EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Army Motorcycle Road Race Team – Endurance (AMRRT-E) consists of full-time, reserve and veteran soldiers. All serving members are operationally deployable and can be called to operations at any time. The whole of the team maintain their full-time military or civilian careers, the team fund their racing independently of the Army along with much-needed help from all the team supporters.
NO LIMITS RACING ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
The AMCRRT-E compete in the No Limits Racing National Endurance Series in teams of 2-4 riders. The series takes place across 9 rounds in 2019 of between 3 and 10 hours. There is no higher classified endurance series within the UK.
RIDER INFORMATION
Team 3 Clubman 1000cc
Cpl ‘Biz’ Bizeray Suzuki GSXR1000
Veteran Matt Flower Yamaha YZF-R1
Team 4 Clubman 600cc
SSgt ‘Daz’ Williams Yamaha YZF-R6
Capt Ryan Ingram Suzuki GSX-R600
Team 5 All Rookie Clubman 600cc
Sgt ‘Sweeney’ McSweeney Kawasaki ZX6R
LCpl Pete ‘Doogie’ Doogan Kawasaki ZX6R
WHY SUPPORT THE TEAM?
Your company will be promoted nationwide during all race meets and track days.
Free tickets to any race meet, we will host you in the paddock and offer close race action.
Post-race reports including great race moments and proven effectiveness of your product.
Multiple social media updates.
Logo placement on all motorcycles, clearly displayed on fairings.
Round Five – Snetterton Circuit 11 – 14 July 2019
Team 3
Friday practice saw the same issues Matts been struggling with at previous rounds, with no trust or confidence in the handling of the bike and he found himself just face palming without a strategy to figure out what to do.
After the Friday’s testing it was decided to remove the forks, strip them down and see if there was any mechanical faults. After a few hours Andy returned with the news of a faulty part within the forks. As you can imagine matt was delighted that a fault had been found as he was starting to believe that he was at the end of the road with racing.
On Saturday morning and with no time for testing the new suspension, Matt set-out in qualifying and in only a few laps was beating his best time from the previous day before a Red Flag stopped play.
This was good for us, as that gave Andy and Matt another chance to discuss what was going on and make some changes before pit lane was re-opened. This proved to be beneficial as Matts lap times dropped again.
Race Time! Pit lane opened and Biz was to make the le mans style race start, which he did in true Biz style, making places from the start!
After a good first stint, Biz was forced to return to the pits before scheduled as he was running out of fuel. Que Matt rushing around, putting on his helmet and gloves before leaping onto the bike and setting off to start my first stint.
As it was so hot, it wasn’t long before Matts mouth was as dry, but with the bike feeling so good he didn’t even care. The laps we being ticked off and his lap-times were dropping significantly, even shocking the pit-crew Paul and Becky who weren’t sure if they could believe the tsl-timing app until he repeated the times.
A smooth pit-stop allowed Biz to start his second stint and push once again. Increasing his pace every lap and gaining places. Then count down started for the pit stop which was a welcomed sight.
Out Matt went after anther amazing pit-stop organised by our pit-crew Becky and Paul.
Again Matt was building and building and the lap times were dropping! But this is where the fairytale ends. Being a little excitable Matt ask for a little too much and the MyDuckwork Ltd Yamaha R1 bit back unexpectedly, causing him to jar his neck and back. At the time this was not a problem as the bike straightened up and he continued on his way.
After a few more laps it was noticeable that Matts left shoulder was collapsing under the pressure of braking and getting worse each lap there after. Matts lap-times were getting worse too.
When it got too much, Matt gave the signal to the pit crew that he needed to come in. Sure enough on the next lap they gave him the ‘box’ signal.
Biz zipped off with a little bit excitement for the remaining 30-mins and to see the race out to the chequered flag, but after a few laps the race was red-flagged and a result was called.
Team 4
Round 5 saw the arrival of a new rookie rider – Captain Ryan Ingram into the Endurance Team. He arrived having just purchased a GSX-R 600 from one of the Sprint riders. Cpl James Roberts was unavailable and SSgt Daz Williams returned having missed Oulton. Ryan and Daz teamed up together as Army Team 4.
Test Day:
Test day saw Ryan Ingram learning the track and the bike at the same time. A rookie rider on a new bike he initially set 2.44 but by the end of the day slashed over 20 seconds off his PB lap time and felt comfortable aboard the GSX-R.
Darren smashed last years PB at Snetterton on the first session, his times dropping throughout the day to 2.13. A back end sliding issue was identified as a rear spring that was too stiff.
Qualifying:
Ryan was first out on qualifying lap after lap reducing his times and finding himself amongst a fierce grid. His first time endurance riding he was quickly baptized in the speed differences between the 600 and 1000cc machines. A red flag incident cut short his qualifying and it began to rain. After the incident on track cleared Daz went out and put some steady laps in amongst the other riders whom were all gingerly dancing around the now greasy track. Team 4 qualified 2ndto last on the grid, but pleased.
Race:
As a rookie sprint rider Ryan was elected to carry out the race start; the initial few laps of chasing the bike in front would emulate sprint racing and help build his confidence and speed. After a front-end slide on lap 2 Ryan began slashing his times and getting amongst the other bikes, chasing the machine in front. After a speedy change Daz was out and began catching some of the other teams, setting a new PB of 2.11. Ryan then went out on his 2ndsession and set his PB of 2.16. Daz then went out and finished the race (which was cut short by 20min due to a red flag incident).
Summary Team 4 finished 8thin class and overall very pleased. Ryan was ‘baptized’ into the world of Endurance racing and Daz smashed last years PBs.
Team 5
Team 5 is the development team of the AMRRT-E which allows soldiers to get their introduction to the race track regardless of motorbike capacity (within rules), however this years Rookies continue to exceed expectations.
Round 5 saw a lot of changes to Team 5. Unfortunately due to a change in circumstances, it is likely that Celv will be unable to attend the remainder of the season. Add to this that Adams bike is still very much awaiting a new engine and other repairs after he failed to keep rubber on the floor at Oulton Park, Sweeney was left in the strange predicament of not having a team to ride with for the 5th round.
However, this was a fantastic opportunity to use Team 5 as it was intended and introduce new military riders into the world of Endurance Racing. Que the arrival of LCpl Pete ‘Doogie’ Doogan. Due to commitments to the Army, Doogie was unable to attend the test day. And having never raced before, he was in for a steep learning curve.
That said, Sweeney could attend the test day, got to work dialing his ZX6R in. He took the decision to skip the first session, as a brief morning shower had soaked the track. By the second session, the track was mostly dry and off he went with a few slow paced laps to get his eye into the layout and pace of the circuit. Snetterton is very flat with a mix of fast, off-camber bends, hairpins and late apexes. The third session he started pushing the pace and it became very quickly apparent that the bike setup was completely wrong. The suspension was set for bumpier circuits and was causing the bike to be very unstable through the slower turns and the rear wheel to constantly slide exiting bends and on heavy breaking. Ontop of this, he was hitting the engine limiter on 6th half way down the straights so some big changes were required.
After some big suspension changes both front and rear, and dropping 6 teeth off the rear sprocket, he went out again chasing his laptimes, testing lines and managed to drop his time to around the 2’15 mark after a few more suspension and setup changes. Not a race winning pace but atleast the bike was set up ready for Saturday.
Saturday morning saw the arrival of Doogie to the garage and he was quickly brought up to speed. Having never ridden Snetterton before it was decided Sweeney would go out first and do the bare minimum he needed to qualify, then Doogie would use all the remaining time to learn the circuit. Sweeney went out on a new set of Metzeller Racetec Slicks from Bike Tyres Leeds and set a new PB of 2’12. 3 laps into qualifying a it started to rain very slightly. It didn’t seem much on the riders visor, but a big slide coming out of turn 9 Nelson saw the rookie rider come into the pitlane. As he came in, another rider also had a big incident at the same place and qualifying was red flagged and the rain worsened. Team 5 took this as a chance to swap riders sending Doogie out but time commitments only allowed him 7 laps, managing a PB of 2’19, qualifying the pair 25th of 31 on the grid.
Race start, Sweeney started the race, and true to form made a fantastic sprint across the track being one of the first to the bikes and to pull away. He met a lot of traffic pulling out as he accelerated away but still managed to go into the first bend having made a few places up. He done his 45 minute stint and pitted to send Doogie out for his first ever racing stint. Doogie quickly found his groove and he for faster and faster every lap, finishing his 45 minute stint 6 seconds faster than when he started. Sweeney went out for his second stint on a mission. He smashed his previous times with a new PB of 2’09 and settled into his session, managing to lap a few of out competitors and hold us within the top 20 overall. Pete went out for his second and final session to finish the race but unfortunately only managed 7 laps before the race was red flagged and the results were called.
The team finished 6th in class and 3rd all rookie. A fantastic achievement! the pair got on so well that Doogie will also be joining Team 5 at Anglesey for the epic 10 hour race.
Results
T3 P10 Clubman 1000 P24 Overall
T4 P8 Clubman 600 P26 Overall
T5 P6 Clubman 600 P21 Overall P3 All Rookie Team
Thanks
ARMY Motorcycle Road Race Team
Army Sports Lottery
Metzeller Tyres
Bike Tyres Leeds
EBC Brakes
GBRacing Premier Motorcycle Protection
Rst-moto
Direct Distribution Services
Racebikebitz Samco Distribution
Pipe Werx motorcycle exhausts
No Limits Racing
Eazi-Grip UK
1nspireFitness
Army Endurance Motorcycle Race Team 