And so it begins….
It’s been an action-packed fortnight with lots to tell so the opportunity to ramble is ever present however i will attempt to keep it concise.
ARA Championship
It all kicked off on the weekend of the 13th April, the ARA Championship were hosting a double-header with two rounds hosted over the weekend. Saturday’s weather was perfect as we rolled into the paddock and began pre-race preparations. Due to the recent bad weather we have been receiving our test day was cancelled and therefore we would have to iron-out any issues over the race days.
Qualification went without a hitch, the suspension was too soft for the setup which hampered times but Keith could ride around the issue. We are entered into the 650 Championship and also the Post Classic Singles, Twins and Triples Championship. Times kept coming down and we finished 8th in the first race and 10th in the second. So without any testing we were very happy with the results
Overnight we stiffened up the front suspension and were eager to see how we could improve, however Gale Force 8 winds and driving rain forced the organisers to cancel the event, shame but that’s racing.
The next round is the weekend of the 4th May.
Private Test
Our rescheduled test took place last weekend having sole use of the Jurby Aerodrome which was arranged and provided by our good friends and supporters John and Jane South. Their assistance in facilitating this enabled us (and a few select others) the opportunity to try a number of things plus also test the Classic Endurance bike.
What a day, not only did the sun shine all day but we were able to make massive improvements in both setups resulting in a big reduction in lap times for Keith on the SV.
The front end setup we have now is good however we have reached its potential and therefore have ordered a new Race Tech front end which along with the GPR damper will give us the next ‘step up’ and allow us to hone in on the optimum setup in time for the Southern 100 Road Races (which as i hammer finger to keyboard is only 77 days away).
I was able to attach Dogcam HDWide bullet cams to both bikes and we have captured some great footage (including blasting past a friend who decided to run a lap on a tiny ‘Monkey Pit Bike’ to see just how quickly he could post a lap on the thing…..).
Summary
Steady-away i think sums it up eloquently; we are making progress every outing and are ahead of our plan for the season. The new team members are gelling well and there is a relaxed and positive attitude in the camp.
We have had some exciting additions to the season with the TT now playing a role plus a new local photographer who will be shadowing us at all our events providing us with excellent images of us and our Sponsors (she has a press pass for the S100, ARA Championship and the Manx GP) plus another photographer is joining us for the TT (he also has press accreditation for the event so he can get to the right spot to capture the moment).
Slick Bass has agreed to tune our engines (we are still in shock from this, he truly is a legend) and EvoMoto are supplying suspension support. We have BOAL Engineering providing us with all our fabrication needs and the Donut Factory who will be supplying free coffee at our events (just the coffee honest…..!)
Regards,
Alex
