This blog was compiled by WO2 Andy Day as our normal editor Loz was living it up in Nottingham hospital with the nurses…More to follow on this story.
So October has rolled around and with it the end of the 2015 racing season at one of (if not) the best race tracks for motorbikes in the world. There’s been many highs and lows but all in all it’s been a very successful season with all riders coming on in leaps and bounds, lap times tumbling and loads of success on track with a huge trophy haul.
Track Day
There was not an official test day for Donington due to a car track day being held on the Friday, therefore all of the serving riders, Loz, guest rider/sponsor/veteran Jamie Clarke and two potential 2016 rookie racers made it there to participate in a track day being held by No Limits on Thursday. Most arrived Wednesday afternoon in time to watch some of the Ron Haslem race school finishing off with Real Road Racing legend John McGuiness and WSBK racer Leon Haslem (son of Ron) instructing. It soon became apparent upon arrival that many other racers had the same idea as the paddock was filling with the regular club racing faces.
Guest rider and sponsor Jamie Clarke putting Peps bike through its paces
The usual teething problems occurred with Loz’s bike arriving in a worse state than it was to leave the track at the end of the weekend (a surprise considering what happened – more on this later) and requiring the pit crews full attention from the off. Andy’s bike required a new wheel bearing and chain midway through the day but the biggest scare was a failure of his Brembo front master cylinder which caused a brown pants moment going into the hard braking ‘Foggy S’s’. There were no real problems with anyone else’s bike apart from the little matter of Spence’s ZX10R fuel tank springing a leak and the gearbox going bang. You’d think this was a showstopper for the race; however within 2 hours of the failure the offending gearbox was stripped to it’s component parts, a replacement identified and Spence was off to pick it up, leaving the pit crew to fish bits of broken cogs out of the sump. The only off was potential rookie Jason. A few more racing celebrities made an appearance with BSB rider James Ellison going rather quickly on track and BSS rider James Ripsoli chilling out in the garage next door.
Spence’s gearbox guts
Rest Day
As the car track day was on we had a day to relax and fettle our bikes a little and await the arrival of team 3 in the afternoon. Spence returned with a new gearbox and the ZX10 was running before lunch. Just as we thought we’d had our fill of racing stars, 2014 WSBK champion Sylvan Guintoli was spotted in the pits not long after melting the rear differential of the world touring car he was driving. With all the team in attendance Pep called a riders briefing to discuss the 2016 season. With everyone settled and best prepared for race day we had the arrival of the final racing celebrity and Team Army Endurance Racing friend; British Supersport Evo rider Sam Cox (with Dad and Girlfriend).
Race Day
Everyone was up and cutting around in the relaxed atmosphere on race day morning, the bikes were fully prepared and we awaited the arrival of the many sponsors, family and friends who were visiting and supporting us. We cannot stress enough how much of a difference these people make to our racing.
Qualifying. The 40 minute qualifying session didn’t start until 1030hrs and no riders managed a flying lap before it was red flagged due to someone joining the ‘Craner Club’ (a crash at the legendary fast downhill left hander). There was a ten minute wait whilst the track was cleared and a rider from each team headed out again to set a qualifying time, this is where it all went wrong.
Loz had gone out like a scolded cat and was last seen heading down the start finish straight fighting to keep his front wheel on the ground for the opening of his flying lap whilst overtaking a blue bike. He hit his braking maker for the first corner but it appears that the blue bike had missed his braking marker, locked up and had to then release the brakes; however he didn’t miss Loz and he felt his leg brake as they collided just before the tip in point for Redgate. Both bikes slip into the gravel and it quickly became apparent to all watching that Loz was seriously injured, Kerry (T3 Pitcrew) rushed down to the ambulance to check on him before he was carted off to hospital with a broken left leg and his bike taken to be quarantined in scrutineering.
Loz in the Hospital
Prior to Loz’s crash; Darryl’s bike had refused to start due to an incorrectly fitted battery meaning that Lee had to rush to get on track, after only completing one lap he came in for the red flag and Kerry noticed his boot was soaked in oil which was identified as having come from a missing seal in the engine casing. A close call as none seemed to have gone anywhere else apart from his belly pan.
Once the red flags were lifted qualifying resumed with only 20 min on the clock and with no riders having yet completed the required 3 laps, it became a manic rush to get all riders a lap time with only T1 failing due to Loz’s incident.
Qualifying results: T1 41st, T2 9th, T3 29th, T4 37th (of 48 teams)
The Race. Just prior to the start the pit crew managed to get Loz’s bike released from scutineering and set to work on putting it right for the race and emptying half of the gravel trap out of the exhausts and fairing. We then received a picture of Loz in hospital with his left leg in a cast from toes to groin and an accompanying text apologising for not being able to make the start.
The usual manic ‘Le Mans’ start with a video from gantry
Off the start line Pep (T1) made his usual rapid start and went from near last to 12th in one lap with Spence (T2) another 4 places in front of him in 8th whilst Darryl (T3) had jumped to 19th and Leon (T4) had maintained 37th. The race settled down over the next few laps with Pep closing in on Spence to eventually overtake him by the end of their stint only to then lose out a few places due to only being a one bike team and having to refuel before Jamie jumped on for his stint and the safety car made an appearance. As T4 called Leon in and rolled Paul out the front of the garage ready for rider change a team next door rolled their rider out and too far forward passed the line, Andy went and asked them to move back as they were blocking us and they refused; the result was both their rider and Leon coming into the pits at the same time, nearly having an accident and causing some lost time for T4. A few choice words were directed at them by Andy in order to ensure that they got the message to not block our pits again.
Andy looking for the drive out of the corner in a battle on track
At the 1 hour point places were: T1 33rd, T2 9th, T3 27th, T4 41st.
It was round this time that the pit crew received a message from Loz asking if his bike was okay, the reply was something along the lines of “it better be as Pep’s racing it at the moment!” At around 1.5 hours into the race Leon went out for his second stint for T4 and got around 20 minutes into the session before having to come in due not putting in enough fuel between sessions and being on the verge of running out. This resulted in anther extended pit stop between Leon and Paul as the latter rushed to get his helmet and gloves on as the pit crew did an ace job of rushing his bike out but T4 had dropped to outside the top 40, not where they wanted to be. This resulted in Paul and Andy doing 35 minute stints in order to avoid having to do an additional pit stop.
Pep ensuring that Loz’s bike is running fine
Iain doing the swap over of transponder for T2
At the 2 hour point places were: T1 26th, T2 7th, T3 28th, T4 39th.
T4 now fought hard in the final hour in order to raise their place and managed to cement their place well inside the top 40. T2’s Spence lost the front going into the off camber Melbourne Loop and had a little low side slide, he picked the bike up and continued to race until he lost part of his fairing which bounced off track and shattered; he had to pull in before the risk of a black flag and have a hurried rider change with the ever solid and reliable Moggy.
Before and after
T3 however were not so lucky; with Lee’s bike cutting out just after the Melbourne loop on the inside of track and with 10 minutes of the race left and the Marshalls not letting him cross the track with the transponder it is where they finished the race.
Lee looking rather glum at his finishing position (note; transponder still on bike)
After 3 hours the results were:
T1 – 6th in HT1000 class (34th overall),
T2 – 5th in HT1000 class (12th overall),
T3 – 8th in HT1000 class (44th overall),
T4 – 4th in HT600 class (36th overall).
Post Race. Lee pushed his bike back to the garage where a cold cider was waiting for him as we all waited for post race scrutineering to be completed. With an eventful race and even more eventful season concluded its was time to enjoy the spoils of our season. We reflected as a team in the garage of what a great season it’s been and thanked our sponsors who’d made the trip to watch us go out in a flicker of glory.
Family, Friends, Sponsors, Supporters & Pit Crew – we couldn’t do it without you!
The pit crew; they have again been nothing short of amazing so another big thank you goes to the following for their help thoughout the season:
Crew Chief Martin ‘Biz’ Bizeray and the rest of the crew; Stephen ‘Jeff’ Ward, Kerry Murphy, Dominic Pearson, Aaron Peck, Iain ‘Crash Bandicoot’ Rowatt, Ian ‘Yan’ Thomas, MORE
There will be some changes to the rider line up in 2016 with some plans to be announced but what we do know is that it’s time to say goodbye to T4 rider Paul as he wont be racing in 2016, it’s been a pleasure!
Last picture of T4 complete
The day concluded with the customary NLR hosted meal, beers & prize giving where the final season trophies and raffle prizes were handed out with T4 winning 4 days on track in Cartagena in January. As Hottraxs closed up shop half way through the season and we only had half a season with No Limits Racing we weren’t in a position for their club standing this year but it’s been great the way they have accepted Team Army Endurance Racing and all the other teams & riders who made the jump across so a very big thank you has to go to Mark and the NLR team.
Final standings at shutdown of Hottrax:
T1 – ACU National 1000 3rd place and Clubman 1000 2nd place
T2 – ACU National 600 1st place
T3 – Clubman 1000 7th place
T4 – Rookie 600 1st place and Clubman 600 5th place
Final standings with 4 rounds on NLR:
T1 – HT1000 2nd place
T2 – HT1000 6th place
T3 – HT1000 3rd place
T4 – HT600 5th place
A massive thank you goes out to our sponsors and supporters who make a huge difference to our racing season and help make it (almost) affordable:
Supacat (Jamie)
Bike Tyre Leeds (Donna)
Hill4Leather
Direct Distribution
Hampshire Motorcycles
Hayball Motorcycles Ltd
No Limits Racing
Road and Racing
Army Sports Lottery
British Army Motorsports Association
Results can be found here
Army Endurance Motorcycle Race Team 