Metzeler National Superstock 1000 ride at BSB Oulton Park, and 10,000 site views!

This week i entered my first wildcard BSB National Superstock 1000 race, at Oulton Park 6th-8th July! I am excited to have this opportunity, and can't wait to get out there with the quick boys and see what sort of times they can drag me down to!

The ups and downs of racing in Hottrax MG1000!

Every season, i try to get back to my first race paddock. Thundersport is now home, but the Hottrax paddock is still special, with so many great friends there, it's always nice to go there, even if I'm not riding! With the Oulton Park round the previous weekend, this was a last minute entry, and although i didn't want bad weather, the rain was just about perfect for me to have chance to set the bike up in the wet and get used to it in the slippery conditions, away from Thundersport, where it basically didn't matter how i did.

Friday testing
I actually only decided to go to Anglesey at 4am Friday morning! Umming and arring all week, i'd decided against racing, choosing to save the money for other racing, but then with the forecast being terrible, i thought last minute it would be a good chance to get wet time, something i wished I'd had more of when i raced at Mallory in the rain in April.

Oulton Park Round 4 scorcher!

After a shockingly wet Mallory park (report below!) we got just what we needed at a sun soaked Oulton park, for Round 4 of the 2012 Thundersport championship! It was a pleasure to be back in the sun, and with a unbelievable forecast for the weekend, the sun cream was out, and I felt sorry for all the ginger people in the paddock, who were in for a severe roasting!!

An early arrival on the Thursday saw me fettling the bike to get a new throttle fitted, that only turned up last minute after Tony from Moto corseUK and Jack Russell got the bits i needed to me in time saving the day. This 15 minute job had the usual twists and quickly became 2 hours, as the over tightened trumpet bolts into the throttle bodies rounded off and needed drilling out!

Birthday weekend at wet wet Mallory!

Round 3 at Mallory was one for the ducks! After such a great first round for me at Donington, Mallory seemed to take an age to come round, but when it did it wasn't the glorious sunshine I'd seen up until then on the Fireblade. This was to be the first time I'd taken to a wet track with 1000cc to play with, and it was a very interesting round!

Thundersport GB Round 2 - Donington Park GP

Well the second round came up on us very quickly. Unfortunately having to miss the first round due to costs, the start of our season was always going to be at Thundersport GB's second round, at the famous Donington Park GP circuit.

In glorious sunshine we rolled up on Wednesday afternoon to setup and test the bike for the first time on UK soil on a No Limits track day on Thursday, with Friday being used as prep time before the race weekend.

2012 is here!

So two minutes ago it was Christmas, and now it's March already! The season has snuck up on us all quietly and quickly, and with the warm weather making an appearance, it's really time to get excited.

This season i will once again be keeping the website up to date so that you can read about my escapades around the country

Support for the season from Shorrocks Motorcycles!

I'm extremely pleased and grateful to have the support of Shorrocks Motorcycles & Accessories for the remainder of the 2011 season!

Shorrocks is a shop I've used for a couple of years. A race friendly shop run by a great bunch of guys who always do everything they can to help you come away with exactly what you are after.

They will primarily be helping with protective gear, and have already helped get me into some new Berik 8320 leathers after I tested my last set out a little too much over the back end of last year!

Three Sisters - The story so far!

We're almost at the mid point of the season now in July, and I've been mega busy racing, so thought I'd grab a minute to update this place for the first time in a while! As you can see in my race schedule, I've been competing with Preston & District Motor racing club at Three Sisters race circuit near Wigan, in the F600 and 501-1300cc open classes, hoping to retain my 2010 championships.

Thundersport GB Superstock 600 Round 3 @ Anglesey! Report

Anglesey has always been a favourite track of mine. We’ve had success in endurance racing in 2009, and I’ve had some good results in 2010 there in Hottrax’s MG600 series, not to mention my first ever Thundersport meeting was at the Welsh coastal track in September ’10, in typically horrendous rainstorms for the duration. Needless to say this was the round I was looking forward to the most.

Hottrax Motogrande 600 @Mallory Park. Race report!

Well before I get totally out of order, I thought I’d better get my ass into gear. With a whole 10 days free before we race again, I have plenty of time to get up to date with the website. First things first, my report from the last minute entry into Hottrax’s popular Motogrande 600 meeting. Mallory Park was the venue for Round 2 of HMRC, and it was nice to be back in what still feels like my home paddock. It’s where I spent the first two years of my racing, and is full of friendly and familiar faces, along side lots of new ones too.

Three Sisters Round 1 kicks off this weekend!

It seems an eternity since i raced at the Three Sisters race track Near Wigan in the North West!

It's up there with my favourite tracks, and this weekend is the first round of the season for the Preston and District Motorcycle Club.

All the dates are available on the Race Schedule page. Tomorrow i will be there testing before the weekend.

A Big Thanks!

I need to say a couple of Thanks to some people who have recently come aboard to help for the first time, and also to a friend who has once again shown his generosity by helping towards my racing.

Mike Chappell and Bates Car and Commercials have kindly bought me an Awning to help me work on my bike and spend time in the paddock in comfort at the race meetings and trackdays!

Thundersport Round 2 report - Quick return to Donington!

Well it's been a whole month since I've had time to update the site! I've been mega busy with my racing and I've also grown another year, now at the scary number of 28 years old! Here is my slightly late report on TSGB's round 2, at Donington National circuit!

After Donington WSB support races, i thought about nothing else other than swinging my leg over the bike again and getting down through Craner curves again! Thundersports second round both at Donington, and of the championship, came around soon enough and before i knew it, I was heading down to the paddock once again.

WSB Round 2 @ Donington! Stocksport 600

I decided to enter the Thundersport GB Superstock/Stocksport 600 support race at Round 2 of the World Superbikes Championship at Donington park at the start of March. I thought if you have an opportunity and you don't take it, you're a fool, so i filled out the forms and got it all in the post.

The first round of the Thundersport season earlier in the month taught me an awful lot, amongst other things, the importance of qualifying, and a good start, both of which i kind of lacked at Mallory!

2011 Racing photography, by John Deprielle

This was a set of photo's taken by my good friend John Deprielle. He is a full time journalist for Ride BMX magazine, and as you can see, can compose some great photos!

He'll have his website up and running within the next few days to show some of his 50,000+ photo's, from fishing, bmx, landscapes and automobiles, to portraits and abstract work.

Thundersport Round 1 @ Mallory park

The first round of the Thundersport calendar came round very quickly. It seemed only a few weeks ago when i was buying Christmas presents and wondering which bike i should buy to race this year, but then Thursday came and we were off to Mallory Park for the first outing of 2011...

We set up camp with GP2 contender Josh Daley, and with friend Ryan Myler and Sam Ludgate, the three of us all racing in Superstock 600 class.

Thundersport do Donington WSB!

Thundersport GB are once again set to hold their support races at once of the biggest events in the British racing calendar.

The World Superbike Championship round 2 at Donington park will be host to TSGB's Aprilia Superteens, Aprilia Moto 450, Superstock 600, and Superstock 1000 support classes, with practice and qualifying on Friday, and races on the Saturday and Sunday.

Cartagena or bust!

Right then it's all go! I've made the (silly for my wallet) choice of doing a few days in Spain to get the bike set up well and give me some dry time hopefully, before the season starts.

Speed king, apparently!

So a copy of BT Today came through the door this morning. It's a national BT internal magazine for all the employees, lots of info about what the employees are up to, charity events, sporting acheivements, etc. This month i've got a little bit of a thing in there :)

BT - "BT wouldn't be able to support you with any sponsorship, as to actively encourage your racing only to have you off work from injury wouldn't be productive for us!"

Bongo

Dry ride #1, £25 bargain day!

So after the ride in the wet on 5th Feb, i stripped the bike and did a nut and bolt front to back. With everything good, it was just a case of waiting until Tuesday 8th for the next ride out.

Like i said in the last blog, I'd spent the first day in the horrible wet, setting up the controls on the bike to be comfortable. Levers, rearsets, bars etc. In between rides i fitted thicker seat foam, and a bumstop, so i could ease up on the bars when i was exiting corners.

Someone told me my shock needed servicing as it had 'dropped it's gas'. I had my doubts, but followed it up with a call to Pete Clifford at http://www.actiforceracing.co.uk we arranged to look at the bike at Oulton on the Tuesday.

Nice bit of watercolour!

A guy on facebook decided to have a paint last week and i found myself tagged. It's a brilliant and simple painting and i was made up! If you're interested in having one done, i think he'd like to do a few more... Add him to facebook and ask him about it. Allentino Rossi (Ali Lanky-fizza Gaut)

Bongo x x x

The first ride - A day of function

Eh up,

So yesterday i rode for the first time since September. We decided to take the plunge and risk an Oulton park trackday to test out the new bike and get back into the swing of things for 2011, and unsurprisingly for an early Febuary trackday, the weather wasn't on our side!

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog people! I'll be constantly updating this with my goings ons, whether it be racing and bike related, or whatever else i may be up to. I guess it's a good time to have started things off as i've just come back from the first bike related event of 2011, the Preston & District Motorcycle Club (PDMCC) Annual presentation evening, where i was fortunate enough to be presented with the Formula 600 and 501-1300cc championship trophies! I also won the Arthur Scott memorial trophy for the fastest lap average over the season in the club which was a great surprise, and it was presented to me by none other than Tony Scott, the legendary tuner! It was a great night!

Anyway, keep checking back! Off to Oulton on Saturday for a first ride on the new bike, so pics and vids will be up sharpish!

Bongo x x x