2009 British Superstock 600
Testing 2009
I did a few days at a very cold Cartegana and have done some track day at Donnington, Cadwell, and Oulton.
I also did the first MRO meeting at Brands (8th March), entering stock and sport classes on my stock 600. Despite 3 thirds in the stock and sport class I wasnt happy with my performance but coming first in the final stock class with a gap of over 7 seconds to the next rider, gave me a decent finish to the weekend.
Brands Hatch Indy - 10th - 13th April
Free Practice. Went well and we were 4th in our group and 6th overall .
Qauli.1. The 1st session went well and again managed 4th place and went quicker again.
Qauli.2. We had some problems with the suspension in this session and the bike was not holding a line in corners and we dropped to 7th and 12th overall. For the race we made some changes.
Race. The 1st bend is always hectic and some times it is the luck of the draw if you come out of it ahead of your grid position or behind. This time we were down by 2 places but I got my head down and picked a couple of riders off and came home in 10th.
I had hoped to finish a lot higher up at this meeting as I had put it on the podium with a 2nd at the last race here in 2008, it just goes to show everything has to be working in your favour to run at the front in this ultra competitive series.
Oulton Park - 2nd - 4 May
Free Practice. This was a complete surprise, I put it on pole in the 1st session. Oulton is the most technical track in the country and takes a lot of learning and up until now I have struggled to get to grips with it but I had come here testing a month earlier and it certainly helped.
Qauli.1. Everyone went quicker and I dropped to 5th but compared to last year I was over 2 secs quicker, and much more comfortable with the track.
Qauli.2. We changed helmet manufacturers from Shoei to Shark as we were offered some help and I chose to go out in this session with the new helmet. It was a big mistake, the helmet was OK in pit lane but as soon as I got up to speed on the bike it was closing my vision down and I never got within a second of my time from qauli.1. The guys at Shark were great and refitted the helmet and we have had no problems since. So my time from the 1st qauli stood and I dropped to 10th.
Race. My start was ok and I came round on the 1st lap in grid position but for some reason could not get into a rhythm and dropped to 15th, suddenly everything started to feel good . Over the next 5 laps I picked off riders to get up to 8th over the finish line and I had caught the next group of riders in front but needed another couple of laps to take them. Lap times were good and I was the 4th fastest in the race, we just need to sort qualifying out.
Donnington Park - 23rd - 29th May
Free Practice. Again I was on pole in free practice and feeling good. Donington was my best finish at this stage of the season in 2008 with 15th and my 1st point. Lol.
Qauli.1. Went well and I was in 4th and felt there was more to come. I was loosing out in sector 2, so that evening we did our usual track walk and pinpointed some areas to try and go faster in the next day.
Qauli.2. Did not go to plan as I did not manage to get one clear lap without someone getting in my way, with 53 riders on track it can sometimes be a lottery. I dropped to 10th but had found the time in sector 2 and I was now fastest through this sector which gave me one of the best ideal times. Now I was confident that given a good start I could run at the front.
Race. On the 1st bend there was a crash and I got trapped on the curb and dropped to 15th but was determined to get to the front. Over the next 13 laps I chased down and passed rider after rider and by the last lap had caught the front 3 riders. With 3 corners to go I was up to 3rd but was then repassed into the Melbourne loop. It would have been good to be on the podium but I needed the points and a rash move on the last corner could have had us both on the floor, so 4th it was and our best finish so far this season.
Thruxton - 29th - 31st May
Free Practice. Thruxton is the fastest track in the country and can be intimidating to ride, but last year was my first time here and even with my broken collarbone qualified 12th in the wet, so I was looking forward to it. I had a good 1st session and I was 8th and felt good.
Qauli.1.We went one better in this session with 7th.
Qauli.2. Again I was quicker and moved up to 6th in this session but were 7th overall and my best qauli, so far this season.
Race. I had a good start and came round in 5th on the first lap but there had been a big crash and the pace car was deployed for a lap until it was cleared up. Once underway again I managed to get up to 4th and set about trying to catch the three in front who had pulled a small gap but the bike started to overheat and loose power. As the temperature rose there was nothing I could do and dropped back to 9th over the line . When I came into pit lane we discovered the radiator had been holed and I had lost all water , it looked like the engine was wrecked. This was possibly going to be our best finish this season but sometimes there is nothing you can do when lady luck is not on your side.
Snetterton - 19th - 21st June
Mixed weather and mixed fortunes this weekend - after the blown engine at Thruxton we decided that we would buy a second hand 08 engine and re-build the blown one at a later date when we had more time. Dad sourced another 08 engine which we preped and put into the bike, when we ran it up on the dyno it was apparent that this new engine was slower being nearly 6 BHP down on the 09 bike.
I rode the slower bike in free practice in the hope that the speed of Snetterton would help loosen the engine. In qualifying 1 I did a couple of laps on the slow bike then came in and swapped onto the number 1 bike, on the first lap the oil light came on, so I came in, not wanting to risk another blown engine, and went straight back out on the slower bike, on extremely warn tyres. Being down on BHP meant I ended quali 1 a disappointing 20th.
We sorted out the other bike ready for qual 2 the following day, and just as the session was about to start it rained, so that was it no faster lap times for anyone and I was starting 20th, my worst qualifying so far this season.
The race saw me get a reasonable start and gradually pick off riders moving from my 20th grid position to finish 9th, salvaging some points, I was pleased to make good progress in the race.
Knockhill - 3rd - 5th July
This was only my third visit to this track but I like the track, so was hopeful things would go better than Snetteron.
Free practice went OK, I was happy that I was learning the track more with every lap. Qualifying one and as usual the pace in general was fast and the qualifying was extremely close, on such a small track with 40 riders out it wasn't always easy to get a clear lap. However the session finished with me qualifying in 4th, so was happy with that and eagerly awaited quali 2. As at Snetterton, it rained just as our session started and the track stayed wet to damp for the entire seesion, I went out and did a couple of laps but the grid position stayed as they were in quali 1. So that put me 4th on the front row of the grid, best qualifying of the year so far. Couldn't have worked out better as this weekend was a double header.
Although we had mixed weather all weekend race day stayed fine and sunny, so I had 2 races to look forward to, Race 1 went well I got a reasonable start only dropping a place and managed to keep with a group of 6 riders that broke away from the rest of the pack, and although there was much changing of postion during the race, I finished in 5th place, a good result and more points.
The second race was the last race of the day and it did seem a long wait, the weather was still bright and sunny, I got a good start holding my postion and again ended up a pack of about 5 riders that broke away from the rest, Luke Jones was just in front of me, and although I could make a lot of ground on him during the second sector on each lap, I just didn't seem to be able to get past, maybe my lack of knowledge of the track played a part in this. However on the last lap we came up on a back marker, Luke got past him at the hairpin but made a mistake and went down, I crossed the finish line in 3rd. Brilliant, my first podium of the year, I was really chuffed.
Brands Hatch - GP 7th - 9th Aug
This turned out to be my worst weekend of the season so far. Although I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong I struggled with both qualifying sessions and ended up qualifying 18th on the grid. I was gutted especially after my Knockhill results, which I discovered had changed to a 2nd and 4th due to a rider disqualification.
I still wasn't happy with the race but managed a reasonable start that saw me finish in 13th place, my worst result of the year, but at least I scrapped a few points. On a slightly more positive note I'm now the only rider in the 600 series who has scored points at every round.
Cadwell Park - 29th - 31st August
I had done some testing at Cadwell a couple of weeks before this meeting and felt there may be some issue with the front end of the bike, so in free practice we set both bikes up the same and I rode them both, it was evident straight away that there was an issue with the front end on number 1 bike. So in quali 1 we swapped the forks over on the bikes and number 1 bike was suddenly great again. At the end of the session I was 9th. Quali 2 saw slightly warmer weather conditions, and although I dropped my lap times slightly also dropped position to 12th. I was quick in sector 1 but was losing it in sector 2 and 3. The race saw me get a great start and shoot up the inside and come round at the end of the first lap in 6th pace. As in qualifying my 1st sector was good but I was losing ground in the other sectors. I finished in 7th which was a reasonable result.
Croft - 11th - 13th September
I have not managed to get any testing at this track this year so have only been twice before and both of those visits were last year.
Free practice saw me finish in 9th, and in quali 1 although I dropped my lap times to 1.26.4 I was still only in 10th position with the 2 riders in front of me also doing 1.26.4's. Quali 2 wasn't going too well until I managed a quick lap towards the end of the session which put me in 6th. I was happy with that considering my lack of time at the track.
The race saw me get an OK start and finish the first lap just behind Johnny Blackshaw in 5th, I couldn't find space to get past Johhny and saw the front 3 breaking away. Times were so close the race saw other riders gain on me and I finsished the race in 10th. I was gutted and felt disappointed in myself, Hopefully I could do better at Silverstone
Silverstone - 25th - 27th September
Although I have not been to Silverstone much either I felt happier on the track so was confident things would go better.
Free practice saw me finish in 5th, being P1 in sector 1 and P4 in sector 2 with the third sector being my weakest. Quali 1 saw me improve my lap time but finish in 8th despite still being P1 in sector 1. We had made minor changes to gearing in free practice and quali 1 so thought we still need a little adjustment for quali 2, Depsite improving my lap time, I finished 11th with a 1.31.87.
We decided to go back to the gearing we had used on race day at Silverstone last year. The race result showed that that is what we should have gone with all along. I got a decent start and came round at the end of the 1st lap in 8th place. I was consistent with my lap times doing 1.31,s on every lap of the race, putting in the second fastest lap time of the day with a 1.31.04 with only Dan Kneen doing a faster lap time. I finished in 4th so was happy with that.
Jamie Hamilton wrapped up the championship at this round but with Luke Jones on 132 points, Luke Mossey on 118, Dan Kneen on 108, me on 105 and Jess Trayler on 103 its all to play for at the final round.
Oulton Park - 9th - 11th October
I had high hopes for a good result but as sometimes happens in racing things didn't go all my way, Friday saw Free practice and qualifying I had a rotten cold and felt drained and was struggling to breath so both sessions were hard work. I was making steady progress and got my lap times down to 1.44.3 it rained towards the end of the session but I thought no problem, the forecast was for dry conditions tomorrow and I knew I would feel better and improve on my times. Saturday morning saw heavy rain early on and although it was sunny and dry the track was still wet when it came to second qualifying, I did the last 10 minutes of the session for some practice in dodgy conditions but no one was going faster today, so I had qualified 9th not where I expected to be so it would be all to do in the race.
Race day saw rain start about 30 minutes before my race, the track was going to be wet so we made the decision, wet tyres. The track was wetter than quali 2 yesterday and I didn't get the start I hoped for, I finished the first lap in about 14th place and struggled to judge how much I could push in the conditions, having not done much wet riding at this circuit. As the race progressed the track started to dry and conditions became similar to quali 2, so I got more comfortable and could start to make some moves through the field. I finished in 7th just behind Jesse Trayler by 0.072 of a second, if only I had another lap.
However it meant that I finished the season scoring points at every round the only rider to do so and finished 5th in the championship overall.
Roll on 2010
I would like to say a massive thank you to all that have helped and supported me this year. Don from HB Motorcycles, I cant thank you enough for everything. My sponsors Al Murad tiles, Keith and Lyndsey from IDM,
