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     Trojan |
Adrenalin-Moto Race Report MRO Thunderbike Championship Round 3 Brands Hatch 13/14th May 2006 After our encouraging results at Mallory Park at the last round, we were looking to continue the run of form with a couple of good points results on the short Indy circuit at Brands Hatch in Kent on 13th May. Inevitably things didn't quite turn out to be quite that simple. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Lemony Snicket had already written a book of the same name, this report could well be titled 'A series of Unfortunate Events'. Immediately following the Mallory Park round the engine was stripped and the 'stop gap' barrels sent off to PJ Motorcycle Engineers in Wolverhampton to be bored to accept the +020" Wiseco 12:1 pistons we had waiting to fit. We had also planned to fit the chain drive kit and were hoping that the new front sprocket would arrive in time for the Brands round, as the stock belt drive gearing would leave us very over geared and effectively with a 4 speed Buell on the extremely short 1.2 mile circuit. Unfortunately the sprocket didn't arrive in time before we set off, so the stock belt would have to cope, a decision that would however haunt us later in the weekend. Saturday May 13th Saturday dawned without a cloud in the sky and with brilliant sunshine, so we were all in good spirits for first practice. The Thunderbike class had an excellent 28 competitors for this round, including some Brands Hatch specialists and a couple of new and interesting entries such as Tony McBride's ex Boxer Cup BMW R1100S and Dave Hallet's very quick Kawasaki ER6. After just 12 minutes of practice the flags went out for the end of the session and Phil returned to the paddock with a slight gear lever problem. The lever had managed to work its way off the inner supporting bearing and was flapping around uselessly. This was quickly fixed just by rearranging the spacers on the footrest assembly, although this meant removing the whole footrest assembly from the bike. With just a short time before our first race the whole lot was locktited back into position and we were ready to go. Phil was drawn 13th on the grid for race one on row 4 of the grid, but was hoping for a good start into the scary downhill Paddock Bend for the first time. Phil got away well at the lights and had moved up a position into the first bend, which resembled a destruction derby more than a motorcycle race, as riders bumped and barged their way up the hill and into Druids Hill corner. By the time the riders appeared at the beginning of lap 2 though it was apparent there was a problem, and Phil had dropped down to 17th place. By lap 3 it was all over, and Phil toured into the paddock with the left side footrest hanging down. This was a repeat of the problem we had experienced at Mallory, and that we thought had been fixed. Unfortunately I think that removing the assembly earlier hadn't left time for the loctite to harden before the race, so the whole thing had just worked loose due to vibration. Within 10 minutes we had done what we should have done after the last round, and swapped the pegs over for a non-hinged setup purchased onsite from the good people at AR Racing. Hopefully that would be the end of that little problem. For race two Phil was in 23rd place on the grid and an awful long way from the front. A reasonable start saw him into 19th place almost immediately, where he got into a scrap with Paul Barlow on his Suzuki 650. By lap 2 Phil had passed Barlow and was giving chase to the group ahead. The Buell was gaining on Palfremans SV650 each lap and by lap five Phil was in position to gain another place when the bike suddenly lost drive and slowed on the exit of Clearways. Another non finish and a long push for Phil back to the paddock. As soon as we saw the bike it was obvious what the cause was. The drive belt had been stripped of pretty much all of its teeth, leaving just the outer casing complete. This was doubly frustrating because we hadn't planned to use the belt this weekend, and it had only covered less than 600 miles from new so should have had plenty of life left in it. A frantic call to local dealers located a belt at Shaw Harley-Davidson in Uckfield, so Phil jumped into his car and whizzed off to collect it while we got the bike stripped once more.  Not the most successful first day that we could have hoped for. Sunday May 14th The new belt was fitted on Saturday evening, along with a fresh set of Metzeler Racetec tyres, and a full check of the bike carried out with no further problems becoming apparent. Sunday practice was a tense affair but Phil came back in happy with the bike. The new tyres had improved turn in from Saturday so we were loking forward to a better day all round. Starting 20th on the grid wasn't great, but we were confident that Phil could pick off quite a few of those ahead of him, and we were just hoping for a finish in the points. At the start Phil got away with the pack, and by the end of lap one had moved up to 18th place and looking good. On the exit of Graham Hill bend and onto the Cooper straight he managed to overtake 4 riders in one fell swoop and was up to 14th place! A gap had opened ahead of him and Phil got his head down and reduced the distance lap by lap until by lap5 he was right on the tail of Sarah Jordans Suzuki SV700. Then just when the overtake looked imminent the bike slowed dramatically in exactly the same place as Saturday, and Phil yet again coasted into the pit lane. This time the bike had just cut out with no warning and refused to re-start. Again he had the long push back towards the paddock before we could run down to meet him at the tunnel. When I tried the starter button the bike fired up first time! Something had obviously happened but once the bike had cooled down it was OK. I thought that maybe the new pistons could have 'nipped up' in the bores, although we had left huge piston/bore clearances in an effort to avoid just this happening. As a precaution we changed the oil, but saw no evidence of a seizure and no large debris, so decided to stick with it for race two and see what we could salvage from the weekend. Race 2, and yet another 20th position on the grid to contend with. This time Phil got a good start and had overhauled Adam Palfreman's SV into Paddock Bend on the first lap into 18th place. By lap 3 he had moved up another place, and the bike seemed to be running strong again. By this time I could hardly watch and was praying that we could at least get a finish for all our efforts over the weekend. At the chequered flag Phil crossed the line in a creditable 16th place, just one place out of the points, but still a finish. I don't think I have been more relieved or pleased by a 16th place before in my life, but at least it was a positive end to a hard weekend. With the gearing we had available we knew that it was going to be difficult to break into the top ten at Brands Hatch, but we never expected it to be that hard. On a positive note we now have the gearing we need and the chain kit will be fitted before the next round at the high speed Snetterton circuit on 10/11 June 2006. We would like to thank Chris Watts for all his help over the weekend, Phil Read for his unceasing enthusiasm, and all the people who came to watch us at Brands. I'll bet there have never been so many Buells in a UK race paddock before! We would also like to thank all our regular sponsors, without whom we wouldn't be racing at all: Free Spirits, Hal's Harley-Davidson, Hot Performance Exhausts, AST Shock Absorbers, Ilmberger Carbon Parts, Reactive Suspension, Nimbus Motorsport and Torco Oil, R&R Customizing, Motogadget, Airow-Safe, Paint my Ride, Reality Motor Works, Bell Helmets (Fowlers of Bristol), John Warrington Motorcycles (Rapid Bike ECU)   | ||
| Diablobrian |
Great report Matt. Racing isn't easy, and you have to take your positives where you can get them. You are still early in your development cycle with the bike in this configuration, and I expect to see things getting better as you go! I look forward to your next report. | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
good report there matt! damned..have the racing gods frowned upon you? seems you guys can't catch a break. i wish you guys the best of luck in the next race. keep us posted on the results. | ||
| Skully |
Great report Matt! Third outing is the charm? Keith |
