True Heroes Back Together at Donington
After an extended Winter break on Friday 2nd July, we finally managed to get the whole team together and go racing on the National stage at Donington Park. Things were a little different, but nothing to do with Covid 19 but the fact that we were sharing the event with the stars of the World Superbike Championships.
We were there to compete in the Ducati Tri Options Cup as one of the support class races. As the Stock 1000 class wasn’t part of the event, we only had 2 Ducati’s with us. The weather also wanted to play its part to make the weekend more interesting by being extremely changeable, especially on both race days.
The team worked hard to get the bikes ready for free practice on Friday morning, both riders felt a little rusty and didn’t get the times they would have liked to go into qualifying with Ben Falla #11 on a 1’43.319 and Mike Long #7 on a 1’45.625, but as anyone that has seen the team in action will know a little thing like that will not stop us achieving what we want to.
Working with the mechanics, and Andy from Kais suspension, as a team we came together to make changes to the bikes, to try and make them more manageable through the fast corners. The changes made were in the right direction with both riders achieving faster times in Qualifying.
In Qualifying the boys managed to better their times to a 1’38.925 and 20th place for Ben and a 1’43.368, 35th place for Mike, meaning they both qualified for the race under the new 110% minimum qualifying time rules.
On Saturday, our race was not until 17.00 so the team were able to watch the World Superbike races and take some time out together face-to-face after a long winter away from each other.
The day started very wet, however fortunately the race was dry. The race saw both riders improve massively on their Qualifying performances. Ben #11 finished in 16th place posting a fastest lap of 1’38.118 and Mike # 7 coming in at 29th place with the fastest lap of 1’40.020.
Sunday Race 2 was a great success. Ben going faster still setting his fastest lap of the weekend with a 1’38.008 and finishing in 15th place scoring a main championship point. Everything was looking good for a 14th until brake fade on the last lap got the better of him. Mike also set his fastest lap of the race on lap 6 with a 1’41.866. However, Mike pulled in just before the end with the leaders bearing down on him after a brief visit to the gravel trap going for an audacious overtake.
It was fantastic to be back racing after what has felt like the longest winter, as everyone knows the winning is not the most important thing to the team, it really is the taking part that makes the difference for all the beneficiaries. 2021 will see some new faces join the team, bonding with those beneficiaries from last year who have returned, to benefit in their own ways by being involved with True Heroes Racing.
Now we look forward to Brands Hatch on the 23rd to 25th July and if the Government continues with their current plans, it will be back to business as usual for everyone without the restrictions imposed by Covid 19. Fingers crossed.
As always, our thanks go out to all our sponsors and supporters who make everything that True Heroes Racing and all our beneficiaries achieve possible.
