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.