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Nigel Snook

Round Seven. Hampshire Tyre Wear Challenge. Thruxton.

Average weekend at Brands Hatch so we were pleased to be setting up at Thruxton where we know our Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki ZX-10RR Ninjas perform well. The riders too as at Thruxton last year Max achieved his first superbike front row start and race lead before missing out on a podium by thousandths of a second. Jason won all three races last time, adding up to an impressive total of eight of the last nine races at the venue. All set for a strong weekend.


Our prospects were helped with an informal test at Snetterton a couple of weeks earlier courtesy of our sponsors AJN Steelstock who had organised a private track day at the circuit.


Thruxton is all about tyre life. The track surface is very abrasive and layout makes it the fastest circuit we visit – with a series of sweeping highspeed corners following the taxi ways of the wartime airfield. The lap record around the 2.35 mile circuit is one minute 14.6 seconds at an average speed of 112 miles per hour. As a result, there are one-off tyre regulations as our regular, soft compound, SC0 Pirelli slick rear tyres are only rated for 12 laps use. That means having to run on the harder and more durable SC1 compound tyre. We were allocated two SC0 tyres – one for a final run in the second free practice session and one for the 12-lap sprint race.


At least it looked like we’d have warm and dry weather but either way, it would be all about tyres!

Free Practice


Key thing for the first 40-minute session was to get plenty of laps in to start the process of assessing tyre wear rates. Max 26 laps, P12, and Jason 24 laps, P4. Not that times and positions really mattered as the top 15 were covered by less than one second.


FP2 was more serious with everyone getting fully up to speed on the hard compound tyres and getting ready for shorter runs on the soft tyre towards the end of the session. The final runs would be critical to establish the fastest 12 runners who go straight through to the second part of qualifying on Saturday lunchtime. Max was one of the first out on the softer tyre and immediately popped up in P2 quickly followed by Jason in the third fastest slot. As the other teams completed their soft tyre runs Max slipped to P8, 0.6 from Kent’s fastest and Jason P10 less than a tenth of a second behind Max. Both straight through to Q2 with Max delighted by the way his bike was working but Jason still looking for a better chassis balance to help him through the faster turns.

Qualifying


The qualifying hour period starts with a 10-minute warm up on worn tyres, just to wake up the riders and suss out any significant changes in conditions. Then it’s into Q1 for the slower free practice runners competing for a top three place to put them through to Q2 with the 12 faster runners. Q2 - Soft tyres in. Really only one flying lap or possibly two to set a fast time before the tyre grip drops sharply. Jason’s second lap put him top of the rankings in a time that matched the lap record. Two laps later, Ryde pipped Jason’s best by just 0.011 for pole position. Max was 0.4 slower but that meant P10 on the race one grid – it was that close. Good to see Jason on the front row after finding a chassis setup that let him exploit the full potential of his Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki ZX-10RR Ninja.


Race One


Saturday afternoon in near perfect conditions. 20 lap feature race. Jason got a ‘hole shot’ start, straight into the lead and able to control the pace to preserve his tyres without getting caught up in any jostling for position. Running at around two seconds a lap slower than qualifying times with everyone holding back for the final two laps when the race would be on and we’d find out who’d managed their tyres best.


Jason led for the first 16 laps never more than 0.3 clear as everyone settled into his pace. Going on to lap 17, Vickers appeared around the outside into the final chicane and took the lead. Everyone pulled the trigger – 14 riders in the leading group!! In the meantime, Max had a great start but got shuffled back in the turn 2/3/4 complex and completed the first lap back in P15. With a small gap ahead, he used some tyre to get onto the back of the pack and in the process set the fastest lap of the race. By the time the race was on he was sat in the pack, P11, ready the join the melee for the podium spots.


On to lap 20, 12 riders covered by two seconds – Jason P6, Max P11. Three seconds down on the fastest times but still incredibly close. On the approach to the chicane, Andrew Irwin locked his front brake and had a huge crash, clipping Kent on the way and causing his bike to fail. Their bad luck meant Jason went into the chicane P4 as Vickers dived for the front pushing surprise leader McConnell wide, letting Jason through to claim the final podium spot in P3. Max also benefitted from the chaos and crossed the line P8 in the blanket finish.


Nice to be back in the winners’ circle for the podium ceremony!

Race Two


Quick 10-minute warm up Sunday morning. Worn tyres but a chance to checkout any changes. Warm up is usually a non-event but we had a disaster. Into the chicane on the out lap, Jason’s engine failed and locked the rear wheel into a high speed and smoky skid. Unable to control the bike Jason was flicked off into the barriers. Heavily bruised leg and tendon damage to two fingers on his throttle/front brake hand would rule him out of both races. They say ‘that’s racing’ but it was a huge pity for Jason and the team.


The session was red flagged for Jason’s incident and on the restart, Max had a good seven lap run, ending up P5 a second off the qualifying times and very happy with his bike.


12 lap sprint race on the soft tyre. No Jason on the grid for race two but courtesy of his fastest lap in race one. Max was starting from pole position. He was delighted and will cherish his Omologato watch for many years to come!

Great start by Max seeing off Stacey into the complex but Glenn Irwin, just behind, had a huge high side crash and was left lying in the track. Red flag. New race on new tyres – 10 laps this time. Another dominant start and Max was immediately making a gap but riding as smoothly as he could to protect the rear tyre. Another big crash out on the highspeed section at Church corner brought out the safety car for laps two and three.


Max leading the pack – talk about nerve wracking for him and on the pit wall. The safety car pulled in releasing the pack on to lap four. Max managed the restart perfectly – crossing the line almost 0.2 ahead of Stacey. By the end of lap eight with two to go, Max had a 0.75 lead over Brookes but with Vickers closing fast. Suddenly Vickers was ahead, Max had made a small mistake going into the complex and had to catch a rear wheel slide, costing him a second. He was straight back on to Vickers and still clear of Brookes but simply didn’t have the final bit of speed to catch and repass Vickers’ Yamaha. Without the little mistake it would have gone right down to the wire but by crossing the line half a second back, Max scored his first BSB podium – P2. Many more to come. Well done Max 😊


Race Three


No Jason again. Max’s best lap in the sprint race gave him P8 on the grid for race three, the second 20 lap feature race on the harder tyre.


Quickly settled into the race with no dramas. P7 and then P9 at mid-race building up speed and setting his fastest time on lap 10 in a train of 10 riders. Onto lap 12, following Bridewell who was recovering from an earlier incident, Max’s time don’t come up on the timing screen as the pack was exiting sector two. Surely not a crash. Then seven seconds late his time registered – very slow. Max made his way back to retire the bike. He reported a loss of power going on the lap 12 and opted to ride back slowly with his hand over the clutch – remembering what had happened to Jason.


Sad end to our weekend – talk about the ups and downs of racing. But let’s track a positive. Both Jason and Max were on the pace all weekend and after a quiet period both achieved podium finishes, Max for the first time.


Championship Standings


Courtesy of his race one podium, Jason is on 142 points in P8 and we’re all rueing the potential loss of points that would have brought him closer to the leaders. Max is now on 94 points, P13 and also suffering from lost opportunities. There are still four rounds and 12 races to go for us to show our true potential and score some big end of season championship points.

Next Time


Cadwell Park. Fans favourite even if it is hard work for the teams working out of temporary garages down the hill in the middle of the circuit.


Priority is to see if Jason can get his damaged fingers sorted out. The bruising should sort itself out. Hopefully he will be fit enough to ride.


There’s a test for the superbikes - with all the safety measures in place – when we’re set up on the evening before the event starts officially. Last year Max had a crash at the pre-event test and took a knock on the head which sidelined him for the weekend. That means this time will be his first time riding at Cadwell in anger, so he will be starting on the back foot. At least he is doing some laps on his his practice bike this week to get his eye in.


All in all, it’s a great event.


Hope to see you there.


Regards. Nigel. Team Principal.


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