RV racing
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Rockingham Rockingham was always going to be a 'we'll see how it goes' meeting. With no motorcycle racing there for 5 years, we were the guinea pigs. The circuit lacked vital facilities like showers and a club house and an illegal rave saturday night saw everone stopming around the paddock at 4am looking for the perpetrators of the thumping music keeping us all awake. (Nothing to do with Rockingham, it was about a mile away! ) But the National circuit is one of the most flowing and fun circuits in the UK. With its high speed corners, short straight, fantastic out-breaking places and long, fast left hand bend, much fun was had and we were all grinning madley despite being tired and smelly. Rob qualified in 16th position, 5 secs of the pole position. Rob finished13th in his 1st race on Saturday, beating his qualifying time of 1.24.2secs. The second race saw him finish in 14th place.On the Sunday he finished again in 13th in both races. But in the last race of the season he went even faster with a personal best time of 1.24.1secs. Verity qualifeid in 5th place in her clase and 24th on the grid with a tme of 1.32.7secs. In the 1st race she finished 5th with a faster time of 1.30.6secs. The 2nd race delivered another 5th position and a better time of 1.31.3secs even beating a novice, Gary Inman, on a Kawasaki 1000cc from the A class. The 1st race on Sunday saw Verity fight with another C class rider and beat him to finish in 3rd place with a faster time of 1.27.8secs. She finished 7th in the last race.
Angelsey, rounds 13 and 14, 12th and 13th August One of the gripiest and best circuits in the UK, set in the most amazing scenery, Angelsey more than lived up to its reputation. Over the whole meeting lap records were broken and trophies collected. The weather matched the speclacular racing and we had the most amazing time. Robs results Qualified in 13th place with a best laptime if 1.21.7 secs. In 2008 this would have put him in 4th place! In his 1st race of the weekend, Rob finished 8th, his best finish of the year, with an even better time of 1.21.4secs. This secured his last siganature on his national licence. In the 2nd race on Saturday Rob finished 15th. Not bad for someone who had never been around Angelsey before. In the 1st race on Sunday Rob completed an even quicker laptime of 1.21.02, his fastest of the weekend, and finished in 10th position, his 2nd best finish. In the 2nd race on Sunday he finished 12th. Rob is now 6th in the seniors championship, 2 points behind Ritchie in 5th place. And 18th in the main championship. Veritys results Best time was in qualifying; 1.27.6 secs. a whopping 8 seconds off her 2008 time! With no-one else bothering to enter to streetfighter c class on the Saturday Verity collected 2 1st places. On the Sunday some-one else entered, verity had 2 good races, dicing with mark lumb on his ducati and collected 2 2nd places. Verity is now in 4th place, 3 points off of 3rd place!
Brands Hatch, rounds 11 and 12, 30th and 31st August Brands hatch brought the 1st time we didnt put on our coats all year. It also brought another buch of other '1st times!' Rob got his best ever place of 11th in the 1st race on Sunday. Verity got her knee down, got a trophy, and did her 1st race without her novice jacket. Robs times, Thundersport 500. Qualifying -58.0 secs, placed 12th from 32 on grid. Pole time was 55.6 secs. Pole last year was Freddie Russo with 55.5 secs. Race 1 - finished 14th from 32 starters, best time 58.0 secs Race 2 - finished 13th from 31 starters, best time 57.4 secs Race 3 - finished 11th from 31 starters, best time 57.4 secs Rob decided not to do the last race due to his tyres going off and hardley any brake pad left. Verity's times, Streetfighter C. Qualifying - 1.02.0 secs, placed 23 from 24 on grid (3 classes on the grid, streetfighter A, B, and C) Race 1 - finished in 21st place from 23 starters, 3rd in the class. Best time 1.01.04 secs. Race 2 - finished 22nd from 23 starters, 4th in C class. Best time 1.02.9 secs. Verity is in 6th place in the streetfigher C championship
Donnington Park Moto GP, round ? 23rd - 26th July The prestigious Moto GP at Donnington Park, who would have thought little old RV racing would be sharing the facilities with Rossi and co? We had a great break at the GP, race day for the Thundersport 500 boys was Thursday so after theracing we kicked back and relaxed. The facilities provided by the organisors were fantastic and the best we have seen all year. With one practice session and one race there wasn't bucket fulls of track time and with Rob having raced at Donnington many years ago, he was a little nervous. However he did very well, qualifying in 20th position from 38 riders with a time of 2mins 3 secs. Unusually the field was quite spread out and a massive 15 seconds seperated the front runners to the lads at the back. During the race Rob did very well and finished in 20th position, there were 36 starters with only 32 finishers. But more importantly he took 4 seconds off his qualifying time to put in a fastest lap of 1min 59 secs.
Round 8 and 9 - Snetterton, 10th + 11th July. Friday practice began with some comfortable lap times to scrub in new tyres and brake pads. Saturday practice brought an ominous weather forecast but it was bright and breezy outside the comfort of the caravan. But with lap records being broken in other classes the track was running well. The weather picked up by the time Rob went out and he had a great practice qualifying in 15th position. Race 1 - plenty of action for the spectators at russells chicane saw less riders finish the race. Rob had a close fought battle with Stephen Petrie and finished in 12th position, collecting another very welcome signature. Race 2 - The good old britsish weather broke and it started spitting. Rob started well and had a good battle with Richie G. He finished 14th after a last ditch overtaking manouvre at the last corner sent them both on the grass. Sunday practice saw a damp track after overnight downpours kept everyone awake all night. Race 1 - weather changed to breezy and bright and the track began to dry. Rob battled with Chris Poncia and Adam Carter. He finished 15th from 30 finishers earning him another signature. This leaves him with only 3 signatures left for his national licence. Race 2 - almost a repeat of the 1st race, Rob finished 15th again from 30 bikes. We left Snetterton sunburnt and exhausted. Rob is now sitting in a fantastic 7th position in the Senior championship and 21st position in the overall championship.
Round 7 - Oulton Park, 6th June. Oulton Park, the jewel in the crown of Cheshire. Practice day on the Friday went well considering Rob had never ridden there before. A few steady laps to crub-in new tyres and brake pads and Rob was doing 2 minute 5 seconds per lap. Fantastic for his first time there.The weather was lovely, sunny and warm with a gentle breeze despite the various weather warnings. Practice Saturday morning brought rain, lots of it and heavy. Massive puddles of standing water adorned the track. With the wet weather, the lap times very vastly increased, Rob did incredibly well, qualifying with a fastest lap time of 2mins 28secs. This put him 28th position, from 40 riders, on the grid. Race 1 - wet, wet, wet, go!!!!!!!!! Starting in 29th place Rob was on the inside line for the first corner, Old Hall Bend. And, on that corner there was the mother of all puddles. (Rumour has it a couple of mallards were seen swimming on it at lunchtime!) As the lights went out, Rob did his very best but had to go offline around Old Hall bend. During the following laps, he had a great battle with 131, Graham Gough, and managed to finsh 13th from 27th, collecting another signature towards his National licence. He also massively improved his fastest lap time which became 2mins, 22secs. It is safe to say all riders did tremendously well, with many dropping like flies, there were 40 starters and only 27 finishers. Race 2 - Still wet but not raining as much, Rob again had a good start and did very well just getting round and finishing. Having earned his signature for his National licence, Rob felt confident and safe during the race and finished in 16th place. But still improved on his fastest lap time, getting ti down to 2mins 21 secs. There were only 34 starters in the 2nd race, with 3 crashers, including the championship leader, John Butcher. After Oulton park Rob is in 21st place in the main championship and 7th place in the Senior championship.
Round 5 + 6 - Pembrey, May 9th and 10th. Practice Saturday morning saw unsettled weather, the rain came down just as the riders went out. Then it came down again midway through the session which saw many return to the pits leaving more space for those who were left. Rob went well in practice, he had a trouser changing "moment" going into the hairpin whilst still scrubbing in new brake pads. But the rest of the session went well and he qualified in 15th position on the 4th row of the grid, from 28 riders. Race 1 (Saturday) - with the weather clearing up, and even becomming a little bit sunny, but still with high gusty winds, spirits were high for the first race. As the lights went out Rob got a reasonable start but "not reasonable enough!" and battled though the race with bike no. 79, Stephen Petrie for 13th position. With a fantastic battle behind them it came down to the last corner and Rob just scrapped it by finishing a transponders width in-front to finish in 14th position from 27 starters. To illustrate how close it was Robs time was 12;14.921 and Stephens was 12;14.961 !!!!!! Race 2 (Saturday) - Rob got a fantastic start and was going well in 12th place, good enough for a signature, when the race was red flagged and the riders returned to the grid for a restart. The second start saw Rob again in 12th position and again on to collect a signature but a small mistake saw three riders sweep past him. Although he tried despratly to make up the lost time, he finished in 15th position from 26 finishers. But with a personal best laptime of 1;10.6. Race 3 (Sunday) - the weather finally settled down and even the sun came out. Rob got a good start and battled through the race with no. 56 Jonny Egan to finish just ahead of him in 13th place. Race 4 (Sunday) - with the weather dlightly cloudy, Rob got a good start but the notorious Pembrey hairpin saw him slip back several places into 17th position. With nothing to lose Rob had a great race, swapping places with and finally passing 3 other riders through the race, much to the enjoyment of the crowd who were "oooooing" and "arrrring" every time he sat someone up or went round the outside of them. After an exhausting race, Rob finished in 14th position, from 26 finishers. But with an even better fastest laptime of 1.09.8. With an exhausting weekend behind us, it is safe to say that Pembrey is one of Robs favourite circuits. And with its flat sweeping bends and grippy surface he certanly enjoyed the weekend. Even though there were no signatures collected, he still went 7 seconds faster from his previous races in 2007! We look forward to Oulton Park in June.
Round 3 + 4 - Cadwell Park, April 12th and 13th. Practice and qualifying - Friday testing went well with Rob consistently improving his laptimes through the day but along with April came showers and a slippery practice on Sunday morning. Final qualifying saw Rob on grid position 26 on row 8 with a time of 1:57:5, a good time compared to his last time of 1:57:4 previously. A great achievement considering the damp, slippy conditions. Race 1 (Sunday) - after a good start Rob fought a tough race where anywhere but the racing line still had damp patches. He finished in 15th position from 36 starters,with a best lap time of 1:56:7, another personal best lap time. Rob also gained another signature towards his national licence. Race 2 (Sunday) - with track conditions improving but still slippy in places, Rob started well but the race was stopped with him only completing 4 laps. A best time again though of 1:56:4 and finishing position of 22nd place, Race 3 (Monday) - after a steady practice in the morning, the track was dry for the first race. A good start saw Rob finish in 21st place, with another personal best time of 1:55:7. Race 4 (Monday) - with the sun finally comming out, another good start saw Rob do his best ever time of 1:54:9. but a mistake going into the left hander before the mountain towards the end of the race saw Rob outbreak himself and end up grass tracking up the mountin. This gave him a finishing position of 31st. The weekend as a whole was fantastic. Rob improved his laptime by 4 seconds, a great achievement considering the conditions and the number of times we changed from wets to dry tyres over the weekend. With another signature towards his national licence Rob is getting even closer to forfilling his dream of racing at the Manx GP. Rob is now in 9th place in the Seniors Championship 22nd place in the Thundersport 500 championship. We look forawrd to the next round at Pembrey Round 1 + 2 - Mallory Park, March 13th and 14th. Practice and qualifying - After a good set-up / practive day the previous Wednesday, Rob was happy with the set up of the bike and qualified on the 3rd row in 10th position with a personal best of 1:03.982. Race 1 (Saturday) - a good start and maintained pace saw Rob gain a good position through the race and finished 13th overall, with another personal best of 1:03.740. He gained his 3rd National signature. Race 2 (Saturday) - another good start saw Rob up with the midfield but the pace quickened and with a best laptime of 1:04.718, he dropped places to finish in 18th position. The bike was Dyno-d after the race which showed up an ignition probem. Race 3 (Sunday) - after stripping down and rebuilding the bike, we discovered the fault with the ignition. The race went well and Rob finished 19th with a best lap time of 1:08.806. Race 4 (Sunday) - after a good start Rob was quite high up the field and going well. But early on in the race he crashed into the hairpin and dropped about 6 places in one go. This put him into 23rd position and, with almost a second slower on his fastest lap. The pace of t |
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