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Brands Hatch – 9/04/07
It was a nice sunny Easter weekend at Brands Hatch and I was
looking forward to racing again after a good test weekend on
the new Suzuki GSX-R K7 at Snetterton in March. Practice
didn’t go too well as we needed to do some work on the
suspension set-up and I was down in 23rd place.
We made some changes and I went out in first qualifying on
the long GP circuit a bit more hopeful and was reasonably
pleased to end up in 17th place. I managed to
improve my lap times in Sunday qualifying to move up to 15th
place, but 16th overall, which is where I’d start
on the grid.
I didn’t make a particularly good start to the race and lost
a few places, putting me back to 19th, but I set
about working my way back through the field to 15th,
then a couple of riders went out in front of me and I
managed to finish 13th. A top ten finish would
have been nice, but it’s early days yet. Next stop Thruxton,
next weekend. Thruxton
- 15/04/07 As
it was the Easter week we traveled to Thruxton straight from
Brands Hatch. With the weather being really nice and
sunny again I was hoping for a repeat performance on
track. I was still using a standard rear shock which
didn't seem to suit the bumpy Thruxton circuit, so the two
Friday practice sessions didn't go too well. Friday
evening we got a new White Power racing rear shock. We
had to use the two qualifying sessions on Saturday as test
sessions to try different set-ups and I was disappointed to
be down in 27th on the grid. The
race was more like a qualifying session for me, and I
dropped a couple of places at the start to be in 30th.
But then I got my head together and set about picking up
places to finish eventually in 19th place. I wasn't
really happy with that, but we have made some progress with
the set-up of the new rear shock. Silverstone
- 29/04/07 I
missed Silverstone last year due to other commitments, so I
had to relearn the circuit on Friday morning. The
first qualifying in the afternoon went well and I was quite
pleased with my lap time of 1.31.1 which put me in 14th
place. I managed to improve on my lap times in
Saturday qualifying, but I stayed in 14th place, which
wasn't too bad. One
of the riders who had qualified in front of me got excluded
so that moved me up to 13th on the grid. I think
that's when my troubles started. I had brain failure at the
start and put the bike in 2nd gear instead of 1st, which
left me in 21st place. I started picking up places and
I was in 17th place by lap 6, but then "The Ram"
got rammed from behind by Pete Spalding, sending us both
crashing out at the last chicane. I slid across the
track with bike on top of me, good job it was a slow
crash. I was a bit battered and bruised, but the bike
came off worse with a snapped sub frame and extensive
bodywork damage, and my ram's horns helmet was a right
off. Now it's a lot of hard work to get the bike
repaired and ready for the next round at Oulton Park.
Oulton
Park - 7/05/07 Oulton
Park is my local circuit, and fortunately the bike has been
rebuilt in time, although there was less than a week to do
it in. Practice went well as I was in 12th place, then
with the weather warming up I did better in Saturday
afternoon qualifying, finishing in 11th place with a 1.41.1
lap time. Second qualifying on Sunday was wet and I
ended up doing only a couple of laps as nobody was going to
improve on their dry qualifying times, and it wasn't worth
risking a crash. The
weather was sunny when we lined up on the grid and I made a
good start, but because I'd crept forward a bit I was given
a 'jump start'. I had to ride through pit lane and
rejoined in 26th place, then the race was stopped because of
rain. I had to start from 26th on the grid for the
rerun, from where I worked my way up to finish 17th, a
couple of places out of the points. I didn't think I'd
moved forward enough to be given a 'jump start' in the first
place, and things could have been so different if that
hadn't happened. Ah well, that's racing!! Snetterton
- 20/05/07 It
started well enough in Friday morning practice with me being
in 12th place, although I was struggling to sort the gearing
and suspension set up for the fast Snetterton circuit.
The weather was sunny but windy, as it usually is at
Snetterton, and I ended up in 17th place in first
qualifying. Second qualifying on Saturday was much the
same, I improved my best lap time a bit to 1.09.3 to be 17th
again, but 19th overall on the grid. I
made a good start from the fifth row and I was in 16th at
the end of lap 1. By lap 4 I was in 13th, which I was
pleased with, and on the penultimate lap I moved into 11th
place. Unfortunately on the last lap I was caught by
Alistair Seeley on his Yamaha, under a yellow flag incident,
and he then out dragged me down the back straight to put me
back to 12th place. Not a bad days work on the whole
though!
Mondello
Park - 17/06/07 So,
it was over the sea to Ireland for the 6th round of BSB at
Mondello Park. Friday started where race day last year
left off...........Rain!! We had two free practice
sessions on Friday and I crashed in the heavy rain after 3
laps of the first session, which knocked my confidence a
bit. I was also on my own, with just my partner Tracey
to help me. The two qualifying sessions on Saturday
were also wet and didn't go at all well, as I ended up 34th
and last on the grid, my worst ever. I
was well pleased when race day was dry. I made a good
start in the first Superstock race and I'd made up a few
places by the first corner. I worked hard to pick up
places to get into 17th place, then a couple of riders in
front of me went out, giving me 15th place and 1 point in
the championship. That point took a lot of hard work
to earn, but I did get 'Rider of the Day' for that
race. There were some hold ups due to accidents before
our second race started late at the end of the day, and it
was shortened to 12 laps, but another crash at the start
stopped it, then it was rerun at 6.30pm over 9 laps. I
made a good start, but took it easy to bring the bike and
myself home in one piece in 21st place. Knockhill
- 1/07/07 I
thought about not going to Knockhill, but changed my mind at
the last minute. Andrew was back helping me this time,
which was good. Friday practice was dry and I was
quite pleased with 13th place, but the rear suspension and
gearing needed a few changes. Saturday morning's first
qualifying was dry and I ended up in 15th place with a time
of 51.6 secs. The afternoon session was.......guess
what........ wet! I went out to sort a wet set-up, but
there was no chance of anyone improving on their morning
times, so 15th on the grid it was. Race
day consisted of heavy showers. It wasn't raining when
we lined up on the grid, and it looked like there was a dry
line forming on the track. I was going to change my
wets to dry tyres, but then there wasn't time. We did
2 warm-up laps, then it started to rain as we left the
grid. I was pleased I hadn't changed tyres, and I was
soon up to 9th place. A few riders on dry tyres went
down and as the rain got heavier I was in 3rd place when
they stopped the race on lap 5. I was a bit
disappointed it was stopped but the conditions were too
dangerous to continue racing. With all the delays
due to the weather we didn't get to race and now we have 2
races at Donington in September. Oulton
Park -15/07/07 When
is this rain ever going to stop?? It rained all day
Friday, and I only did a few laps in practice. This
weekend I had Guy Elvey, a friend of Andrew's, helping me
with the suspension set-up, and Dean Ellison paid us a visit
on Friday to give me a few tips. Saturday was dry,
giving us a chance to try different suspension
settings. I was 16th in the first qualifying
session. I improved my lap time in the second
qualifying session by 1 second and I was in 15th place
overall, but only 1 second off the pole time. Race
day..............rain AGAIN!! The Superstock race was
last on the programme, and it started a bit late. It
had actually stopped raining as we went out onto the grid,
but it started raining as the race started, then after a
couple of laps it was really heavy, and once again the race
was stopped as it wasn't safe to continue in the
conditions. We now have another double header at the
last round at Brands Hatch. I'd like to say thanks to
Guy for all his help and teaching me about suspension
set-up. We miss Mallory, and then it's off to Croft. Testing I've
been doing a bit of testing this week (23-28 July).
Went to Croft on Monday, but it all got cut short when a guy
had a bad crash. Went back to Croft on Wednesday,
playing about with the suspension etc. Managed to take
0.4 secs off my lap time from the Superstock there last year,
and that's on a track day, so I was quite pleased. Went
to Donington on Saturday. I've changed to Scorpion
exhausts recently and they paid for the afternoon, where I
could go out as many sessions as I wanted, in return for my
bike being on display for the morning. I gave some of
the Novice guys a bit of a fright. I managed to get
into the 1.38's on a track day on a shot tyre at the end of
the afternoon. We tried some different suspension
settings and changed the gearing. There's some pics of
me and Andrew working on the bike in the 'Pictures' section. Croft
- 12/08/07 Croft
is one of my favourite circuits, and I usually go well
there, so I was hoping for a good result. Practice on
Friday morning wasn't too bad with 13th place, but I didn't
think I'd ridden as well as I could. Qualifying went
better, and we were trying different suspension
settings. I was 12th in first qualifying. I
managed to get into the 1.24's in second qualifying but so
did some others, and I ended up 16th on the grid, which I
wasn't over pleased about. It
was spitting quite heavily with rain at the start of the
race and the track was wet at Sunny In and Out. I'd
been watching the clouds and thought it would probably dry
up during the race so I took a gamble on dry tyres, which
paid off. I took it easy during the first few laps and
dropped down to 21st place, but when the track dried I got
going, picking up places and in the last 3 laps I moved up
from 15th to finish 10th, which I was well pleased with. Cadwell
Park - 27/08/07 Cadwell
Park is not one of my best circuits, but at least it was dry
and sunny all weekend which was a welcome change. It's
a technical and physically demanding track, and the Suzuki
isn't suited to the tight twisty sections. I used
Saturday practice to re-familiarise myself with the track,
and we were making small changes to the suspension during
the session and in first qualifying. We got the bike
handling better for second qualifying on Sunday and I was
pleased to do a personal best lap time of 1.32.83, but it
still left me in 14th place on the grid. I
made a bit of a bad start in the race and dropped a couple
of places, but I was soon back into 14th place, which is
where I finished. I could stay with Adrian Coates
(Yamaha), but couldn't seem to get past, then Jon Boy Lee
passed me on the brakes and crashed in front of me at the
chicane, which lost me some time. I managed to catch
Adrian again but still couldn't out brake him, so it was a
14th finish to add just a couple of points to my
tally. I did manage to do another personal best lap
time in the race. There's a bit of a break now then
it's on to Donington Park, a more flowing track, which I
prefer, so here's hoping for a good couple of races there. Some
News - 14/09/07 It's
just been finalised today that I'll be riding the SMT Yamaha
in the British Superbike Championship at Donington and
Brands, as Aaron (Zanotti) will be riding a Hydrex
Honda. I won't be contesting the remaining two rounds
of the Superstock Championship. I also have a new
sponsor - Lazy Days Motorhomes. Roll on Donington next
weekend. Donington
Park -23/09/07 What
a weekend at Donington! I was thrown in at the deep
end riding a Superbike for the first time, riding on slicks
for the first time, using qualifying tyres for the first
time, and I couldn't get used to the launch control so I
didn't get off the line very well. Apart from all that
I enjoyed myself, although I found it a bit tiring with all
the extra practice and two long races on one day, which I'm
not used to. On
the whole I think I did reasonably well with 17th and 19th
place finishes. I had to get used to the bike in first
practice, then we had to work on the race set-up and tyre
choice for the race. There's more to this Superbike
racing than you think. I was pleased that I got used
to the qualifying tyre quite quickly and cut a second off my
lap time each time I used one. Nothing too dramatic
happened in either race, except I had bad starts, but I
picked up places quite quickly, and I had a good dice with
Tommy Bridewell (Suzuki) in the second race. I managed
to get past him for a while but then he got the better of me
in the end. My aim was not to finish last and luckily
I managed to achieve it. Roll on Brands Hatch now. Brands
Hatch 14/10/07 What
can I say about Brands Hatch ........... it wasn't exactly
the best way to end the season! The bike broke down at
the beginning of the first practice session, but it was soon
traced to a small electrical fault and I got back out on
track again to end in 17th overall which I was pleased with
as the track was damp. In the afternoon session I had
no grip at all and ended up 31st out of 33. Then we
found out Pirelli had given us the same hard tyre we used on
the abrasive surface of Donington, which didn't work on the
smooth surface at Brands. Saturday
morning I went out on a qualifier at the end of the session,
went into Graham Hill bend a bit too hard on the brakes and crashed,
wrecking my Shoei helmet. As they don't sell them at
the circuits now I had to buy an Arai. With the bike repaired
the afternoon qualifying session didn't go too bad and I
finished in 25th place. I
didn't even complete one lap in the first race due to a
spark plug problem. I got a decent start in the second
race and was 20th early on, but then the rear tyre started
to wear and I finished 23rd. All
I can say now is thank you to all my financial and product
sponsors for their valuable help, and thank you to Robin for
giving me the chance to ride the Yamaha R1 in Superbikes.
Thanks also goes to all the people who have worked for me
for free. A big thanks goes to Tracey and to all my
family and friends who have supported and helped me
throughout my racing career. And not forgetting all
the officials, marshals, medical staff and the fans, thanks
to you all for making it possible to go racing in the first
place. Now
I'm on the search for some sponsorship as I'd like to
compete in the Superbike Cup next year. So, anyone
interested in helping me, please see the 'CONTACT' page.
Thanks, John. MERRY
CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR From
John News
13/03/08 I
thought I ought to say that I'm taking some time out from
racing this year, due to various reasons. There is a
chance that I may do a couple of Superstock races, if so all
the news and pictures will be on this web site. Hope
to see you all soon. Some
good news 23/04/08 The
good news is I'm doing the Henderson Yamaha R1 Cup at Oulton
Park, May Bank Holiday, with the help of Co-Ordit Racing, so
thanks goes to Pete Bradshaw, team owner, for giving me this
chance. Testing
at Mallory Park 30/04/08 I
went testing the Co-Ordit Yamaha R1 Superstock bike today,
along with Pete Bradshaw. I don't like riding in the
rain at the best of times, so it was the last thing I needed
today, but I made the best of it and did quite a few
laps. I haven't ridden a bike since last October,
except for a track day, on a road bike, at Donington on
Saturday, so rain or not I really needed the track time in
preparation for riding the R1 at Oulton. I have to say
it was nice to be back and I enjoyed myself. Now I'm
looking forward to racing in the R1 Cup at Oulton.
There's a few pics on the picture page, and you can see how
wet it was! Oulton
Park 5/05/08 It
was good to be back racing again, although it was a one-off
as a guest rider on the Co-Ordit Racing Henderson Yamaha R1
Cup bike. I spent Sunday's practice session reacquainting
myself with the track and getting used to the bike, I was
10th quickest in the wet conditions. Then it was
straight on to qualifying in the afternoon in dry
conditions, and I was 10th again. The
race on Monday was in the rain again, but I got a good start
and I was running in 6th place for half the race, then the
rear tyre started to go off and I dropped back to finish
9th, which I was a bit disappointed about. If the tyre
hadn't gone off I'm sure I could have had a top 6
finish. Still it was an enjoyable weekend and I
enjoyed the race. Thanks to Pete Bradshaw of Co-Ordit
Racing for making it possible. I'm not sure if I'll
get to race again, but keep an eye out on here for any news.
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