Round Seven. High Plains Drifting. Hampshire.

Thruxton is the British Superbike championship’s outlier circuit. It’s like no other venue we visit as it’s all about going slow to go fast!

Over a lap, there isn’t a proper straight, so the bikes are always turning on the very abrasive surface. As a result, tyre wear is unusually high. In fact, all the teams are required to use a more durable rear tyre, the Pirelli SCD.

All that said, over the years Thruxton has been a happy hunting ground for FS-3 Racing and Max as it’s the scene of his first BSB pole position and podium finish. Again, we were quietly confident that our AJN Steelstock KB998 bimota Riminis would perform well on their first visit to Thruxton. Joe and Max were certainly looking forward to the challenge.

With heatwave conditions persisting, 36 degrees on set up day, it was going to be another hot and dry race weekend.

Free Practice testing

We started Friday morning with short runs for both boys using low mileage worn tyres before coming in for pairs of brand new SCD tyres. The plan then was to run race distances - 20 laps - to start to get an idea of how the tyres were holding up.

Max was in after 15 laps of his race run with the rear tyre completely worn out. He went back out for a final run but came straight back in as he really didn’t have any grip. His 1.15.8 best lap placed him P6. Joe’s tyres were not quite as bad, but he’d been building into the weekend and wasn’t pushing. He was happy to have completed 26 laps with times in the low 1.16s.

The lesson from the 50-minute session was to go a bit slower to save the tyre for the last few laps of a race. Target lap times in the high 1.16s should do it.

The second test session runs for 25 minutes, not enough time for a full 20 lap race simulation, but long enough to determine if we were going in the right direction on tyre management. Joe tucked in behind Max as they reeled off laps on or around the target time. 12 laps into the run and Joe began to fall back as his tyre started to drop while Max was able to maintain his pace.

Max completed 19 laps, all in the 1.16 bracket. His best lap was only good enough for P15, but the run was very promising for the races. The first 10 laps of Joe’s run, following Max, were all in the 1.16s but toward the end of the 19 laps he was back in the 1.17s and 18s, but all good experience of how his bike would feel in the races.

Pre-qualifying Max P2 Joe P4

All change! Now the objective was to go fast to book a top 12 place and go straight through to the second phase of qualifying. New tyres in and really only a one lap opportunity to set a competitive time because of the tyre wear situation.

Joe went straight out and found himself behind Redding. Perfect! Hanging on to Redding throughout his fast lap, they crossed the line P1 and Joe P2. Max did his usual and waited for the early runners to come in before going out to do a lap all by himself. By then, Ryde had jumped to the top of the times, but it wasn’t long before Max’s name came up P2. 0.3 behind Ryde and fractions ahead of Redding and Joe. P2 and P4 - that would do nicely.

Qualifying Max P2 Joe P10

After 10 minutes of morning warm up sliding around on used tyres, Max and Joe were ready for qualifying. With new tyres the grip levels would be very different making it a case of forgetting about race pace ‘slow’ and dialling in qualifying ‘fast’.

Again, due to the tyre wear challenges, qualifying times would be determined over one fast lap, possibly two. Some chose to do a couple of laps on worn tyres to prepare before fitting new rubber. We went straight out on new rubber due to the wide variations in available grip between old and new tyres which can affect a riders approach. Best to go for it out of the box with maximum grip available.

Max waited a bit before starting his run. Purple (fastest) time indicators in the first two sectors but then running wide at Church took the edge off his time but which was still good enough for provisional pole. He kept his run going onto a second lap which, with no mistakes, was slightly faster - 1.14.5 - to retain provisional pole. That held until five minutes later when Ryde pipped Max’s time by 0.024 to snatch pole position in the dying moments of the session.

Joe was well in the mix early on with a 1.15.1 on his first flying lap. Unable to improve on a second run, Joe would line up P10, a very decent effort.

Feature race one. Max DNF Joe P10.

20 laps. Everyone slotted in off the start with no big battles for places. Max P5, Joe P10. As the race settled down the leading 10 riders pulled clear and split into two smaller groups. One thing was clear, the mid-16s lap time target wouldn’t be enough as Redding was lapping in the low 15s and on lap 4 Ray recorded a 14.8. Surely too fast. Max and Joe settled into the second group and at lap 10 were P9 and P10, 4.5 seconds back from leader Redding. A couple of laps later and things started to change with Ryde taking the lead and Redding starting to drop back. We were a bit nervous that Max could be leaving it too late as he continued to nurse his tyres along running high 1.15 laps and with Joe close behind.

Lap 14 and the gap was down to 3.5 seconds with Max posting fastest sectors and closing on Haslam. With five laps to go it was time for Max to make his move and put to good use the rear tyre he had been nursing. On to lap 16, things were really hotting up. Max passed Haslam into the chicane but ran slightly wide giving Haslam an opportunity to cut back underneath him. Max got a good drive as he recovered from his mistake while Haslam was now running wide due to his line repassing Max. Then it all went wrong big style. With Haslam in Max’s blind spot, they met in the middle with the bimota’s front wheel just touching the Ducati’s rear. That was enough to cause Max’s bike to swerve left, throwing him off in the process and hitting the nearby recticel barrier very hard indeed.

Immediate red flag and the result declared with Joe P10. But our attention was on the excellent medical attention Max was receiving at track side. Temporarily knocked out, it was good to see Max being carefully stretchered to the ambulance and off to the medical centre. After further examination by the BSB medics, Max was transferred to Southampton hospital for a scan. Thankfully the scan revealed no breaks, just heavy bruising and he was discharged later that evening. Stiff and very sore on Sunday, it’s now a matter of getting fit for Cadwell Park in two week’s time.

Joe would be our team leader for the Sunday races.

Sprint race.  Max DNS   Joe P8

Good run in the 10-minute warm up session on Sunday morning. Teams allowed to use new tyres as due to the wear rates no one had lightly worn tyres to use.

Sadly, Max could only watch on from the garage. From P8 on the grid, Joe got away with the leaders again and settled into position but as it was the shorter 12 lap sprint race the pace was very hot. Little or no need for tyre management. Battling with Kent and Skinner’s Yamahas, Joe was in close contact and benefitting from the ferocious battle at the front with the leaders slowing each other down. Two-thirds distance and Joe was just 1.8 seconds back from Ryde at the front, good work!

Ray, recovering from being pushed wide at the chicane, put a hard move on Joe which upset his rhythm a bit. Over the last two laps he lost a bit of ground but still crossed the line only 3.9 behind winner Vickers on his Honda and two seconds clear of the second group. Top result.

Feature race two. Max DNS Joe DNF

P9 grid slot for Joe this time. Usual Thruxton shuffle over the first lap as the riders sorted out their preferred positions in the group. Joe came through P6, just behind Ray but looking like he was going to be in a battle with Iddon and Haslam. A mistake by Iddon on lap nine freed up Joe to get back up on the leading group. Posting his fastest lap of the race, Joe closed to within 1.7 seconds of leader Skinner and only 0.4 behind Haslam. Looking good at half distance but entering the Complex on lap 11 Joe lost the front of his bimota and slid gracefully to earth, bravely hanging on to the bike to prevent it flipping. Unable to continue, that was the end of our weekend.

Probably our most disappointing run for a long while. All the more frustrating as Max had pole position challenging speed and Joe is getting more and more competitive with every race that passes.

Upfront, Vickers won for the second time in the usual close races with all the main manufacturers at the sharp end. Thruxton is a great leveller.

Championship standings

No points for Max means he’s dropped back to P7, a point behind Skinner. Joe is chipping away in P11 on the same number of points as Kent and Jackson and six behind Stacey. In the teams’ table we’re back to fifth place, just behind Moto Rapido and just ahead of Honda after their strong weekend.

Next time

Cadwell Park, the one the riders have a love hate relationship with! The narrow track with its sharp changes in elevation requires skill and nerve in equal measure.

Main thing is to have Max fit and well and ready to go and Joe prepared to build up to his first superbike runs at Cadwell.

Hope to see you there.

Regards. Nigel Team Principal.