Friday - First Practice

Just like last season the opening practice was soaking wet, although this year it was slightly warmer, even if the puddles on circuit were slightly larger! The track felt like it had a lot more grip than last year also.

My opening laps were pretty good, smooth and consistently improving lap after lap, as I tried to find the best line and sort out my reference markers for braking and turn in. It was very similar to all the points id use in the dry, just with a lot less aggression.

I pitted just to make a few adjustments to the rear of the bike to help it grip on acceleration and it seemed fairly positive after we made the change. I didn’t get much chance to try it however as a few turns later and I was sliding down the track on my backside.

I’d high-sided out of Redgate and although I tried to save it I couldn’t and ended up facing the oncoming traffic. I picked the bike up but it was too bent to carry on and I’d slightly tweaked my shoulder again which began to hurt a few minutes after. Luckily the bike wasn’t as bad as first thought and the team got it back together in no time at all.

Friday - First Qualifying

The rain hadn’t gone away, and neither had the winds, which were now stronger than the opening session, especially down the lower end of the circuit by the old hairpin and Schwantz curve.

I started well, feeling confident in the bike and in my lines, with the bike giving good feedback thanks to a softer spring in the rear of the bike. It gave more traction and when accompanied with the new engine map, provided more drive. It was noticeable out of the Melbourne loop section, where the bike would now pick up and carry the front wheel.

I made a few more changes to the bike in the pits after completing three laps, just to get the front end to give more grip and a better feel, done by softening up the compression and taking a couple of turns of preload off.

It felt a lot more positive on the out lap and through the first sector on my flying lap I posted the ninth fastest sector time, only to fall for the second time of the weekend on the entry to MacLean’s turn. I’m not sure exactly what happened but again after picking the bike up it was apparent it had rolled over and thus I couldn’t ride it back to the pits. I hadn’t qualified at this point because of the crash.

Saturday - Second Practice

I was feeling a little bit beaten up after the previous day, and I just wanted to get round for the session, for all our sakes!

It didn’t start well, with the tyres stone cold I just couldn’t get any feeling, and it soon became apparent my confidence had taken a bigger knock than I first thought. I just focused on trying to be smooth and progressive and not do anything silly, unlike the last two sessions! The bike began to feel good and better than before, but with my relative lack of pace I was still struggling, and it seemed that no matter what I tried, I didn’t go that much faster.

It was a frustrating session, but I stayed on and got some good feedback for the team, ready for second qualifying in the afternoon.

Saturday - Second Qualifying

I was going to have to dig deep to get through the session and get in a decent time to get on the grid. The track was drying, but still wet enough to command full rain tyres, so it was just a case again of being smooth and building it up.

My first run made me feel a lot better. I’d gone a lot quicker than all previous sessions and was settling into a nice rhythm. I pitted just to make a few small changes to the bike to help on turn in stability.

I got back on track and just told myself to keep calm, relax and just ride. Next thing I know, I’m sliding down the back straight on my arse after another high-side. I remember swearing at myself and just saying “That’s it”, knowing it wasn’t going to be enough for me to qualify.

I was in tears when I got back to the truck, knowing what had just happened, and was mentally beating myself about, it wasn’t good, but I felt like I’d let the whole team and myself down. Fortunately the guys understood how much I’d struggle and just put it down as a bad day at the office.

Sunday - Race

It was only the second time I’d ever been forced to watch my race from the sidelines, and once again I was gutted not to be out there, but without a good enough time to qualify and realistically no bike to ride, it was just one of those things.

After a good night sleep and watching the race I’d calmed down and forgotten about the troubles. It’s the first time I’d ever had that bad a weekend, and for once, I just let it all go. I’m just looking forward to Magny-Cours and Portugal over the next couple of months. Fingers crossed it stays better and I get back up to where I know I can run in the field.

Round 8 of the FIM Superstock 1000 Championship at Donington in the UK finally came around after a month long break. The weather forecast was for drizzle, fog, rain, wind and thunderstorms, and that’s exactly what we got. The only relief we had was a brief moment on Thursday during setup, and intermittent parts of Sunday afternoon. I was confident of a good result, not deterred at all by a full wet weekend.

Friday - First Practice

Unfortunately the start of my weekend didn’t go as planned. In the early laps of first practice, on Friday morning’s rain soaked track, I highsided coming onto the straight out of the final hairpin. Not only was I then missing a lot of track time, but I also sustained an injury, in the form of a fractured scaphoid to my left hand.

Friday - First Qualifying

I headed into the afternoon qualifying session feeling worse for wear, however I was determined to put it out of my mind and start afresh. The pace was getting faster and I was still learning the track, so becoming familiar with the conditions was the most important thing. There were parts of the track that were very grippy and others, such as the final hairpin, that were catching riders out all day. 77 riders actually crashed on Friday alone.

Saturday - Second Practice

With the data we had gathered from the Friday afternoon session, I was feeling more confident with the conditions. This reflected in Saturday morning’s session, where I found quite a lot of time and more feel with the bike.

The weather conditions remained much the same all day, so at the very least the track was fairly consistent going into the final qualifying session, but with a glimmer of the rain easing, Saturday afternoon was the best the track had been all weekend.

Saturday - Second Qualifying

By this time my left wrist and hand were quite stiff. We are extremely fortunate in the WSB paddock, to have the services of Clinica Mobile, a tremendous group of very professional medical staff, who do an amazing job with the riders (and paddock crew) attending to all injuries, aches, pains and complaints. They operate, suture, x-ray, bandage, massage and whatever else is needed to keep the riders safely on track. On each occasion, prior to riding, they injected the area with several doses of anesthetic to numb the majority of the pain.

I went into the final session feeling cautious.. The rain had stopped but the track was still completely soaked. I felt my way around for most of the session before putting my best time in on the last lap. I qualified 19th. I wasn’t concerned at this stage as we were working on my pace through the last sector of the track, where I was losing most of my time. I had a lack of feel from the rear end of the bike when opening the throttle hard off slow turns, however my first 2 sectors were reasonably on pace.

Sunday - Race

I was 14th in Sunday morning warm up. By the time we were taking our grid positions the rain had stopped and there was much less water sitting on the track, and a couple of riders gambled for intermediates. We opted for full wets. The first lap of the race was carnage, a few riders went down right in front of me and I had to brake heavily to avoid them on more than one occasion.

By the time I came over the start finish line I had lost a lot of time and the race had spread out quickly. I crossed in 16th and the riders immediately in front of me were holding me up so I pushed hard to make a pass out of the old hairpin at the bottom of craner curves. Disappointingly, I pushed just a little too hard too soon and highsided out of the race.

It was a very frustrating moment and although I tried to rejoin the race, the brake lever had lost pressure so continuing was impossible. It was my first DNF this year. Over to Magny Cours in France in a couple of weeks for next round. I look forward to speaking to you all soon.

Friday - First Practice

I was feeling good to be back in the UK and racing on pretty much home soil. After a few laps I settled in nicely, and was just working on reference points and techniques learnt a few weeks previous on the California Superbike School.

I didn’t feel particularly fast, but I did feel smooth and consistent and it showed in the lap times. I was having some rear end grip issues but we made some small adjustments to the suspension and it helped improve the traction on exiting the turns.

Friday - First Qualifying

I had to push throughout this session; it was really hard to be honest. The times weren’t coming as quickly as I’d like, and I struggled to really get the bike to fire off the turns, especially on the medium to fast sections.

I made a few changes in the pits, to try n get the bike to squat and grip on the exit of the turns. It helped, but I was still struggling more than I usually do, and it made me push to hard and over-ride the bike. It wasn’t good, but by the end of the session we were heading in the right direction.

Saturday - Second Practice

Thanks to some help with Richard from Ohlins UK and Steve Jordan, we found some more positives with the suspension. The bike was more stable on the brakes and better on acceleration still, although was still quite slide when transitioning from the edge of the tyre to the shoulder.

Photos copyright © MotorBikesToday.com and Richard Handley 2007

Some great shots from the Melbourne Loop.

Photos copyright © Les Birch 2007

Finished the bike on the Thursday night. Did the essentials for scrutineering and then minor stuff like the chain and sprockets later in the evening.

Photos copyright @ MIST Suzuki Racing 2007

Friday - First Practice

Lovely and wet, oh how much fun! Typical British round at the start of April, but anyway it was same for everyone so it was simply a case of soften up the bike, jump onboard and go round the track at some sort of pace, but safely. And after the crash I had in testing the last word in that sentence was the most important!

I literally spent the session just riding round and getting a feel for the bike and just focused on being smooth and consistent throughout the lap. Despite a few scares and a few slides around Coppice, I was somewhat surprised t be in 17th! I thought I was dawdling round slower than anyone! Well that is what it seemed like after Van Keymuelen came past me sideways into the Old Hairpin…..nutter!

Friday - First Qualifying

At least it was dry this time round, but the bike just would not help me throughout the session. I just could not get on the gas hard enough without the bike stepping out and being sideways everywhere. It may have looked good, but without a steering damper either it was just plain damn scary! The constant wheelies didn’t help matters either, even if they were extremely fun!

I began to try to string it together but pushing was just not helping and made the bike even more unrideable. It reflected in the lowly place I found myself, at least we had another qualifying the next day, I was going to need it!

Saturday - Second Practice

A few more adjustments to the suspension made the bike ten times better and so much easier to ride. It made the bike feel like it actually wanted someone onboard it compared to the previous days sessions.

The newfound confidence was there and it helped me get the bike into, through and out of the turns much faster, and although the time improved marginally, I still needed some more vital seconds. I felt good though and looked forward to the second qualifying.

Saturday - Second Qualifying

“Well that was a painfully stupid thing to do” was all I could hear myself saying after being flung off the bike on the exit of Goddards, and damn did it hurt! That’s one just welcomed me to the world of the 1000cc race bike, and didn’t I know it! I cant remember exactly what happened but I tried a different line and it just simply didn’t work. I opened the throttle and then found myself looking at the sky, swiftly followed by a smack on my arse! In addition, I broke my skid lid, which I really didn’t want to be doing! I began to get the feeling the Donignton Park does not really like me. Worst thing following the crash was that I could hardly walk, which could prove to be a hindrance. Trip to Clinica was in order.

Sunday - Warm Up

I could still ride the bike, and it did not hurt too much. And the suspension was spot on thanks to Steve Jordan. I felt okay whilst on track for all of a lap, and then it just went funny! The bike was misfiring at the top revs so pulled it into the pits n left it for the team to fix .

Sunday - Race

I got a decent start, despite banging into one of the R1’s but I still didn’t care, it was just like motocross back in the good old days! I went manic for the first lap, just out braked, and slid past as many people as I could on the opening lap. It seemed to work, and all was going good until the flags came out. I’d been enjoying a battle with Barry Burrell, good to see nothing changed from 600’s, and tailed him past almost everyone in front of us, shame it didn’t last!

The restart went okay, then the clutch started playing up , and I couldn’t change gear. It was annoying as I just lost confidence in the bike and after overshooting turns and failing to stop for the hairpins on the last lap I just bought the bike home and was happy to be in one piece. Albeit a fairly bruised and battered piece.

I should be well recovered by Valencia so fingers crossed it goes better!

Having not been on a bike for what seems like an eternity it was safe to say that I was ecstatic when Mike informed me that we were booked on a test day at Donington Park, just a few short weeks before the opening round.

I couldn’t wait to get on the new bike, and although it’s still in the early stages of development, we still had a new-fangled, all-singing-all-dancing, Ohlins shock and fork internals, thanks to Steve at Steve Jordan Motorcycles. The plan for the day was simple, get used to the new bike, get used to the new tyres, get a good base set-up and figure out where the heck the track goes, having not visited the place for 6 years!

The first session I spent bedding in the new brakes and getting a feel for the bike. First impressions were simply amazing! The bike is just so fast and so nimble straight from the word go. After a handful of laps the bike started to feel more settled and I began to get some good feedback from both the new suspension set-up and the lovely and sticky Pirelli Supercorsa Pros.

Towards the end of the session I began to get more confident and started to get on the gas a little earlier and a little harder, while I tried to sort a number of reference points, to make learning the track easier, whilst also speeding up the learning process. After the first session we discussed the bike and set-up and just decided to keep things the same, as every part of the bike was still getting fully bedded in.

Session two was similar to the opening session, only I found myself going a lot faster into and out of the bends, while maintaining a much smoother line. The bike seemed to get better with every lap, and by the half way point I knew pretty much what was needed to help make the bike better suited to my needs. A few adjustments on the suspension made a world of difference by the middle of the day, and despite the rear tyre starting to deteriorate rapidly I still far comfortable on the machine, despite a few scares thanks to some sideways action around Coppice bend.

After realising the tyre was almost completely dead we went for a new plan out on track. The idea being to follow the fast riders, e.g. Howie Mainwaring and Martin Buckles on the MV Augustas, and see what they were doing differently to mean, in terms of riding style, lines, and use of the power of a 1000. Unfortunately neither wanted to play ball, and both either sat up or pulled into the pits as soon as I began to tail them. No harm in trying however.

The next session was to be much of the same, as well as learning how to control spin from the rear end on a dead tyre, for myself, something I have never really had to deal with to the same extent before. The session was going well and I felt really good on the bike, and then it somehow all went a little bit, well, wrong. I don’t know exactly what happened by remember entering Craner Curves, standing the bike up coming out of the right hand section and then, poof, blue smoke, grass, mud, upside down bike and me sliding down the hill on my backside.

It was a big, fast off and as I got up from a slide that seemed to last forever I was relieved to see the bike in pretty much one piece, albeit a rather bashed and bent piece. I’m guessing I just lost the front end, but really cant say why, all I know is neither myself, or the team needed it at this point in the season. At least I didn’t do too much damage. Sorry guys!

Hopefully I should be back out on the bike next week and by the looks of it we should have some more bits to add to the bike. This time I’m going to try and keep it upright and rubber side down for the entire day!

Just a couple of weeks to go and the bike is still no where near finished. The modified GSXR1000K6 race fairing is ready and the modified GSXR600K6 seat unit fit but that is about it.

The new Ohlins TTX36 rear shock arrived on Wednesday and was fitted on Thursday. The Ohlins 25mm fork internals arrived on Friday and were fitted by Steve Jordan at Brands Hatch on Saturday night. On Sunday Steve set up the suspension and come Monday morning we were driving up the M1 for a test at Donington Park.

As you can see from the pictures the bike looks pretty good. The fibre glass filler hidden beneath the stealth black paintwork. As you can also see it didn’t last long. A shot rear tyre and some bad luck giving Matt a shock as he found himself sliding down the road.

Photos copyright © MIST Suzuki Racing 2007