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Oulton Park
25th, 26th, June 2010
Issue 5
Friday
A hectic build-up to Oulton was in store with exams in full swing and my dad
having problems with his back; balancing preparing the bike and revising was proving to be a challenge. The exam was to take
place the morning of the Friday test day, only allowing me time to return to the track after the exam and qualify in the afternoon.
We went down Thursday night and set up. I then set off back home, and did a bit of revision ready for the morning. I came
back at around 1pm after my exam and got ready and scrutineered ready for qualifying. A very unfamiliar sunny day allowed
for dry qualifying. A red flag due to an oil spillage on the first corner stopped qualifying after 4 laps, and although there
was 5 minutes left, the cement dust that had been put down wouldn’t have allowed me to better my time. I qualified 1st out of the 450’s and 2nd overall, a great result to say
I’d only done 4 laps.
Saturday
Due to Oulton only
providing Saturday’s racing, there was no Superpole race or 2nd qualifying,
leaving me in the same position as I had qualified, and with another hot day I was looking forward to the races.
Race 1
Race 1 was a very eventful race, as I was 4th after the first lap. I made my way to 3rd on the second lap and caught
the gap to the front two very quickly. After catching them I settled a little; a little too much as I fell at the last corner,
Lodge. Usually, this would have been the end of my race, however, a red flag allowed me the time, with the help of Ian Newton,
to fix my bike, scrutineer and start off the back of the grid. I got a good start on the restart of what was to be a 5 lap
race. I got up to 4th and was catching 3rd, when I was hit by a Supermono in the first corner which sent me off track. Luckily I was able to keep control of
the bike and continue the race, leaving me finishing 4th in the 450’s. Race 2
Race 2 came with a good start, but a
bad first lap leaving me 4th in the 450 race. Ben made a good start and broke the pack.
I caught Will and Connor in the battle for 2nd and 3rd. After a couple
of laps behind Will I overtook to take 3rd, and with a little battle towards the end of the race, I
managed to hold the podium position. Although not the step I wanted to be on, I managed to get some good points this weekend.
Special thanks go to Mark and Phil Canessa, without their
help with setting everything up and getting the bike ready for me to ride when I got there on Friday I wouldn’t have
been able to ride; and also Ian Newton who helped me to get back out in race 1.
Also thanks to Mark, Cheryl and the kids, Olivia, and Paul for their
support on Saturday and thanks to everyone for continuing to support me and allow me to continue racing.
Thank you all very much!!
Danny
Cadwell Park
29th, 30th, 31st May 2010
Issue 4 Saturday Practice/Qualifying
Another bank holiday
weekend of racing and the same weekend format as Snetterton (2 Qualifiers, 1 x Superpole Race & 2 Races on Monday).
A wet Saturday gave some good wet testing at probably the most technical circuit in Britain. I went out for test session 1 of 3 before the 1st qualifying which was in the afternoon. I had problems with the bike again as the bike started missing, although a
quick check over the wiring got me all set for session 2.
In sessions 2 and 3, I was a good 3.5s quicker than
any other rider out on track, and as I continued to push in session 3, and on a good lap, I was determined to pass a rider
in front of me under the power coming out of Park Corner. Thinking I’d sat the bike up enough, I put down the gas only
to find out a couple of seconds later I was thrown off the highside, high enough to see that it was still raining in Louth,
and a wet qualifying was to follow later in the day.
The track was a little drier in qualifying, so I decided
to get some quick laps in to start off with. I qualified 1st with
a time of 1.49.083; 1.526s quicker than Ben Gautrey in 2nd. A
good start to the weekend, but another qualifying session followed in the morning.
Sunday Qualifying/Superpole
I woke up
to what looked like an awkward day to be on Sunday, as the weather was adamant to keep me and my dad on our toes in terms
of tyre choice. In the 2nd qualifying the majority of the track was dry, with the odd
wet patches round the Hairpin and Barn. I was lying 2nd on the second
to last lap of qualifying until I posted a time of 1.45.028, 0.276s quicker than the next rider in 2nd, giving me Pole Position for the superpole race.
Although it rained the race before my superpole race,
the sun came out to dry the track, again with some wet patches round the Hairpin and Barn. After a good start I was leading
and pulling away from the next 450 behind me, and I was looking forward to continuing to do so over the 14 lap race.
However, the race got red flagged due to Will Hodgson highsiding coming out of Barn onto the pit straight.
A restart with a race of 9 laps was to follow, and with my bike being slightly temperamental on the sighting lap as it started
to miss again, I wasn’t really concentrating on the lights which I should have been. I saw a change in the corner of my eye and set off. Wondering
where all the other riders were going up the first straight towards Coppice, I looked back only to find out I had jump
started. It took me a couple of laps to settle as 2nd
place caught up to around 1 second of me. I knew I was to have at least a 10s penalty and had to get the hammer down. I pulled
16s on Ben Gautrey who was leading the 450’s, due to my penalty, but when I came in I found out that I got a 20s penalty
for my jump start.
Despite this I still finished 2nd in the 450’s and 4th overall with the supermono’s, 10.049s off the win overall and only 4 second off winning the 450’s
allowing Ben to jump ahead of me after my penalty. If the race was full distance I was likely to have won the race as I was
pulling around 2s a lap on the other riders in the race posting a fastest lap of 1.40.932, around 1.4s quicker than the
next 450's fastest lap. A bit disappointed with a silly error I made at Cadwell last year too, I was still happy to have
broken the lap record by 1s on my own at the front for the whole race, and to have finished where I did after 9 laps, with
a 20s penalty.
Monday’s Racing
Race 1
After finishing 4th
overall in the superpole yesterday, I was unfortunately knocked off the front row, as Cadwell only runs a 3 rider row grid,
so no grid girl for me!
Race 1, I had a decent start and got back the places I lost from the start around Charlies.
I passed Ben Gautrey and started to catch the Supermono’s who were very quick down the straight, but I caught them up
in the corners. I pulled a gap of 1.8s in 2 laps on Ben who was the 2nd 450, after passing him on lap 2. Unfortunately, there was another red flag which caused a restart
of what was to be a 2-part race. I got another decent start, but not as good in this restart and had a battle with Ben as we were catching Ivan Porter,
the Supermono leading. I
managed to pass Ben after a very close manoeuvre out of Park, but a couple of missed gears in the chicane after Mansfield,
and the Hairpin lost me the 2-bike length advantage I gained over half the lap. I lost the lead, and although I was still
trying to overtake him to win the 2nd part of the
Race, I was still aware that I could win by finishing as close behind him as I could. A little scare coming out of the chicane
having me out of the seat a little, I came home in 1st
on aggregate.
Race 2
Race 2 was another close battle between me, Ben Gautrey, Connor Tagg and Ivan Porter. I lost a place off the start to Will
Hodgson; I quickly regained my position through Charlies again. I then had a gap to catch Ben who had a flier of a start.
I caught him up and passed him, and then set my eyes on the
front two Supermono’s. Ivan Porter was difficult to pass and slowed me up and this let Connor passed. After a few laps of trying to find ways by the Supermono, Connor
was unable to pass, and with Ben right behind and threatening to overtake, I decided to try and do it myself. I passed Connor
on the brakes into Park, and the Supermono over the mountain. Connor got passed too, and even though I had a slight
advantage on the second to last lap, I out-braked myself into Park, which allowed Connor to catch back up. The last lap came
and Connor slip-streamed me and passed me into Park. I was still trying to find ways past him, but with the difficulty of
passing at Cadwell after Park, I came home in 2nd, with a good outcome of points,
as I gained on every rider in front of me in the championship. A bit of consistency and good luck replaced a lap record
which was beaten on race day, but overall a good weekend, and no doubt a few jump start jokes to continue on through the season.
Overall
Qualified: 1st
1
x 1st
2 x 2nd
I would like to thank all of my sponsors for their support & hope that everyone that attended Cadwell to support
me had a great time.
Thank
you all so much!!
Danny
Snetterton
1st, 2nd, 3rd May 2010
Issue 3
Saturday Testing
Another
different weekend layout ahead, as Saturday confronts me with half a days testing in the morning and the 1st of two 15 min
qualifying sessions in the afternoon. After only just getting my original engine back from being rebuilt after it blew up
at Pem-brey, it was important for me to run in the engine before today due to only having half a day of testing. Luckily my
Dad got to run in my bike on a track day on Friday. The Track day was strictly for novice riders only, which prevented me
from doing it. Dad didn’t take much persuading either!!
This allowed me to get right on pace on Saturday morning. The day remained Sunny and when qualifying came around I qualified 1st in the Moto 450’s
and 2nd overall with the super-mono 720 on pole. I posted a lap time of 1.16.236, around 0.3sec quicker than the next 450
who was in 3rd.
Saturday
Qualifying - 1st (Moto 450)
Sunday
The 2nd qualifying session was
wet as it rained through the night which secured my grid position for the superpole race. Although it wouldn’t alter
my grid position for the 1st race, I still went out and was the quickest overall, 0.3725 sec quicker than the supermono in
2nd and 0.573 sec quicker than the next Moto 450.
By the time the Superpole race came the track had dried and I was ready to defend my grid position for Mondays
racing. An unusually decent start left me 3rd going into the back straight after I went round the outside of the Supermono
720 on the first corner. However, when I reached the straight I was a sitting target for be-ing slipstreamed & the quicker
720 easily passed me on the straight. Another supermono came past and cut in front only inches away from my front wheel and
immediately anchored up, breaking ridiculously early at marker 3, (I brake at approx marker 1). This caught me by surprise
and I ended up crashing at around 120mph. The DNF left me 5th on the grid for Mondays racing.
Monday
Hoping for a better day today, I wanted to concentrate on getting a good start to
give me a chance of winning the race. The weather was a bit hit & miss and as the track dried up, it would then rain again.
Race 1
It was dry for race 1 and after losing one or two places
off the start I fought back and eventually caught Ben Gautrey, who was in 3rd and slowly catching Phil Canessa in 2nd. Although
running out of laps to catch Phil, I passed Ben on the last lap at the end of the main straight and pulled 0.5 sec on him
in the last 6 corners, giving me a podium finish in 3rd and yet another lap record of 1.16.155. Although I was unable to win
the race, the lap record was proof that I was quickest and it was possible for me to win.
Race 2
I was
on the back of 2nd, 3rd & 4th who were closing in on Will in 1st. I went down the inside of Ben to take 3rd at the end
of the main straight and as I wanted to come down the gears for the cor-ner, there was nothing. The gear shaft that connects
to my gear lever had snapped on the weld, leaving me stuck in 5th gear. I continued with the race, stuck in 5th all the way
around the track, and started to drop back quite a lot of places, but I needed to stay out to try & gain some points.
A couple of laps later it hail stoned on 2 corners and the first 4 riders went down at the bomb hole and the race was red
flagged. The race was declared final and I finished 5th in the 450’s.
After the bad luck the day before and the gear linkage
breaking today, things hadn’t really gone in my favour this weekend. How-ever, looking on the positive side, if the
gear linkage hadn’t bro-ken, it would have been likely that I would have been involved in the unexpected crash as the
hail stone hit the circuit. So you could say that my bad luck in this race protected me in some way. Overall a slightly disappointing weekend for me, but I gained points and hope for better results
at Cadwell Park at the end of the month.
Qualified 1st
1 x DNF
1 x 3rd
1 x 5th
1 x Lap Record (1.016.155s)
I would like to thank all my sponsors for their support. Thank you all so much!!
Danny
Pembrey
1st, 2nd, 3rd May 2010
Issue 3
Friday Testing
Another dry weekend forecast set
me up for a good weekends racing. Fridays testing allowed me to get used to the track and find a good setup.
The format for the weekend
has however now been changed compared to my first round at Mallory Park. Instead of a 20 min qualifying
session on Saturday morning followed by 2 races, this has now been changed to a 20 min qualifying session followed by 1 x
18 lap super pole race. The difference with the superpole format means that for this race, the first 4
quickest in qualifying are threatened by a change of grid position for the 2 races on Sunday, If somebody not on the front
row finishes in the top 4 in the superpole race, then the grids change for the races on Sunday. The format
for Sunday remains unchanged, other than the potential change in grid positions dependent on the superpole results.
Points are still scored in all races including the superpole race.
Saturday
Qualifying - 5th
Race 1 18 Lap Superpole race
After my qualification of 5th, I was
able to try and climb further up the grid, however, after lap 12 a problem occurred with the engine, causing a DNF in the
race and 25 points down on other riders. The engine could not be repaired at the circuit and my weekends
racing was looking like it was over for me, until Ian Newton from In Competition made arrangement for the supply of a new
engine. The engine however, was in Burscough, nr Southport and we were in South Wales. Whilst
my dad took out the engine and prepared the bike, Ian travelled through the night to his unit in Burscough, collected a new
engine and returned to Pembrey by 3am Sunday morning.
Sunday
At
6.30am on Sunday morning, Ian, my dad and Andy Matcham fitted the new engine and the bike was ready for the track by 9am.
Ian and Thundersport Gb arranged for me to go out in 4 consecutive practice sessions to enable the engine to be run
in before our first race.
Race 1
In race one the front wheel came up giving me a bad start off
the line and 9th position into the first corner. I managed to climb back to 5th place overall (4th in the
Aprilia 450’s), as the bike that won all races over the weekend was a BMW 720 Supermono. Not the
best of race for me but I was now back on pace and proving promising for race 2.
Race
2
In race 2, I got
a better start, holding 5th into the first corner with a small gap to catch 4th placed rider Ben Gautrey. I
posted a lap time of 1.01.7s (another new lap record), I caught the leading 4, with the leading Bmw slightly ahead at the
front. I made my way up to 2nd place and was hunting down 1st. Not long after gaining
2nd place I started to have a problem, My new leathers were pinching the inside of my elbows, restricting circulation to my
hands & forearms, leading to pins & needles and a loss of feeling. I missed 3 apexes in one lap losing me a huge amount
of time. To prevent grabbing too much brake with the inability to feel properly, I decided to settle for
another 4th place finish in the Moto 450’s, instead of pushing and potentially falling off due to my problem.
Not as good of a weekend as Mallory but I will now get my leathers checked out and I will look forward to getting ready
for the next event at Snetterton on the 1st, 2nd & 3rd May.
Qualified 5th
1 x DNF
2 x 4th
1 x Lap Record (1.01.7s
I would like to thank all
my sponsors for their support.
I would also like to thank Ian Newton (IN Competition), Jimmy, Andy Matcham and Dave & Bernadette
(Thundersport GB), for the absolutely fantastic support given to us over the weekend.
Thank you all so much!!
Danny
Mallory Park
1st, 2nd, 3rd May 2010
Issue 3
Friday Testing
Wet weather forecasts were eventually right for once,
as the whole of Friday provided some valuable wet weather testing on my new Aprilia Moto 450. After getting
my 1st test session out of the way and getting to grips with using wet tyres which I was unfamiliar with, due to
racing in Superteens last year, overall the day went well, keeping the bike upright even after a massive
high side scare coming out of Edwina’s. All in all I was happy with the day and looking forward to
the forecast dry races tomorrow.
Saturday
Once again the forecast was right with a sunny day,
although the track was still damp from yesterday. Qualifying was declared wet and the Moto 450’s
were out first on a quickly drying track, making tyre choice difficult. In the end we chose wet
tyres & after 8 laps of the session I came in to preserve my tyres. At this point I was pole sitter
and I sat in pit lane watching the screen to see if anyone would beat my time and ready to go back out on track if necessary.
Unfortunately on the second to last lap of qualifying, lap 15, I was knocked down to 2nd place.
Although I was hoping to start on pole in my 1st meeting, a front row start was still the place I like to
be.
Race 1
Race 1 was dry even though the clouds looked like it was going to rain again.
After the start I was in 5th place and had a couple of bike lengths to catch the riders in front.
Connor Tagg fell in the hairpin and after just moving up into 4th I was then pushed into 3rd
place. I then caught the front 2 riders, passed them and pulled a 3.7 second gap to give me my first ever
motorbike race win and the first Moto 450 win of the season. I also set the fastest lap of the race, 57.971, a
solid 0.6s quicker than the next fastest rider.
Race 2
I was confident
to repeat my performance of race 1. I was 4th off the line and after going down the inside of
Ben Gautry in the hairpin to take 3rd place, Connor Tagg was sat up in the middle of the apex, leaving me nowhere
to go and unfortunately we collided, the first DNF (did not finish) of the season. Even though the end of the day wasn’t where I like to be, I am looking forward to tomorrow to
try and get the next 2 wins and a good championship position.
Sunday
With my qualifying
position continuing for the whole of the weekends races, a morning practice commenced before the final 2 races of the weekend.
Race 1
Race 1 came round quickly
and with another dry day I was determined to get another win. A reasonable start left me 4th
after the 1st lap. I worked my way to the front and led the race until the last lap, where I
messed up on my line going into the hairpin, which demoted me to a 2nd place finish. A lesson
to be learnt for race 2.
Race 2
In race 2 I had a terrible start, dropping back to 7th place. After about 3 or
4 laps I made my way to 4th and then had quite a big gap to catch 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
I had limited laps left to catch up, however after posting a few fast laps, one of which resulted in me setting a new
lap record of 56.966, I caught the leading trio. I settled for a lap and then after going down the inside
of 3rd place rider in the hairpin, 2nd place low sided, leaving me in 2nd, but the fall left
me a little behind 1st. I sat in 2nd until the last lap where me and Will Hodgeson
were braking as late as possible in the hairpin to secure a win. As Will ran slightly wide I tucked underneath
him and despite a hairy moment in the bus stop I continued down devils elbow to win my 2nd motorbike race at the
first meeting of the season, by 0.067s, .
A good weekend in all and a strong championship position
stands me in good stead for round 2 at Pembrey.
Qualified 2nd
2 x 1st
1 x 2nd
1 x DNF
1 x Lap Record (56.966)
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| Oulton Park |
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| Oulton Park |
| Cadwell Park |
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| Cadwell Park |
| Snetterton |
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| Snetterton |
| Pembrey |
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| Pembrey |
| Mallory Park |
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| Front Row P2 |
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| Race 1 Win Saturday |
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| Mallory Park |
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