The second round of the No Limits Racing 2016 season saw the Army Endurance Race Team deploy to Norfolk to Snetterton Park. Lord Nelson was from Norfolk and he’d have felt right at home with the amount of water that met the team when they arrived. The various texts and messages sent during the journey there did not bode well and the team were prepared for a wet race.
Not what you want to see 10 miles down the road from the track!
With quite a few changes and tweaks made to bikes since the first round, the majority of the team participated in the test day. For some, it was the first time round the track so it was essential to get the track time in. Always keen to impress, WO2 Andy Day and Sgt Leon Wilton of team 2, on their Yamaha R6 machines, took to the track. About 3 minutes later the remainder of the team who were stood on the pit wall watched Andy slide off onto the grass at the last corner. No real harm done and the bike was brought back for a bit of a wash and was able to carry on. Next out was WO2 Wayne ‘Moggy’ Morgan who carefully negotiated two corners before getting a bit fruity with the throttle, ejecting himself out the seat and bending the bikes rear sub frame and damaging the swing arm. Next up was WO1 ‘Pep’ Brown who tucked the front on the quick entrance to Oggies causing a fast slide. Unfortunately when his bike got to the grass, something dug in causing a tumble and another broken rear sub frame. James Dunne, ex REME, was guest riding for team 4 this weekend on his Triumph 675. Hanging around with the Army lads again clearly bought back some fond memories and he was keen to show us all his camouflage and concealment skills after an ‘off’ at Riches. Now this may sound a bit reckless of the team but the word from the marshals was that there were no less than forty-seven incidents on the Friday which has got to be, if not close to, a circuit record.
The aftermath of a high speed crash… James dunne
The guys who didn’t fall off were gaining valuable information about the track and the grip available whilst the two GSXR 1000 machines of Moggy and Pep were being further assessed, taped up and repaired. Some quick fixes were needed and some lengthy journeys for spare parts were required. The welding services of our resident handy man Anthony Thornton were required to repair a sub frame and a swing arm and with that, a relatively late night for the Cpl Martin ‘Biz’ Bizeray and his pit crew team, all bikes and riders had passed scrutineering for the race early Saturday morning.
Saturday morning – Qualifying 16/04/16
Saturday morning was wet. And it was getting wetter. The Endurance riders are last to qualify and even with the other classes out before us, the track remained wet. Darryl Hodder, Ex RE, from Team 3 managed to slide off, on his Kawasaki ZX10R, at Oggies on the first lap but was able to get the transponder back to the pits for a change over. Conditions were tough and it was a true test of confidence with the majority of teams making it round in one piece, Maj Neil Watson from team one barrel rolled his Honda CBR 1000 forcing Sgt ‘Spence’ Spencer-Fleet to run down the track to get the transponder so each team member could complete the minimum of three qualifying laps, the grid was very different to that of a dry qualifying session. Qualifying ended with:
Team 1 – 21st
Team 5 – 34th
Team 3 – 37th
Team 4 – 42nd
Team 2 – 43rd
NB: Following an investigation it was found that two teams were using non regulation tyres and then had to start from the back of the grid. This saw Team 3 start one place ahead and Teams 4 and 2 start two places ahead of their original classification.
Quick handover brief within qualifying, basically where track is wet and dry… It went some thing like ” it’s wet everywhere”
Saturday afternoon – 180 minute endurance race 16/04/16
The rain had stopped. There were even moments of sunshine. The previous races, although littered with incidents, had begun to dry the racing line. Having spoken to the racers in other classes it was decided the track was not dry enough for anything other than wet tyres. The real teaser was, would it be dry enough for the second riders? The flag was dropped and the racers sprinted across the track to mount their machines. Everyone got away without incident and team 1 and 3 got an excellent start working their way through the field from the off. It was clear Pep was on the gas as the lead pack entered the last corner. Unfortunately he was on the gas a little too early and the bike spat him off and he landed on his head. Fortunately somebody managed to catch it on camera and the clip has been circulating family and friends with everyone commenting on his professionalism as he lay at the side of track stood to attention for three minutes until the medical crew got to him. This forced a restart.
The classic Le mans starts
Again all but two teams (not Army Road Race Team) got away from the grid without any incidents. The two teams were then able to push their first riders to get them started although there was now a lot of ground to make up. Darryl from Team 3 was clearly most comfortable in the damp conditions and was taking other teams at almost one a lap until he got up to eighth. At the first change the track had mostly dried but there were still some patches of standing water so most teams chose to go out on wets again. There were all sorts of combinations from wet fronts with rear slicks to full slicks. With outbreaks of sunshine and blue skies above the track began to fully dry and those with wet rears wouldn’t have long left before the tread gave up (Snetterton is particularly hard on the right hand side of tyres anyway). The standings after one hour:
Team 1 – 9th
Team 3 – 20th
Team 2 – 22nd
Team 4 – 36th
Team 5 – 39th
LCpl Danny Richardson one of our rookie riders giving the bike some stick.
The next change over saw pretty much the entire grid opting for full dry tyres. This also meant suspension settings needed to be stiffened up due to extra grip so all the pit crew were busy with wheel changes and checking the riders preferred settings (It isn’t all cocktails and partying. The pit crew and support had a mammoth task this weekend with the various incidents and their time and help is greatly appreciated). This session went by as expected with lap times dropping instead of bikes and riders. The next change over saw spots of rain out the back of the circuit and track temperature begin to drop. Classification after two hours:
Team 1 – 7th
Team 3 – 13th
Team 2 – 18th
Team 5 – 33rd
Team 4 – 37th
WO2 Wayne Morgan… Praying before he goes out on his second stint…. The next photo shows what he is looking at.
The clouds are here… Is it going to rain?
As more rain fell onto patches of the track, it began to catch people out. With six minute remaining WO2 Iain Rowatt from Team 2 tucked the front at Murrays. He was able to run the transponder back to ensure it was out on track as the clock ticked away. Andy slid off at Oggies but was able to pick the bike up and bring it back to pits. Unfortunately the chequered flag was already out and they weren’t able to send Leon out and this counted as a DNF (Did Not Finish). At around the same time Lee Parker, Ex RA on his Suzuki GSXR 1000, from Team 3 decided to go turnip scrumping at Riches. This unfortunately ended their fantastic efforts, Team 3 also a DNF. On the same lap Spence slid off at the fast left hand turn, Palmer. Unable to get his Kawasaki ZX10R back round the track this also resulted in a DNF. Final classification:
Team 2 – 26th
Team 5 – 30th
Team 1 – DNF
Team 3 – DNF
Team 4 – DNF
The fastest Army Endurance Race Team lap was 2.03.894 which was posted by Maj Neil Watson of Team 1.
SSgt Martin Haywood and Cpl Aaron Peck busy with one of the many wheel changes.
Round 2 proved to be a very difficult race to call and just goes to show that in endurance racing, anything can happen. Unfortunately for the Army Endurance Race Team it did not go our way at all. A special mention to Darryl and Lee on Team 2 who were absolutely on it all weekend and were just out of luck at the end of the race. Thank you to our resident photographer Wil Collins for taking some great action shots and some moody stills. A massive shout out to Biz and all the guys and girls who help out in the pits and on the wall. Another massive shout out to the family and friends who support us through rain and shine. We’re pretty sure a few of their hearts were racing as fast as the bikes after a few of the incidents. A massive thank you to our sponsors who help us to get on track in the first place and finally thank you to No Limits Racing who keep us racing and keep us safe while we’re doing it.
check out our YouTube page for our latest video blog from snetterton.http://youtu.be/TGWana9zpgs
End of the race – time to asses the damage
Army Endurance Motorcycle Race Team 