Not all country lanes and roses in Ol’ Blighty for Clarkey
This just in from the diminutive Queenslander
Hey guys,
For those of you who haven’t heard. It has been a bit tough for me over here. First the Triumph team split up and have no factory support, then at round one (brands hatch) I entered with a new Ducati team in Superbike. It wasn’t what I had hoped for, and I decided it would do me more harm than good. Long story short, I am riding in the R1 cup (at the BSB rounds). Here is a rundown on how the week end went for me.
BSB Round 2 – Thruxton (Round 1 for R1 cup)
I only found out the Thursday night before round 2 that I was racing. We managed to find sponsorship, from a real nice guy by the name of Trevor who runs a mini moto shop and is right into his racing. With this sponsorship we were able to enter into the newly formed R1 cup.
The R1 cup runs at the BSB meetings on the Saturday and Sunday and is on live TV with plenty of reruns over here. Perhaps the only downside is the lack of track time (no Friday sessions) to learn circuits. Basically you turn up on Saturday, hop on an R1 which is built to the same spec as the other 24 bikes. The bikes have a pipe, Power Commander, WP shock and K-tech cartridges. The bikes run on either Metzeler wets or slicks, with limited sets to use.
With all the info in hand we decided to enter for Thruxton, which turns out to be round one anyway! When we arrived at the track the weather was terrible……freezing, windy and wet. Thruxton is a very different track to any I’ve ever ridden, it’s so fast and bumpy through the back but still has some slow chicanes.
Practice and qualifying was done in the wet. Although I feel I learnt the layout of the track pretty quick, I was very cautious out on the track. It was extremely hard to get used to how much grip was available even in the wet. To give you an idea the superbike riders were only three seconds slower in the wet compared to the dry! Anyway, I paid for the price for being too cautious and only qualified 17th.
The next morning it had stopped raining but the track was still wet, and with the tyre ruling it made sense to sit out the warm up.
For the race we had made a bunch of changes to the bike to get it to steer faster and handle the bumps better. The out lap would be my first dry lap of Thruxton.
I got a good start and felt ok out on the track. I started to make up positions and got up to 10th, but I was soon passed and put back to 11th, then 12th. I got everything back together and fought back to 11th, then on the last lap, last chicane I went for 10th position again. Unfortunately for me I went in too hot and ran real wide, allowing two more to pass me. So I finished 13th. Just like the qualifying position I am not that happy with the race result, but I am happy that I was able to mix it with others on my first time out on the bike. I also had heaps of fun on the bike and circuit in the dry.
For the next round we will make some more changes to the set-up so it steers quicker again. The five front runners are REALLY fast, most of them are racing in two classes (either BSB, Superstock or even SS). But they are not unbeatable, and my goal will be to run with them at the next round. At the moment there is also the chance of riding the Triumph at the next round, giving me valuable extra track time which should help in both classes.
— Kirkham takes the win
Jon Kirkham claimed the inaugural Henderson Yamaha R1 Cup victory after crossing the finish line 6.569s ahead of the chasing field.
Earlier practice and qualification sessions had been held under cold, wet conditions and it looked as if the race would be hindered by poor weather for the second meeting in a row. However, race day (Sunday) warmed up and the track dried allowing the riders to run on slick Metzeler tyres for the very first time.
Maximising on his pole position a determined and comfortable looking Kirkham headed the field on lap one. The Derbyshire rider steadily eked out and maintained a five second advantage for the duration of the fourteen lap race. Kirkham’s early pace claimed the fastest time on lap four (1m 18.063s).
Marty Nutt, Adrian Coates, Ben Wilson, Sean Emmett and Gary Mason vied for the remaining podium positions. Wilson was forced to retire as a result of a technical problem mid-race, after which cautionary oil flags were deployed. The remaining four swapped positions for the second spot until Emmett managed to claim it as his own on the sixth lap.
Mason had upped his pace by mid-race, challenging for the final place on the rostrum but it was Ulsterman, Marty Nutt who piped him to the flag with less than three tenths of a second between them. Adrian Coates completed the six-wheeler to finish a comfortable fifth, ahead of road racing rookie and current British Supermoto Champion Sam Warren.
Rob McElnea, Series Organiser: “It’s fantastic to finally see the show on the road, it seems to have been a long time coming since the planning stage back in October. Jon Kirkham has been confident since he signed his form in the winter, he knew he’d be strong. A lot of the guys out there will be working out their set-ups now that they have had a chance to see how the bikes behave in the dry, it will give a chance for them to catch up the leading pack who have had some dry track time in other classes. So far the weather has been a nightmare, for a few of the grid today it is the first time they have ever ridden on slicks! It is definitely going to be a close championship, offering some thrilling racing.”
Jon Kirkham: “I knew that I had to get a good start and get away ‘cause they’d be hunting me down. I could see what kind of gap I had as the laps went by but then the oil flag came out which slowed my times down a bit till I worked out where exactly the problem was. I’m pleased to take the first win, I think the bike is fantastic but a few tweaks with my set-up can make it even better, bring on the next one!”
Sean Emmett: “What fantastic racing, I thoroughly enjoyed that race, the bike is superb, for a bike pretty much straight out the crate the performance is fantastic. All credit to Jon who rode a great race, I know what kind of pace we can all carry at the front and am looking forward to the next one.”
Marty Nutt: “That was good fun, good clean racing at a really competitive pace. The bike worked really well and the tyres felt good all race. It’s the first time we’ve ridden them on slicks and they are impressive bits of kit. I’m confident to stay up at the front end of the championship and obviously happy to be on the first podium.”
Race Result
1) Kirkham,
2) Emmett,
3) Nutt,
4) Mason,
5) Coates,
6) Warren,
7) J.Kennedy,
8) Cox,
9) Etheridge,
10) Bevan
