the team owner [as well as rider] the season never really finishes – it just changes its form. Now the hard[er] work begins – securing support and funding for 2010...

We’ve had a pretty good year, some good results, got plenty of coverage, and made sure our sponsors were happy, but it’s never “easy” especially in the current climate.

Regarding 2010 the plan is clear - to continue our fantastic progress in British Superbikes. With the demise of the privateer’s cup, our homes for the past seasons things are open at the moment.

I’m not “entirely” sold on the new “EVO” class, but that’s a whole different story/blog. I’m trying to keep an open mind for the moment and my soap box securely under wraps!

Apart from the phone calls and emails RE: 2010... we had our bike [and me] on our sponsors Doodson Motorsport Insurance stand at the recent Dirt Bike show. I wasn’t sure how it would go down or what the interest would be like.

I was pleasantly surprised, although I guess I shouldn’t have been when I think that nearly all racers have come from a trials or motocross background and there’s a lot of crossover and interest in each other’s sports. Plus a set of slick tyres were a bit of a novelty.

By the end of it I’d lost my voice which I’d initially put down to harping on about bikes but turned out to be the old man flu.

Now my voice is on its way back I do a mean impression of a Yorkshire Mariella Frostrup which isn’t going to pay next year’s bill so now - it's back on the phone....

Speak soon

TT#21