After the highs and lows of Oulton Park, the team returned to Cadwell Park for the second time this year. Missing members of the team were reunited and the gang geared up for the penultimate round.
For many Cadwell Park is a favourite track, its fast sweeping tight lines and rapid elevation changes, make for a roller coaster ride. The Gooseneck, Park, Mansfield are famous corners, but Cadwell’s technical nature has caught out many top-level racers. The start of this year saw some Army riders crashing, and others having close shaves, reminding them of the respect this track needs.
The long race weekend consisted of a track day, a test day, then qualifying and racing on the Saturday.
Track day
The track day saw some the pit crew take to the track; Sgt Andy McSweeney unleashed his ZX6R onto the track and set some impressive lap times, while Cpl Jeff Ward passed his ACU assessment (so watch this space for a future Army racer!). Team 2s riders Carl and Andy carried out some extra testing. Team 4s Robbo also took part in some evening testing.
Test Day
Team 1
Without Sam Cox or Tom Ward (guest rider for the meeting, BSB Superstock 1000), Pep tipped up with what can only be said as “holiday injury” not knowing if he could ride or not. Tom and Sam both rode there in BSB, so they would be sweet and fast enough anyway. Pep’s first stint was simply to find out if his shoulder could stick the grueling undulations of Cadwell Park. To his surprise, his injury didn’t affect his riding at all; if anything it forced him to use his legs more and it turns out that’s how you go fast!!! Who’d have known?!
The test day started well and by the second session Pep was into his PB area, banging in a decent lap around the 1:37 mark before lunch and then continued to ride around on scrubs, trying to feel the tyres more in the afternoon instead of just going fast. In all, a good solid test day.
Team 2
Following the track day Team 2 settled into the test day quickly, Andy and Carl dropped the hammer and found themselves setting new PBs and giving Pep a good run for his money. With a successful morning the Team enjoyed the afternoon playing cat and mouse with one another, while coaching Team 5 along.
Team 4
Robbo was fast throughout setting a new PB of 1:42. His time spent on open pit lane track days since the Team’s last to visit to Cadwell had paid dividends. During the second session Dave overtook Daz into the gooseneck and highsided at the exit of Mansfield, trapping his foot under the exhaust and almost being run over by Daz. He was shipped off to hospital with a suspected broken foot, returning with ligament damage. Morale stayed high in team 4; concerned for his teammate Daz joked to Dave (As Casey Stoner famously once told Rossi) ‘your ambition appears to have outweighed your talent’. Banter aside we wish Dave a speedy recovery.
Capt Dave Monaghan (Army Team 4) moments before highsiding
Team 5
Having completed his ACU at Cadwell Park earlier in the year, Biz was out of the gates and enjoying the familiar track. Sharing the same test group as the other 1000 Army teams, Biz and Matt were absorbing lines and tips; becoming quicker and quicker throughout the day.
Race Day – Qualifying
Team 1
Qualifying started with Pep just going out and scrubbing his tyres in for the race. The majority of qualifying was put aside for Sam and Tom, to re-familiarize themselves and light the timing screen up with some BSB times. Pep did 3 laps setting a 1:37.2. Tom went out next, straight into low 1:33s then down to low 1:32s. Sam was out last matching those blistering times. Team 1 qualified in pole position with 1:31.531.
Team 2
Carl was out of the pits as soon as qualifying begun, giving him a clean run round the track where he set a fast pace. Andy was next banging in consistent laps. Carl set the fastest lap at 1:37.098 with fresh rubber on, positioning them in 14th place on the grid and 3rd place in Clubman 1000 class.
WO1 (ASM) Andy Day (Team 2) battling it out amongst a fierce pack
Team 4
Robbo was first out and set the fastest qualifying time at 1.43, positioning the team 24th on the grid and 3rd place in Clubman 600.
Team 5
Biz set the fastest time in qualifying 1:45.274, positioning them 27th on the grid and 10th place in Clubman 1000
Race
Team 1
Pre-race Pep was given a motivation chat by the BSB riders, “Pep… your times are gonna be important today… your gonna need to be quick”. On the Team’s last visit they missed out on the win by 30 seconds! Two BSB riders telling Pep that He needs to get a wiggle on definitely motivated him.
Tom carried out the start, the bike was left in gear and switched off (standard start), the flag dropped and he ran across the track jumped on the bike blissfully unaware he had just knocked the lever into neutral. The bike fired up and revved to its maximum RPM several times. After realizing his mistake and now in 18th place he haired off round the track, a man on a mission. After the 1st lap Tom was in 7th, lap 2 3rd, lap 3 1st position. He took no prisoners as Team 2s Carl would testify. After 30 minutes and a quick pit stop Sam was out, maintaining 1st position. Strategy meant Pep would need at least a 44 minute stint otherwise more unnecessary pit stops would have been required. 2nd place was catching Pep, so he put the hammer down, setting a sub 1:37 lap and a new PB. He pushed on watching the thirsty R1 consume fuel and the lap times drop and drop, towards the end – 1:35.8.
With two stints left Pep pulled in and handed over to Tom, who left the pit lane in 2nd place. By the end of his stint, the team was back in 1st with a 100 second lead! Sam maintained the lead and finished the race with a wheelie across the finish line.
Army Team 1 and support crew celebrate 1st place
Team 2
After a blistering race start at Cadwell earlier in the year, Carl was set for a repeat. The flag dropped and he leapt on the bike and was amongst the first away. In 6th position into turn one, Carl was off to a good start. He maintained his position until a somewhat eager Team 1 rider (Tom Ward) dived up the inside of Carl on the hairpin. Carl had to take evasive action and run onto the grass. Where he could do little but watch the field pass until it was safe to rejoin the track. The red mist came down and he fought through the pack, battling into 3rd place in class. All while taking another 1.8 seconds off his PB. Andy set another blistering stint, however whilst moving downhill into Mansfield corner amongst a pack of bikes, he was forced to run on and lost 30 seconds parked up on the grass.
As the race drew on Team 2 had a mechanical issue, luckily Andy was quick to react, jumped on his bike and went back out. Team 2 despite some misfortune finished 4th in class, and a mere 70 seconds behind 2nd place. Indicating a podium had been within their grasp. Luckily their championship rivals had tech issues and could only finish 3rd in class, meaning the battle for the Clubman 1000cc championship was going into the final round!
Team 4
The team down to 2 men, decided to adopt a strategy of as little stops as possible, run until the fuel tank was empty then change. A difficult task on a physical track, but their main competition was using similar strategies. Robbo started the race slipping from 3rd to 5th in class due to being blocked at the start. This however didn’t deter him and he pursued them relentlessly. After 1 hour he had taken 3rd place and was pushing hard having the best race of his life. Quickly realizing he had exhausted his fuel tank ages ago he signaled he needed to pit; procedure was he would be ‘told to pit’ via the board on the next lap and come in. Robbo was on fumes and couldn’t go any further and arrived into the pit lane expectantly. Daz threw his helmet on, and the changeover was carried out as fast as possible.
Daz ran for an hour before coming in on an empty tank, having survived going elbow to elbow with two 1000cc machines (either side of him) into the tight Gooseneck corner. Positioned 5th in class, the battle had switched from Clubman 600 to beating old rivals Team 5.
The final hour was split in half, Robbo’s times dropped off slightly as fatigue took over , while tyres began sliding due to the high track temperatures. Daz took over to finish the race, again noticing the ZX6R was sliding around. In the final lap he caught sight of Team 5s Matt in the distance, diving into the Gooseneck. Daz chased hard but was beaten to the line by Matt’s ZX10 which was down on power. Team 4 finished 4th in Class and 26th overall. A good result given this was the first time Robbo and Daz had raced as a duo act, all while putting in some lengthy stints!
Team 5
Matt having rode at Cadwell Park earlier in the season knew the toughness of the track so the team, aided by Donna and Chris from Tracktech devised a 30 minute change over strategy, in order to minimize fatigue. With a good start Team 5 were out of the gates and Biz set a new PB of 1:44.2, excellent work whilst wearing his orange bib for the final time (Congratulations on now becoming an ACU Clubman racer!). His trusty somewhat older GSXR 1000 was complemented by the paddock, for having torque (drive) out of the corners that newer machines could not match – sometimes old school rules! In the later stints Matt felt his lap times were dropping off inexplicably on the new model ZX10R and to his surprise Team 4’s Robbo overtook him down the main straight on an R6! realizing the bike had issues he pulled in for investigation while Biz took over. Later TrackTech identified the bikes fuel pump filter had become clogged, strangling the engines peak power output. With Biz becoming fatigued Matt took over for the final stint and rode the hampered ZX10R to the finish line. The new school Ninja and old school Gixxer finished a respectable 24th and 9th in class.
Cpl Martin Bizeray (Biz) Team 5 sporting the bib for the last time
Look Forward
After an exciting weekend of racing, the Army walked away with one podium – National 1000cc 1st place. With it Army Team 1s chances and hopes of winning the league are revitalized; currently sat in 3rd place, but with only 9 points separating 1st to 3rd it really is all to fight for in the final round at Donington.
Despite some bad luck at Cadwell, Team 2 are 3rd in the Clubman 1000cc championship, their competition (which are fierce) are not far behind on points! Donington Park will be a crucial round for Team 2.
Team 4 are positioned 5th in the Clubman 600 league, exchanging 4th place with their main competition (currently 3 points ahead) throughout the season, again this will go down to the final round, no championship trophy to play for just bragging rights.
The Army Team in its entirety would like to thank the pit crew, friends, family, sponsors, no limits team, marshals and anyone else we may have missed. Without them racing would not be possible, stand by for Round 8 – Donington Park and the season finale.
Army Endurance Motorcycle Race Team 