Oulton Park is known difficult circuit but the team didn’t expect the challenges we had to deal with this weekend. Many team supporters will remember us participating in ‘Brave the Shave’ almost exactly a year ago and then the pushing of a 4×4 with Race bike and Loz on the back around Donington Park in support of Team Founder, Army Veteran and paddock legend, Loz Williams and his battle against Cancer. The team were devastated on Saturday after the race when Loz delivered the news that he was losing the battle.
From his own FaceBook Page:
“I have some pretty wanky shitty manky crappy news.
I have struggled since my cancer operation back in January with weight loss.
I am below10 stone. So I have had a further CT scan and the results were given to me a few days ago. The Cancer has returned. Its in my abdomen wall and lining and is fairly aggressive. Its inoperable. Most secondary cancers are.
So its wait out for a consultation with a specialist oncologist for Chemo/Radiotherapy and pain relief offers. I will also get a likely expectancy, so as yet I have no idea how long. It will be palliative care. It’s terminal.
I am waiting on that to decide a few things but immediately I am going to get my affairs in order. I have just finished executing my Dads will (he died in May) and its a nightmare dealing with banks, financial institutions and various Government departments.
I have told my close family so now this is to inform my wider one. I cant answer any questions and I am not in any need of anything at the moment. I will update in a few weeks when I get my joining instructions!
So (hopefully) a long Adios my good old friends. There’s a lot of you out there and we have shared some great memories.”
The team are here for Loz and his family and we all have send him our love and thank him for giving us our race team family. one message really stood out from Team 3 Veteran Rider Lee: Heart-breaking news from Loz, I’ve known Loz since I was 17, served with Loz in some cool and hot places. Him and Pep started the team, he will always be one of the bravest men I’ve had the pleasure of calling a friend.
AMCRRT – Endurance Founders at the scene of their first Endurance Win in August 2012 and this weekend August 2018.
Trackday & Test
Oulton is influenced heavily by local noise restrictions, primarily by the local Church so racing on a Sunday isn’t possible. This leads to the this round happening on a Friday and Saturday with no space for a fully fledged test day; therefor several riders utilised the standard trackday on the Wednesday for additional track time which paid dividends. A warm dry day allowed those who’d arrived early to dial in settings and learn the most technically difficult and highest average speed circuit on the calendar.
The test ‘day’ was only three sessions on the Friday morning with only the first of these being dry. Very heavy rain set in for the second session so most of the riders chose to sit it out before heading out in the third on a drying track. This meant that the majority of riders across the paddock had not got fully to grips with the circuit and this showed in the afternoon qualifying…
Team Manager trying to keep the front down.
Qualifying
This did not go as well as hoped for all the Army teams. T1’s fastest rider, Sam Cox had blown his engine up at Thruxton BSB the week before and had to borrow a bike from Andy Carpenter. The differences between the two Yamaha R1’s were massive; different suspension, engine maps & brakes amongst other things made the bike feel alien and combined with not wanting to crash a borrowed bike on a circuit that is far from Sam’s favourite meant he was only 4th fastest.
Team 2 were also out of sorts; Carl knew he was easily capable of a sub 1min 50sec lap but this eluded him due to traffic and low set up time meaning that T2 had to settle for by far their worst qualifying position of 2018 in 22nd (7th in class).
Darryl was fastest of him and Lee who had both returned after a quite period to allow Darryl to recover from a shoulder operation. Qualification of 27 th (10th in class) was not as high a position as they’re used too but was more than acceptable considering the ‘scary’ pass made in order to set that time as another even faster rider took them both with gritted teeth into Shell Oils.
Team 4 were down a rider of their magic 3 man squad as Daz had rightly put his family first and had to pull out last minute to assist. Whilst Robbo was struggling with setup (despite doing the trackday) on a circuit he’d never been to; Dave was still struggling with gear changing issues that had plagued him at the Donington 8hr on top of the bike feeling different after the rebuild due to his crash there. Only 35th (8th in class) and over 6 seconds slower than Dave’s PB was a disaster for them.
Biz and Matt made up T5 and worked through the weekend systematically. Morale was high and they’d studied the track on YouTube, maps and numerous track-walks. Matt was still recovering from an injured thumb but was ready to attack the circuit. 34th (14th in class) on the grid next to T4 was again lower than they wanted but the 3 hr race gives lots of time for all teams to improve.
The team also had a special guest in the garage in the form of Ilse of Mann TT Legend John McGuiness. He’d pulled his 2015/2016 Stock 1000 race winning bike literally out of a museum to gain some race signatures in order to allow him to race in the Classic TT. The team even got to assist in changing tyres and getting him out on the grid. The Team Sergeant Major’s daughter even baked him a special cup-cake.
Milika ensuring McPint feels welcome in the Army Team garage.
Race Day
Due to the unusual timetable the team found themselves with very little to do on the Saturday morning. Some of the riders managed to take part in the ’emergency practice’ at 0900 to confirm repairs and changes were working but apart from that it was a waiting game until guests started to arrive at lunch. The team manager had organised laps in the safety car for many guests who got a shock at the undulations and technical difficulty of the circuit; all got out of the car with either big smiles or a look of pure terror. Many thanks go to the No Limits Racing team for facilitating this, especially Toni, Clare and Allan (safety car driver). It really made the day for our guests who included Major General Gaunt – Chairman of the British Army Motorsport Association (BAMA).
The first hour of the race was all about tactics. Knowing how notoriously difficult it is to overtake at Oulton, a good start is imperative. T1’s Sam Cox made a great start being in the top 3 into the first corner with T2’s Carl Goodchild hot on his heals after taking more than a dozen places off the line. T4’s race was all about completing the 3 hours with the numerous difficulties they’d had but a strong start saw them taking a few places, as did Teams 3 & 5 who both moved up the grid from their start positions.
Despite the strong start T1 had dropped to 5th after the first hour due to the vibrations of the R1’s ‘big bang’ engine working Pep’s exhaust a little loose of the headers; the excessive noise meant he was black-flagged and had to return to the pits for an early change which lost T1 valuable seconds. Team 2 were in a stronger position and had worked their way to 14th (4th in class) and were under 40 seconds from 3rd but with ‘Mutts Nuts’ and ‘Private Sector Team 1’ both within a lap it was building up to be a good battle for 3rd Clubman 1000 position.
Team 3 were having fun and enjoying having a strong race including a few close overtakes and battles with T4 & T5. The pitwall queen Cath was impeccable as always with pit board but Lee’s age and eyesight is obviously affecting him as he ‘did a Loz’ and missed the PIT sign for 3 laps. They held 10th in class over Team 5 who’d moved up to 13th Clubman 1000 and by 4 places overall. Team 4 were still struggling but held their qualifying position despite Robbo having a slipping clutch that required an unplanned stop.
The 2nd hour of the race was relatively calm and settled. Bikes were behaving themselves and non of the riders in the race had crashed. The teams race positions remained relatively unchanged but Team 2’s battle had tightened with 3rd to 6th places all being within 1 minute of each other. The battle was really on and Team 2’s riders knew it; pushing as hard as they could.
Lee of T3 jokingly commented that Andy had tried to kill him as he went the long way around him through Cascades, a trick he also later pulled on T1 rider Pep; as Pep came out of the pits Andy gave him space but knew he had to push on so drove hard around the outside of the first corner. Pep came back past Andy a lap later with the ‘follow me bum tap’, Andy then tagged on for 2 laps before getting caught up with a backmarker and having to run-on on the entry to Hizzy’s chicane loosing the tow.
Expecting Daves bike to be out of action Robbo was prepared for a quick refuel and Dave to take his bike for the next session but fortunately Daves gear slipping also turned out to be his new clutch bedding in and he was able to take his own bike out for his second stint. Daves lack of sixth gear and hard use of the red line meant that his fuel only lasted for fifty minutes but he managed to put in twenty seven laps and achieve the teams best lap time of 1min 54secs; several seconds from his personal best but respectable enough in the circumstances.
Bikes Lined up in Parc Firme post race
As the laps ticked up the time ticked down; T5’s partnership was working well and Track Tech’s Chris had kept the transponder changes slick throughout the race. Both Matt and Biz were riding well and continuing to gain pace throughout. The final stint was left to Biz with the goal of just finishing and getting team 5 across the line but his higher pace was now causing front end problems under harder and later braking. This did not stop him from taking his first chequered flag in 28th overall and 13th in class. All in all a good weekend for both riders with Matt testing his recovering injuries and setting good times and biz going from not knowing the track to making a massive dent in his lap times and progressing with rookie season.
T5 happy with their progress
Relieved that his gearbox survived the hour Dave handed over to Robbo for the last thirty minutes and Robbo continued his good form achieving a personal best of 1min 54secs on his first visit to the track. It wasn’t without excitement however as he started pushing harder and came very close to high siding into the downhill of Cascades! Remembering that the goal was to finish the race he eased off on the throttle a little to complete the race in 31st position and 5th in class. A tough race for T4 but they were over the moon and extremely proud of the hard work required to complete the round successfully in such challenging circumstances. Looking forward to the return of Daz and getting the bikes fixed to get back to it’s recent podium fighting form is the priority.
T3’s calm and composed approach saw them climb to 20th overall and 8th in class whilst T1 held onto 5th overall but closed the gap to only 32 seconds, still holding their 3rd overall in the National 1000 championship.
T2’s final hour got very exciting in the Clubman 1000 class. Carl was on track in 5th position and closing the gap to Mutts Nutts in 4th and to Apex Racing in 3rd. There was only 30 seconds separating T2 from either a lowly 5th place or a step on the podium. At around 40 minutes remaining Mutts pitted and T2 leap frogged them but still had to pit themselves. 2 laps later T2 pitted and the last rider headed out; tactics and a smoother transponder change meant that T2 were now in 4th and 8 seconds ahead of Mutts. Both teams were racing hard and the gap was widening by half a second each lap but Apex in 3rd were half a second faster than T2. With 20 minutes remaining Apex came in for a transponder change and T2 took 3rd position, Mutts Nutts 4th and Apex 5th but Apex were really quick with their fresh rider and took Mutts on the last 2 laps but T2 held 3rd and earned their 3rd podium of the season, strengthening their 3rd place in the Clubman 1000 Championship. A really great battle that provided huge enjoyment for those following the live timing; after 3 hours of racing only 31 seconds separated 3rd to 5th C1000 positions.
Check out the race highlights from motorsport media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G0dwerf_QA&feature=youtu.be
The podium: https://www.facebook.com/NolimitsracingNLR/videos/1853041744810437/
Oulton Park in the Safety Car: https://www.facebook.com/100013228777092/videos/512726935844928/
Army Endurance Motorcycle Race Team 