Monza, Italy – Race

Posted on May 6, 2006 by Mike Edwards

06/05/06 – First Of The Italian Races

My first trip to Italy and I get to drive through the alps. Wasn’t expecting snow or sunshine at that altitude but it was a nice place to stop after all the motorway driving. The circuit was incredibly fast set in a picture-esque country park on the outskirts of Milan. We even had the opportunity to walk around the old banked oval circuit. Fortunately for us there was a hole in the fence as I didn’t fancy balancing precariously at the top of the banking without anything to hold on to. We were assured the steel armco was added later after a few too many cars went through the old wooden railings in to the trees. Eeek!

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Photos copyright @ MIST Suzuki Racing 2006

Posted in 2006, Blog Entry, Mike Edwards, Monza, Photos, Race Report | Leave a comment

Monza, Italy – Race

Posted on May 6, 2006 by Mike Edwards

Chris Northover, 05/05/06 – 06/05/06
European SuperStock 600 Championship
Round 2

Summary

Good Luck, Bad Luck and Hayfever!

So round two of the European Superstock 600 series brings Monza and the opportunity to build on what was learnt in Valencia.

Thursday

Having suffered at the hands of Barry Burrell (fellow Brit racer) on the plane (I now know not to ever fall asleep next to him again) we arrived at the airport and I was offered a lift to the track with MCN’s World Superbikes reporter, Michael Guy. This turned out to be one of the luckiest breaks all season, as we got pretty much straight to the circuit while several others in the team spent many an hour touring the town of Monza in search of the illusive track, <smug mode on!>. Smug mode was, however, soon cancelled due to one teensy little problem with the location of the track. Monza is in a lovely big park. Lots of lovely trees, lovely little flowers and lovely, lovely grassy stuff. This abundance of green stuff left me with killer (well nearly) hayfever all weekend.

We walked the track Thursday night and concentrated on possible lines. Walking the track also showed me just how important slipstreaming was going to be, given the straights going on forever!

Friday – Free Practice

I took the first session easy to give me a chance to work out my lines and pick various braking/turn in/apex/exit points so I could fully apply the techniques bestowed upon me in Valencia! Also Monza is not a place to mess up, a point proved over the weekend by the many spent carcasses of race bikes laying bleeding oil into the gravel traps!

Friday – First Qualifying

For the second session on Friday, we were made to feel right at home again (yes, it rained!) and I had the new challenge of learning to ride a 600 in the rain! Again, building up gradually I started to get some consistent times in and find a flow around the circuit. About 6 minutes before the end of the session, I had a minor mishap exiting the first chicane, prima variante – see I learned some Italian! I got on the power exiting the turn a tad to eagerly and high sided, albeit not in the usual fashion! As the bike snapped sideways I half fell off the inside of it, then when it came back in line (amazingly still upright) I kept hold of the bars and simply (!?) hopped back on, much to the amusement of the marshals! Once I had finished giggling I realised I now had a new dent in my knee, but decided to make the most of the track time and carry on lapping until the end of the session.

Saturday – Second Qualifying

Headed to Doc Costa for some leg repairs to be made from my shenanigans in Friday’s qualifying, came out with a shiny bandage and less leg hair than before!

Determined to gain a good position on the grid, I went out with a few points from Mike that I need to work on clear in my head. Counter-steer more positively, a revised line into the first part of the Ascari chicane and get in the slipstream of people to get a good lap time. I managed to put all(ish) of the above into practice and spent a good amount of the session chasing the Marcel van Nieuwenhuizen of Remar Racing. Once I had caught and passed Marcel I set about pushing a bit harder in the places where I had been held up. Unfortunately the session was red flagged due to a bike on the track and we all had to pull into the pits. When the session was restarted for the final five minutes, ill fate struck again, when the circlip holding the gear lever in place went awol leaving me to limp back to the pits in 6th gear. Qualified a lowly 31st on the grid, my mission for the race was clear: good start, survive the first chicane and then pick people off lap by lap, easy. Well, easy in theory anyway!

Saturday – Race

Lining up on the grid, I was fully focussed on the task ahead, with the most important task being to survive the (inevitable) first corner carnage. After getting a good start and passing the row in front, I picked a line to the first bend and stuck to it. Sure enough, the pack just ahead of me felt the need to indulge in a bit of skittley pinball action and about 6 of them decided to better acquaint themselves with Monza’s finest black stuff. Having picked a way through the mess, I set off on stage two of the plan – start picking off riders in front. Coming out of Ascari, I slipstreamed a yellow Yamaha (sorry not very specific I know!) and made a pass on it into the Parabolica. Having got a wheel ahead, the kind chap riding the Yamaha decided to turn in on me and ram my front wheel from the side, most decent of him! As I tumbled through the gravel I was, well, mildly annoyed to say the least. As soon as everything had stopped bouncing I ran for my bike, picked it up and was out of the gravel trap quicker than a stray dog in a kebab shop kitchen! Just as I was preparing for a boring 9laps on my own, the red flags came out due to a bike throwing oil over the track and a there still being a rider on the floor from the first corner incident. Lucky or what?

On returning to the pits it was a race against time to do what essential repairs we could to make the bike a bit less like riding a shopping trolley with a wonky wheel. The foot peg was replaced, bodywork taped up, gravel removed from bike and gravel removed from me! It was quite a sight to see everyone helping to fix it, including:

  • Uncle Richard (new record for the sprint across the paddock!)
  • Mr Polita (Father of Alessandro Polita of Superstock 1000 brilliance and Alessia from last years Superstock 600 series)
  • Eric from Suzuki Netherlands
  • And Matt’s Dad Andy

THANKS GUYS!!!!

Saturday – Race (Take 2)

Lined up for the second attempt, I had to be cautious on the first few laps due to cold, dusty tyres. This was a little spirit breaking, as I managed another good start and then had to let the pack get away as I waited for my tyres to come up to temperature. After about a lap and a bit, the tyres were up to temperature and I was able to start racing! I passed a couple of bikes and then tagged on the back of a Kawasaki. I was struggling to find a way past, as however well I got out of the corners, the kwak would just disappear on the straights. With something still not quite straight on my bike, I was unable to go for any wild lunges on the brakes and didn’t manage to find a way past. In the end I had to settle for 22nd place. Although initially disappointed with 22nd, given the circumstances it is by no means a bad result.

What did I learn?

Well, for a start don’t trust anyone at all on the first lap, or you end up on the floor!

Secondly, remember some hayfever tablets!

And thirdly, Monza is an amazing place and probably one of my favourite tracks so far.

And there ends another horrendously long tale of the misdemeanours of myself in what is turning out to be one of the most exciting seasons of my life!

Tune in next time when I will be heading to Silverstone with a newly fettled engine and even more determination!!!

Thanks to –

  • Michael Guy for his impeccable Italian Driving impressions
  • Everyone who helped me in the pits on Saturday
  • Roger for giving me the opportunity to get up to this much mischief!
  • Nan and Grandad for driving the race truck up from Valencia
  • Mark, Barry, Rich and Tom for making sure I stayed awake and revised on the plane!
  • The lady at Stanstead Airport for sending me to the wrong car park at 10:00 at night in sandals and shorts. It’s ok, I only walked around lost for about 45mins!!
  • Steve Jordan for making my bike work again!
  • Mike “F” Edwards for getting my bike to the track
  • All the teams sponsors and supporters
  • All my friends and family who watched back home on the internet!
  • Mum and Dad, sorry I smashed the bike up but thanks for everything

See y’all in Silverstone!

Posted in 2006, Chris Northover, Monza, Race Report | Leave a comment

Monza, Italy – Race

Posted on May 6, 2006 by Mike Edwards

Matt Bond, 05/05/06 – 06/05/06
European SuperStock 600 Championship
Round 2

Friday – Free Practice.

After Valencia I felt a lot more comfortable on the bike, and rolling down pit lane for the opening practice I definitely felt more confident and more able to keep up with the guys in the top half of the field. Out onto the track and from the exit of pit lane you can barely see the first chicane; the distance between the two is massive! A few laps in and I began to feel my way round the circuit and it was about four laps in when I realised just how fast the track really was. It was crazy just how quick the straights are! And most people think Thruxton is quick! Despite not catching a tow off any other rider for more than a few turns I was feeling quite good and began to push that little bit harder into each turn and then decided to see how late I could brake for the opening chicane. Needless to say I totally overshot and took to the service road, but at least I knew I had to brake before the 200 board! The rest of the session was fairly uneventful and returning to the pits I was fairly happy with everything and didn’t really need a huge adjustment of any part of the bike. Ending the session 23rd fastest was quite pleasing, despite I did hope to be higher up if I’m honest!

Friday – 1st Qualifying.

Qualifying was awful in a word. The weather decided to totally chuck it down, and despite my love for wet conditions, I just didn’t feel happy out there at all. The bike hadn’t been altered to the set up I requested and it was just almost un-ride-able. It eventually resulted in me high-siding out of the first chicane and landing on top of the bike, fortunately with no injury other than a bruised ego. It was annoying for me as I knew it wasn’t my fault, I hadn’t even got on the gas and the rear just decided to jump round on me. I had no feeling whatsoever to what the bike was doing. As I sat out most of the session on my arse I saw the entire field get faster and faster, leaving me outside the qualification maxima as a non-qualifier. Despite the major muck up I wasn’t too worried, knowing that there was another qualifying session on Saturday, where I’d get the chance to put in a decent time.

Saturday – 2nd Qualifying.

Unlike the previous day, the sun was out for qualifying and what a scorcher it was. I was riding harder than on Friday, but the times were just not coming and I just continued to stay down the bottom end of the field. I just couldn’t make up any extra time at any point on the track. Without a decent tow it was always going to be hard and I found that out, ending the session well down the grid in 29th place. It just seemed to me that I was losing out on the straights to every other bike out there. Later I realised it was just down to me, but at the time I think I just didn’t use my head properly. What was more annoying was that Daniel Beretta, who I was battling with at Valencia had managed to qualify in 13th place, over a second faster than what I managed!

Saturday – Race.

The plan for the race was a simple one, get away from the line well, be really careful not to get wiped out at the first few turns and then get a tow and pull through the field. It sounds easy, but at Monza, when you have groups of seven or eight bikes altogether for the first few laps, it’s far from simple. Anyways, the lights went out and I remember getting another good start (I have no idea how it keeps happening!) and jumped the row in front of me, only to look beside me and see Chris flying passed, the cheeky bugger! Up in front and all hell broke lose as five riders hit the deck, including championship leader Xavier Simeon. It was a case of sit up and beg through the opening turn, but I got through safely, with Chris right alongside. The next few turns were a bit of a blur as I just passed people left, right and centre on the brakes and through the opening lap in an attempt to get with the fast group just in front. It was all working perfectly until the end of lap 2 when the red flags came out. Someone had blown up round the back of the circuit and dumped oil everywhere and with Mathieu Gines still on the floor from the first corner incident, so the race director had no choice but to stop the race.

Gutted is one word I’d use to describe how I felt, but for Chris it was a different feeling, one of the gravel kind. He’d got taken out at the Parabolica, damaging the left of the bike, and had yet still managed to get it back to the pits! I was amazed to say the least! Seeing the team work on the bike so efficiently was reassuring and Chris’ desire to get back on and ride the thing, even if it was missing a foot peg was somewhat inspiring. Back onto the grid for the restart with a full field (minus Gines) we blasted off into turn one and this time we all got safely through, even though I had to take to the grass on the way out. The first lap was manic and everyone was jostling for a position at every turn. Thanks to another good start I made up a few places on the opening lap and entering the first chicane I took a huge distance out of the group in front. I was determined to pass all of them through the chicane, wrong idea! I got shoved back onto the grass and ended up losing a place. It didn’t take long to get back onto the bunch though and within a few laps I was back in with them, slipstreaming all the way down the main straight.

After a few more laps and at about half distance I had lost the tow and the guys behind began to catch me. It was about now that I began to get some major brake fade and became enthralled in a battle with Barry Burrell and some Italian. We swapped position at least three times a lap and I eventually found a way back through and began to break away, but it didn’t last long. With two laps left I had almost no brakes left and the lever was coming back to the bar every time I anchored up. Luckily I could balance it out with extra rear brake but soon the standard pads began to overheat and entering the last lap I lost two places on the brakes at turn one. As it happened I thought to myself just to follow them and out brake the two at the Parabolica, whether I had brakes or not I was going to beat Burrell and be top Brit, well that was the plan. I lined both Burrell and the Italian up coming into the Parabolica and pulled out of their slipstream just in time to see yellow flags being waved, bugger! With no way through I tried to out drag the duo to the line, but I couldn’t get any extra drive and ended up finishing third in our little group and 17th overall. The result was good, and once again I jumped 12 places from my grid slot and improved my lap time by well over a second and could still see the top ten as I crossed the finish. It was a relief to get back into the top half where I know I belong, and knowing that once we get the brake problem sorted I can challenge for points on a regular occasion. Hopefully Silverstone will see me get a decent qualifying and an even better result in the race!

Thanks to –

  • MIST Suzuki Racing
  • T&J Commercial Repairs
  • Steve Jordan Motorcycles
  • www.givemethekeys.com
  • Racedays.Net
  • Mike Edwards
  • Steve & Sarah Jordan
  • Alan Brown
  • All the teams sponsors and supporters
  • All my friends and family who watched back home on the internet!
  • Mum and Dad, sorry I smashed the bike up but thanks for everything

NEXT UP SILVERSTONE, FIRST OF THE HOME ROUNDS!

Posted in 2006, Matt Bond, Monza, Race Report | Leave a comment