2008

Gareth Jones, 31/06/08 - 15/06/08
FIM Superstock 1000 Cup
Round 4

Friday - First Practice

Off to Germany, another new country to visit and the best part was yet another new race track. We arrived at the Nurburgring very late Wednesday night, ready for Thursday’s pit setup and scrutineering. It was also a bonus to me that my Dad was back again, to assist me and the team for two rounds, along with my good mate Lloyd who will be spannering for me for the rest of the year.

I was itching to get on track on Friday morning, I had only managed 2 laps on the scooter on Thursday afternoon in the pouring rain with Brendan Roberts, so I knew there was a lot of learning to be done. Initially, the circuit was dry for first practice but with only 3 laps down it started to drizzle, so most of the field pulled in.

After sitting out for 10 minutes I headed back out again to spend as much time as I could on track. The drizzle was settling by then and seconds were coming off my time each lap. The Nurburgring is 5.1 kms long and over 2 minutes a lap. I finished first practice in 18th. As usual, places were separated by hundredths of a second.

Friday - First Qualifying

We had a new shock which we were hoping to try before the Nurburgring meeting, but limited time meant we didn’t have a chance to test that before we arrived in Germany. For first qualifying Friday afternoon we opted to try the new internal shock configuration. This was much better than the shock we had been using, and I found quite a lot of time with it on track. However I could only manage 21st by the time the chequered flag was out at the end of the 25 minute session. The track proved to be quite technical and it was very clear how much time could be made or lost around the circuit. I was confident that by chipping away at the bigger problems we had, I could manage a quicker lap.

Saturday - Second Practice

Second practice on Saturday morning was dry and the way the tyre allocation works, it means that most riders are out on used tyres, which gives a good chance to use the track time to test settings on worn tyres. I have always had trouble with the steering on the Suzuki, so we tried a lighter set of forks springs which certainly helped through the tighter sections of the track. I came in several times to make changes and try to improve on the progress we had made.

Saturday - Second Qualifying

Second qualifying that afternoon was sure to be the decider for grid positions if it stayed dry, with a lot of the field dropping their times with each session. For this session we had made the decision to go with a firmer rear setting to help keep a tighter line. This second qualifying session is only 25 minutes, as opposed to the 45 minute first qualifying session so time is a lot tighter to find a good lap.

The weather was looking rather dull and we knew that we may only have a few laps before the rain hit. In fact, as I rode out of pit lane I didn’t even get to the first corner and is was pouring, so I pulled straight back into the pits and got my wets went on. Everything was ready to go on pit lane so I was quickly back on track. It wasn’t long before the rain stopped again but by now most of the track was soaked and the session would only allow for a good wet test session.

I got stuck into it and felt comfortable early, and I was surprised how grippy the surface was. I managed to put in numerous quick laps before the session ended.. When I came in I was thrilled to be told that I was the fastest rider on track by a margin of 3.2 seconds, much to the delight of the team! Needless to say I was quite happy with this and was really hoping for a wet track on race day!

Sunday - Warm Up

Race day came around all too quickly, and like all other meetings so far, just a few practice sessions too early! The weather was dull and overcast, so it was a matter of getting into the swing of things in morning warm up and using every last minute on the track to get the most from the bike we could. I was 16th in warm up and found another sizeable chunk of time but obviously it’s the race that counts.

Sunday - Race

An hour and a half later the field was gridded up and ready for a start. I got away well but once again there was a crash in turn 1 and I lost a few places avoiding it. However at the end of the lap 1 I was on the back of a large pack. I tried to move forward picking off a few riders as quickly as I could and found myself in 12th by mid race with Chris Seaton just ahead in 11th. With the final three laps to go, I started having problems. My brakes were pulling all the way into the bar and I was leaving myself quite open to getting out braked. I had to brake very early, pumping the brakes hoping to pull up in time to tip in.

Around the same time my quick shifter decided to start miss shifting, not allowing me to select some gears. I pushed on as best as I could, but unfortunately even though I was trying to ride very defensively, I lost a few positions and fell to 14th by the flag. All in all I was happy to have again been moving forward with the bike. It’s a hard game but I’m determined.

A special thanks must go to www.theaussieshop.co.uk who have very kindly sponsored me with two of their top of the range swags, so Mum and I can camp in the pits at the tracks which alleviates the dramas of getting to the tracks in the mornings and the added expense of accommodation. This is a terrific help, thanks very much.

Talk to you all after San Marino next weekend.

Gareth Jones, 09/05/08 - 11/05/08
FIM Superstock 1000 Cup
Round 3

Friday - First Practice

Two weeks after Round Two at Assen we headed off to Monza in Italy, yet another new country to visit and of course a new race track. I’d heard that Monza was a great fast track so I couldn’t wait to get back on the bike. The Suzuki has proven to be able to well and truly hold its own in a straight line, so if there was any circuit going to wind a bike out, Monza it was.

We arrived at the track Thursday morning to finish getting setup as usual and the bikes ready to go. As soon as that was seen too, on the scooter I was to check out the track. I did a few laps with my good mate Chris Seaton who had raced there recently and could give me a bit of a run down of the circuit.

On a side note, being able to look around the circuit was also a real history lesson. Monza is like a big park, the race track runs through the middle of an enormous forest, which is also home to the old Autodrome which Monza became famous for. It was really interesting to see the old track and the huge banking that appears in parts of the park.

I was keen to be on the track for as long as possible to do as many laps as I could to get familiar with the high speed circuit. For those of you who don’t know the basic layout, Monza consists of very high speed straights and very tight chicanes, with a just a few fast flowing corners. Braking hard and getting on the gas hard was of the essence, and there was so much time to be gained or lost in these sections.

Friday - First Qualifying

The second session on Friday afternoon is a 45 minute qualifier, so we have a chance to make quite a few adjustments mid session, while still learning the track, before putting in a new set of tyres near the end, to try and put down a time. I pitted several times making changes, chasing the setup. As I’ve said in previous reports, I have had quite a lot of difficulty getting things right on the Suzuki, so the team has been working hard with me to get this sorted. I finished the qualifier in 19th position.

Saturday - Second Practice and Qualifying

Saturday, as usual consists of morning practice and a final 25 minute qualifier in the afternoon. We had made some substantial changes to the forks for the morning and I found it to be a benefit in a lot of places on the track. Therefore I felt that I would be able to improve on my position in the afternoon. We also felt that we could improve those changes we had made by making some more adjustments for the afternoon session. This required another set of forks to be built, and they were not going to be ready in time for the qualifier.

Disappointingly, we had to keep the same internal settings that were to be altered for the qualifier in the afternoon. We changed the spring rate hoping to have a similar effect. The change wasn’t as eventful as I had hoped and to make matters worse, on my out lap I had a serious technical fault that only allowed me to complete 1 flying lap. I pitted several times in the hope to locate the problem but time ran out and I ended the session having dropped several places to a very disappointing 25th.

Sunday - Warm Up

Having had trouble in qualifying, and not having had the forks to try in that session, meant that I would have to use morning warm up as a test session, which obviously is quite a gamble. The forks went in and I found them to be a better choice.

Sunday - Race

Only an hour and a half later I took my grid position for the race. I will mention here, that turn 1 at Monza is extremely tight for even a few riders, without bottle necking 40 bikes in there, straight off the start. Those of you who saw the footage would know what happened. As one British newspaper quoted, “40 into 1 won’t go”. As the whole field ran into the first chicane flat-out, one rider hit another, triggering a massive incident.

As these two tumbled, more bikes were collected, including some that were in front of the accident, when the bikes spewed forward at speed, and to add insult to injury, another rider taking to the grass to avoid the carnage, couldn’t wash off enough speed and took out another two with him. 11 riders in all went down. This is certainly not something you’d like to witness too frequently. Luckily I just managed to avoid it. The rider that first went down was just off to my right, so it was a matter of getting through without getting taken out.

My start was good and I had already made up quite a few positions, so I didn’t hesitate in getting into it flat out, as soon as I got through the crash. As I came around after the opening lap onto the straight my board showed I was in 12th position. By mid race I had moved up into 9th and had a decent gap behind me. There was a pack of riders a few seconds ahead of me and I was pushing to get onto the back of them. It’s so hard to chase down a group when they are towing each other along. There were plenty of times where I used the entire track and then some, but try as I might, I had to settle for 9th. A top 10 result is definitely a step in the right direction and the time from the leader was 10 seconds better than Assen, which was the most pleasing thing for me.

Racing in this class is ultra competitive but we are moving forward one step at a time. The next round is at Germany’s Nurburgring in just over a month’s time. However we head back to Italy in a couple weeks for a test at Misano. Hopefully the extra track time will put us in a good position to be more competitive for round 4 and with any luck, bring home a better result once again. Standing on podium is hopefully getting closer with every ride!

Matt Bond, 09/05/08 - 11/05/08
FIM Superstock 1000 Cup
Round 3

Friday - First Practice

This was to be the first test for my shoulder following treatment from Brian Simpson, and I was hoping it would be good and stable throughout the weekend.

Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to even see if it was okay on the brakes entering the first chicane as the motor when bang at the end of the very first lap! I was gutted to say the least, but I made it back to the pits, so I didn’t have to walk too far back to the truck!

Friday - First Qualifying

The first qualifying was my first chance to get a decent set-up and test myself, so I just took the session steady, gradually building my pace and just feeling what the bike was doing and what needed adjusting.

I did the simple three lap routine of out lap, fast lap and in lap. It worked well as it really helped me focus on what was going on and what reference points I was using. It helped me re-learn the track a lot faster also, even if I was struggling to get a few parts sorted.

I changed my lines and markers pretty much each time I went out on track, and really only started to find some consistency towards the end of the session, but I was pleased with the times and how the bike was behaving, and only needed a small gearing and suspension adjustment ready for Saturday.

Saturday - Second Practice

The changes we made to the bike really improved things, making the bike a lot easier to ride, via less gear changes through the tight and twisty sections and also improved handling through the faster sections.

A few more tweaks through the session managed to resolve the chatter problems I was having in the fast sections, which gave me a lot more confidence in the front end of the bike, enabling me to fell more in control and smoother with my riding. The bike was feeling good, and seemed to be doing what I wanted it to, without too many problems.

I began to push to see how late I could brake and how hard I could turn, and although I ran on a few times, it was beginning to come together a lot better. I caught a few tows around the track and it helped me gauge where I needed to improve and also showed me how. I made a few adjustments in terms of line at a couple of turns but otherwise it was good.

Saturday - Second Qualifying

I was going to have to push it to get further up the grid, and I knew it wouldn’t be easy, especially with my shoulder starting to become more and more painful, but once again the team got the bike even better than before and I felt much better straight away.

The plan was just to get out there and follow everyone and get a tow throughout the session, there was no way it would be easy but I knew I had to just push it as much as I could.

Halfway through the session and id knocked a fair wedge of time off my previous best, but the rear tyre was starting to go off and after a few scary moments I decided to get the new tyre fitted for the last third of the session, in the hope it would give us the time we needed to move forward on the grid.

I didn’t get a good tow from here on and had to work extra hard on my own, and I made another improvement in time but not as much as any of us had hoped, and I kept making silly errors trying to push it harder and harder. I saved front end slides at the Ascari chicane and Parabolica curve, but only through trying too hard, not through being on the edge, and I was fairly deflated by the qualifying result. But, having less track time than all the other guys was the main reason I was struggling, coupled with a completely standard bike, it wasn’t a million miles away from where I wanted to be come raceday.

Sunday - Race

I got my shoulder heavily strapped in preparation for the race, as it had by now become a hindrance, but despite all the problems I was just focusing on going forward in the race.

I got a decent start and was heading forwards until I saw a big cloud of smoke and backed right off, just as the carnage occurred entering the first chicane. I knew it was going to happen, but I didn’t think it would be that hectic! I just picked my way through the debris and fallen riders and then set about getting back the places I’d lost in the mêlée.

By the end of the first lap I’d got into a group of guys I remember being a fair bit higher up the grid than I was so I knew I’d gone forward in terms of places, and tried to make a few more on the brakes at the first chicane, but noticed the waving yellow flags, so backed off, with a plan to make the places at the next chicane.

It didn’t happen, but what did at least got me some TV coverage! I can’t really remember what happened, but I just remember suddenly speeding up while braking and not being able to avoid Danny De Boer. Next thing I can recall is trying to get my breath back and wondering where I was!

Apparently I’d been hit from behind and had no-where to go but into De Boer. I felt really bad about it, but as it wasn’t my fault I was told not to worry. I was really gutted to have crashed out of 17th at the time, I’m certain we’d have been well in the points and I was feeling great before the incident. At least I know we’ve got the bike almost all the way there, and my riding is getting back up to standard, so I’m pretty confident for Nurburgring in a few weeks, as long as my body has repaired by then! Back to Brian’s again for some magical body fixing!