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

Silverstone >>>> Oulton Park

Photo Courtesy of LondonBikers.com

Right now we are on the run up to the final round and coming off the back of a pretty good round at Silverstone.

We just missed out on the Cup pole position by 0.1seconds in qualifying, but still in front of the likes of Gary Mason, Karl Harris, and Michael Rutter. We ended up 5th in race one and 3rd place in race two. Strangely it was the race one result I was most please with.
Only a couple of seconds off Mason at the flag is the closest I’ve got to the man this year in the dry and that was with a front tyre that was completely shot by half race distance.

It’s a strange thing racing with no front grip – when the rear grip goes you can play with the throttle to control it and in fairness its good fun.
But the front tyre? Especially peeling into corners like Copse & Bridge at 100/120mph with the front washing out more and more each lap whilst still pushing on to catch the riders ahead takes some doing. And the ability to ignore you survival instinct kinda helps.

Progress in measure in different ways and with my lap times being two seconds a lap faster than last year it was pretty clear were going the right direction.
And so onto Oulton Park this weekend and the season finale – as usual it’s with mixed emotions I head to the final round of the season in Cheshire this weekend.
Its a shame as the season seems to have flown by and it has been a tough year on and off the track and i feel we’ve still to show our full potential – and yes i know only three more chances [races] this year!

The final race is scheduled to start at 16:45 on Sunday... Mid October... Oulton Park, I just hope there’s still enough light to see where we’re going under the trees!

Hopefully see you all there,

TT#21

Silverstone Qualifying

Photo Courtesy of LondonBikers.com

It’s the nature of competition I guess...

We’ve had our best qualifying of the year and should be well happy with it but I’ve just got a niggling feeling after just being pipped off a Superbike Cup pole position, and a top 16 qualifying.

Lapped nearly 2 seconds a lap faster than last year, and out qualified Karl Harris, Michael Rutter, Gary Mason to name a few, so life could be worse, and its good to be showing more like our true potential in a full field...

Looking forward to getting stuck in to tomorrow’s races...

TT#21

Testing times...

It’s fair to say we were disappointed with the last round at Croft.
We struggled to get the bike working there and the results certainly didn’t show what we are capable of.

But that’s how it goes sometimes, but it wasn’t for the lack of trying!
We had a few unanswered questions and fortunately the Wednesday after croft we managed to get some much needed track time at Silverstone to try and answer them.

Don’t get this confused with professional superbike test on closed track, with unlimited track time – it was a track day with road bikes/riders.
We threw the bike in the van, filled up a couple of jerry cans, and dug out some part worn tyres. I was feeling pretty confident so I choose to go in the “fast group”!! The difference in speed and ability is massive and I struggled to hit the same racing line two laps running – It was a bit like a playstation game – weaving in and out of the traffic.

I’m not knocking the other riders it’s just different levels of experience and machinery and I did try and give them plenty of room.

Again I’m not complaining I don’t get that much chance to ride a bike away from race meetings so anything is better than nothing.

Although I didn’t get much/if any clear track I still got down to my race pace from last year which under the circumstances and with old tyres I was fairly happy with. We also got a better understanding of the problems we had at croft and found a solution which was really good – and helped me sleep at night!

So onto Silverstone...
I'm really looking forward to it. I don’t think slow traffic will be a problem!

TT#21

Progress in the park...

Photo courtesy of londonbikers.com

Mixed weekend so far here at Cadwell Park – The first day of practice was kinda hampered by a few niggling bike issues, thrown into that was an intermittent electrical problem.

I was going to say that they are “the worst type of problem” as its difficult to fix something that either isn’t always broken or fixes itself – but in hindsight a con-rod hanging out of the side of the engine cases in probably worse so it wasn’t that bad!

We missed a chunk of practice which I certainly need here as Cadwell isn’t my strongest track – in fact I can narrow it down to the woodland section.

Very tight, twisty and undulating on a superbike it’s... “Challenging”!

It’s strange because if you push and try harder you end up going slower – it seems it all about getting a good flow and keeping the momentum up.

My qualifying position isn’t great but we’ve made some good progress – I’ve lapped about a second faster than ever so were going in the right direction – just need more of the same - without the bike issues for tomorrows races!

TT#21

photo courtesy of motoprofesional.com


The last round Brands was a good one for me and the Hardinge Doodson Motorsport Team. Even though we had some problems with the bike throughout the weekend it was fantastic to come away with three podiums and a fastest lap.

It’s a bit of a strange one; I left brands on the Sunday night a bit frustrated…

I guess it was part the bike issues and part the nature of competition as I was close to getting 2nd place in third race… eventually with a bit of perspective I was really happy to head back north with three more trophies.

The whole weekend was really fantastic...

The BSB organisers did a great job, organising the parades, classic races, and a great atmosphere. It had the same buzz as the World Superbike weekend which was helped by the massive crowds and the cracking weather.

We haven’t been taking it easy either – less than 24hours after the race the bike was on the dyno and then the engine being stripped to try and iron out the issues we had Brands.

According to the dyno after it was rebuilt we’re back to where we should have been, we did take it to a race track to check it but that was rained off, so I’ll find out when we get to Cadwell!

I got my first race win at Cadwell Park on a 125 and I’m looking forward to the challenge of racing a Superbike there again. The woodland section is really tight on a big bike and like the chicanes at Mallory it’s an area I can improve.

I’ve been training even harder in the last few weeks which will always help and if I keep managing to avoid swine flu I’ll be stronger and fitter than ever for these last four rounds.

The goal this weekend is to be on the rostrum in every race and chase that first Superbike cup win!

TT#21

Looking ahead to Brands...

Photo courtesy of LondonBikers.com

Only 24 hours now before we set off down the M1 to Brands Hatch for what looks like it’s going to be a busy weekend.

I’m really looking forward to getting out on the full GP circuit. I’ve got good memories from World Supersport Races there in 2004, 2005, & 2006. And after scratching round the chicanes of Mallory last time out I can’t wait to let our Hardinge Doodson Honda stretch its legs.

The World Superbike weekends there were a bit special – big crowds – cracking atmosphere – and great weather. Hopefully BSB this weekend will pick up from where WSBK left it and if we get at least two of the three it should be a fantastic weekend.

I’m looking forward to seeing the old bikes [and riders] too. Agostini is a true racing legend both with results and his character. When I was racing at Monza [WSS] he politely asked if he could take a short cut through our garage rather than just barging through as some people do. If I’d have known the Italian for piggy back I’d have offered to carry him through! Proper gentleman...

It’s the first time the championship has run three races on over one weekend and although Sunday has familiar format Saturday in going to be flat out - with our third free practice in the morning, qualifying just after lunch and our first race in the afternoon. You’ll find me in a quiet dark corner on Saturday evening.

Mallory was never going to be our strongest race and although I was happy with the progress we made over previous years it's was very frustrating to leave without at least one more podium especially in race two – I was in a strong third place but then started to struggle to see through my visor and lost more than 2 seconds a lap and therefore just got pipped before the race was stopped. I was keen to get back out for a restart but the BSB organisers did the right thing as it would have been too dangerous.

I’ve enjoyed a couple of weekends “off” spent with a mix of training hard, relaxing, avoiding swine flu and getting things prepared for Brands.

We’re past the half way mark in the season now and although we’ve racked up some podiums I don’t feel we’ve proved what we’re capable of yet....

Roll on Brands!!... TT#21