Spain Grand Prix debrief with Tohru Ubukata Round 2: Spain GP Post-race debrief Circuito de Jerez, Tuesday 4 May 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Soft, Medium The second round of the 2010 MotoGP season was another thriller, and resulted in a new lap record, a new fastest total race time and the second closest podium finish of the 800cc era. Jorge Lorenzo overcame a drop back to fifth position to chase down long-time leader Dani Pedrosa as the two Spaniards went head-to-head in front of their adoring home fans. It was on the last lap that Lorenzo was able to make his move, brushing fairings with Pedrosa to take the lead as Valentino Rossi closed in third, the top three split by just 0.89seconds across the line. Every rider used the hard compound front Bridgestone slick, and every rider with the exception of Aleix Espargaro used the harder of the two available rear tyre options (the medium compound). Q&A with Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department What can you say about the performance of the improved rear slick compounds after this weekend? “I am happy because we were able to see two benefits of our improved rear tyre compounds here in Jerez improved peak grip leading to a new lap record, and increased durability leading to a faster total race time. Of course warm-up performance was never going to be an issue with the high track and ambient temperatures in Spain, but still I can say that we received positive feedback from the riders. “There was also a good overlap of performance between the harder and the softer rear tyres. Although every rider apart from Aleix used the harder option for the race, on Friday and Saturday there was a good mix of riders using both compounds. We saw that the harder option could be used and worked well when the track was cooler, during free practice two on Saturday morning, and that the softer option gave good performance even when the track temperature rose by 17 degrees Celsius by Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session.” Did the high track temperature affect tyre performance? “The nature of the circuit is such that it allows little time for the tyres to cool down between corners so residual tyre temperatures are quite high, but tyre performance was good, as shown by the new lap record. Wear rates were as expected, and the fact that Jorge set his personal best time three laps from the end of the race demonstrates good durability and consistent performance.” Was there anything new for the one-day test after the grand prix? “We continued our developmental front slick tyre testing, providing each rider with one test tyre in addition to their normal test allocation. In-season testing is very limited so I’d especially like to thank the teams and riders for their support of Bridgestone in testing these tyres to allow us to gain valuable data that will be important for future tyre development.” More, from a press release issued by Birchall Brothers: BIRCHALL BROTHERS SNETTERTON The weekend began well for the reigning world sidecar champions Ben and Tom Birchall as they took the win in the first two of three race at Snetterton in round two of the Battle of Britain British F1 Sidecar championship but it all ended in disaster for the Mansfield pair as they were run off the track on the final lap of the third race resulting in Tom being thrown from the machine and Ben trapped in the cockpit as the outfit turned turtle. After qualifying in fourth position, just four tenths of a second away from pole, the Mitchells of Mansfield supported brothers went on to quickly take the lead in the first of three races winning the race with a 6.5 second advantage over the second placed riders. The world champions took another convincing win in the second race on Monday which was run over two parts due to heavy rain showers and were leading the final race until the last corner of the final lap when they were run off the track by the following rider which resulted in a huge crash for the Mansfield brothers as the outfit flipped over onto its roof. Luckily the pair escaped with nothing more than some bruising but such a seemingly irresponsible move could have resulted in much more serious injury. Although a protest was made after the race, it was deemed to be a racing incident and when we see the television footage when broadcast we can form our own conclusions as to what happened. Although Ben and Tom escaped relatively unscathed the outfit was not so lucky and it will be a race against time to make sure the bike is ready for the second round of the World Series which is set to take place at Schleiz in Germany at the weekend. A shaken Ben Birchall said: “We had a good weekend up until the last race. We qualified well and by winning the first race we started on pole position for the second two races. In the final race we had a good, race-long battle with Reeves and were leading on the last lap before being run off the track and crashing. Sidecar racing is not a contact sport and this situation should really not have happened. But we are both ok and will come back stronger. We have a lot of work to do before we will be in a position to race at Schleiz but will work around the clock if necessary to be up and running in time for qualifying.” The Birchall brothers headed straight to the ferry to make their way to the circuit in Germany and will have to complete the repairs to the stricken outfit at the circuit. Free practice and qualifying take place on Friday and Saturday ahead of a short sprint race over 11 laps on Saturday afternoon. This will be followed by a 22-lap Gold race on Sunday. More, from a press release issued by Steve Plater’s publicist: STEVE PLATER EXTENDS HIS SERIES LEAD HM Plant Honda star Steve Plater extended his series lead with a close second place in the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 championship round at Oulton Park on Monday and now leads the series by 19 points from nearest rival Howie Mainwaring who could only finish in fifth place at the Cheshire circuit. Qualifying didn’t produce the fast lap required to earn Plater a front row start to the 15-lap third round encounter and he had to be content with fifth place and a second row grid position. “I only got four laps in Sunday’s session. On Friday I was second and well inside the existing lap record,” explained the Woodhall Spa rider. “But I was unable to match that time in final qualifying. Although it was a little bit cooler today that didn’t really affect the times. I had no big issues but after a couple of laps it started spitting with rain so I came in for a while, changed the tyre and went back out, but I couldn’t improve on my time and had to settle for fifth. But that’s no big deal for me because I was running well inside the existing lap record so I know my race pace is good. I will need a good start as there is a lot of competition out there and any one of 10 of us could be on the top step after the race.” As Monday’s race got underway Plater played the waiting game and settled into eighth place, biding his time before beginning his move forward. By lap two he was up to sixth and stalking Ian Hutchinson, snatching fifth at Druids and then moving past Cooper at Lodge a few seconds later. On lap six he repeated the move at Lodge, moving into fifth place ahead of Howie Mainwaring before lining up Tristan Palmer who he passed at Hilltop one lap later. By this time race leader Jon Kirkham had got away and Plater got his head down in an effort to make inroads towards him and the race lead. But Palmer hadn’t given up the chance of second place and stuck with Plater, the pair exchanging places on more than one occasion. But Plater wasn’t having it and shook off Palmer on lap 13 to accelerate away to chase Kirkham. On the final lap Plater was just a second adrift of the lead and when they arrived at Lodge Corner for the last time he was within touching distance. Smelling the victory, Plater pulled out all the stops on the drag to the flag but was just pipped to the post as Kirkham held on to cross the finish line just two tenths of a second ahead to take the win. “The most important thing is that I have extended my championship lead,” said Plater. “After qualifying I realised I wasn’t going to get away at the front so just basically used my head and stayed out of trouble. I was quite comfy at the pace I was running at but had to push quite hard in places to make my move early on. I am happy enough with the result as I didn’t expect to come away with second place as easily as that to be honest. Maybe if we had another lap I could have done a bit more but I have extended my championship lead to 19 points so I have to be happy with that.” The next round is on home tarmac at Plater’s local circuit of Cadwell Park on May where he will be hoping to continue to step onto the podium and add to his points tally to further extend his series lead. Prior to Cadwell, Plater travels to Northern Ireland where he will once again contest the North West 200 races on May 15. This year he is riding in five races, two Superbike, two Supersport and the Superstock events. More, from a press release issued by Moriwaki: We are happy to inform you that a MD600 took a victory at Jerez last Sunday, at GRAN PREMIO bwin DE ESPAÑA Moto2 race. Toni Elias, Gresini Racing Moto2 team won the 2nd round of Moto2 at Jerez, Spain, and another podium was Thomas Luthi, Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2 team. Only 2 laps after the race started, one of leading group riders fell at turn#6, fuel from the bike spilled on the track followed by 8 other riders’ crashes. The accident made the race red-flagged and the race was reset to be 17lap, started 12:45. 9 riders gathered and took lead soon after the race restarted, and Toni Elias and Thomas Luthi were chasing up each other to the top position. It was Toni Elias, who lost the top position one stage, but grabbed the victory with less than 0.2sec gap from his closest competitor. It was his 11th victory in WGP since October 2006 in Portugal GP. And Thomas Luthi finished in 3rd, just 0.261sec behind Elias. We thank all our supporters and funs for their great support. We will see more successes with MORIWAKI machines. Race results: Win TEAM　/　Gresini Racing Moto2 RIDER /　No.24 Toni ELIAS 3rd TEAM　/　Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2 RIDER /　No.12 Thomas LUTHI GAP 　/ +0.261 21st TEAM　/　Holiday Gym G22 RIDER /　No.10　Fonsi NIETO GAP 　/ +20.956 23rd TEAM　/　Gresini Racing Moto2 RIDER /　No.61 Vladimir IVANOV GAP 　/ +31.224 26th TEAM　/　Matteoni CP Racing Moriwaki RIDER /　No.52 Lukas PESEK GAP 　/ +34.090 33rd TEAM　/　Holiday Gym G22 RIDER /　No.88 Yannick GUERRA GAP 　/ +47.777 Not Classified TEAM　/　Andalucia Cajasol RIDER /　No.91 Ivan MORENO GAP 　/ 9 Laps Circuit Record Toni ELIAS 1’44.710 / 152.1 Km/h World Championship Classification CONSTRUCTOR CHAMPIONSHIP standing MORIWAKI MD600 RANKING: 2nd World Championship Classification RIDER POINT RANKING standing 2nd / No.24 Toni ELIAS / 38point 3rd / No.12 Thomas LUTHI / 25point 17th / No.10 Fonsi NIETO / 3point 21st / No.52 Lukas PESEK / 1point More, from a press release issued by Syndicate Motorsport Management: MZ AND WEST SCORE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT IN JEREZ MOTO2 RACE May 04, 2010 (Jerez, Spain) After the Icelandic volcanic eruption that caused the postponement of the Japanese Grand Prix, the Moto2 World Championship resumed in Jerez, Spain this past weekend. The MZ Moto2 team arrived in Jerez, Spain ready to improve on a tough baptism of fire in Qatar that saw them leave the desert with no championship points. With their last minute IRTA confirmation, MZ developed their chassis in less than three weeks before the start of the season. Although the race in Jerez signaled the start of the World Championship on European soil, the MZ team had not laid eyes on their machine since packing it in the flight case in Qatar. Development continued in the machine’s absence, with team members hand carrying new parts as checked baggage on their flights from Germany to Spain. Evolution parts included new fairings, airbox snorkel, front forks, and lightweight battery from new technical partner Speedcell. MZ set out to build on their pre season testing success in Jerez incorporating and testing the new parts in the free practice. The first hour long session included a back to back comparison of front fork assemblies, fairings, and airbox snorkels. The team continued to compile data of the evolution parts leading up to the one and only qualifying session on Saturday afternoon. With a new chassis setup, MZ rider Anthony West rolled out for the forty five minute qualifying session confident of a good result. West’s confidence was validated when he shot to third place on the timing board around the twenty five minute mark. The competitiveness of the forty rider strong class was evident as the top riders battled it out for the remaining twenty minutes of the session capturing and relinquishing positions with almost every crossing of the timing stripe. When the session ended, West and MZ set a time of 1:44.7, only four tenths adrift of pole position albeit in eleventh place. The MZ team used Sunday morning’s twenty minute warmup to make the final adjustments on the machine setup and to do an abbreviated race simulation, evaluating tire life and fuel consumption. With the final adjustments made based on rider input and the data, MZ and West expectations were running high for the race. After the earlier 125 race, the capacity crowd was at a fever pitch in anticipation of what was surely going to be an exciting race with more than forty riders, a fair number of which were Spanish. When the lights went out, West made a good start and was with the lead pack. Before completion of the third lap, the race was red flagged due to fuel on the racing surface from a crashed motorcycle that claimed no less than eight competitors before the race was stopped. The original twenty six lap race was now going to be reduced to seventeen laps with a full restart and original grid positions. When the lights went out for the restarted race, West and the MZ were embroiled in a race long battle inside the top fifteen with riders swapping positions through every timing sector. On the final lap, West tangled with another rider but was able to keep the MZ on track, although he slipped from twelfth to fifteenth””and in the points””in the process. The MZ team will now take the machine back to Zschopau for further development prior to the French grand prix in Le Mans. Anthony West: “That was a battle! There were four of us swapping position on every lap. We ended up slowing each other down fighting amongst ourselves and that allowed the lead pack to just ease away from us. Although it would have been nice to finish higher up the field, there were times where I wasn’t sure if I’d finish at all after banging fairings and wheels so many times out there.” Martin Wimmer: “Anthony rode a brilliant race considering what we were able to give him on the bikes level. We are pretty happy with the bikes balance, frame stiffness and tire life but will need to improve on the surroundings of the engine performance like mapping adjustments, airbox pressure and exhaust pipe design. The same applies to the total weight and aerodynamics. Considering the short time we had, we are pretty confident to being able to provide further improved material for the next race.” About MZ”” Maschinenfabrik Zschopau (Machine Factory Zschopau–MZ) history goes back more than one hundred years. In 1919, MZ developed the first two stroke engine to be used on a bicycle. In 1922, MZ built the first motorcycle with a two stroke engine and branded it DKW. Between 1922 and1936, DKW motorcycles won 45 championships and Grand Prix races. During the 1960’s, MZ motorcycles were one of the most successful brands in competition, winning the Six Day Motocross Championships in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969 while also celebrating numerous victories in Road Racing. MZ motorcycle production flourished behind the iron curtain, reaching 2 million units (combined) by 1983. However, when the Berlin wall came down, the MZ motorcycles were not competitive with their Japanese and Western European counterparts. Between 1992 and 2008, MZ struggles through liquidations, ownership changes, and high production costs. In 2008, former World Championship motorcycle racers Martin Wimmer and Ralf Waldmann, both German, formed a partnership and purchased MZ. In 2010, MZ enters the Moto2 World Championship with one ambition, to prove that MZ is capable of building world class motorcycles once again and to introduce a new generation of motorcyclists to the MZ motorcycle brand. MZ is back! More, from a press release issued by Simon Low’s publicist: Bad luck continues to haunt Low The bad luck that plagued Twickenham’s Simon Low at the first two rounds of the 125cc British Championship followed him to Oulton Park over the Bank Holiday weekend and the Team Shop4Bikers/Dutch-2-UK Racing rider was forced to retire on just the second lap of Monday’s race. The 22-year old had made a superb start and was looking good for some more Championship points only for the engine to seize when he was lying in 16th place. After the problems of Thruxton last time out, Simon and his team opted to switch back to the chassis and forks that he’d run in 2009 and, although in standard trim, he felt a lot more comfortable on the bike putting in two solid efforts in the two free practice sessions. Learning the undulating and difficult 2.69-mile circuit all the time, Simon posted the 32nd fastest time in first qualifying on Sunday but this wasn’t a true reflection of his pace as the chain came off half way through meaning he could only complete 7 laps. In the second and final qualifying session, he took a massive 2.9seconds off his lap time to jump up to 27th for a seventh row start. Pleased with the performance of the Honda, in terms of both handling and speed, Simon made a lightning start in the 14-lap race and slotted in to 17th place at the end of the first lap and had moved up to 16th half way round the second lap to put himself well in contention for some Championship points. However, as he approached Lodge Corner towards the end of the second lap, the crank broke causing the engine to seize and he coasted to a halt, his race over, huge disappointment for him and all of the team. Speaking on his return to the paddock, Simon said: “I don’t think you could write a book about all the problems we’ve been having and it’s fair to say we’re certainly using up a lot of bad luck so far – things have to change soon! On the positive side, the bike has worked a lot better this weekend and it’s been strong through the speedtraps as well as handling well so we’ve definitely made some progress. I made a great start to make up about 4 places by the time we got to the first corner and I was able to make up even more ground round the lap as I passed at least six more riders so I was feeling really comfortable. The bike was flying and the tyres were working superbly but just as I came into Lodge, the bike seized and that was that. Points were definitely on the table today, which makes it even more disappointing for everyone but it was no-one’s fault so we’ll keep working hard, stay positive and look to get a solid result at Cadwell next time out.” Round 4 of the 125cc British Championship takes place at Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire from May 21-23. More, from a press release issued by SMT Honda: No home round joy at Oulton for SMT Honda There was no home round joy for the sorrymate.com/SMT Honda team at Oulton Park on Bank Holiday Monday when Christian Iddon crashed out of both of the races in round 3 of the British Superbike Championship. The Buxton rider had again impressed in qualifying, posting the 13th fastest time, but he was denied in both of Monday’s races, sliding out on the fourth and first laps repectively to leave the Cheshire venue with nothing to show for his, or the teams’, efforts. Just as he had done at the previous round at Thruxton, Christian significantly reduced his times around the technically demanding Oulton circuit as the weekend progressed. 18th in the first free practice session became 17th in the second as he took almost two seconds off his lap time and with another second found in the final session, he headed into qualifying as the 13th fastest rider. With the threat of rain not too far away, Christian comfortably made it through to the second stage of qualifying and, with his best time of the weekend – a lap of 1m36.745s – he ended up 13th fastest to lead off the fourth row of the grid. Race day on Monday dawned dry and bright and Christian slotted in to 14th place at the completion of the first lap of the first 18-lap race. A lap later, two good overtaking moves saw him move up to 12th as he found himself battling it out with Michael Rutter with the Ducati rider pushing him back to 13th on lap 3. However, as he tried to respond a lap later his race was over as he crashed out at Britten’s, the machine too damaged to allow him to re-join. The second race was held in wet conditions after a rain shower saturated the 2.69-mile circuit but it didn’t get any better for the team as Christian crashed out on the opening lap thus ending the weekend pointless for the second meeting in a row. Speaking later, team owner Robin Croft said: “It’s been a hugely disappointing weekend for everyone connected with the team and despite once again steadily improving throughout free practice and qualifying, it’s been followed up by two disappointing results due to rookie mistakes. Christian showed great pace again over the first two days, working well with the team and impressing many people in the paddock once more as he gradually built himself up, and we were looking very good for a decent haul of points but it’s all gone wrong in Monday’s two races. I’m just really down for the whole team as the work and effort they put in over the three days was simply superb and they deserved a lot more – they couldn’t have done any more. It was our home round and we were looking to make a good impression and get a pair of good results but the two crashes put paid to that. Like I say, I just want to thank everyone in the team for all their work and, hopefully, they’ll get rewarded at the next round.” The next round of the British Superbike Championship takes place at Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire from May 21-23. More, from a press release issued by Marty Nutt’s publicist: More points on the board for Nutt at Oulton Castlerock’s Marty Nutt was in the points once more on Bank Holiday Monday when he finished 12th at Oulton Park in round 3 of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship. The NuttTravel.Com/Dawn/T&G Racing rider battled through the pack from a lowly qualifying position and overcame some treacherous conditions to record his second top twelve finish of the season and move back up to 16th place overall in the Championship table. Sixth and twelth in Saturday’s free practice sessions was a promising start to the weekend and even though he was shuffled back to 14th after Sunday’s first qualifying session, hopes were high of getting back into the top twelve later in the day. However, colder temperatures and a busy track meant it was difficult for riders to improve on their times and Marty couldn’t better, or replicate his times from earlier in the afternoon, an engine problem also meaning he was experiencing a mysterious lack of power. A small group of riders did manage to go faster and Marty found himself in a slightly disappointing 19th place at the end of the two qualifying sessions thus lining up for the race on the fifth row of the grid. The weather was still cool for Monday’s race and, when the Supersport riders came to the line, a number of ominous black clouds were looming overhead. Sure enough, just after the warm up lap started, the rain began to fall and although initially just a few spots, it soon began to fall heavier and the race was rightly delayed. When it did get underway, full wet tyres were the order of the day for the shortened 12-lap race and, with a good start, Marty was already up to 14th by the end of lap 2. Conditions were extremely slippy and staying upright was in itself a major task but, whilst others around him were sliding off in to the scenery, Marty kept a cool head and was slowly but surely, moving up the leaderboard. He was up to 11th on lap 5 when the safety car was deployed to allow debris to be cleared off the track and when it pulled in three laps later, he moved up to 10th. On the penultimate lap he was up 9th and looking extremely good for his first top ten finish of the year but on the final circuit he firstly got overtaken at the chicane and then got ‘mugged’ at the final corner to be shuffled back to 12th. Speaking afterwards, Marty commented: “I’ve got mixed feelings after today’s race because although I’m happy with 12th after all the problems I had in qualifying, I’ve got an overall feeling of disappointment because of what happened on the final lap. If I was standing here now with 9th place to my name, I’d have been well happy but to get mugged on the last lap is hard to take! Qualifying was nothing short of a disaster as the bike wasn’t making any power at all for some reason so I didn’t really have much hope of getting in to the points today but the rain made it more of a level playing field in the race and I just kept my head and tried to stay as smooth as I possibly could. Conditions were really tricky and it was so hard to stop going in to the corners, it felt like I was going to run on all the time but I concentrated real hard and when I was up ninth it felt like I’d pulled a result out of the bag. On the last lap though, Jenny (Tinmouth) got me at Knickerbrook and although I’d been strong at Druids all race, the one time I was slightly off was on the final lap and not only did it mean I couldn’t have a go back past Jenny, it also allowed the two riders behind me to dive by at the final corner! On the plus side, we’ve come away with some more points again and have two finishes from two starts so we’ll work hard between now and the next round to make sure the bike’s working at 100% and we can get back in to the top ten.” Marty now has a three-week break before the next of the British Supersport Championship with round 4 taking place at Cadwell Park, May 21-23. More, from a press release issued by Tom Tunstall Racing: Tunstall Gets Taken Out The third round of the 2010 British Superbike Championships turned out to be a literally up and down event for Doodson Motorsport Racer Tom Tunstall. The Yorkshireman was thrown from hismachine having been clipped by another rider. Renowned for its undulating and technical layout the picturesque Cheshire circuit of Oulton Park staged the latest round of the “BSB” Championships. For Tom Tunstall the practice sessions were all about getting dialled in. Hampered by a few machine issues Tunstall was playing catch up going into qualifying and only just missed the second phase by 0.07seconds taking 21st position on the grid. In the first of the days two races Tunstall quickly got to work making his way through the field. Having already past five riders Tunstall started the fourth lap by passing Suzuki mounted Aaron Zanotti into the first “Old Hall” corner. However exiting the corner Zanotti re-passed and as he did the two riders touched with Zanotti’s bike clipping Tunstall’s front brake lever launching both Tunstall and his bike into the air at over 100 miles per hour. Fortunately Tunstall escaped the incident with only bruises however his machine wasn’t as fortunate and was too badly damaged to be repaired for the second race. A sore but fortunate Tunstall explained: “I guess we just put it down as a racing accident as I’m sure he didn’t mean to hit my bike, but the result is the same and it’s disappointing and just as frustrating not to have been able to get out for the second race. “But this is all part of racing and we’ll dust ourselves down and get the bike straightened out for the next round. Also I’m pretty fortunate not to be more injured, coming off at that speed it was certainly a fast one. A few hot baths I’ll be sorted out and preparing ready for the next round” Tunstall has just over two weeks to wait with Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire staging the first of two BSB events in 2010 over the weekend of May 21st 23rd. More, from a press release issued by MIST Suzuki: Big Learning Curve For MIST Suzuki At Oulton Park After taking the double win at Thruxton MIST Suzuki were looking forward to seeing the podium once more at Oulton Park. Having been stuck in the UK since the last round due to the Volcanic Ash situation rider Dave Anthony spent his time rebuilding the race engine in the bike and relaxing ready for learning his way around another new track on the SuperBike. Reluctant to make any changes on the bike for the first session Dave spent the whole session out on track to get a feel for the place and came away 17th overall and fastest Evo bike by 1.27 seconds. Second practice had him in 20th place and second Evo after experimenting with tyre pressures although normal service was resumed in the third session in 18th and over 0.6 seconds faster than any of the Evo runners. Some minor changes for qualifying and Dave easily made it in to the second session, improving his best time once again, to line up first Evo rider in 19th on the grid. Things were looking good for race day although the weather forecast was not quite so optimistic. For an Australian who is now settled in California the opportunity to ride in the rain is fairly rare so plenty of fingers were crossed the weather would remain dry. A poor start in race one saw Dave drop to 25th at the end of the first lap with plenty of work to do. He soon found his feet and fought his way through the pack. Despite a significant power deficit he was running some 1.2 seconds a lap faster than the BMW in second place and soon caught him. A momentary lapse of concentration causing him to briefly run off the track but he collected himself and made short work of the new five second gap. With his rhythm now broken it was a struggle to make a pass that would stick and he crossed the line as the 3rd Evo bike, and 16th place overall, just 0.1 seconds adrift having set the fastest Evo lap of the race. Things looked good for the second race until the clouds opened 20 minutes before we were due on track. The rain stopped as abruptly as it started only to restart a short while later. We were given a seven minute practice to get used to the wet conditions only for the team to discover one of the front discs was causing braking problems. With no time to change it, and reduced time on the grid due to the delays, Dave was going to have to ride around the problems in the race. With no experience on how hard to push off the start Dave struggled and was was soon relegated to 26th place (out of 27 remaining runners) over the first couple of laps. Aware that he already had a 27 second deficit over the BMW that was running in 12th place at that point Dave gradually picked up the pace as he got the hang of the conditions and chased down some well established SuperBike riders as he moved forward. As a number of riders struggled they were soon passed by the Suzuki that just got faster as the race went on. Dave was soon racing over four seconds a lap faster than Brogan on the BMW but just ran out of laps at the end finishing just three seconds behind at the flag and posting a faster lap time than overall race winner Michael Laverty’s final lap. Finishing 16th overall once again and 4th Evo was a testament to just how quickly Dave got to grips with the conditions, especially as he was getting faster as the race went on. Team Manager Mike Edwards was still positive despite only making one visit to the podium, “We have to be pleased with our performance despite not being able to repeat the race winning form from Thruxton. We led for most of practice and qualifying only to be punished for a solitary mistake in race one when Dave ran off the track and then problems due to the weather in race two. Our tyres lasted so well in the wet that had the race run for the full eighteen laps instead of fifteen I am confident we could have made up several more places which would have assured us a place on the podium.” He added “We are still waiting for some parts for the bike that should help improve the handling and we have to find some sponsorship if we are to make Cadwell Park in three weeks time. We have shown what we are capable of and are even more convinced we can win this championship with the right backing.” MIST Suzuki would like to thank their supporters for helping them get this far and would welcome any help or introductions to secure the funding to continue. Please get in touch through the team website at www.mistsuzuki.com or email via ‘[email protected]’.