Joy for Be Wiser Ducati at Oulton Park BSB
Freddie steady in France
Liverpool and Spurs weren’t the only ones shining in Europe this week - starlet Freddie Housley also managed his highest EU position so far, bringing his kart home in 11thplace in France.
Freddie was racing in the IAME Benelux series in Ostricourt.
It was a tough track to master and after only four practice sessions on the Friday he still wasn’t confident as his times were almost two seconds off the fastest and the weather was awful so he didn’t have much dry running.
Saturday didn’t go to plan either as Freddie suffered problems with an ignition coil so he only managed to complete one lap in each session before going into qualifying.
With the coil replaced he headed in qualifying and posted times to keep him in the top seven for four laps until chassis issues slowed him down by over a second per lap. After four more laps this put him P19 on the grid for the heats.
After some impressive driving he managed 16th place in heat one and a 14th in heat two and was now starting to enjoy the track and confidently overtaking.
The heat results saw him start further down the grid than expected in 18th which was disappointing but at least the chassis issues had been resolved.
The team started to work on data to explain where Freddie was losing the time in a certain part of the track.
After a semi decent start of the 11 lap race his times started dropping and he was starting to come up the field, now lapping only four tenths of a second off the fastest time and crossed the line his highest position so far in Europe of 11th place.
Freddie was a very happy boy – but the team knew this could have been even better if he hadn’t missed the two valuable practice sessions Saturday morning.
Freddie does some Testing next week in the UK before heading out to Italy for IAME Euro series round two on 23-26 May.
Classic Mini Challenge to tackle classic Manx roads
This coming weekend sees the toughest round of the Challenge yet, when crews will tackle the daunting public roads on the Isle of Man.
The Challenge crews are tackling the first two of the three legs of the event, including, for the first time for these crews, night time stages.
Current leader Rick Ford is looking forward to the weekend: “It’s going to be difficult from first to last, but it’s every rally drivers dream to compete on these classic stages, so we’ll all be going flat out to win.”
Further information from https://asphaltrallying.com/tag/manx-national-rally/, or the Manx National Rally Facebook page.
Cosford karts get underway
The FUCHS Silkolene-backed Royal Air Force Cosford karting teams have been preparing all winter for the first race of the season. They completely renovated their older karts and set up the new karts (numbers 12 and 19 called Cosford’s The E.S.Essence and The E.S.Essentials respectively ) that were purchased using the funds secured from ESS and the RAF Sports Fund.
On race day, all karts were sent out with the fastestdriver from their team in an attempt to qualify in the highest position possible.
After qualifying, the team positions were announced with the Cosford Kart 19 qualifying in seventh, which was a little lower than expected. All other karts qualified in the top 20.
Later that day the race commenced with a few minor setbacks from the beginning. Kart 13’s spare chain had fallen off so, therefore, needed mechanical work and started from the back of the grid.
After the red lights went out, Kart 19 raced off into the lead within the first lap and karts 12,14 (called Cosford’s City FUCHS) and 16 (Cosford’s Common FUCHS) gaining a few positions too.
After the first stint had finished, the Pit Manager (Sgt Tiff Matthews-Watchus) started to call in the teams for their driver changes.
All the teams had been coming in smoothly completing quick pit stops using all of the spare team members to help get the karts across for fueling and driver changes.
Then kart 19 was called in. The pride of the fleet was still first until disaster struck. The first driver, SAC Will King, crashed into the barriers on the way into the pits. This bent the rear axle rendering the kart undrivable.
Although an attempt was made to straighten the axle by use of a scaffolding pole, it was to no avail and 19 was not able to compete again.
The second round of pit stops went smoothly as did the third and that's when the driver of Kart 15 (called Cosford’s FUCHS Song) stepped up his game with a blistering performance in very changeable weather conditions.
Team 15 managed to pull out a final position of sixth, the highest result of the Cosford teams that weekend, with the rest finishing in the top 15.
Disappointment for Kawasaki team in BSB – but joy for Ducati
It proved to be a challenging weekend at Oulton Park for reigning BSB champions Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki with Glenn Irwin taking a best finish of 22nd and Ben Currie missing the races due to injury.
The weekend got off to the worst possible start in the opening free practice session on Saturday morning when Ben crashed heavily at Shell Oils Corner resulting in multiple breaks in his left foot as well as damage to the knee ligaments in the same leg.
That left Glenn and James Hillier to fly the flag in the two Superbike races, the latter continuing his preparations ahead of the international road racing season, but Glenn also found the going tough.
Glenn said: “Although on paper the results don’t show it, I was happier on the bike than I’ve been all year, so I feel like we’ve made some good progress in the two races today.
“It had been wrecking my head not being able to pinpoint the problem, but now I know where the issues lie: with the braking and the chassis, and what we need to do to fix them. I enjoyed riding the bike again today and hopefully, my season will get started properly at Donington.”
After a disappointing opening round of the 2019 Bennetts British Superbike Championship, the Be Wiser Ducati team bounced back in superb fashion at round two at Oulton Park, capped by Aussie Josh Brookes scoring a double victory for the Lake District-based squad and team-mate Scott Redding posting a fourth and fifth place finish.
After two rounds, Brookes (Pictured) has moved up to fifth in the championship on 50 points with four-times GP winner Redding one place behind in sixth on 40 points, meaning both riders occupy one of the important top six places in the series at this early stage.
Brookes said: “When you ride for the PBM team, people expect you to win and it’s hard to maintain that level, so I’m delighted to get my first wins for them at round two, especially as Oulton Park is their local circuit.
“Neither race was easy, but we made good progress at the test last month and it meant we could come here this weekend and just make small refinements to the bike rather than big changes which enabled me to be quick from the off.”
There was good news, too, for BMW Smiths Racing. Peter Hickman managed a P6 and P11.
Tommy misses first by smallest of margins
Team Green Kawaski’s Tommy Searle battled hard once again at the latest round of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship at Canada Heights, but had to settle for second overall, losing out on the win by just 0.2 seconds. Great work once again on his Evotech run KX450
It was also great to see Team Green’s Lewis Hall take his first MX2 class top ten finish in a strong eighth.
Sidecar champs get back on track
Reining British sidecar champions Steve Kershaw / Stuart Clarke got the new campaign off to a flying start at Oulton Park.
Having qualified in second Kershaw/Clarke took the lead into turn one and held it for three laps before the world champions, the Birchall brothers, nipped past.
The FUCHS Silkolene-backed team held on to finish six seconds behind the Birchalls, and seven seconds clear off the rest of the field.
Calum learning fast in Motostar
Calum Beach was back in action at Oulton in the 2019 HEL Performance British Motostar Championship.
It’s a steep learning curve for Calum and the team, but he rode well in changeable conditions and qualified in 24thon the grid.
He rode well in race one and enjoyed a three-way battle with another Std bike, coming home 13thin class and gaining three points in the process.
Race two was a bit more lonely and, though he put in his fastest lap of the weekend on lap 12, he was disappointed he couldn’t keep up the small group in front.
Meanwhile, in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship, Harry Rowlings unfortunately chose the wrong tyre and crashed out as a result.
Marchant marches on
Andy Marchant managed first overall at Cotswold MXC. The track conditions weren’t great, but he recorded 1-2-1.
Busy weekend down the Lane for JSR Racing
JSR Racing were back in action in round three of AMCA Championship at Warmingham Lane.
Race one and all three JSR lads stormed their way into the top 10. James Dodd was up there battling for pole position but finished in second overall. Andy Smart was on fire, finishing in sixth with Ashley Thomas just behind in ninth.
Race two was another great one for JSR. Once again, all three lads were comfortably within the top 10 with Andy coming in fifth just ahead of James in sixth and Ashley in eighth.
Unfortunately race three was red flagged and the decision was made not to rerun the race. However, the before the race was called off James was in second place and Andy in fourth. As there were no official results for this race, we didn’t get a result for Ashley.
James Dodd didn’t disappoint with an overall result of fouth. James currently sits in second position in the AMCA championship with 355 points - only six behind first place.
Andy Smart had a great day, he finished in sixth. Andy now has a total of 234 points and is standing at ninth in the championship.
Ashley Thomas was on again on great form and finished in seventh overall. Ashley now has 246 points and is in seventh place in the championship.
Brad had a great start to the day, in race one he finished in eighth.
Unfortunately for Brad, he did come off during race two which resulted in a DNF. He has bruised his collarbone and knee and decided it would be best to sit the rest of the day out and we don’t blame him.
Given the DNFs today, Brad got an overall of 29th.
Currently Brad stands at 13th in the championship with a total of 222 points.
Shropshire beckons for FUCHS rally championship
Marking a change to the recent format of Knutsford & DMC’s Plains Rally, the Shropshire market town of Oswestry is preparing to welcome competitors for the fourth round of the Jordan Road Surfacing BTRDA Rally Series®, and third of the MAXXIS Motorsport UK English Rally Championship, which takes place on Saturday.
Even with four events still to run, the FUCHS Lubricants BTRDA 1400 Championship® is shaping up for a grandstand finale. The current top six have finished all three rounds so far and the seventh placed driver - Callum Black - missed the opening encounter, only to take maximums on the two he has contested.
So, Chris Powell/Jim Lewis (Talbot Sunbeam) currently hold the bragging rights, but the Suzuki Swift of Steve Black/Paul Morris isn’t far behind. Dominic Hodge/Stefan Arndt’s Micra has the edge over Noel Lappin’s Escort - just! - while 1400C leaders, with three maximums already, Mat & Dan Evans (Peugeot 205) have a narrow advantage over the Micra of classmates Richard Garnett/Rob Gilham.
Also taking part on this BTRDA championship round are FUCHS-backed drivers Pat Naylor (Mitsubishi Evo 9) and Ian Joel (Ford Escort Cosworth). The 45 miles of mid Wales stages are familiar to both crews, and both are looking forward to improving their current BTRDA positions.
Lewis back on the podium for Ciceley
Ciceley Motorsport’s defending Junior Saloon Car Champion Lewis Saunders was back on the podium again at Snetterton over the weekend, taking a hard fought second and third in the latest double-header.
Entries open for 2019 ATL Carlisle Stages
Entries have opened for the 2019 ATL Carlisle Stages (Saturday 8 June), which brings together the FUCHS LUBRICANTS Motorsport UK British Historic Rally Championship and the Motoscope Northern Historic Rally Championship.
As well as catering for the two historic championships, the ATL Carlisle Stages will be an ideal event for those competing in modern cars, both two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive. It is a round of the burgeoning Rally2 Challenge and the Border Challenge Championship.
All two-wheel-drive cars, both historic and modern, will run at the head of the field, with the two-wheel drive field running in reverse order to give the older and less powerful cars the very best road conditions.
Gavin moves up six places to claim sixth
Gavin Murray and Murray Motorsport travelled to Hednesford Raceway for Round 12 of the National Hot Rods World Qualifying Series.
He suffered an untimely end to heat one after getting caught up in backed up traffic, getting a good view of the underside of #42. He was disqualified after the bonnet flew off – but it was nothing a bit of tape couldn’t fix.
A sixth in heat two saw Gavin start in 12th place for the final – and he cruised home to a well-deserved P6.
More reckons for Bridgwater and Taunton students
Bridgwater & Taunton College Motorsport finished their second outing at Silverstone in the RLM Racing 750 Motor Club Bikesports Championship with a pole position in qualifying, new lap record and first overall in race one - followed by a second in race two.
