Photos copyright © Ian Hughes 2008
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2008.
Positive steps for MIST Suzuki at Magny-Cours
7 October 2008
The weekend started out wet, much to the team’s dismay, although it does seem to be the norm at Magny-Cours and can change quickly.
Being first out for free practice session wasn’t helpful although things have been delayed by fog in previous years so maybe 4 degrees and raining wasn’t all that bad.
Due to the absence of Team Manager Mike Edwards who had been admitted to hospital at the last minute the suspension duties fell back on the Andreani Group who didn’t have time to fit softer springs before the riders were due on track.
Despite this Gareth managed to get up to 19th in the first session, with Matt back in 32nd place after only managing 4 laps as he persevered with suspension set-up.
The weather didn’t improve much for the first qualifying session. Although the temperature was up, well I guess 12 degrees counts as up, gusty winds and a wet track proved to be challenging for the riders. Both riders struggled for set-up and the session ended with Gareth in 28th place and Matt 32nd after just a handful of clear laps.
Only a few laps were completed in the second free practice session as there is a limit of three sets of wet tyres per round and the team wanted to save the all important second set for qualifying in the afternoon. Nevertheless, with an improved set-up using softer springs, Matt was already in 36th place after 2 laps (out of 41 riders) and Gareth finished in 23rd having done just 8 laps.
The second qualifying session was finally dry and the team focused on working on dry settings for the first time. Both Gareth and Matt were building confidence, which was reflected in their final standings – after 8 timed laps, Gareth climbed to 23rd and Matt to 26th. Front-running regulars sat between them in 24th and 25th – BSB SuperStock and former SuperBike rider Peter Hickman and series regular, and podium finisher, Andrea Antonelli.
With a dry race, Gareth and Matt were able to achieve strong results, with 17th and 23rd respectively at the flag. Gareth battled with Davide Guiliano to lead the third pack for the majority of the race. At half the race distance, Gareth’s bike developed an electrical fault causing the electronics to go in to a reduced power ‘limp home’ mode, but he rode hard to maintain his position.
After being held up for several laps by Ronald Ten Napel letting the pack in front get away, Matt pulled out 0.5 seconds a lap, reeling them in over the next few laps. A couple of mistakes allowed Peter Hickman to catch up and a close fought battle ensued with Matt, Hicky and Pauli Pekkanen on the factory KTM. All three swapped places several times a lap for the remainder of the race. Still in with a chance he overtook both riders on the brakes at the end of the last lap, only to run wide, and was beaten to the line by a narrow margin.
Mike Edwards, Team Manager
“The team did a fantastic job, despite the weather conditions and my absence due to illness. The finishing positions didn’t reflect their pace or the close battles with those around them. Overall, it was a really positive weekend with much-needed improvements in the suspension set-up. The final round at Portimao is up next, where no team has tested. I am confident that both riders will score points next time out.”
Matt Bond
“Magny-Cours was a hard but good race. I made a couple of mistakes, which allowed Hicky and Pekkanen to catch up. They managed to get by, but I passed them on the final lap, only to run wide at the end, losing my position. A positive and enjoyable race overall.”
Gareth Jones
“This was one of the hardest races of the year. I almost got caught out by Guiliano a couple of times, but had a great battle with him, Schouten and Antonelli. Everyone’s results were all over the place, but I’m pretty happy considering the conditions throughout the weekend.”
Gareth Jones, 03/10/08 - 05/10/08
FIM Superstock 1000 Cup
Round 9
The end of the season is fast approaching and we are already at the penultimate round of the 2008 championship. It’s been a challenging season, and with the terrible weekend we had in the last round at Donington Park, we hoped for more success at Magny Cours.
The start of the weekend turned out to be rather eventful, and in actual fact we were lucky to be at this round at all. Mike, our team owner, who drives the truck to the meetings, had had some recent surgery and complications necessitated him being unfortunately admitted to hospital when he was due to leave for France. So in order to compete we needed to come up with another plan.
Communications were backwards and forwards with Mike in hospital, and we devised a plan at the final hour and got underway. My cousin Jay and good friend and mechanic Lloyd stepped in with an hour’s notice, and left from the North West of England and drove through the night to London to pick the truck up and caught the ferry across to France and continued down to the track, a few hours drive south of Paris.
With only a short nap on the ferry, they arrived at 2.p.m. ready for us to set up. My uncle and aunt, Baz and Lynda, also flew over from England to assist with the task of running the team for the weekend. By late evening we had the awning up, floor down, truck unloaded, and it was time to get the swags out for some well earned sleep. Thanks heaps guys!
Friday - First Practice
It was freezing at the track, falling to 0 degrees overnight and for the first session at 9 a.m. on Friday morning it was raining with an air temp of 4 degrees and track temp of 3 degrees. The weather remained this way for most of the day, so our afternoon session was much the same. We were limited to 3 sets of wet tyres for the weekend so we were careful not to waste them. Although wet tyres are unlimited, Pirelli only have sufficient room to carry 3 sets per rider. We used the sessions to get what we could from the bike on the slippery French track and made changes accordingly.
Saturday - Second Practice
The Saturday morning practice session was on a drying line and in a bid to save tyres we opted to only do a few laps. I did one flying lap mid session which was good enough for 9th at the time, however dropped to 17th by session end. Just enough to find some confidence to make a charge in final qualifying Saturday afternoon, should the weather again be rainy.
Saturday - Second Qualifying
Saturday afternoon qualifying was dry and with the forecast for a dry race on Sunday, we were back to being able to use 3 sets of dry tyres. We decided it was best to use 2 rears and doing as many laps as possible to get a decent time. Unfortunately I left it too late to go out with a new tyre and only had 8 minutes to put a time in.
Sure, not usually a problem unless you hit traffic on your fast lap, which of course is exactly what happened! I was only able to better my time by a few tenths which deprived me of a much better starting position. I was really disappointed with what had happened as I had felt good on the bike during the early parts of the session. So, a frustrating 23rd is where I would start the race.
Sunday - Race
Morning warm up was dry and the weather was clear but so cold for the race. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the Magny Cours circuit, the start finish straight is quite short and the grid is fairly closely spaced.
A good start and good position into turn 1 is important. I got off the line well and made a space for myself into turn 1. I got straight into it and managed to make a few places on the brakes at the end of the back straight.
I knew a point’s finish was possible if I didn’t get too caught up in the early laps. I was pushing hard and got myself to the front of the pack I was in, just inside the points. Shortly after the 2nd lap the bike felt really flat and I had to go back to 1st gear to get enough drive to get out of the hairpin after the back straight. The dash showed a fault code flashing, which explained the lack of pull off the turns and reduced top end.
I tried to ride smoothly with as much corner speed as I could manage for the remaining 12 laps. I battled with quite a few different riders over the race distance and eventually finished 17th, disappointingly just outside the points, but fortunately this result didn’t affect my championship standing and I remained in the same position.
So off to the last round in a couple of weeks, in what we hope will be a sunny Portimao. This will not only be the finale of the season, but a brand new race circuit and one where the majority of riders will not have tested at prior to this meeting. I have every intention of pulling off a good result at this round!!!
Huge thanks to my family for all their hard work on the weekend.
