Hi and welcome to my first race report of the
2014 season. The winter has flown by for me but I have been very
excited to get the racing underway. Prior to our first race weekend this
year we attended a series of tests to set ourselves up, to be in
good shape and as prepared as possible for what lays ahead. Like
last season I will be contesting the Van Insurer Sportsman Elite 600
championship which consists of two categories, Formula 600 and Superstock
600. My Yamaha R6 falls under the Superstock 600 regulations meaning a slight
disadvantage to the formula machines where engine tuning is permitted. The
first round of this season was held at the prestigious Brands Hatch where its undulating
nature and intensity are the biggest factors of the race circuit,
where outright power is not essential. This is how it went for me in the
beautiful sunshine we had all weekend.
Friday testing was a very productive day having learnt a
number of different set ups and configurations I was happy that I could get the
best out of me and the Yamaha R6. Over the course of the winter we had
developed a number of parts on the bike to aid performance throughout the
season and they seemed to be working, having qualified fourth on
the grid overall and third Superstock 600. I was very proud of
this and it was the best grid position I have
ever had within this championship. I felt my riding had improved
since the previous season.
The first race of the weekend on the Saturday saw me take a
good start off the line and I settled in sixth position. After a
couple of laps I felt I had got in to my rhythm and comfortable to press
on. By half distance the race leader and I had dropped two tenths of a
second bellow lap record pace, matching each other’s times and I had moved
in to fourth place. Unfortunately the leader David Allingham had made a break
due to his blisteringly fast first lap the rest of us were not quite able to
close the gap, and crossed the line in fourth position overall and
third in class. A fantastic result made even better with the lap times that I
had achieved. Unfortunately I was not able to hang on the lap record
to Allingham beating it by another one tenth of a second on the final lap,
but that didn't dampen my spirit as I elevated to second on the grid for
Sundays races, my first front row within the Sportsman Elite
championship.
Having been out on circuit with all of my friends who ride larger
capacity 1000cc machines during testing on Friday I had really enjoyed
myself and I felt comfortable on the bike. I therefore entered the Bike
Insurer GP1 championship to gain extra track time and enjoy myself in front of
my friends who visited to watch me. I knew my 600cc bike would not be at too much
disadvantage round the Brands Hatch Indy circuit due to the lack of
straights. Having qualified in tenth position on the grid I was
able to progress in race one to eight place and third in the GP1
class, which was a fantastic result.
Race two on Sunday in the Sportsman Elite I was able to
improve on my race one result finishing in a strong third place overall and
second in class to Allingham. The race for second placed Superstock
rider was hard fought between myself and Adam Shelton trading
places a number of times throughout the race, before I was able to get the
better of him on the penultimate lap of the race.
During race three I gained a great start sitting in third place
through the first corner behind Allingham and Dan Frear. Allingham was
unfortunate to crash out on the opening lap of the race promoting me up to
second overall and first Superstock rider. Frear was able to make
a made a slight break off the start and I was just not able to close in
on him, although it was fun trying to reign him in throughout the
race. I am very proud with the outcome of this race. Achieving a
class win this early on in the season on TV day was great and to be
mixing with the formula bikes is a real positive to take into the next round at
Donington.
Throughout the two GP1 races on Sunday I was able to cross the
line with two twelfth places with some more great racing. I really enjoyed
myself in these races securing a 4th and further podium with 3rd in
GP1 class, and I hope I can continue to participate in a few more of the GP1
races throughout the season.
In all the weekend was a huge success and exceeded
my hopes from the weekend massively. I would like to say a big thank you
to the marshals who were positioned at Druids Hairpin for voting me rider
of the day on the Saturday. I now need to bring myself back down to earth and
start working hard for the next round at Donington.
As all ways I would like to say a massive thank you to all of my
sponsors who work hard to support me and help me race. Special mention to
Tony and Nigel at DNA Technical Services who have kindly agreed to support me
in 2014 and Mark Nutt who was instrumental in this. It is greatly appreciated.
I would also like to say thank you to all of my friends and family who
joined us over the course of the weekend, and I hope we showed you just how far
we have come over the years!
Dave and Bernadette
Stewart of Thundersport GB,
Ian
and Myra Newton of INCompetition,
AF
Switchgear,
Power
System Partners,
DNA
Technical Services,
Electro
Pro Solutions,
Rod
Harwin,
Seton
Tuning,
Arc-on
leathers,
Nitro
race helmets,
Daytona
Paint designs,
KS
Performance
SPRING11,
Mum
and Dad,
Ami-Louise
Coleman,
Chris
and Laura Moore,
Jamie
Wilkins
Photographers:
Brad Cox, Martin Cox, Laurence Smith & the Bike Insurer,
Medics
and Marshals,
And all of my
supporters who follow me and my racing dream.
