Well the final round of the ACU MOTUL National Endurance Championship for 2017 was held at Donington Park National Circuit. Some of us managed the Thursday test day and it was great to see some of the pit crew riding their bikes instead of fixing ours. We had one rookie with us Christopher Verrall who has only done a few track days and this was his first ever race and first time at Donington so he had a lot of learning to do during the test day.
The morning of the race we had other duties to perform prior to Qualifying. At 0730 we all met up to push a 4×4 crew cab around Donington Park with ZX10 on the back and Captain Chemo otherwise known as Loz Williams riding in the back… even had 3 people sitting inside. This was to raise some money for one of our team mate. Who started Chemo after the last round at Croft. We now hold the lap record for pulling/pushing the truck around the full Circuit.
After this we had a couple hours to stretch off and get ready for qualifying. Due to some drizzle in the air, the endurance qualifying went to a wet Qualifying session which was 40 minutes to get your best time in. Team 1,2 & 4 had no big drama’s but Team 3 Darryl Hodder had borrowed his team mates bike as his bike had blown its engine at Cadwell, Luckily Lee he was still on honeymoon….who gets married during the racing season!!!! Darryl had a few suspension issues and Chris the Rookie Verrall decided to go down at Craner Curves on the grass instead of the black stuff. This left Darryl only 5 minutes to get a quick lap in, So with a quick adjustment he knocked a couple seconds off of his time. Team 1 flying as usual, especially considering that Wayne Morgan was not at the test day.
The teams qualified.
Team 1 – 15th
Team 3 – 28th
Team 4 – 30th
Team 2 – 34th.
Race Time!
Team 1 – WO2 Wayne Moggy Morgan & WO2 Carl Goodchild
Although the dark clouds were rolling in the weather was dry with a definite chill in the air. The start of the race saw WO2 Moggy Morgan sprint across the track and started racing with the front boys and by the end of his first stint saw them down to 7th overall.
Team 2 – Sgt Leon Wilton & Tobias T George
T started as Leon’s bike does not seem to like starting in a hurry. All went well and keeping good times and getting used to his new bike. But as the drizzle started he was unaware of the tussle going on in the pits to change to wets as T has no spare wheels with wets on yet.
Team 3 – Darryl Hodder and Chris Verrall
Darryl Hodder started with Chris Verrall holding the bike as starting the endurance race for his first ever race may have been pushing his luck to far. ! Chris travelled all the way from Africa for his first ever race ! so think he won the furthest travelled for the race. Darryl had a good start but hit someone’s rear wheel on entering craner curves and went off onto the wet grass. Just wanted to show Chris how to do it right. Luckily stayed on all the way down to the old hairpin and got back onto the track dead last, with the marshalls clapping and happy they did not have to pick another bike up !. But he managed to make up 18 places before handing over for Chris first ever race stint.
Team 4. WO2 Andy Day & Cpl Jason Cooper. This was the final outing for Andy’s R6 as he has bought Spence’s ZX10r for next season. It’s also the Final race for Jason Cooper as he cannot race in 2018. Team 4 WO2 Day Started the race and it was dry but after about 30min turned to drizzle and he stayed out thinking it would dry up but it finally got worse and the heavens opened.
As the rain started to fall everyone was still out on dry tyres so a lot of teams came in to change, Team 1 tried to stay out but it got slippery so decided to pull in for another quick change over. Wet changes for all and team 1 Carl went out for a long stint and pace was blistering but his luck ran out as yet another one said hello to the craner curves grass, the rear let go and both nice shinny bike and carl slid along the grass, fortunately it did not flip and little to no damage he was able to ride back to the pits re position his bars and go back out again to finish the race. Finishing the race 3rd in class.
Team 2 during the rain T was out and was finally called in after he had watched several of the field fall including team 1 and 3. When he came in he saw Leon with genitals the size of basket balls or just stupid as he went out on cut slicks in the rain. Whilst Leon was struggling in the wet with dry tyres on, the pit crew was rapidly changing tyres on T’s bike (note to T, Get spare wheels). He then called Leon and in and went out on Wets, but the unthinkable happened and his chain tension bolts worked loose and the wheel moved causing juddering and slapping of the chain, he handed over to Leon for the last sting with his wets on this time and he had a stead last stint watching more people fall and managed to bring the team in 7th in class.
Team 3 Darryl as usual stayed out on his Metzler RR tyres making up a lot of places after his bad start. The weather cleared up and Chris went out for his first ever race and he got into the swing of the race and was doing well especially for a rookie and his first race. Unfortunatelt luck ran out and crashed at craner curves after 11 laps. Losing about 6 laps he managed to get back to the pits for a transponder change as he was not allowed on the track so had to use the service roads to get back to the pits. Darryl only just got a drink down him and made a few changes to suspension, it started to drizzle again but went out on cuts anyway. It seemed to be only a couple guys on track as everyone else came in for a wet change. Darryl stayed out until the spray started coming off the bikes and came in, as Chris bike had not been through scrutenering after his crash, wets were swapped onto Darryl’s bike. Pit crew racing around to change the wheels over onto his bike, and a quick drink and he went out again to see if he could make the final 70 min of the race in one go in the wet. He was going strong in the wet making good progress, then with 5 min to go he was called in to let Chris who had worked with the pit crew to get his lovely R1 now looking a bit battered through scruteenering and go out for the final couple of laps.
Team 4 saw Jason trying to stay on in the wet, but with several close calls and a high side at craners…. but managed to stay on across the grass over the track and stopped in the gravel trap after the old hairpin! He decided to come in and change with Andy who did the last 10 min of the race.
The final 30 minutes saw a lot of riders not finish the race in the wet weather but everyone was ok, although some did have to go to hospital! Many thanks for the marshals for standing out in that horrendous weather to pick us all up when we fall and applaud us if we made it across the grass at Craners!
So the results at the end of the race were…What a race!
Team 1 – 3rd National 1000, 16th overall
Team 2 – 7th Clubman 600, 21st overall
Team 3 – 8th Clubman 1000, 25th overall
Team 4 – 5th Clubman 600, 15th overall
With the season drawn to a close, the teams have had an up and down year. It didn’t start the year how we wanted, with the Team manager Sgt ‘Spence’ Spencer-Fleet being taken out at brands and getting helicoptered from the track, and then Captain ‘Pep’ Brown also crashing with numerous injurys. This ended their seasons early at round 2. The rookie team got away to a good start but after a crash at Anglesey, the BMW of Sgt ‘Soph’ Ellis never to turn a wheel again ended the rookie championship contention due to the sheer cost of a rebuild. There has been a lot for the team to get through this year, and one racer who we keep mentioning… Loz, the man that started the team, if he hasn’t told you… he has the big C. He is currently undergoing chemo therapy and the team has been doing as much as we can to support him through this time, show what he means to us. Some riders took part in brave the shave and we raised around £2500 between us for Macmillian cancer support. We’ve pushed and pulled a 4×4 round the donington park circuit to also raise some money for him. Friends, family, riders, racers, the No limits paddock all chipped in and we raised near £700 to book a weekend away for him and his wife Robyn to get away.
It’s been an emotional year with everything going on. The riders have gone as fast as they can, the pit crew have worked hard as they can and some of the teams have come away with trophies! With Team 1 taking away 3 NATIONAL 1000 trophies. The end of year is here and this is the final standings.
Team 1 – 5th in National 1000
Team 2 – 6th in Clubman 600
Team 3 – 5th in Clubman 1000
Team 4 – 5th in Clubman 600
So to the thanks!
The teams couldn’t have made it through this round and this season without the Pit crew! They dug out blind, fixed, repaired bikes, did wheel and tyre changes like they were going out of fashion! We cannot thank them all enough. They are by far the best crew in the paddock! Not forgetting our track mam and Marina for keeping us all fed and watered and Cami for capturing this year in photos! It’s been amazing THANK YOU!
To all our friends and family for coming to support us, cheering us on. It’s been an emotional year THANK YOU!
To all our team and personal sponsors, there are so many. The team are ever so grateful for all the support we have been given this year. We hope we have done you all proud, sometimes our results haven’t shown what we can achieve but I hope the support can carry on into 2018.
If you are reading this and want to get involved, race, pit crew, sponsor then please get in contact. Send us a message on facebook or via our email armyendurancemotorcycleraceteam@outlook.com
So what’s next you ask…. Winter testing Cartagena, Spain in February!
Army Endurance Motorcycle Race Team 