Donington Park – Round 3

Well to round 3, Donington Park. It had a few highs and lows for the 5 Army Teams that entere before then race had even started. Team 1 was short of 2 of its riders due to Accidents at Brands Hatch but had guest riders of Derek who has raced for the teams previously and Dave Ferns who normally rides the Ducati Cup, so has some speed on his side. Team 2 had LCpl Danny Richardson turn up from his travels in the Falklands.
Qualifying started dry with just a few damp patches from the previous days rain but rain was forcast for the race which made it very interesting. Each rider is given 10 min and the times averaged to give us a start position. But due to the red flags in the 2nd session both of our riders in team 1 and 3 did not make a lap time so dropped down the grid to 26th and 32nd on the grid. Red flags caused by 2 guys deciding they wanted to join the craner club then one of our own riders Tobias from Team 2 decided to see if the grass was wet at the old hairpin, it was so he went down and watched his bike make a muddy scrape through the lovely cut grass. Lucky for Team 4 who all managed to get a good time and started 6th on the grid as they did not have anyone out during the red flags.
Team 1. WO2 ‘Moggy’ Morgans, Des and Dave all of which were flying and for once Des put his front wheel on the right way round so managed to stay out for an entire session. Moggy raced across to his bike jumped on and stalled it ! But got it going and took off like a scalded cat. Still damp but kept pushing and got to 8th. Big black cloud came over and lucky for Moggy was running out of fuel so had to come in and Dave went out on slicks but 6 laps in the heavens opened so rushed in for a change over with Des who was on wets for a very wet session. Dave went out next and was quick in the wet and the weather started to improve. Dave went out and got up to 4th overall and posted the fastest lap of the day without a 1:37.7 ! and Moggy went out in the last session to claim the glory and kept 4th overall and 4th in class.

Team 2. Tobias decided to run out of talent at the old hairpin during Qualifying. Sgt ‘Leon’ Wilton started the race but had a problems starting the bike, which later came back to haunt them. Once again Team 2 saw a penalty board out for them so Leon came in after racking his brains as to what he had done wrong. They had a ride through penalty for pushing the bike at the start to far onto the track so were penalised. T went out next and passed Sgt ‘Soph’ Ellis from team 5 on craner curvs and started to see rain on his visor so eased up then at the old hairpin he lowsided. He got the bike back to the pits and the pit crew did a great job at fixing it and getting it ready for the next stint. Later T was out on slicks after the track had dried and hit the one and only damp patch at Melbourne loop and low sided so had to come straight back in to check the bike over. Leon went out on wets thinking it was the safe option but the track was drying and soon after signalled to come in. But the Pit crew did not see the hand signal and Danny was ready on wets although the track was fully dry by then and only lasted 6 laps before T had to go out again on slicks. Danny did the last half an hour and says he blitzed WO2 ‘Andy’ Day twice in that session who was riding someone else’s bike as his was still at the old hairpin !. Finished 29th overall and 6th in class.

Team 3. Loz, Lee and Darryl all missed the track day so had to jump straight into Qualifying and the race. They all had different tyres on for the start to cover all bases. The track had started to dry but only had a small dry line around the majority of the lap. Loz has the Awesome Metzler inters RR on so we decided to let him out first and Lee hold the bike for the Le Man start. He ran pretty well and is fast for a pensioner. He got a great start and although the track was damp the dry line slowly got bigger and the times started to drop. Not sure what he had been eating but was passing people everywhere and after his stint he had got down to P8 and caught Andy from T4 for a few laps before getting away. After his stint he just collapsed in the chair and let his pit crew run around him sorting the bike out. Lee went out on slicks and times started to go down as the track improved. This time he did not need the encouragement on the pit board this time round. Close to the end of his stint it started to rain and he decided to take his bike on slicks and drop it with the front washing out on him. No damage so he quickly rode back into the pits where Darryl was ready on wets just as the heavens opened and then few laps in the race was red flagged with over an hour of the bikes sitting there in the pits in the rain. When race resumed Darryl went well for several laps until 20min in the rear started sliding everywhere as soon as it was off centre. He came in after 30 min as his times tumbled. Lee went back out on wets and as the track was drying managed to keep riding on the wet bits to keep the wets cooler, the pace got quicker then the safety car came out for several laps. Loz had recovered from his 45 minute physical exertion and went out again and seemed even quicker than before. He managed to get us into 2nd in class and 8th overall until his Suzuki decided to fry its electrics and smoke making it look like a mobile smoke machine around Melbourne loop. Another Bazzaz unit fried by Loz. Our resident bouncer Iain ran like a man possessed to get the transponder back to the pits where Darryl was waiting on slicks to go out.Times started to tumble then another red flag but only for a short time, so another start behind the safety car and then it was go. Times tumbled and so did the fuel, it was lucky the tank was brimbed to the top as Cath was on the wall wanting to bring him in but only a few minutes left of the race so Lee made the decision to risk leaving him out and it worked as the last few laps were the quickest. Started 32nd and finished 18th overall 6th in class. Not bad considering the lost laps due to the knackered GSXR being left on track with so much dry powder extinguisher on it and 3 laps lost getting the transponder back to the pits.

Team 4. Started from 6th and went well even battling with Loz for a bit. Other than a few missed signs on the pit wall and a stressed moment on change over all went well. Then Andy decided to go through the old hairpin and went on the grass, just like Tobias did and tucked the front, bike would not re start so it was left looking very sad and lonely. So down to a one bike team sharing Cpl ‘Jas’ Coopers bike. Andy thought he was unstoppable on the first session and tried a dive up the inside at Foggy’s esses and braked late and only just made it past Loz Started 10th on grid finished 34th overall and 10th in class.

Team 5. Managed to fit in the test day especially as Sgt Craig Ellis had not been to the circuit before so a steep learning curve for him. WO2 Carl Goodchild had been a couple times before and split the day between them. Qualifying was a mix of weather with slicks on in the wet and a few dodgy moments but then the last session saw the track dry and some good times being set by Carl. This was to be Craigs first ever start and he had trouble getting it started straight away. But he got away and made a few vital places up in the first session. A good change over but then the weather changed and the heavens opened, with a wet track and dry tyres he was forced to come in. The pit crew had changed the tyres and refuelled in double quick time. Started 21st and finished 10th in class.

We can not do this without the help from all of our sponsors and the great pit crew who come along to help. Thanks to Cath who spent the entire race on the pit wall regardless of the weather, Iain for running like a man possessed to get the transponders when we decided to leave the bikes on the track. Kev Davies for his track secrets and mechanical help, Lorraine for the best food ever and even the injured Spence for turning up  🙂 and to the guest riders. Not forgetting our sponsors and family and friends.

Written by Darryl Hodder

Photo credits go to Camipix photography

https://www.facebook.com/CamipixPhotography/

Brands Hatch – Round 2

Who would have thought that only the second race into the season leaves me with so much to write and report on, such as the No Limits safety car completing more laps of Brands Hatch than Pep and Spence did all weekend.

So Brands Hatch it is!!!! A very hard working, fast and congested track, it is argued to be a bit of a boring track due to only having two left hand and three right hand corners. This was not the case with this round and only being a minute lap it is not long until the bikes are on top of each other getting in each other’s way. This always adds the fuel for a very interesting race weekend.

Team 1 – Sgt ‘Spence’ Spencer-Fleet, Captain ‘Pep’ Brown and WO2 ‘Moggy’ Morgan

So the lads are quick here and were looking at a very high finish, they did achieve this BUT they went the hard way about it. Team 1 took a laid back approach to the test day by only doing a half day, they can afford to do this as like I said before these boys are quick round here and know there way around. With all 3 of them putting in some good times in testing and feeling very good overall.

Qualifying also went as well as it could with the rain bringing its usual difficulties, Team 1 managed a very respectable 15th on the grid considering how wet it was on track. They decided just to wobble round. Not push too hard as the race was going to be dry.

Pep wobbling round on wets.

Spence’s stare scaring away the rain

On to race day Spence chose to take the first stint. The sprint over to the bikes was very competitive as he had Carl (TEAM 5) breathing down his neck in 16th. Carl being PT Corp Spence would always accept to take up the challenge of a sprint race with Carl. Off they went Spence getting a very good start and was in amongst the front group fighting for 10th,until they get to the 3rd corner on the first lap (Graham Hill Bend). Spence was still battling hard, through no fault of his own the rider behind him had come off and propelled forward and into the back of his bike. Spence was thrown from his bike and onto the grass where he did not have the best of landings. The race was then red flagged whilst they attended to both riders and their bikes. Spence was quickly taken to the medical center at the track being treated and looked after by the medical staff and family. This was to be the end of Spence’s race.

 

THEN THERE WERE 2. Pep stepped up next to start the race, after the red flag they had to start the race from behind the safety car lining up in qualification order. The race started and Pep was doing his usual aggressive and hard riding making up places, consistently putting in good lap times battling for places. After thirty-three minuets of racing, Pep was looking at coming in soon for the change over with Moggy. There was a LITTLE high side incident at one of the fastest corners (Paddock Hill) Guess Who?? Yes it was our Pep. Its been explained to me that there were two other slower riders in front of Pep, coming out of the Paddock Hill Pep was off line due to the slower riders and he caught the white line with a little to much throttle. This brought out a second red flag so Pep could get medical attention, he also had a very hard landing from a long way up. After Pep was taken to the medical center following in his team mates footsteps literately, this was also to be the end of Peps race.

THEN THERE WAS 1. It was now down to Team Moggy and the complicated task of doing the rest of the race on his own, coming in to refuel only and straight back out again. This in fact did not happen, as there was a yellow flag safety car when Moggy was finally out after the second restart. This saved Moggy fuel which later would come back to help Team Moggy. After the safety car the race was back up to full pace which kept Moggy out for a lot longer than he would have been if it was full throttle. Fifty-three minutes and Moggy is for sure due to be coming in soon, but NO!!! Another red flag, this would be the end of the race due to the percentage of the race they had already completed. Now this is the best part due to Moggy not over taking on the yellow flags, most of the other race teams doing so by mistake ended up receiving penalties at the end of the race. This brought TEAM 1 up the standings and finished with them being 3rd overall and 2nd in the National Championship. Well done to them I say.

Team 2 – Sgt ‘Leon’ Wilton and Veteran Tobias George.

After Tobias’ experience at Brands Hatch last year it is not his favorite track (check YouTube). Team 2 arrived nice and early in high spirits and eager to race, quickly getting into the set up of their bikes. Big changes were needed from the previous round and a new shock set up for Leon. Test day started cold but dry, Leon and Tobias went out to do some practice slowly warming up getting familiar with the track. After a day of feeling very confident in our practice and getting faster lap times we would be ready for race day with our heads held high.

Race day begun with arguably every riders worst fear, raining. We had prepped our wets after looking at the weather forecast the night before, deciding to stick one bike on wets and another on treaded just in case the weather improved.

Time for qualifying, after Graham Cox had been round and fettled with Tobias’ wet suspension settings he went out first. Shocked at how soft and spongy the settings were the bike felt alien to Tobias, but kept him on track. The aim was to keep under 10,000rpm unless on a straight, Tobias found out the hard way by not sticking to this rule resulting in him almost high siding onto Cooper. t But he managed to stay on purely by luck and probably not by skill. Handing the bike over to Leon, passing on what he had learnt ensuring Leon stayed upright as well. Qualifying went incident free for team 2 ready for the race.

After re-setting the suspension from wet to dry due to the weather taken a turn for the better, Leon was to start and off he went. Launching himself down the track Tobias was nervously watching him bouncing off the other riders around him like a pinball machine on the way down to Paddock Hill. After two corners the red flag was out, meaning everyone having to filter back into the pits counting the teams as they come in. The longer this went on the more apparent it became that Spence from Team 1 was causing quite a long delay in the race.

Having to get on with the job in hand it was a safety car restart, Leon made a really good restart and held his own in his stint. He was working on chasing down and aggressively overtaking other riders, improving on lap times constantly and moving up places. Looking at dash and seeing it’s nearly time for changeover, out came the pit board. Well that’s what Leon thought he had seen, but it was team 4s pit board. In came Leon and to his surprise Tobias was not ready, standing there looking at him Ooops! That’s team 4 overtaking us again in the pits. Out went Tobias for the first time closing back in on team 4. Thanks to Leon’s times catching team 4 and overtaking them wasn’t too far away. Out came the red flags with another delay and safety car start again, as soon as we were off again the black flag came out for number 15!! (Team 2.) Thinking what have we done wrong or what is wrong? Tobias got called in, as soon as Tobias stops in the penalty box the No Limits staff shouts wrong number!!! No Limits were supposed to put out Number 16 not 15. Tobias was waved on again with thoughts of how far ahead team 4 is again now? Tobias is now out chasing Andy from team 4 for the second time knowing they now have a lap on us. Tobias pushed hard and passed them again un-lapping them selves only to be stopped again by another red flag. On the restart behind the safety car yet again, tyre’s being cooler and pace slower the pit board comes out and Tobias was pulled in his stint was finished. Tobias was keeping an eye on the TV monitor watching Leon closing the gap on team 4 only to be cut short with another red flag and a chequered flag ending the race. The red flag came out Leon had seen it and slightly rolled off to warn others riders by raising his hand, as he did this a bike behind didn’t and hit the back of his bike. Thankfully both riders stayed on and only caused some damage to Leon’s Exhaust, Leon and Tobias now realising there chance of beating team 4 was over. Next time team 4!

Team 3 – Veteran Lee Parker and Veteran Darryl Hodder.

Lee was not able to get to the circuit until test day afternoon, due to him having to do some pre race repairs on his bike. Darryl was the only member of Team 3 out on the morning session, Darryl was going well until he was hit going into Surtees and both riders ended up coming off. It was a nice slide on his backside with his bike on top of him (pictures of this). Darryl and bike were ok and no long lasting issues or big rebuilds. Darryl had few issues with bike set up but with the help of Graham Cox and his expertise Darryl finally found a set up that he liked. Lee arrived in the afternoon and managed to do the last two sessions after lunch. Lee also had some suspension issues and decided to make some changes but would not be able to test them until the race.

Qualification was wet so quick tyre changes for all, Darryl went out first and had a couple of close calls going into Druids on the brakes. Red flag came out shortly after meaning a pause in his qualification, after a short time after he was back on track to completing his qualifying laps.Lee’s turn for qualifying, he went out but due to three red flags in his session he only managed to get two flowing laps to get them 24th.

Darryl started the race and had a great start and went into 10th at Druids right behind team 5. Then just in front of Darryl he saw two riders go down into Graham Hill which red flagged the race, this ended up being Spence.

Everyone re-started behind the safety car and the race managed thirty-two minutes before another red flag, Team 3 were 8th overall and 3rd in class at this point. This red flag was for Pep who went down at Paddock Hill.
After the red flags and safety cars they only had a forty-five minute session left which Lee went out on, his changes to the bike in testing worked and his times improved. Another red flag with ten minutes left of the race they put the chequered flag out.
Darryl was on fire and got Team 3 to third in class. During Lee’s session he was hoping to achieve a better lap time than he’s done before, despite being unable to get a decent run of laps he managed to get a good lap time in before the race was red flagged and finished.

Team 4 – WO2 ‘Andy’ Day and Cpl ‘Jase’ Cooper

Testing is a great way to get the bike running how you like it ready for the race BOOOOM!!! Not in Andy’s Case! Unfortunately for Andy he only managed 1.5 laps before his engine dropped a valve and seized, luckily not dumping any fluids on the track. With Jase not there for testing that was the end of testing for team 4.
Andy spent his day inquiring about another engine. He managed to source an engine from fellow racer Craig Beale. It was taken out of his bike and transported from Birmingham to Brands with the help of our competition team Double22 Racing (they are not all that bad). Andy cannot thank them enough, as well as the superb pit crew Team Army has. It really shows the camaraderie between competing teams at this level. The engine was fitted and running within two hours and the Pit crew earned their titles that evening.

Weather for qualification saw team 4 have Andy’s bike on dry’s and Jase’s on wets. Andy rode Jase’s bike for qualifying, which meant the first true test for his bike was in the race. Testament to the pit crew, the bike ran well other than setup not matched to the bike it made it difficult to ride fast. Both riders finished the race with no hiccups and through out all the problems they had before the race team 4 had a very strong finish.

Team 5 – WO2 ‘Carl’ Goodchild and Sgt ‘Soph’ Ellis.

Test day saw a lot of work being done to get the bikes dialed in to this unique track, but brought consistent improvement from both riders and respectable lap times close to the more experienced riders in the team.

Race day came and so did the dreaded weather making it a wet qualifying but Carl seemed to settle in the very tricky conditions and set a very good lap time. Craig Ellis also seemed relaxed in the wet conditions and was setting a good pace till on what was to be his last flying lap. He had a high side at the notoriously tricky Graham Hill bend. Craig was unhurt and his bike came off quite lightly considering, Craig and the pit crew soon set to work to dust it down and fix his right hand lever and throttle.
Race start came and thankfully the sun had come out and the track was now dry, they lined up on the grid in 16th right next to team 1. It would be a sprint between Spence and Carl to their bikes when the flag was dropped. Both riders made a great start and gained places by the first two corners. The race continued and personal best times were set and close racing by both Carl and Craig to bring home a 4th place in class, which was a fantastic result for the rookies.

I will conclude by saying a massive thank you to the pit crew, sponsors, photographers, helpers and family that put up with constant bombardment of us sometimes stroppy and impatient racers. Demanding changes and adjustments to be done at short notice and you running around after us picking up the piece’s we leave behind it does not go un-noticed. With out you we would not be able to function and it is you that keeps the whole team on the track and makes sure that everything runs as smooth as it does. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish Pep and Spence a speedy recovery, we all missed you both in the race alongside us.

Written by Sgt Leon Wilton

photo credits go to Camipix photography

https://www.facebook.com/CamipixPhotography/