Martin Jessopp

The weather was on our side for a change and the weekend looked like it was good end to the year. In practice on friday I was up to speed from the start and found a good setting with the bike. About an hour before the second session I managed to cracked my head open on a metal bar and had to have it glued back together in the medical centre. I finished the day in 14th overall and 2nd privateer on a time of 47.2 seconds. The team was happy with this and I had many offers of people willing to hit me on the head because it seemed to make me go faster!!!!
 
The track was still damp from the dew in the night so I decided not to go out and risk a crash. Coming into this round myself and Simon Andrews were in contention for the Airwaves kick up a gear award with a £4,000 prize. With this in mind myself and the team decided to qualify at the back in hope of over taking as many people as possible and taking the prize. I did this and I qualified 29th overall and 10th privateer.
 
Race 1 saw me overtake 9 people in the first corner. I was in a race long battle with Johnson, Smart and Etheridge around the short Indy circuit at Brands over 30 laps. I over took Johnson and Smart in the last few laps and finished 18th and 4th privateer. This meant  i had sealed second place in the championship.
 
Race 2 was another great start and in another battle with Etheridge, Hickman and Martin. On about lap 18 my soft tyre suddenly ran out of grip and my lap times got worse and worse but i managed to keep my position and finish 18th again and 5th privateer.
 
I came to this meeting with two things to do, one was secure 2nd place in the championship and the other to win the £4,000. My results were not great but I did achieve the things I wanted to do. The year as a whole has been really good and I am happy with the results I had considering I broke my collar bone at Donington Park. Thanks to all my team and sponsors and see you all next year.
 
PTJ #40.

Martin Jessopp, won the ‘Airwaves® Kick Up A Gear® Award’ for his outstandingly consistent performance throughout the 2008 British Superbike Championship;Jessopp started at the back of the grid in 29th position. He finished 18th in races one and two, accumulating a total of 22 points at the 1.2 mile Brands Hatch Indy circuit to make him winner on the day as well as over the 12 rounds.

The ‘Airwaves® Kick Up A Gear® Award’ is presented to the rider who has gained the most places from their qualifying position at each race over the course of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship season.

Throughout the season each rider received points equal to the number of places gained at the end of each race.
Martin Jessopp accumulated the most points throughout the season, making him the overall ‘Airwaves® Kick Up A Gear® Award’ winner. As reward for his remarkable performance, Jessopp was presented with a cheque for £4,000 from Wrigley’s Airwaves®.

Toby Baker, Wrigley Marketing Director, said: “Wrigley is delighted to continue its support for the Bennetts British Superbike Championship and present the ‘Airwaves® Kick Up A Gear^TM Award’ for 2008. This has been such an exciting year in the championship, and the exhilarating thrills and spills of the last 12 rounds have provided some top-quality entertainment for fans. The ‘Airwaves® Kick Up A Gear® Award’ has been at the heart of all the action, as riders have pitted themselves against each other in a bid to test their skills and endurance to the limit.

“The award also clearly supports our Airwaves® ‘Kick Up A Gear®’ brand vision which we feel is perfectly suited to the high octane and adrenaline fueled sport of motorcycling.

“Martin Jessopp’s performance throughout the season has been absolutely outstanding and he’s a thoroughly deserving winner of the ‘Airwaves® Kick Up A Gear® Award’.”

With only 2 rounds to go we were at the fast and wide circuit of Silverstone which I really enjoy racing at. The first day we concentrated on getting up to speed as fast as possible ensuring gearing and base set up was as good as possible. I finished the day 19th overall and 2nd privateer.
 
Saturday was to be another sunny warm day like friday and we were already getting to a good bike set up but was lacking rear grip in the final few turns. I tried all the different tyres available but was still not able to get rid of the problem for qualifying. The plan for the afternoon was as normal in that I wanted to make the second part of qualifying. I managed to do this but a sensor failed on the bike at the end of the first part of the session so I was forced to use the bike I had not ridden all weekend in the second part in which I did not post a faster time, putting me 20th on the grid and 2nd privateer on a time of 1.28.513. Myself and the team were happy with this and really looking forward to the race.
 
Race day was once again sunny from the start and it was looking like this was going to be the first weekend of the year where I did not use a wet tyre all weekend!!!!! In the first race I did not have a great start and as usual I had to overtake some slower riders on the first lap if I was going to get away with the main group to finish in the points. Early in the race Burns made a pass on me and pulled a gap of about 1.5 seconds and maintained this through the race and I just couldn’t seem to close the gap and on the last lap Hickman came past me as he had been behind me the whole race. After the second race it was found out to be that Mason on the Quay Honda had been using illegal engine parts and was disqualified from both races so this put me 15th overall and 2nd privateer. I was really happy with scoring another point in the main championship.
 
Race 2 saw me have an even worse start than the first and putting on the power too early out of the first turn I had a big slide and was out of the seat losing many places. I was soon pushing my way through the field though. The temperature was a bit cooler, for this race, so I went with a medium race tyre as apposed to the soft in race 1 which really didn’t work. Once I got passed the riders I lost out. I was watching my pit board the whole race and seemed to maintain my place easy enough but was just not able to close in the rider ahead of me. I finished 2nd again and 17th overall.
 
This was a good weekend for myself and felt I did the best I could have done on my bike as I was really struggling with no traction control on the last few turns. I can not believe it but we only have one more round left which is at the Brands Indy circuit.
 
See you there, PTJ #40

In my past seasons at the bumpy circuit of Croft I had never had a decent result and was looking to turn that around this year because I do enjoy riding the circuit. As per usual the weather was not going to be good so what dry times we had on track it was important to get some fast laps in to try and get some set up for race day. The first session was dry and I rode the bike I have not ridden since Mallory Park because we were planning to ride it due to the other bike having high mileage. After a few changes I finished the session 22nd overall and 4th privateer on a time of 1.24.727. The next session of the day saw spitting rain so I only ended up doing a handful of laps.
 
Going into qualifying I was still not happy with the set up of the bike but could not manage to resolve the situation and with the new format of qualifying did not post a time quick enough to see me in the second part and ended up 24th overall and 6th privateer on a time of 1.24.191. Looking ahead to race day I knew I had a lot of work to do and some changes needed to be made.
 
With changes made ready for the first race I was not really sure how it was going to be but I was soon to find out. The track temperature was 20 degrees so I went with a soft tyre. I had a good start and made a few places up and ended up in a race long battle with Tunstall and Etheridge. The grip was really not good on the rear and I could see the other riders were not having the same problem so I needed to hang in with them and try and make a move on the closings laps, which I did and beat them to finish 21st and 4th. We made a mistake with the tyre and the set up was still not as good as it usually is so we made even more changes for the next race.
 
In race 2 I also had a good start and started to go with the guys in front which were Johnson and Martin but on lap 7 I made a big mistake at the entry to Tower bend and ran off the circuit and by the time I was back on track I was a long way behind and there was no way I was going to make it back up but I tried. I finished a disappointing 20th and 5th.
 
So the dismal curse over myself at Croft continues for another year but with that behind we can move on to the next round at Silverstone.
 
See you soon, PTJ #40.

Arriving at Cadwell I was once again really looking forward to the another weekend of racing especially as it is my favourite circuit in the UK. On practise day the sun was out I spent the day trying to get the bike set up around the up and down demanding circuit. By the end of the second session I was 21st overall and 3rd privateer on a time of 1.31.755 which was not so bad.
 
Sunday was qualifying and it had been raining most of the night but was sunny when it was time to get on track which meant it was very mixed conditions and only did a few laps like many of the riders. For Cadwell Park the organisers had introduced a new format to qualifying in which we have a 3 session knock out style to determine the grid. Myself and the team set out to try and make the second session which would ensure me in the top 20 at worst. I did this and set a best time of 1.31.246 putting me 20th on the grid and 3rd privateer. I was happy with this because I was getting a fair bit of pain from my knees which are from an old injury, years ago.
 
Race day was again warm and sunny and I was really hoping to again get a point in the main championship but knew it was going to be a tough task with everybody on a fast pace all weekend. I had a poor start in race 1 meaning I had to get back past some riders early on if I was going to make top 3 of the cup. I had pulled a 8 second gap on the guys behind but was 12 seconds behind the guys in front and was on my own the whole race. My times towards the end of the race were dropping off due to the pain in my knees. I finished 4th and 17th overall.
 
In the next race we kept with the same set up and tyre choice. Again I didn’t have a great start and had to get past some slower riders. Race 2 was just like the first as I was on my own with large gaps to the front and rear. I finished 3rd in the cup and 18th overall.
 
I am still 2nd in the privateer championship.
 
Next round is the flat and bumpy circuit of Croft which I really enjoy riding so hopefully I will be back up to where I want to be.
 
PTJ #40

Since Oulton Park I had really been looking forward to Knockhill as I enjoy the flow of the circuit and have had some good results there in the past years. I was finally back to 100% fit and ready to do battle and try and get to the top step of the podium. 
 
Friday was dry and it was important to get some good laps in because we knew it was going to be raining all day saturday. The first time I pitted of the day I said to my crew I had almost forgotten how fast these bikes are as I nearly came off the back as soon as I applied the power in first gear leaving the pit lane!!! I spent the day trying get consistent fast laps but was having problems at the last corner and losing 0.4 of a second there which was the difference between me finishing 16th instead of 22nd.
 
As predicted saturday was wet an raining all day which ment the grid was going to be determined on wet weather riding which is not usually a problem for me but this was not so on this day. The morning session was our last practise of the weekend and I was having some issues with traction exiting the last corner on the wet surface, we made some changes to the end of the session in hope to get it sorted ready for qualifying. Unfortunately we did not manage to get the bike any better and was still losing 0.4 of a second. I qualified a dismal 24th overall and 6th privateer.
 
Race 1 saw a wet track drying fast so everybody was using slick tyres but our lap times were down due to it still being quite damp. I had a poor start and had a few guys come past me which was not good as it took me nearly 10 laps to get past them and then I ended up in a race long battle with privateer rival Chris Burns in which we were overtaking each other on every lap but I made a first corner move on him on the last lap and made it stick to the finish. I was really happy with this result because I scored a couple more points in the main championship and finished 2nd in the cup taking some points out of the injured rider John Laverty.
 
Race 2 was a shortened race with a wet track and a small drying line. I chose to go on a intermediate rear and a wet front which ended up not to be a good choice as the track was bone dry towards the end. The team did not manage to get the wheels changed in time due to trouble with a spacer so I had to start from the back of the grid. The conditions were not good for my wet front tyre and the bike was so unstable but I got past 8 riders and in a battle with another cup rival Gary Mason. As like in the first race with Burns I overtook Mason into the first corner and made it stick to the finish line ending up 16th overall and another 2nd place in the privateer cup. I was happy with these results but still not on the top step of the cup podium.
 
We head up North again next round to my favourite circuit Cadwell Park so I hope to see you all there.
 
Cheers,
 
PTJ #40.

Going to Oulton Park I was still not fit due to re injuring my shoulder at boxing training a week before but this was not going to get me down as I love Oulton and was looking to regain the form I had prior to my crash at Donington Park in late May.

Friday was a pretty much dry and I was concentrating on getting up to pace straight away from the first session but a small crash at Druids did not make it easy for myself and was starting to really hurt my shoulder. I finished up 26th overall and 7th privateer.

Saturday was another day where we had mixed conditions and this looked like this was going to be how it was for the remainder of the weekend. The final free practise was wet and I went out to test our new wet map we have on the bike to try and make it easier to ride in the rain because we do not have traction control like most of the grid. I ended up 14th overall and 2nd privateer which I was happy with because I did not go out for the last 20 minutes. Next was qualifying and it was dry and for the 50 minute session I was pushing as hard as I could on a soft race tyre to get a time of 1.39.373 whish would put me 20th on the grid and 3rd overall. I was quite happy with this due to the small problems we had been having in the previous dry sessions.

Race day saw us having morning warm-up very close to the first race which ment there was no time for mistakes. I had an average start to the race and ended up in a battle with championship rival Tom Tunstall in which i managed to put a second gap on him and keep ahead of him to the finish where I ended up 16th overall and 2nd in the cup which I was happy with because I was in a fair bit of pain during the race especially on the left handers.

Race 2 was not such a great start as before and saw me drop back a few places and have to make them back up during the race and when Watanabe came past I tried to hang on to him for as long as possible dragging me up through the order to finish 20th and 3rd. I was quite happy coming away with a 16h overall, 2nd and 3rd in the cup as i really was struggling which my collar bone.

Next round is Knockhill in sunny Scotland where I have had good results before and am really looking forward to it so I will hopefully see you all there.

PTJ #40

I have just got back from sunny Spain where I had my first test of the year at Cartagena and Guadix. The new bikes felt very strange and different to what I am used to but as I did more and more laps they felt ‘more like my own bikes.’  
I am pleased with the performance of the bikes and myself as I have not been on a bike since the Macau GP. It will take a few more days yet untill we have the best possible package ready for the first race. The new Pirelli tyres worked well and our set-up was working good with the tyres as the tyres deteriated.
 
We will be testing again before the first race but at the moment we do not know when so keep looking and i will keep you posted.
PTJ #40

Hope you have all had a great Christmas and new year - I have!  We are currently building the new Superbikes and everything seems to be going to plan. When they are finished they will be to the same spec as the Stobart Honda’s apart from electronics, which we are having built again like the Ducati 749.
 
For 2008 we are welcoming a new senior technician to the team, James Walker who will work full time on the bikes from Bridgwater. We also have Greg Smith and Neil Dodden working again.  The team has booked a test for late February but most likely we will be out on track before then.
 
So keep looking on the website for more information.
 
Thanks, PTJ #40.

After Cadwell Park we are now having a three week break and with having a decent finish there and after having a pretty miserable season so far I’m really excited about Donington Park next weekend. I just want to get there now and get on with the job and try and get another strong finish!

Donington Park suits the Ducati 749RS and is one of my favourite tracks where I have had some good races in the past so I’m counting down the days. I have been working hard on my fitness, which I really enjoy for some reason! It keeps me occupied out of trouble and makes me feel better and stronger. I have been out on my motocross bike twice a week, running a fair bit and down the boxing gym. So I’m keeping my body and mind busy to make the long break a bit shorter.

Hope to see you all at Donington….. Martin. #40