Round 3 Levels / 2010

Even though it did not rain for the 3^rd round. It was always threatening, and it never really allowed the track temp to get over 35 degrees. To get the best out of our Dunlop’s, track temps of 35 degrees and upwards to 55 degrees, would give us a good edge over the competition.

We had a steady build up on the Friday practise, with us still learning the correct settings with the latest Ohilns 30mm cartridges. We are the first in the world to use these, so no one else has any base line settings yet for us to go off. So this has been a small issue, and has slowed us down somewhat.

Both James and Robbie qualified quickest in their classes. So we were feeling good for race day.

Race day brought overcast skies, and cold track temps. But in the races, both riders put their heads down, to go for the wins. James was held up somewhat by Jon Ross, which allowed Nick Cole to make a break. Once James passed Jon, he went after Nick, but even though he was pulling Nick in, he ran out of laps and had to settle for 2^nd.

In race 2 of the 600 class. James wasted to time in getting a great start, and was able to pull a small gap on the field. Nick Cole followed, but James was always able to keep Nick a few bikes lengths behind him. On the final lap, James knew Nick would have a big go at getting past him. So James made the job as hard as possible, which ended up been too hard for Nick, and he went off the track. But, with the lead James and Nick had on the rest of the field, Nick was able to get back on the track and still secure 2^nd.

So, a 2^nd and a 1^st place for James in the 600 class. In the Superbike class, James rode without pushing himself too hard. Levels Raceway does not allow much time for relaxing, and with the importance of the 600 racing, we did not want to over tier himself, so eased things up in the SBK racing. He brought the Suzuki home in 4^th and 5^th places. This still leads him 3rd overall in the Superbike Class, by 9 points and 1st in the 600 class, by 6 points.

For Robbie, it was slightly disappointing in the 1^st race. Robbie led all the laps, and held about a 4 bike length lead over Andrew Stroud on another Suzuki GSXR 1000. But, Robbie caught up 2 lapped riders at the wrong time, which allowed Andrew to catch up and sneak past, to secure the win in the 1^st race by 0.100 second………so quite a close race….!!

Race 2, Robbie again lead from the front and this time, made sure that Andrew could not get past, even when catching up on slower riders. Robbie secured his 3^rd win of the season. He had worked very hard for this win, and after the race was very pleased and relieved to have taken the chequered flag 1^st.

The team worked very hard all weekend, to give both riders the best bikes we could. The Triple R Mack Truck Suzuki’s worked a treat all weekend. The Dunlop tyres were fantastic, and we know if we can get far better track temperatures, we will really be able to get things going over the opposition.

We now have a small rest……….well the riders may have a rest, I actually don’t. We have 2 weeks before I take the team north and have a test at the new Hampton Downs Raceway. So, I have to drop the engines out of the 2 600’s, and check that everything is all ok. Then get both of these 600’s back into their frames and retest them on the dyno, to make sure everything is ok. While this is happening, I also strip the chassis’s down and check all the suspension, swing arm bearings, pivot points etc and then put everything back together.

With James’s Superbike, I also have to drop the engine out of that too, and give the top end a service. Dyno it again to confirm everything is in order. And also check everything else on the bike.

Robbie’s bike; the engine does not need stripping down, but I will be stripping suspension etc and making sure everything is perfect. We need to secure 4 wins over the next 2 rounds, so I want to make sure nothing goes wrong from my end.

Regards,

Red.