Matt Bond @ Brands Hatch WSB round

MIST Suzuki Racing - New Truck Graphics

Not Quite The Champion of Brands… Gareth Jones on the podium

Gareth Jones @ Champion of Brands

Gareth Jones @ Champion of Brands

After arriving in the UK 2 weeks ago, I was eager to get on a bike and get some testing in before Round 1 at Valencia in Spain. Up until only a few days before we left Australia, it was our intention to come to the UK and ride in the R1 Cup, running in conjunction with the British Superbike Series.

However, we became aware of the Mist Suzuki team and shortly after speaking with them, we were keen to race the FIM European Superstock Cup aboard Mist Suzuki’s GSXR 1000 K8. We met with Mike, the team boss, shortly after landing and discussed testing with the team at Valencia. All went well and we booked our flights to Valencia the next day. I was looking forward to the opportunity to ride this series as it was fast tracking my goal, which was to look at this series for 2009.

We arrived at Valencia for the test and met my team mate Matt Bond. I was quite excited about getting onto the track and hopefully start getting the bike sorted for Round 1, only a week and a half later. I had no doubts that this was definitely going to be a hard task as I’ve never ridden a Suzuki and never ridden a European track before. So there were a lot of things to get right and not a lot of time to do so. Mike and Matt made me feel very welcome in the team and we were all eager to get the bikes sorted.

I got the basics in position and headed onto the track, keeping in mind we had 4 days to get it working, so a slow and steady approach would be the way to go. I spent quite a few laps getting a feel for everything and coming in to make changes every few laps, just to get the best possible feel for the bike and reaction to changes. Day 1 went quite well and on the last lap of the day I had brought my time down to a 1:41.7. I was happy as I knew we had a long way to go with the bike and with myself getting comfortable on it.

The following day we started out with a fresh set of tires and continued to change some geometry in the first session, however only a few laps into the second session as I came into turn 1, which is pretty fast, I changed my line to avoid some traffic, and I moved out onto some cracker dust that had been put down the day before after some oil was dropped. This resulted in a fast crash. The front just folded like I was on a wet track when I was almost straight up and down on the brakes. I end up deep into the gravel of turn 1 and surprisingly I didn’t really injure myself apart from a hyper extended wrist. The crash caught me totally by surprise so I was really annoyed and frustrated to see the new bike looking pretty messy. It was not great, but fixable at the track. Dad later informed me I did a 1.40.1 on that lap.

I didn’t feel good about this at all, especially as it was my first test with the team, but these things happen in racing and Mike and my Dad got straight onto getting the bike back together. Unfortunately my luck didn’t get much better and I wasn’t able to get back on track that day. The next day we put a fresh set of tires in to start the day, however when I went out we had a really bad vibration coming from the rear of the bike, especially around right hand corners. Finding this very strange, it took some time to eliminate a lot of possibilities, and we eventually found the tire to be out of round! How’s the luck. I understand this isn’t uncommon, although I have never come across it before. Out the window went that set of tires and in went an old set. I had one more new set left and one more full day so I didn’t do too many more laps in order to save tires until we had the bike feeling better. I had a lot of trouble getting a comfortable setup, my major problem being an almost complete lack of front end feel. We didn’t have the facilities to make an internal change so Mike and I persisted with what we had for this test knowing that we could make the necessary changes for the race round a week later.

Next day came and we didn’t get on track until around lunch time as the track temp was cold and wind was quite strong. We tried another geometry change in the afternoon and finally threw in out last set of tires when there was next to nothing left on what we had, this was a good exercise to get a feel for the Suzuki on worn tires.

Once again I headed out and found the vibration was back again. I came straight in and didn’t think it was possible to get 2 tires out of round. This time, not nearly as pronounced, but still there. Nevertheless I went back on track, put 2 more laps in and to my surprise broke into the 39’s. All in all, it was a very trying time, and with all things considered it certainly was not one of the best tests I’ve done. Mike was very helpful and did his best to get everything the way I’d like it. So I’m sure it will be onwards and upwards from here, and I’m very eager to get on the track and amongst it at Round 1. I’m confident of getting the Suzuki sorted to suit my riding style, and I’m looking forward to working closer with the Mist Suzuki team.

After a successful test in Almeria I was looking forward to jumping aboard the new bike and seeing just what changes there were from the old machine to the new. I also couldn’t wait to meet my new team mate, Australian Gareth Jones, and his parents, Glyn and Gill.

Day One.

As soon as we wheeled the bike out into pit lane it felt different. The bike felt a lot lighter, sharper and more nimble. It was as if someone had completely removed the front end of the bike and just left a single strip of metal with some bars and a wheel. It was a quite odd feeling.

On track the prepared engines felt really crisp and smooth on acceleration and had a load of top end grunt also. The initial set-up on the bike wasn’t too bad, thanks to using the settings from Almeria as a base. A few tweaks here and there helped keep the bike settled on the brakes and turn in, and once the new performance friction pads had bedded in, the bike was stopping really well, and felt very stable.

After a couple of sessions it was apparent that the forks were at their limit, and although Gareth decided to put the new Ohlins cartridge items into his bike, I opted to stay with the standard set until day two. I just focused on the lines I was using and the reference points I was going to be using over the test weekend.

Day Two.

With the new forks fitted it was time to do some hard laps to get a feel for the new cartridge kit and to find a good setting from which we could work on and improve the bike.

The front end was noticeably different and gave loads more feedback and feel, especially mid turn at the apex. It did feel odd at first until the fork settled in and got some oil around itself, after this we just focused on getting it to travel the full stroke length and compress at the correct rate when braking hard.

We made a few more changes to the rear end to try and help the bike maintain side grip and also we raised the rid height just to help turn the bike faster. It put more emphasis on the front end of the bike as well, which was good as it helped me to carry more corner speed and hold a good line on the mid turn and exit of the tighter bends.

It was gutting to see Gareth hit the deck at turn one about half way through the session, especially when we’d both started going forward and posting some top lap times. I just focused on continuing our forward progress, and get a decent qualifying lap in for the afternoon’s “Open Race”, which would see all the fast guys out in a time trial event.

With a rolling lap starting the race it was a bit manic with riders n bikes all over the track on the opening lap and I just had to dive up the inside of some of the 600 guys entering the first turn. A couple of laps in and I had settled into a comfortable third place and began to chase down the two riders in front, one on Superbike and the other being Jonathan Gallina, who I will be competing against in a couple of weeks! I made a few mistakes and had to relax back into my rhythm and once done my times started to improve once again and then it started raining and I just pulled straight in, there was no point in risking falling in a fun race that didn’t mean anything to be honest.

Day Three.

With the weather back to the expected glorious Spanish sunshine of the first day I was keen to get in a large amount of laps and try some new set-ups with the ride height of the bike, with the plan to help keep the bike balanced, but maintain turn in and lower weight transfer from opposing ends of the bike, also.

The first half of the day went well with the new set-up taking a bit of time to get used to as it all felt too slow and unstable, but after a number of laps and a few more tweaks to the suspension we managed to pretty much sorted any worries I’d previously had.

Being higher up on the bike certainly helped improve the feel and feedback form both the front forks and rear shock, and it really reduced the weight transfer when braking hard. It meant I could brake later than before and still turn in just as hard, making it easier to ride the circuit, and helped make the lap times more consistent as well.

I spent the afternoon just focusing on my riding techniques to try and help me find out what I needed to do to improve my lap times. It was mainly standing the bike up onto the fat part of the tyre and firing out of the turns which were my priority. I gained a clear idea of how to do this after following Gareth for a few laps; it was amazing to see how different we each ride the bikes. I tend to run more corner speed, whereas Gareth tends to stop, turn and fire out. I guess we can both learn little bits from each other over the season!

Day Four.

The final day of our test was going to be used to further improve the set-up on the bike and also to push hard towards improving the best lap time I had already set. Some laps in the morning were fairly clear as many of the riders form the previous days had gone home, but some new guys had turned up for the track day and were extremely dangerous and very slow! I had some really close calls when they just decided to sit it up mid turn n pretty much stop on the racing line while I’m coming through at full pace! It’s not the best situation in the world.

Anyway, we still got in some useful testing and pretty much had the bike dialled in really nicely, after solving a few rear end grip issues. The bike was now turning good, holding the line superbly and had just the right amount of traction and spin when exiting the bends. The only problem we had been with trail braking and turning in while braking, but this was something we can resolve back at home, by removing a few mils of oil from the forks.

We put a new rear tyre in the bike and kept the 20 lap old front tyre in and just gave it three laps to go hard and see what we could come up with, lap time wise. It was really good, the bike felt smooth and fluid and despite the lack of front end grip and the problem with the brakes I posted my fastest lap, at 1.40.1.

It was really good, a big improvement over last year and now I just can’t wait for the opening round. It’s going to be good and I’m really looking forward to seeing and racing the whole new field of teams and riders. Ciao for now!

With the first two of our 2008 bikes stripped down as part of the build process and two test sessions planned for March everything seemed to be going smoothly for the race team. A sudden change of plan was required when the first test was cancelled at short notice.

Our friends at Racedays.net kindly offered us space on their Almeria test but given the short notice there was little we could do to prepare the 2008 bikes in time so we opted to use the spare 2007 machine that we had bought when we needed another engine back in August last year. We fitted our spare rear sets, bodywork, exhausts and steering damper, loaded it in to the van and set off for the 1550 mile drive to the South of Spain.

We were concerned initially as to whether the test would be worthwhile as our Ohlins fork internals, braided brake lines, clip ons, etc. had yet to arrive and we still hadn’t managed to source the Yoshimura ECU and other parts we needed to build a competitive SuperStock bike. Regardless even some time on a standard bike would be useful as Matt hadn’t ridden since the last round in early October 2007 and was bound to take some time to get back up to speed.

It was the first visit to Almeria for both Matt and the team and everyone was soon running through regular process for learning a circuit, defining reference points and other drills we go through. There were plenty of well known faces in the paddock to help with the Racedays MasterClass, a more intensive level of tuition from respected racers, including Leon and Ron Haslam (Factory Honda rider in British SuperBikes and ex-500GP respectively), Jeremy McWilliams (ex-British SuperBike, ex-500GP and ex-250GP) and Iain Macpherson (ex-British SuperBike and ex-World SuperSport). The class was fully booked so we had to work on Matt’s riding approach and techniques together as a team.

Rather than being out of practice Matt took to the new circuit quickly and after some advice on a couple of corners was soon picking up speed. The format of the Racedays.net event is plenty of Open Pitlane time coupled with a qualifying session and a variety of races to keep things interesting. Initially I wasn’t keen on Matt racing but it soon became clear the only way he was going to be able to learn from the instructors was to race against them I relented albeit it under strict instructions to stay our of trouble. I have to admit to being swayed by the fact that he qualified second overall just behind Leon Haslam and 1.4 seconds faster than Jeremy McWilliams and Ron Haslam.

We sat out most of the final Open Pitlane session to conserve our last set of tyres although Matt did a couple of laps following some advice from Ron on one particularly complex section of track where he was struggling to turn the bike fast enough. After declaring himself happy with the new approach to the corner and spending some more time talking through his lines through each of the corners it was time for the race itself.

Matt got away well and led in to the first corner opening up a small lead while Leon Haslam dealt with the traffic through the first few corners. Aside from a couple of mistakes a few laps in it took Leon until lap nine to catch up with Matt and he only managed to pass when Matt backed off approaching a backmarker on the way in to turn one. With Matt on his tail and both riders struggling for grip Leon led for the final laps with the pair separated by just 0.5 seconds after the 80 kilometre race with Ron Haslam some 30 seconds back.

It was only after event that we found Matt had lost his knee slider early on in the race when he hit his knee on a kerb. He bravely continued to race on and still got his knee down along the way. By the end it had worn through all the layers of leather and also the outer skin of the protective armour. He did say it felt a bit windy down the back straight so he knew that he had probably worn all the way through but kept on going regardless! I hope we can persuade Teknic to supply another set of leathers before the start of the season.

Leon was very complimentary about Matt’s riding and declared that had he not been able to pass when he did it was unlikely that he would have had enough grip left to attempt the same move later in the race. Obviously the team were delighted and Matt was very happy at having ridden a great race and having the ability to watch and learn from Leon at such close quarters. It was an excellent start to the season and everyone is looking forward to testing the fully prepared 2008 SuperStock bike at Valencia next month.

We were even more delighted when we found out that Matt had managed to get within 2.5 seconds of the unofficial SuperStock lap record set by the 2007 SuperStock Champion, Niccolo Canepa, on his fully prepared factory Xerox Ducati 1098 in testing before the season started last year. Matt was also faster on a standard bike than the then reigning British SuperStock champion Brendan Roberts, also on a factory Xerox Ducati 1098, at the same test last year although it has to be said that Brendan didn’t manage to complete the second day of his test due to injury.

With another test scheduled with Racedays.net at Valencia in March prior to the first race at the same circuit the question everyone is asking is how much of an improvement the addition of Ohlins suspension, Pirelli SuperCorsa Pro race tyres, Yoshimura ECU, quick shifter and quick action throttle will make to those times.

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

After the final round of the European Superstock 600 series at Magny Cours I flew back home for a few weeks rest before Mike & Gerry Bryce of Racedays.net organised for myself to go out to the Spanish circuit of Jerez for a test on a Superstock specification GSXR1000. Now bear in mind I’d never been to the track before, the bike was suspension guru Steve Jordan’s pride and joy (he sold his Nissan Skyline to afford it) and I was to “take it easy”, everything should have been a simple ride round, get used to the speed of a thousand and get by without too many incidents, well, yes… kind of.

We arrived at the circuit on day one, and knowing I wasn’t going to be riding, I decided to go for a training run around the outside of the circuit. Probably a bad idea with me being full of cold and it being midday. Anyway off I went at a normal running pace and about halfway round I realised just how long it was going to take me and just how big the hills lining the track are, bloody massive if you must know! I returned to the pits feeling like I’d been shoved in an oven for the last two hours at gas mark 7 and thinking that I was never going to be doing that again for a while. Anyway, back on track everyone was pootling around whilst I enjoyed the spectacle of Mr. Leon “Loon” Haslam and Jeremy McWilliams, roast the nuts off their 750’s along with Iain MacPherson doing his equal best to keep pace. All three were, as ever, phenomenally fast. Sitting back in the pits talking to the three stars was a good laugh all day, and I’m glad to say everyone went home safe and sound, ready for a good meal and drink that evening.

Day two and I finally jumped on board a bike, albeit Sarah Jordan’s marvelous ThunderBike. I have to admit that was probably the most fun bike I have ridden in ages! It was so light and nimble and had enough torque to rip Arnie’s arms from their sockets let alone my scrawny sticks! It was amazing the lean angles you could get were simply unbelievable. But then came the proper machine. Steve’s meticulously prepared GSXR1000. I was just edging towards it when I remembered Mike and my old man’s last words “Just don’t go binning it” and looking into Steve’s eyes as I rolled out from the pits I knew he was as nervous as me. No surprise really, would you let a nineteen year old hooligan jump aboard your favourite ride?

Within about half a lap I thought “Stuff it, lets open this thing up, she can’t be that fast”… Oh hell was I wrong! Out of the last turn I nailed it and nearly went straight over the rear! It wheelied through every gear change, it was awesome! I then started working on hitting the lines around the track and putting into practice everything I had learnt from MIST Suzuki and the Racedays instructors from the 2006 season. Within four laps I was beginning to really enjoy myself, maybe a bit too much as down the pit straight I changed down to fifth as I entered the first turn and then… Oh shit, I can’t change anymore! That gravel trap looks appealing right now. Wait I’m ok, I saved it, phew. I managed to keep it out of the gravel and on the black stuff. I toured back to the pits and gingerly passed the bike back to Steve, saying “Sorry mate, it just… blah… blah… blah”. Thankfully only a bolt had come loose, so no harm done. Later in the day I got another chance to jump on board the bike, and it began to feel smooth and tractable, but still a damn sight faster than my 600! I just kept putting the laps in until the fuel light came on and then returned to the pits with a huge beaming smile across my stupidly happy face. And to top it off, I went faster than Steve!

Day three and again I didn’t do much but got a third ride on board Steve’s machine and I just kept on riding round, speeding up bit by bit throughout the session. Despite a dodgy front tyre I still managed to improve once more and although not being timed I did catch and stick with Malcolm Ashley (runs in BSB Privateers Cup) and his times were a lot faster than what I had been running, so maybe I snuck in a faster time than Steve but he was, on paper at least, faster by about 0.3 seconds, bloody old guy. I’ll get you next time boss!

Really all I can say is I learnt a lot more than I thought I would from under an hour on board the bike. I found that the bigger bike suits my size and riding style a lot better than the 600. I found the machine a lot easier to ride, and once I’ve mastered the controlling of the wheelies I’m sure I will be fine. I just really want to race one in 2007!

Huge thanks and praise goes out to Gerry at Racedays.net, these guys are the dog’s danglies when it comes to organisation, track time, service and instruction. Honestly doubt you’ll find anyone worldwide who does it better than these guys. I can’t thank them enough for what they have done for me. The instruction has brought me on so much as a rider and the amount of track time I have had with them is far superior to anywhere in the UK.

Big thank you to the following folks:

• Gerry Bryce & the crew @ Racedays.net
• MIST Suzuki Racing (Cheers Mike)
• Steve & Sarah Jordan for use of the bikes and looking after me all weekend
• Hotel Le Ceuva (Sorry I left the room in a mess)
• Leon & Ollie Haslam
• Jeremy McWilliams
• Iain MacPherson
• All the people on the Racedays trip & academy for making it memorable

Cheers guys!

Summary

We finally managed to book ourselves some much needed testing time on the Brands Hatch GP circuit, and I for one, was going to make the most of it and get the bike and myself ready for the upcoming round.

The first session saw us take a few laps behind a travelling marshal before they “released the hounds” so to speak. Instantly I could feel the bike moving and sliding a lot, due to the tyres still being on from the Brno round a few days prior to this test. Never the less I got stuck in and just put into practice a few of boss man Mike’s ideas and began making a catalogue of reference points in my head. I began to adjust these as the session wore on and just as I was getting into a decent rhythm of running the points further and further one of the track day heroes decided to throw his wonderful Ducati 998 down the tarmac and cause a premature end to the session.

Session two went a lot more smoothly as we began to build up the pace, and with the adjusted gearing now on the bike, it seemed a lot more ride able. I began to build up the pace and after catching and passing fellow Euro Stock 600 rider Mads Odin Hodt; I was feeling quite confident and fairly quick too. Once again the session was bought to a premature end thanks to another bike heading into the kitty litter, but I wasn’t too fussed as id began to work my references really well and they’d begun to string together nicely.

For session three we decided a new set of tyres was in order, after a fair few big front and rear end slides towards the end of the second session. They felt so much better after riding on what was effectively completely shot rubber at the start of the day. With the new Pirelli’s working well I got my head down and began to push into every turn that little bit harder and accelerate that little bit sooner and more aggressively. It was going well until I caught a whole gaggle of track day riders and rather than risk it I just picked them off one or two at a time, giving them all plenty of room. Well, didn’t want to get tangled up or scare them did I, would I do a thing like that, with my reputation? Once again the session was ended early as yet another bike lost adhesion, and yet again we trundled back to the pits passing a very unhappy rider on the edge of the circuit.

Back on track after lunch for session number four and I got in a number of decent, fast and clear laps, despite Mads trying to tail me, I was still able to get myself free, without showing him too much ion the way of lines, braking points, etc. Thanks to advice from Mike, I was well aware of what would happen if he did get on my tail. The rest of the session seemed to fly by, right until, you guessed it, another rider decided to face plant into the wonderful Kent scenery. Maybe I was missing something, were they giving away prizes for the days best dismount?

After the fourth crash in as many sessions we (and by we I mean the entire group!) got a severe talking to from the clerk of the course, who threatened to put a travelling marshal out on track with us. It seemed to work as no-one jumped ship for the rest of the day. Now why couldn’t they have said all that before lunch? Anyways the session was really uneven; I’d get a few laps clear and then get completely stuffed as I tried to get through a group of five or six riders and then I’d get a few more clear laps and then hit more traffic. I didn’t really get to string anything together and the session was kind of wasted, although I was able to test a few overtaking places thanks to catching the groups in roughly the right places.

Session number five was the fastest and smoothest session of the entire day. Everything clicked into place perfectly and when it came to traffic I was through without incident every time. I was really able to push my reference points, and began to ride the bike hard. I felt at ease as well and was really relaxed and just found myself able to get from point to point, with the bike at full speed, with no problems whatsoever. It was great to be as one with the machine. Even though the bike was out of line at various points around the circuit as I either backed it into Druids or spun it up out of Sheene curve, I never felt out of control and damn was I having fun out there! Especially memorable was doing three bikes in a row on the brakes entering Hawthorne’s, don’t think any of them saw that coming! And we got a full 20 minutes on track thanks to no-one dumping it! Bonus!

The final session was spent just bedding in some brake pads ready for the meeting, and I also used it just to make double sure of where al my reference points were. After a few laps I pulled back into the pits and called it a day. Nothing else needed to be done and I was happy with the set up. Confidence is high ready for the round in a few weeks time. Fingers crossed it’s a good one!

Despite usually competing in the European Superstock 600 Championship, Matt took the opportunity to compete at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire, in the highly competitive MRO SuperSport 600 series.

Despite running a relatively low specification machine compared too many of his fellow competitors in the class, Matt was returning to run in the UK for only the second time this season and was using the meeting as testing time, to help prepare his MIST Suzuki for the upcoming round of the European series, which will be held at the Czech circuit of Brno.

Saturday - Qualifying

A steady start in both qualifying sessions suffering with a few minor suspension problems which were quickly resolved by Ohlins specialist Steve Jordan led to a time good enough to earn 21st place on the grid for the opening “Super Pole” race of the afternoon.

Saturday - SuperPole Race

After a respectable start and despite opting to back out of the melee in the first turn, Matt ended the opening lap inside the top 20. For the next few laps he settled into a consistent rhythm and made good progress forward through the field, despite having to take avoiding action to miss a falling Pat Sheridan. On the final lap of the race Bond managed to pass another rider and took a respectable 16th place finish, five places forward from where he had started.

Sunday - Race 1

For Sunday Matt was in a more confident mood, and with further adjustments made to his GSXR600 K6 Suzuki was focused on improving his lap times and gaining further feedback from the machine to help further the ever continuing development process. The opening race began well withe another fast start and was already battling into the top 20 and, after avoiding a rapidly slowing Darren Whymark, exited the opening bend in 19th place.

Bond instantly became involved in a five bike battle although he struggled to keep pace on the straights, where his bike was significantly down on top speed against the tuned competition, he more than made up for it in the turns and was enjoying one of his best rides this season. By mid race Matt had become stuck behind Simon Sinnott and struggled to get past the Honda rider. Two laps later however and Bond made a stunning manoeuvre, forcing his way around the outside of the man in front and instantly improved his lap times and began to close on the group of riders just ahead. Despite his best efforts, time ran out for the teenager, who crossed the finish line in 18th place, but with an ever improving lap time Bond was happy with the outcome.

Sunday - Race 2

The final race came to the line and a flying start, the best he had managed all weekend and was instantly inside the top 16 by the end of the first lap. Being involved in a battle with four other riders forced Bond to concentrate hard and it showed as the Suffolk rider put in his best lap times of the weekend. Lap after lap he improved and it was entering the last lap where Bond showed his true class. After losing a place on the main straight Bond made a fantastic out braking manoeuvre to move ahead of Jonathan Wadie and then of the crowd thrilling mountain section Bond literally jumped past Pat Sheridan, to the joy of his MIST Suzuki team boss Mike Edwards. Bond held his position forcefully and crossed the line in 14th place, his best result of the meeting. A jubilant Bond returned to the pits with head held high, knowing that the work of not only himself but also the MIST Suzuki team, will put them in good position for the upcoming Brno round.

Conclusion

Matt Bond would like to thank all the sponsors and supporters and hopes that a good result at Brno will be returned for the continued effort of everyone in the team.

Paddock photos copyright @ MIST Suzuki Racing 2006

Viva L’Espagne

Wednesday morning, 9:00am. After joining up with the Bond contingent at Dover, we boarded the ferry on our mission to Valencia. In record time, they were sick of my endless chattering by approximately 9:02am! The boat was fun, we won a whole £1 on the quiz machine which I was delighted with. Then Matt pointed out we’d spent more than a tenner trying to win, dammit!

Once off the ferry and on the road the journey seemed to take forever so Matt and I passed the hours away by seeing if it was possible to talk the fastest lap of Valencia! I also indulged in the mindless pap that is sudoku and feel very ashamed to admit it!

Come Friday and we finally got the chance to ride in our first session on track, exciting enough after the winter lay off, but with the added bonus of following a certain Mr. McWilliams of GP fame. Within a few laps we were starting to get a feel for the lines around the challenging Ricardo Tormo Circuit. After the first session Matt and I were separated on fastest laps by something like 5/100ths of a second! Throughout the remaining sessions we gradually got faster with Matt getting down to a lap time of 1min 47seconds. Saturday morning gave the opportunity for some video work, with Jeremy riding round with us filming from behind then from in front. This gave us the opportunity to see not only our own riding styles, but also to see the difference between the lines we should be on and the lines we were on! It was a real eye opener leading to comments like:

“I could have sworn I was closer to the apex than that!”

and

“Nah that can’t be me riding, I didn’t brake there, summat wrong with your camera mate!”.

So determined to make a better job of meeting apexes and riding the correct lines, we continued to lap, under the watchful eye of Jeremy who was on hand at all times to give tips and pointers enabling us to get the lap times lower. We finished the day both on 1:47 lap times (although Matt was a few tenths of a second faster but I’m not going to admit that!). We spent Sunday watching the other riders, especially the Stiggy Motorsports team rider who was going into the first turn so sideways there was blue smoke from his rear tyre, mental!

Monday

Cimbed the mountain (ok, hill) behind the track in the pouring rain and named it “Mount CG”. Got very wet. And cold. And got blisters on my feet. Should have thought more carefully about that!

Tuesday

Climbed “Mount CG” again, in the sunshine this time!

Bought some “double pluggies” (that’s sandals to most people!) and did loads of revision (ahem) for uni work.

Wednesday

Gave Mount CG a miss, revised instead (hope my lecturers read this!!).

Went to find the sea/beach with Roger. Now, you’d have thought it would be just a case of driving to Valencia (which is on the coast) and then aiming for the big blue wobbly thing. Not so. Two and a half hours later after the umpteenth CG Detour tm, we gave up and headed back to the circuit.

Summary

This was the first time I’d done any kind of race school and it really did surprise me just how much I learnt over the two days of testing. The school was really friendly and welcoming throughout and the experience was invaluable. I’d definitely book myself in for another if I could afford it!

Day One – Friday

After the quick briefing session it was onto the track for Chris and me, and the plan for us, to follow ex-MotoGP start Jeremy McWilliams! Just being in the same pit was an experience, but riding with him was something else. First session was a bit of downer as the bike just wouldn’t handle, I just couldn’t get the thing to turn, but fortunately this was solved once we got back into pit lane. Second session and the bike felt much better. It was just easier to ride and felt a lot more comfortable. Another session with Jeremy showing us the lines helped me get my mind in gear and showed me just where the time and speed can be gained. It was about now that I realised just how fast the circuit was when Mr McWilliams decided to ride round the outside of me on the sweeping final left hander, and I thought I was going fast! A new set of tyres made all the difference for the third session, and I began to pick up the pace and I even had my first proper backing it in and power sliding happenings half way through the day. Further sessions through the day helped me get my a better feel for the lines and a few words of McWilliams helped figure out some of the more technical sections on the track. Overall the day went well and being slightly quicker than Chris was a bit of a bonus too!

Day Two – Saturday

After a great first day I was hoping to get a bit more speed on the second day’s activities. First time out and it just felt so quick, I think overnight my mind forgot to tell me to brake at the last turn as I took a slight excursion onto the grass, fortunately keeping it upright. Next up was a video taping session with Jeremy McWilliams and it was great to see just what I was doing and how I could improve. It taught me a lot about getting the lines right and standing the bike up out of the corners. A quick review of the entire video helped immensely in understanding what had to be done to get on the pace. It defiantly helped put the theory into practice and helped me get a lot more comfortable at a much faster pace than I’d have expected. With the tyres on the bike beginning to deteriorate pretty dramatically we decided to call it a day and I just sat and watched the quick boys put in some ridiculously fast laps, whilst also getting ideas for the races and seeing which new lines I could try when I got back on track.

Conclusion

What an awesome experience! Can’t say just how good the academy was! I loved every second of it. Big thanks to Gerry and the Racedays.Net crew and a huge thank you to Jeremy McWilliams for all his expert advice. Another shout out and thank you to Steve Jordan for setting the suspension up for me (yet again)!