Tuesday 26th February 2008 - Happy New Year
Hi everyone, I've not been on the blog for a while so first of all happy new year and all the best for 2008 !
We were a bit unsure what we where going to do in 2008, after blowing what budget we had for 07 ( again ) it's been a long hard winter trying to get get set up for this year.
The Superstock Championship for 08 was the main goal, we had the 07 R1 ready to go but no money to run it with !
Anyway, to cut a long story short, things seem to have come together over the last few weeks and although we probably only have enough budget to get to the first 4 rounds, the entry is in and thats where we're heading.
I've got to say a massive thank-you to Neil Beckett for letting us run the bike again this season, and also to some very good friends of mine who love the racing and have supported me by helping pay my first entry installment - cheers boys.
We have been out practicing a couple of times already this year, at Oulton and Donington and things seem to be going really well. The next planned trackday is March 8th at Oulton again, hopefully the weather will be good and I can get somewhere nearer the times I would like to do.
Thats about all I know at the moment !
I'll keep you informed on how things progress, and if there is anyone out there who would like to get involved with supporting / sponsoring this season, please get in touch, it will be much appreciated.
Cheers
Beggsy #44
Sunday 14th October 2007 - Brands Hatch Indy - The Final Round
We went off to Brands looking forward to another double-header weekend, and the last chances i had of scoring any points in the superstock championship this year.
With the track at only just over a mile long, we expected the lap times to be close from the front to the rear of the grid for the races.
We arrived early afternoon after a five and a half hour drive and the weather was great. The rest of the team joined Neil and i later that night and everything was ready to go.
The weather turned on the friday morning of free practice and we had a tough tyre decision to make. It had rained but was drying out rapidly and there was a dry line appearing. We made the decision to go with dry tyres and a bit softer on the rear spring and go steady to start with.
It worked really well and the bike felt good. Although i did not push as hard as i thought i could have in the last few minutes, we ended up 24th at the end of the session about 2 seconds down on the quickest time.
First qualifying took place later that day on a completely dry track. I set the fastest time i had ever done at the circuit a 49.358 second on lap 25 of 31. I was really happy at having gone faster than ever before so early in the weekend, but was disappointed at only placing 31st at the end of the session. However, we were only 1.2 secs off pole and thought with a little more improvement, we may be able to move up the grid in qualifying 2.
Saturday was agin dry and we ended up 31st again at the end of the session. As has been the case with the National Superstock Championship all season, everyone just keeps getting faster and faster throughout the weekend. I did my first ever 48 second lap of the circuit and moved closer to pole than in the previous session.
With only 1.149 secs covering the field from pole to myself in 31st, it was obvious the racing was going to be close. I needed to get a good start and stay out of trouble early on and see what we could do from there. I was running in around 27th place when a rider at the front of the field spilled oil in to the fast left hander at Surtees. A number of bikes crashed on the oil and i just about managed to stay upright after taking to the grass.
Consequently the racing was stopped whilst the bikes were recovered and the oil cleaned up. It was announced there was to be a 10 lap dash to conclude the race. It would be a straight race and nothing from the first part would count.
I made probably the best start i have ever made in my life and after a hard fought race and a good scrap with Mat Whitman on the last lap i finished 19th. We were really happy with the result and were looking forward to the following day and the final round of the series.
Race 2 was again stopped short due to an accident but this time was declared as a result. I finished 22nd, which again wasn't too bad from where i started but was disappointed to end the year not having scored the point i wanted.
Anyway, we had a great night on the Sunday night when it was all over ! Some friends of ours stayed over, all the way from Crewe so it was off for a few beers with them first then in to as many parties as we could get in to.
Summary:
Massive thanks to everyone who supported me this season. Enviro-strip UK have kept me racing for the last couple of years and without them, i would not be competing at this level.
Thanks to Neil Beckett who again has been brilliant, allowing me have have competetive kit for the last 2 years.
Mark and Niki at Beta Grafix and Pogy at Bodycraft have kept the bike looking sweet all year.
Thanks to all at Maxton, especially Rich for his technical support and being there at all of the rounds to help when i'm pulling my hair out!
Motorbike IT for a cracking website and allowing me to stay in touch with everyone.
K2, for their continued support with anything Yamaha plus other bits and bobs!
My Dad at Two Wheel Tyres for again continuing to help me with everything he can.
Adam and Mandy for the Mondello trip and all the extra stuff.
My girlfriend Beth ( who is very understanding ), and the Big lads Chris and Ian who have been brilliant all year both at race weekends and in between events.
There are loads of people who i would like to say a massive thanks to, they all contribute towards keeping us going year after year.
Thanks everyone
Speak Soon
Beggsy #44
Sunday 30th September 2007 - Anglesey Circuit - The Anglesey Grand
The week after Donington we headed to Anglesey for the Bikesport News Supported Anglesey Grand, which is run by the Wirral 100 Motorcycle Club.It is usually a great weekends racing, and having competed at most of the meets at the new Anglesey Circuit this year, we returned to see if we could take the Anglesey Grand trophy for the first time.
With the help of Adams Auto's in Middlewich, ( thanks Adam ) we were able to run Slick tyres on the bike for the first time ever. I had never used these before but i knew that everyone i would be up against would have them so we give them a shot.
The weekend started with the normal club championship races on the Saturday. I was leading the powerbike series so started my heat from pole and won the race with a fairly quick time but not the best i had ever done at the circuit. The slick tyres felt really good and i was gaining confidence all the time.
In the other heat, Alistair Seeley ( last years Anglesey Grand Champion to whom i was second ) and James Dickson looked to be really quick around the circuit. They both went quicker than me in their heat.
I had a front row start for the Final point race. I got a bit held up in the first couple of laps and eventually finished third behind Seeley and Dickson. I knew i was to have my work cut out for the Anglesey Grand title the next day. Alistair was in a league of his own on a sponsored superbike for the weekend.
Sunday started with qualifying for the Grand and i went out on a set of treaded tyres to save my new slicks for the two Grand legs later in the day. Everyone was complaining of tyre wear at the new, very grippy track. I qualified 4th with Seeley on pole dickson 2nd and Joel Morris 3rd. There was nothing in the times between 2nd and 4th and it was obviously going to be close racing with Seeley out front.
A repeat of the final from saturday was the next race and again, i used old tyres to save slicks for the grand. I finished 2nd behind dickson but put in my fastest time of the weekend and was confident for the Grand races.
Grand Leg 1 - I had not beat Dickson all weekend but when he and Gavin Hunt ran wide whilst battling for 2nd place. I took advantage and slipped through to 2nd. I stayed there until the end of the race, and although i was no where near Seeley who won the race, i was happy with the result.
Grand Leg 2 - Dickson had crashed behind me in leg 1 and Joel Morris had finished 3rd. With no new tyres left, it was always going to be a close race. Seeley and Dickson got out front and i was 4th for the first couple of laps behind manxman Gavin Hunt. After clearing Hunt, i went after Dickson with Joel Morris close behind. With a couple of laps left i got right on to the back of Dickson heading down the back straight, I'm not sure what happened but i got that close to him that i had to shut the throttle for a split second and Morris dragged passed us both on the run up to the rocket complex. It was close for the next couple of corners and the last lap but i had to settle for 4th place and second overall in the Anglesey Grand to Alistair Seeley (again)
Summary
A great weekend at Anglesey again. I extended my lead in the Wirral 100 Championship to 14 points by the end of the weekend, with only 1 round left in October at Oulton Park.
Thanks again to everyone that helped out for the weekend and to everyone who turned up to support us again.
Cheers
Craig.
Sunday 23rd September 2007 - Donington Park - Double Header
There was a busy weekend ahead of us at Donington due to it being a doulbe -header round where we would catch up one of the races missed at knockhill due to poor weather conditions earlier in the year. ( I was injured for that anyway so it was a bit of a bonus still getting the race ! )
We had tested at Donington on a trackday a couple of weeks before this weekend and it had gone really well. It's the first time all year we have managed to get to a track before the race weekend and get some good laps in. I went just about as fast as i had ever gone around Doni on that trackday, so i was well happy.
The race weekend didn't start well ! I was black flagged on the second lap of free practice due to a small oil leak which was dripping on to the exhaust and causing a little bit of smoke. Luckily the BSB marshals noticed it quickly and i got it off the track before anyone else was effected and no damage was done.
With the oil leak fixed we were ready for first qualifying in the afternoon. However, with only a few minutes to go before the start of the session, we were sat there with no wheels in the bike trying to decide wether to go with wets or dry's. We then had our minds made up for us with a hevy downpoor which stopped the start of the session due to standing water on the track !
I finished up 27th in the wet session which i wasn't really happy with but with the better conditions forecast for the Saturday qualifying session and race 1, i knew i still had another chance to improve.
Qualifying 2 was dry but i could only manage P31 on the grid. I was disappointed with this because with losing the first dry session of the weekend, it felt like it took ages for me to get going in this session and i didn't get near the laptimes i knew i could do on the circuit.
I was desperate to improve my laptimes in race 1 and try and move up the grid a bit. I did improve my quickest time by 1.5 secs and finished 27th after being pressured throughout the race by Kelvin Reilly. It was a strange race, i didn't really feel like i was making any progress at all, yet I managed to improve alot over my qualifying performance ?
We made a few changes to the bike for morning warm up and went harder on the rear shock . It seemed to work OK so with nothing to lose from 31st on the grid we decided to try it for the race. This time i got a good start and felt good about the race, there was a few more laps to this one and i had a bit more of a chance to improve my position.
There was a few riders that crashed in the race and with a couple of laps left i had P21 on my pit board which i was quite happy with. I then made up another place on the penultimate lap and finished the race 20th. I had improved my time again and equaled my best ever time at the track.
Summary
We got off to a slow start but happy with the race 2 result. Slightly disappointed at not getting in the points again - only one more chance now at the final round of the year at Brands Hatch Indy.
Thanks to everyone for their support again !
Thursday 30th August 2007 - Round 10 - Cadwell Park.
I was really looking forward to the bank holiday weekend meeting at Cadwell. I went well there in the Superstock Cup last year and couldn't wait to get back to the circuit which i had not been to since then.
We were promised great weather all weekend ( which would make a nice change ) and after our best result of the year at the previous round at Croft, we were all set.
Free practice was Saturday morning, and it was Hot ! I seemed to remember my way round quite quickly and posted a quickest time of 1m36.2 leaving me in 27th place after the first session. I was not too disappointed with this because i thought there was alot of time still left in me and in the bike if i could just get it right.
We went out for first qualifying in the late afternoon on Saturday, by which time it had cooled down a bit. I improved my time to a 1m35.6 which was only good enough for 29th place at the end of the session. I was struggling with confidence in the front end of the bike and continued to make changes to the setup throughout the session.
Qualifying 2 went much better on Sunday and i improved my time again by a full second to 1m34.6 which was about half a second quicker than i qualified last year. I was however, disappointed to find out i was only 31st on the grid for Mondays race.
I was determined to finish the race in a better position than i had to start it, so we again made some more changes to the bike for the Monday morning free practice. I was only 0.1s outside my qualifying time in the warm up which gave me a bit more confidence going in to the race that i could go faster again during the race and hopefully improve my position alot!
I was quite nervous for the race, i knew i had left myself alot to do from that far down the grid. When we lined up on the grid, i remembered just how close you are to the other bikes at Cadwell, you could probably lean over and touch the guy next to you on the grid. It is also a really quick first corner so my first goal was to get round the first lap safely and see what happened from there.
The race result didn't turn out to be too bad at all. I finished 19th and again improved my best time by about another 0.5s. There were a few accidents and retirements which also helped, but we got to the line safely and i was happy with where i ended up from 31st on the grid.
Summary
I needed to be quicker earlier on in the weekend. Maybe some testing at the circuit before the race weekend would have helped. The series is so competetive this year and you have to start off quicker than i did !
Thanks again to all the team and sponsors for keeping me racing,
See you at Donington in a few weeks
Cheers
Craig.
Saturday 18th August 2007 - Round 9 - Croft
The weather was great when Neil and i arrived at Croft on Thursday, i just hoped that it would be good all weekend !
After the disappointment of not completing the race at Oulton due to bad weather conditions again, we had our spirits lifted in the break between the rounds, when we had a couple of wins at the Wirral 100 club meeting on the new Anglesey circuit.
I went in to the Croft weekend feeling good and was confident of the bike set up, as the rear shock had also been back to Maxton for a little tinker before the Anglesey meet. After a quick ride round on the mountain bike Friday night to familiarise myself with the circuit ( not seen it for 12 months ), i was ready for free practice on Friday Morning.
I had a goal for the early sessions and that was to get down to the times i was doing last year as quickly as possible, but it seemed i had forgotten just how technical Croft is. I really struggled in free practice and ended the session in 30th place with a best time almost 2 secs slower than i did in the race last year. We made changes to the setup throughout the session and i did my fastest lap on my last lap, which was a bit more encouraging as at least we were getting quicker.
I thought i knew where i was struggling, and when i got my sector times it confirmed it for me!
Qualifying 1 went much better in terms of lap times, I did a 1m 26.726 which was only 0.6s slower than last year. However, i had moved down the grid to 31st place!
Again, we had made changes throughout the session and i knew i could go quicker in Qualifying 2 on Saturday, but I was still frustrated at the fact i had not matched last years times.
Qualifying 2 was better again and i put in my fastest time ever of the circuit 1m 25.895. I was much happier as it also moved us up to 26th on the grid.
Raceday came and the weather in the morning looked a bit mixed, we heard that rain was on the way but it was just a question of when? Our race was the first on the programme and was also televised live on ITV4 for the first time.
I set off from pit lane on the outlap, and the small spots of rain we felt in pit lane seemed to get bigger. The track was particularly wet in the sunny in / sunny out section but everywhere else didn't look too bad.
When i arrived on the grid, i was told that it had been declared a wet race ( it wouldn't be stopped if it rained during the race ). It meant that the decision had to be made on what tyre to use for the whole race. We went with wets as it was still raining a bit and the lads did a great job of changing the wheels quickly, leaving me time to change back to a clear visor.
I was trying to convince myself on the warm up laps that i had made the right decision, and it did look promising for the guys who chose wet tyres.
I got a good start but didn't seem to make any places up by the time i had got out of the first corner. i got hung out to dry at the 2nd corner and went straight over the chicane on the first lap - not the ideal start. However, it seemed that wets were the right choice and i slowly started picking my way through the field in the early laps. I was up to 14th at one point, then it became apparent that the track was rapidly drying out. A few guys on dry tyres passed me in the second half of the race, as i began to struggle with the overheating wets.
Eventually i finished 17th, which is still my best result of the year so we were all happy. It was a good race too with plently of scrapping for position throughout.
Summary
Happy with the best result of the year in 17th but found it frustrating that we were so close to the points and came away with none again !
Thanks to all our sponsors and the team for their support,
Can't wait to get to Cadwell.
Cheers, Craig.
Monday 16th July 2007 - Round 8 – Oulton Park
Got to be the wettest weekend ever, the rain never seemed to hold up apart from a brief glimpse of sunshine during qualifying on the Saturday.
Although Oulton is my favourite & home venue, this weekend was always going to be a difficult one for me, as I was still making a recovery from my shoulder injury due to the qualifying crash I had at Knockhill…
We had a fairly average start during free practice on the Friday with a 9.3 second gap off Brendan’s time, however the rain was starting to pool so bad at Cascades that practice was stopped for 2 hours while the track was cleared. James my web site sponsor got a real feel for the not so sexy side of racing, struggling to de-mist his lens trying to capture that one off shot of me and the team…
The sun did show itself a few times on qualifying day and this enabled me to put in a PB time at this circuit. We were off the wets for the first time enabling me to close yesterday’s gap with a combined qualifying time of only 2 seconds off the leader.
After such a great qualifying boost I awoke to the sound of thunder, lightning and more rain, which real did cheese me and the team off. However, with a 7th grid row position, my shoulder now feeling a lot better we prepared the bike with a whole lot more confidence and got the set up ready for a very wet one...
The BSB race went a head albeit close to the mark with the conditions worsening it was looking doubtful that we would ever race this weekend?
Eventually the course director made a decision to run the race. The conditions were so bad that after just 3 laps I came in not being able to see a thing. The race was stopped after 5 laps due to so many retirements…
Summary
A “wet one” but very pleased with my performance in qualifying and setting a personal best at my home circuit. My shoulder is almost fully repaired which again gives me yet more confidence looking forward to Croft in 3 weeks.
Craig
