Members racing thread

[stew-STR160]

The time is upon me again. Round 1 of Thundersport Golden Era Supersport this weekend at Donington.

Anyone else racing with Thundersport this year?

[graeme4130]

Good luck mate
I more than likely won't be racing with them this year, but I'll come up and watch a couple of rounds as my youngest boy turns 12 this sept, so wants to look at the Superteens series for maybe next year, and then I'll move over to Thundersport GP1 so we can have the same race weekends

I was supposed to be racing at Snetterton this weekend, but work stuff has got in the way, so I've moved my entry onto another round.
The only race I have booked for this year so far is the 8hr Endurance at Donington in July

[stew-STR160]

graeme4130 said:

Good luck mate
I more than likely won't be racing with them this year, but I'll come up and watch a couple of rounds as my youngest boy turns 12 this sept, so wants to look at the Superteens series for maybe next year, and then I'll move over to Thundersport GP1 so we can have the same race weekends

I was supposed to be racing at Snetterton this weekend, but work stuff has got in the way, so I've moved my entry onto another round.
The only race I have booked for this year so far is the 8hr Endurance at Donington in July

Thanks
It's a mad last minute dash for me too as my fork internals have not yet got back to me after being upgraded...should be here any minute now. Not tested or rode the bike since October...erm...haha.

Other than Oulton, I plan on doing all the rounds this year.

[stew-STR160]

Thought I'd do a race report for the opening round of Golden era Supersport.

Well the weekend almost didn't happen for me.
I had sent my forks away start of Feb for some upgrades and only received them back on Thursday last week...after much chasing of Parcelforce who somehow ignored the next day delivery on them and sent them up north...
Anyway, got the internals home, started fitting them to the forks and noticed the tops of the rods were not centered in the stanchion...odd... bit of moving it up and down and my friend and I heard a 'crack' noise. Startled looks followed by quickly removing the cartridge revealed that something inside had come loose.
Quick strip down and voila, the rebound valve had snapped off the holder. Mucho bad!
And then a panic phone call to the guy who did the work(who to be fair was ok and is refunding me the full cost) and he was as surprised as we were.

More panic. So the urgent request for help post goes up on the facebook group and get a few responses. By this time I'd already resigned myself to the fact I wasn't going to be racing.
One guy came up trumps with a set of 5SL (later model R6) forks just 5 miles from the track. So we quickly fitted my forks together with one of them being empty. Chuck the bike in the van, and off to Donington. Arrived there at 22:30. Set up. Fell asleep completely exhausted.

So next morning arrives, my mate is staying behind as he had morning practice. I went off to collect the forks from TWP in Long Eaton. Massive thanks to him. Nice work shop with some cool bikes being turned into racing beasts.
OK, back to the track with some 5SL forks with K-Tech adjusters and cartridge kit. I'm saved...or so I think.

Upon putting the forks in the bike, I hadn't realised the differences between them. They take a totally different spindle to what I had. And I couldn't find a spare in the paddock. Also the right brake caliper was touching the brake disc. I later found another bike with the 5SL forks and he had the same issue so I will have to look into this later.

So from feeling positive to oh crap in a couple of seconds. With my friend out in his second practice session, me left with two sets of forks I can't do anything with...crap.

Then the lightbulb came on.
Rebuild the forks with my bottoms and stanchions, using the 5SL internals. Eureka!
So I start stripping the K-Tech forks down, my friend gets back from his session, I fill him in, and we crack on. End result was I had the bike finished and ready to go with about 15 minutes to spare before I was due to go out!

The above was some of the most stressful hours I've ever spent doing something I love.


Practice went ok. Feeling the bike and relearning the national layout.

Qualifying was wet and I wasn't confident to push on. I ended up 34/38 I think. Awful. My friend got 9th and crashed on 4th lap. Whoops.

Race 1- Boom! Huge accident on the start line. I just managed to escape and pull off at Redgate knowing it'd be red flagged. People under bikes and bikes in billions of pieces...ouch. Rescheduled the race until after lunch. Time to change from wets as the track was dry now.
Lining up again, lights out, I get a decent start with a few people in front of me missing I make up a few more places into the first corner. Pick off a few more people and start closing the gap on the group in front. 10 laps went pretty quick.
Got passed by the leaders down the back straight and through the chicane. Chequered flag was out and first race done. Those guys at the front are some ex BSB and other such experienced racers. I've got some work to do.

Race 2 went much like race 1. Finished both races in 22nd. Not fantastic but can't complain. More pace to find.

Sunday, race 3- Hot laps had moved my starting position to 24th on the grid. I get a decent start but held up in the pack in the first corner. Managed to lose a couple of places, but quickly got those back and then picked up 2 more to 22nd place. And there I stayed. Closing the gap on the group in front who were a few seconds ahead. I was about 2 seconds a lap faster than Saturday. So I was getting better. Still, more to learn, and would help me if I had someone to tag onto. As it was, I was setting my own pace. Thankfully, I didn't get lapped so that's something good at least. haha

Race 4- Poor start, went from 24th to maybe 30th, but picked my way back to 24th after a couple of laps. But the separation in the pack meant the group ahead were about 10 seconds away. I started closing that gap, but then suffered a bit of a brake issue. As in when I pulled the lever it was stayed back. Resulting in me semi coasting and dabbing brakes where I could just to finish the race. Fended off the challenges from a Ducati behind to stay 24th.
Not happy with that, as I would have had the pace to catch the group in front. But I finished all 4 races with lots of knowledge gained.

My friend crashed out in race 3 in 7th place thanks to his good qualifying he was able to keep up there. He smashed up a helmet, ripped his brand new leathers, and a little damage to his bike. He's ok though.

Going to miss the next round at Oulton, and do the Cadwell round in May.

[graeme4130]

Great write up stu

[Fleegle]

Well done Stu

I don't miss the stress of racing against the clock in the paddock. Good performances can be battered before you even line up.

[moanthebairns]

Awesome right up stew, I think my arse would have folded under the pressure of doing that work and having to be out.

[Gavia]

Great write up. I’d have given up long before you did, so well done.

Quick question. Why are you missing the Oulton round? I hear this a lot from different paddocks amd never understand why people would choose to miss this track, as it’s just as good as Donington GP (better than the National circuit) and certainly better than Cadwell IMO.

[Biker's Nemesis]

Yeah, good write up, well done for finishing too. Speed will come with experience.

[George29]

Gavia said:

Great write up. I’d have given up long before you did, so well done.

Quick question. Why are you missing the Oulton round? I hear this a lot from different paddocks amd never understand why people would choose to miss this track, as it’s just as good as Donington GP (better than the National circuit) and certainly better than Cadwell IMO.

Do you really rate Donington GP over the national? I’m massively the other way round, I hate the pointless Melbourne loop on the GP

I’d rate Donington and Cadwell both above Oulton though

[Gavia]

George29 said:

Do you really rate Donington GP over the national? I’m massively the other way round, I hate the pointless Melbourne loop on the GP

I’d rate Donington and Cadwell both above Oulton though

I like the Esses and the two hairpins, whilst disrupting the flow a bit make for good racing and overtakes.

Cadwell doesn’t do it for me, too narrow, awkward with the racing paddock being down at the bottom and lack of facilities (power, garages etc), plus it’s effing miles away.

Horses for courses though, see what I did there. I don’t think any of the ones we’re discussing are bad though.

[graeme4130]

Gavia said:

George29 said:

Do you really rate Donington GP over the national? I’m massively the other way round, I hate the pointless Melbourne loop on the GP

I’d rate Donington and Cadwell both above Oulton though

I like the Esses and the two hairpins, whilst disrupting the flow a bit make for good racing and overtakes.

Cadwell doesn’t do it for me, too narrow, awkward with the racing paddock being down at the bottom and lack of facilities (power, garages etc), plus it’s effing miles away.

Horses for courses though, see what I did there. I don’t think any of the ones we’re discussing are bad though.

I agree there, I like the GP layout. The loop and Goddards are both great places to make nice clean overtaking moves without screwing up the next corner and giving the place back
I’m not a fan of Cadwell either, bloody miles away from me, st facilities and a narrow track that makes it easy to get printed off by someone else’s mistake
I’d take Oulton over Cadwell every time, even with a single day race meet like they generally have there

Edited by graeme4130 on Tuesday 27th March 13:46

[moanthebairns]

George29 said:

I’d rate Donington and Cadwell both above Oulton though

I fking love oulton.

[hebegb]

graeme4130 said:

Gavia said:

George29 said:

Do you really rate Donington GP over the national? I’m massively the other way round, I hate the pointless Melbourne loop on the GP

I’d rate Donington and Cadwell both above Oulton though

I like the Esses and the two hairpins, whilst disrupting the flow a bit make for good racing and overtakes.

Cadwell doesn’t do it for me, too narrow, awkward with the racing paddock being down at the bottom and lack of facilities (power, garages etc), plus it’s effing miles away.

Horses for courses though, see what I did there. I don’t think any of the ones we’re discussing are bad though.

I agree there, I like the GP layout. The loop and Goddards are both great places to make nice clean overtaking moves without screwing up the next corner and giving the place back
I’m not a fan of Cadwell either, bloody miles away from me, st facilities and a narrow track

As stated - well done to Stu - massive perseverance ending well, and again, more than i could have mustered at this stage of my life...

I too like Doni GP layout , but also very much like Cadwell despite the "facilities" , the track is ace and well worth taking a couple of visits to familiarise and shed the demons , plenty of space once you know your way round there.
Prefer these two to Oulton tbh but shall be doing Oulton (local round ) with NL this year as well as the Doni 8 hour amongst possible others , would have fancied Cadwell but as its almost upon us and I don't have a repaired (gearbox) bike back yet ...will not be.

As for distance - I quite liked Portimao (all1.5 days ridden so far ) and that's a very long way away......

See lots of you out there this year I hope

[stew-STR160]

Gavia said:

Great write up. I’d have given up long before you did, so well done.

Quick question. Why are you missing the Oulton round? I hear this a lot from different paddocks amd never understand why people would choose to miss this track, as it’s just as good as Donington GP (better than the National circuit) and certainly better than Cadwell IMO.

I'm missing it as it's a single day(two races), and really quite far. Believe me, I really want to do it, but I can save myself about £500 if I skip this round, get a couple of practice days in, and be good to go for Cadwell.

I really like Cadwell, although I sucked last time I was there racing with Bemsee due to conditions. Agreed, they could definitely do with improving facilities.

I've done both Donington layouts and think I prefer the full track to the national.

Edited by stew-STR160 on Tuesday 27th March 14:23

[Fleegle]

As I remember, there was always a mixed reception at Oulton. Depending on what time of the year it was would quite often dictate the attendance. It's a long way for many racers to travel for one rainy day in May. Getting turfed out at the end of the day was always a bit of a miserable experience as well, when you had 4/5/6 hour journey ahead of you

That aside, I always looked forward to this meeting. Yes it was only one day, but it was at one of the best circuits and I would always double up if the matrix allowed.

[moto_traxport]

Fleegle said:

Well done Stu

I don't miss the stress of racing against the clock in the paddock. Good performances can be battered before you even line up.

This ^^^ . Well done Stu.

It was the bewilderment of where everyone got the flipping time & money?

You roll up late Friday night after work and collecting your rubbish dotted all over the place and everyone else seems to have been there for a week already doing practice days, fitting new sets of tyres every 10 mins, having BBQ's, nabbing all the power points and best spots in the paddock. Not jealous at all. Doubly awesome when you kick their arses.

[Biker's Nemesis]

moanthebairns said:

I fking love oulton.

Me too, its fkn ace.

[mckeann]

Oulton is good but it's no Croft

[mckeann]

As for Donny, I much prefer the national layout. Nobody ACTUALLY likes hairpins, do they?


And cadwell is st. Too narrow.