Oulton Park Practice day.

My first round back after getting back from Afghanistan was Oulton Park in the Cheshire countryside.

I settled slowly into the Friday test day. I hadnt been on a bike since March, and I had also never been around Oulton Park. This could be interesting. After walking the track on Thursday evening I realised that Oulton Park would take a lot of learning before having the bottle to really push it. So Alex was roped in to show me and Leigh around on the Friday test day. However the weather was amazing, sunny all day and barely a cloud in sight.

Leigh was in the same situation as me, having never been round Oulton before so we started off steadily following Alex's line's as best as possible, but within 2 laps he had well and truly buggered off. I looked behind me and Leigh was nowhere to be seen either. I pottered round trying not to do anything stupid on the blind corners. Eventually the session was red flagged. Upon my return to the pits I found a pissed off looking Leigh and a bemused Alex sat there.

Leighs bike was still churning out less power than a suffocated moped and Al's new forks were far from being perfect. So for the rest of the day until all of our problems were sorted we were pretty much on our own.

The second session was once again red flagged and I had felt like I was making progress. Taking about 4 seconds off my time. But as I returned to pits Leigh and Al were both there again. Leighs bike was producing uneven power, which during the corners was scaring him half to death, and Al's bike decided to spring a leak from the radiator due to it being mounted too far forward and rubbing against the wheel. Day over for Alex!

For the rest of the day I steadily improved my times getting down to a 1.58:7 which I was quite happy with. Leigh fettled with his bike after every session, tinkering with the wiring loom, checking connectors and just about everything else bar recruiting voodoo magicians to cast spells on his poor bike. And Alex quite justifiably just skulked around the garage after not being able to get a spare radiator for tomorrows races.

Here's to a good day tomorrow.

I'M BACK!!!

Hi everyone.

Well as you can see I am safely back from the "Stan!"

I had a great time to be honest, but still gutted to miss out on the Pembrey and especially the Cadwell Park round as it is my favourite track.

Still, I have been following the championship while I was away and I've been surprised how open it has been. Also top stuff from "Lethal" Leigh Hutchinson, taking over my championship lead. Nice one mate, but don't get too comfy up there bud.

I'm now languishing down in 6th position in the championship standings but hopefully a few good results can see me back up into the top three.

Feel free to come along to any of the meetings. I'll be publishing where I am in the near future.

Chris. #86

New Minitwin Website.

Just a quick post to say a massive thanks to Yvonne Baird and the team for setting up the new Minitwin racing website. Hopefully this will broaden an already massive following of one of the best classes in club racing.

Link, http://www.minitwinracing.co.uk/

See you all soon!

Chris #36/#86

The cameras are out, best do my hair!

Sunday was scheduled to be the Televised day for Thundersport GB so if I didnt get on the podium today I would be dissapointed that I had peaked a day early. So I tried to focus on where I could loose some time around the track. With the conditions much calmer and the sun breaking out I couldnt exactly blame the weather so it was all down to the rider.

I knew that with Dan Hopkins falling off twice yesterday he would be more than up for the races and Richard also seemed quicker than me almost everywhere apart from a few corners.

I trundled onto the grid for the first race and saw a line of grid girls on the front row. If only I had been a few seconds quicker, not that I would have looked of course. But I managed to regain my focus and watched for the lights. I got off to a blinding start and saw both Rich and Dan dissapear behind me. I didnt want to push too hard for the first few laps but I tried to stay with the JP riders for as long as I could. But it wasnt long before they were back on me and past me.

Dan seemed to be gone very quickly but once again Rich was in sight. I pushed hard, finally breaking the minute barrier on lap 8 but it wasnt enough . I crossed the line in 3rd but I was more than happy with my efforts.

The last race went pretty much the same way but with Dan and Rich getting better starts it almost seemed a foregone conclusion. I did begin to catch them toward the end but I caught a back marker at the wrong moment and lost a lot of time through the Bus Stop. So once again I crossed the line in 3rd.

Luckily there were no interviews as I seem to forget how to speak when it does happen. Alex picked up two more trophies on Sunday and Leigh was happy to make it through the weekend unscathed. However his bike does need a little work now. Also congratualtions to Poppy who rode well all weekend in the Streetfighter B class.

Unfortunately that is my racing season over, until June that is. When I will be back for the Oulton Park round.

Well atleast I can say I lead the championship at some stage, I think? I'm still waiting on the sheets to be published.

See you all in June, and dont forget to watch MotorsTV on Monday 30th March at 7pm to vouch for the bullshit I write on here. My memory does get a little blurry when racing. Channel 413 on sky folks.

Bye for now.

Chris.

The best awning in the paddock. Pictured left to right, Ian Popplewell(17), Alex Hutchinson(77), Leigh Hutchinson(15) and Myself(86).

Mallory... What a day!

After a good nights sleep on Friday night I woke up and couldn't wait for the first race. I went out on my warm up and apart from it being a tad windy, everything felt great.

The first race was pretty chaotic with 2 restarts ontop of the main start reducing the final race to just 4 laps down from 10! With the pack dissapearing around me on the grid I was quickly up to 6th position overall and before I knew it the chequered flag was out. I punched the air so hard as I crossed the line realising that I had finished 1st in the minitwins! With Alex winning the JP race and Leigh finishing 3rd in the Minitwins.

We killed a bit of time by tinkering with the bikes and watching a few races before our 2nd race. The second race was a little less chaotic but still involved one restart reducing the race to a 7 lapper. I got another great start and was in the lead in the Minitwins again for the first lap before Richard Willsher managed to get past me going into Edwina's. I was on his tail for the entire race and on the last corner of the last lap he seemed to miss a gear. I crept toward him but unfortunately it wasnt quite enough. He pipped me to the line by 0.077 of a second. However I was still more than happy with another trophy. Leigh managed to bring a now ailing bike home in 4th and Alex crossed the line in 2nd.

Feeling happy with our day we had our usual Lasagne (Thanks Jax) and Guiness.

I couldn't wait till Sunday.

Thundersport is go!

The first round of the season with Thundersport GB at Mallory Park seemed to come round very quickly after Brands Hatch. After all it was only 4 days. But Jacqui and I arrived on Thursday night to a semi set up awning. Cheers Mick! It would be quite strange going out on the Friday straight into qualifying, but this was only due to how many entries they had received. I was feeling relieved that I did the track day two weeks ago, otherwise I would have been lost. The race was to be run with three different classes in one race of 32 competitors. Minitwins, Moto 450 and Junior Powerbikes. We would get an overall grid position but the results would be for class only.
The bike was scrut’ed by 0700 on Friday morning and I was eager to get out into my first 20 minute qualifying session. I went out and seemed to be on the same pace as the track day very quickly, setting a good solid time. This placed me in 9th position and I felt that I could push up further in the second session. Leigh however was still feeling very battered and bruised and was about 2 seconds off his usual pace but he pushed on regardless.
We were out straight after lunch and wouldn’t you know it, it began to drizzle. Nowhere near enough to warrant putting full wets on, but just enough to put that nagging doubt in the back of my mind. Only because my previous two crashes last year were in similar conditions. However just before we went out it stopped and the track was bone dry.
I went out and settled in nicely but then it started again. My confidence dropped and I became rigid on the bike, and I didn’t improve on my time. I dropped down to 12th on the grid with everone around me improving, which unlike BEMSEE would be my position for the entire weekend. Making qualifying all that more important. Leigh also didn’t improve on his time and was back on row 5. However his brother Alex managed to qualify in second position.

I'm Famous

Well after a pretty avearge Brands Hatch round with BEMSEE I was over the moon to find that myself and Leigh had been published in the latest edition of BSN. Making the front cover! Awesome. Thanks to Alex and Leigh for pulling the strings on this one! You may recognise the picture.

Topsey Turvey Brands Hatch. Pt.2

With Leigh’s bike in pieces and refusing to start it looked doubtful he would be out on Sunday and with him feeling worse for wear on Sunday morning he decided to call his weekend to an end and make a break for it back up to Beverley.
I sorted myself out knowing I had three races that day and got the bike ready. With the sun shining we rolled up to the grid once again and I was off to a blinder. I found myself in 6th position after about three laps and thought that this was my chance to keep with the leaders. They began to squeeze a gap on me so I decided to push. I had decided to stick with the tyres thinking I could eek one more race out of them, however on lap 4 I managed to save a high side coming out of clearways onto Clark Curve. I dropped down to 9th by the time the chequered flag dropped but still fairly happy with the result, knowing that my pace was there. And after speaking to Adam Molloy who was right behind me at Clearways I was glad the bike was still in one piece.
With my bike at the front of the 3rd row now, I was brimming with confidence for the 3rd race, when the skies suddenly went very grey. A quick shower sprinkled Brands but I gambled on it passing so I stuck with my dry tyres. But as I rolled up to the collection area the heavens opened. I turned around and trundled back to my garage and knew I’d not only thrown away a chance of good result, as I go well in the wet but because I didn’t race I would also be moved to the back of the grid.
The rain was on and off for the rest of the day and I finally gambled on wet tyres for the final race. I was on the back row in 29th and the warm up lap revealed the track to be about 75% dry. The wrong call again!
However as the lights went out I was on a mission to make up some places and before I knew It I had made up well over ten. The tyres felt good in the damper parts of the circuit but with the race at half distance they began to overheat. Even the damp parts were too dry and I started going backwards down the pack. With the bike not even feeling that it was properly connected to the wheels I was more than happy to see the chequered flag. Eventually bringing the bike back home in 21st place. Ahead of guys on dry tyres!The weekend could have been better but could have been a hell of a lot worse. I hopefully can learn from my mistakes or at least book myself on a meteorologist’s course. And best wishes to all of those involved in the incidents on Saturday. I hope you all have speedy recoveries and I hope to see you all out there again soon. Finally well done Tori Miller and Wayne "Frank" O'Reilly for completing their first rounds in the Minitwins and MZ's. Not only unscathed but both finishing in the points.

Topsey Turvey Brands Hatch. Pt.1

Brands started out looking like being so promising. I had been there two weeks ago testing and had posted the same times that I did last year without feeling quite so on the edge.
It turned out to be a very up and down weekend, starting off badly with the news that my team-mate had broken down on the way and wouldn’t be making the Friday test day. However I went out on the Friday afternoon and everything felt great.
Saturday rolled round and I went into qualifying. Putting in some steady laps and finally ending up 14th on the grid. I was fairly happy but I felt that with a few more laps I could have made up a few more places.
The first race came soon after and with an impressive start I made up about four places. The bike felt steady but the tyres seemed to be on their last legs but I pushed on regardless. I ended up eventually losing a few places finishing up in 12th which would bump me up onto the 3rd row for the second race.
The second race ended up being pushed back by quite a distance due to a few stoppages but with the light beginning to fade we rolled up to the grid for the warm-up lap. In the blink of an eye I was round at druids with the red flags out. And before I knew it there was a crash right in front of me by the time we had reached Graham Hill. The red flags were out due to a start line incident which I soon found out had involved my team-mate Leigh. It was decided that the day would end there and the race would be rolled over to Sunday.
I got back to the garage to find Leigh was up at the medical centre, so off to hospital it was.

Good Friday.

We arrived at Mallory Park late on Thursday evening. I hadn't seen my team mate "Lethal" Leigh Hutchinson, and his brother Alex since the last round of last year at Brands Hatch so it was good to catch up. However we were all quite sensible for a change and turned in fairly early for the early start tomorrow.

After signing on in the morning we got the bikes ready and went out for the first session. It felt good to back out on track so soon after Brands and it didnt take me too long to get into a good rhythm. The bike felt spot on once again. However it seemed Leigh had forgotten to tighten a few things up, so when I returned after the end of the session I thought it would be a good idea at the time to take the piss! I wish I hadn't now.

And sure enough, karma dictated my second session would be cut short, on the out lap! When my gear linkage fell off. Watching Leigh go round for 20 minutes was annoying to say the least and what made it worse was me thinking how much he would be able to rip the piss in return. I limped the bike back to the paddock in 4th gear and sure enough, he did.

But after we loctited and made sure every bolt on the bikes were secure the day really started to perk up.

We posted some very close times through out the day and our two best were within one-one hundrdeth of a second! Or 0.01. That isnt even a blink. Alex had predicted at the start of the 2008 season that we would be pretty close in times but even he couldnt believe how close his prediction was.

As the day started to wind down we decided to call it a day. Due to Leigh's old age and my sympathy pains. We were both chuffed with how the bikes felt and looked, so I think it was the right decision.

Onto Brands for the first round!

Brands Hatch Testing 21st/22nd Feb

The build up to the BEMSEE Brands Hatch "Rookie" weekend was frantic to say the least. The weekend is designed for rookies to get a feel of how a race weekend works, sit their ACU CTC course and to be examined on track. However BEMSEE was also running a test day for regualr racers.

This was my first proper outing since completing the bike. I would also be helping out two of my mates, Frank O'Reilly who was starting out out racing in the MZ class. And Tori Miller who was starting out in the Minitwins class with myself.

I had agreed to pick up Tori's bike and take it to the track for her, so Tuesday night I went to pick the bike up. I gave it a check over when I got home and to cut a very long story short, her engine was F**ked! The water jacket had cracked allowing the water and oil to mix. There was no way her bike was going to be ready for the weekend.

So I came to the decision I would lend her my bike... with my spangly new paint job. Oh dear! But to be fair she got through the weekend unscathed and got her ACU licence. As did Frank on his smokey MZ, when he remembered to turn off the kill switch.

As for myslef, I had a great time. The bike felt great, nothing fell off and I didn't bin it, however I did come close at one point. I was also posting lap times within half a second of my fastest time around Brands last year. So all is looking good for this season.

It's Finished!!

After what has seemed like an eternity, the bike is now finished! The final touch was the new paint job, designed by my team mate Leigh and I'm chuffed to bits with how good it looks.

I am off to Brands and Mallory before the season starts to see how much of this riding lark I have forgotten over the winter and hopefully blow out a few cobwebs.

I will also be lending my bike in its new fresh state to a mate of mine who is starting as a rookie. She does have her own bike but three days before her BEMSEE rookie day her engine decided to die. We think a cracked cylinder head is at fault causing all of her water to drain into the sump!

Please dont drop It!!!! :-)

Pre season build up

Well I made it back home safe and sound from my tour, but because of this instead of five months to prep the bike for the season I was left with just two.

Everything to date has felt rushed, but short of respraying the bike in the '09' colours I am ready to go.

The changes have been pretty minimal as the bike felt pretty good all last year. The main things to be changed are the reworked front forks and new race rear subframe, thanks to Steve, at Steve Jordan Motorcycles. I have also been tarting up the bike, powder coating the wheels, replacing anything that had started to rust and respraying a few components. I have also switched to GSXR1000K6 Bodywork.

I had my first outing of the year at Snetterton on the 1st of February, to check things were all OK and nothing was about to fall off. I braved the -1'C temperatures and snow! To put in about 25 hand numbing laps. But it was worth it as everything felt great. I'm booked into Mallory Park and Brands Indy before the season start too and I cant wait.

A rushed end to the season

Well I finally did it, my first race win! I left it until the last round of the year at Brands Hatch GP, but unfortunately the thrill was shortlived as in less than 48 hours I would be nearly 4000 miles away on one of my Government funded, all inclusive sandy holidays.

However I enjoyed the rest of the weekend picking up two more trophies along the way. A 3rd, 3rd and finally a 4th.

I arrived back home on the Sunday evening with only a few hours left to double check I had packed all of my kit that I would need for the next few months and to possibly get a few hours sleep. So the bike was abandoned in the garage and I was off.

Two months without a bike to tinker with in the off season was going to drive me mad!