First race of the year took us to Brands Hatch with BEMSEE and passenger Matthew Rostron in the chair for a signature to go towards the TT. We had arrived on the Thursday to set up and booked in for testing on Friday , Louisa in the chair for testing and it was her first time around the Kent circuit! Very excited to test out our new engine, we’re on the later Honda 600rr now so a considerable upgrade for us and potentially more horse power to come. Testing went well and needless to say, Louisa absolutely loved the track, her favorite so far and she did a very professional job in the chair giving Wayne a good idea of the set up of the outfit ready for race day on Saturday with Matty.
The weather took a turn on Saturday and we had the usual challenge of a wet circuit, but also, we are testing the new Hoosier tyres which we are having to use as Avons are no longer in production and this is the only option at the moment. The main challenge with this is getting the set up of the outfit right to compensate the change in tyres, so the suspension, ride height, and tyre pressures all have to be altered to make the use of the Hoosier work with the outfit. It does take alot of trial and testing, and we really must get this 100% before we attempt to go down Bray Hill on them!
. Wayne is more than happy to set off mid pack and with Matty on board, they felt the engine was working well but a slight electrical problem meant that Wayne wasn’t able to bring it up to full speed, however, a first race finish in 9th and a signature under our belts means we can check a couple of things and crack on with the second race, finishing that one in 10th and ready to prep for Sundays race.
Still with a glitch in the electrics, Wayne and Matty opted to do the one race in the morning and finish the weekends racing with a bit of time free to go and collect the new fairing from Jed. The race went well and the team brought back another 10th place to secure the second signature. Huge thanks to Mike and all the team at BEMSEE for another well run meeting, massive shout out to the orange army…. Thank you! Huge thanks to our one and only Phil Bridge for looking after the outfit, and making the long journey down to be with us. Thank you to Matty, Lisa and the gorgeous Reggie for being with us and to Louisa for doing an awesome job testing!
Next meeting is the first of the FSRA British Championship round at Croft with the legendary Ben Binns in the chair and hopefully the weather will behave itself too!