Martin Jessopp

Going to Mallory Park my collarbone was better but still not 100% and my general fitness was also down because I have not been able to train as much due to my shoulder. From friday I knew it was going to be hard beacause Mallory is probably the most demanding circuit we visit.
 
Friday saw a dry session in the morning which we set out to try and sort the gearing and set up of the bike and ended the session 26th overall and 6th privateer. The next session of the day was half wet and half dry so we decided not to go out and risk crashing.
 
Saturday was warm and dry and in the non timed session we made progress with a soft race tyre which I had not really used that much in the season. I ended up a dismall 24th and 6th privateer. Next was the session that counts - qualifying. The weather remained good and I managed to do a load of laps and get the Riders Racing machiene to 4th privateer and 23rd on the grid on my fastest lap of the weekend 58.3 seconds.
 
Race 1 saw me have a poor start and have to overtake some slower riders and end up in a battle with Zanotti and Tunstall. We went with the soft race tyre which seemed to pay off and the grip was good. In the cloing laps of the race the two riders were on my tail as the leaders were making their way through us but Shakey and co managed to get passed them and they were held up by myself. This is quite obviously something I did not want to happen. From my experience of lapping other riders last year in the supersport class I allways found it easier to pass them if they stayed on the racing line and me being the faster rider would go around or under them knowing that they are not going to suddenly sit up or swerve in one direction or the other. Having looking back at the footage after the race 1 I was not going to make the mistake again, which I didnt in race 2. Mallory park is such a tight and twisty circuit that it allways throws up this problem and unfortuantly for myself and a couple of other riders we made it hard for the overtaking leaders. Im completely gutted about the comments made by a few of the EuroSport comentators beacuse in every interview after the race they singled me out when there was quite clearly another rider who hindered as much as me. Being a family run privateer team who depends on volunteers it is a great shame for us as a team to be slated in that way and my team are also very disapointed. In the end I finnished 17th and 4th privateer.
 
The second race saw us have a technical problem on the grid and I had to run back and get my spare bike and start from last on the grid. We chose to go with wet tyres which at the time seemed to be the best choice as it was still raining. By the second lap I had made my way up to 15th but then the sun came out and track dried so quickly the wet tyres were useless and I just went backwards and ended up 22nd and 4th privateer again. I am still 3rd in the privateer cup and will back to 100% fitness at the next round.
 
Thanks,
 
PTJ #40.

SNETTERTON:
 
Travelling to Snetterton I was not sure if i was going to be able to race after breaking my collar bone at Donington Park.

The first job of the weekend was the medical test to see if I was fit enough to ride which i luckily passed even though it was so painfull.
 
The team and I had agreed to go out in all the practise sessions and not to do many laps but at the same time make sure I was on good enough pace to qualify for the races. The pain though was so bad when braking for the left hand corner at the end of the straight ment I was braking early and I was losing 27mph to the fastest rider in the corner! The pain in my shoulder was ok going around the long corners and exiting them but again I was losing a lot of time of the chicanes due to trying to throw the bike about.
 
In qualifying the goal was the same: Get on on the grid and do not crash! I managed to do both of these and like everybody else we were caught out with the rain and only did 12 laps.
 
Race 1 saw me have an average start and move up some places by the firts turn but by the time we got to the 3rd corner I lost all the places on the brakes that I had gained off the start. For the rest of the race I was in too much pain to be contesting for places so came home with a 5th place in the cup and 22nd overall.
 
Race 2 was a wet one and with no wet riding before the race it was going to be a tricky one. From lap one there were fallers and all I wanted to do was miss the trouble and bring the bike home, which I managed to do and finish 5th again and 21st overall.
 
I have slipped to 3rd in the championship and head to the next round at Mallory Park hopefully alot fitter and fully confident of taking 2nd place back .

I left Brands after the race to make the 500 mile journey to the NW200. When we finally did make it we were met with great weather. Not having rode there for a couple of years I managed to do a few laps in the car but as you can imagine its not much help. The team had bought a world superbike engine off of Paul Bird so I couldnt wait to get out and see how it felt flat out in top gear on a ‘B’ road!
 
Tuesday evening saw the first practise and I went out on my superbike first and ended up 25th with a best lap of 4.47.435 which I was happy enough with. The next session I went out on the Zig Zag superstock which felt very strange as I had not ridden a stock bike for 4 years and it took some getting used to but I did the same lap time as my superbike.
 
Next it was qualifying on Thursday evening which I made alot of changes to the superstock bike to suit my riding style. As like the practise I went out on my superbike again and got down to a 4min38sec on lap 3 before some idiot broke way too late and kindly smashed into me taking me off at Yorke hairpin. I ran the 1.5k distance along the golf course back to paddock wearing my full race suit and boots but we did not manage to get the spare bike out in time. So with only 3 laps done I qualified 20th which wasnt to bad as the leaders had 12 laps. In the next session I went out on the Zig Zag bike. The changes I made had felt alot better but still not comfortable I ended up 22nd.
 
Race day was on saturday and my first race was the superbike class. With an average start I found myself behind some slower riders who were holding me up so when I managed to get past I could not catch 10th place and finished 11th which I was really happy with. My next race was superstock’s and having a good start I found myself battling for 14th place but on lap 3 of 5 the steering damper broke and had to ride with no damper which was terrible and got so bad I had to cruise the last lap and ended 17th. The second superbike race saw me have bit of a bad start and in turn 1 I went back about 5 places. I muscled my way through to 14th place where I had a race long battle with James McBride. I used his slip stream on lap 4 to get 205mph down the long straight which felt awsome! James ended up beating me and I came home with 15th. I also did a lap time of 4min29sec which was good.
 
It was really good week and cant wait for next year and also Donington this weekend.
 
PTJ #40

Saturday - It felt quite odd not to be qualifying on Saturday, however as the day was so hot, and the track temperature up to 48C, our times where not much quicker than the qualifying times set several weeks ago. The bike was working well and i felt comfortable and confident for Sunday.

Sunday Race 1 - I Started from 24th on the grid, didn’t get a great start but dug in and worked my way up through the field.  I really enjoyed this race and also did my fastest ever lap around Brands. On the last lap Burns, Laverty and i were all racing together for the cup win, Burns got away but i managed to overtake Laverty on the last lap for second in the cup and 15th overall in the race, scoring my first British Superbike point.

Race 2 - We didn’t make any changes to the bike for the second race as it had been working really well, we also stuck with the same tyre choice - medium front and rear. Again i didn’t have a great start but worked my way up a few places to race with Luke Quigley and Micheal Laverty. On lap 15 Stever Mercer had a big crash that led to the pace car coming out for several laps.  We all bunched up again ready for the sprint to the finish but after just one lap the race was red flagged due to Tom Sykes bike blowing the engine and oil on the track.  When the race was stopped i was in third place in the cup and 17th overall.

I had a good weekend, i was really happy with the bike, set up and tyre choice and finishing my weekend in second overall in the cup is a great result.  I am still looking for my first win but am confident we are moving forward, i am hoping the win will come at Donnington on the 25th May.

I had a hard weekend at Oulton with a pretty average outcome. The weather was for ever changing over the 3 day making tyre choices very difficult. In the qualifing session the track was wet at the start but dry at the end which meant we started on wet tyres, but to the end of the session we need to put slicks on but was not able to because we had used as many tyres as we were aloud to. So I ended up doing my fastest time on a dry track with intermediate tyres.
 
On race day I had a good morning warm up session on a dry track and was confident of having a good first race. By the time the race started it was raining so we used a new engine map for the rain but there was a fault with it and it kept backing the bike into the corners way too much and I was off the track twice in the first lap. So i was allready a long way behind everybody else. Then on lap 3 I had a big moment and nearly highsided myself off but managed to save it but that ment running on to the grass and losing even more time. At the end of the race I ended up 23rd overall and 8th in the cup.

Race 2 was luckily dry and after an average start I found myself in a battle with Dave Johnson but was unable to keep the pace and Dean Ellison passed me just before Steve Mercer crashed and Dean had no choice but to run into his bike and the race was red flagged. I finished 18th and 4th in the cup. I have slipped to 3rd in the privateer cup but am really looking forward to Brands this weekend to get back on the podium.

I have just about thawed out from a snowey Brands Hatch and looking back at it I think the officials made the correct decision in not racing. It is great to see they are not just getting rid of the event and are putting it on again next month.
The weekend as a whole was not great because I did not qualify where i wanted to be which was in the top 4 privateers and top 20 overall. We were caught out by the rain in the last 5 minutes of the session because we had only just put the soft tyre in to go and set a fast lap.

We are on to Thruxton next which is a good circuit for me and my local round - can’t wait!!!

The organisers of Brands Hatch, have abandoned today’s (Sunday) race meeting, due to the snowy conditions.  They are, however, pleased to announce a re-scheduled date for 10/11 May.  This is a BMCRC meet, that will incorporate BSB races.

Tickets, for the weekend and race day will be valid for the re-scheduled meet, so hold on to them.  All grid positions will remain the same, as well as the racing programme.  See below for full details …

PRESS RELEASE :  Brands Hatch organisers

Extensive snowfalls at Brands Hatch this morning have caused the opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike championship to be abandoned.   At 11.15am Sunday morning Jonathan Palmer, Chief Executive of MotorSport Vision, the owner of Brands Hatch, announced that following a review of circuit conditions and the latest forecast, the meeting would be cancelled for the day.

“It is bitterly disappointing for all the fans who have come and of course for all the teams and organisations including the Brands Hatch team who have put so much into this weekend”, said Palmer.  “Apart from the inability to put on the great show fans expect from BSB, safety is our number one priority and this must not be compromised”.

“I have been very eager however to see if we could find a way not to just cancel, but postpone the first Brands Hatch event.   Fortunately a major benefit of MSV now running BSB is that following a review of our calendar, I am delighted to be able to immediately announce that we have rescheduled this meeting which will now take place on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit on 10/11 May.”

“All race day, weekend and grandstand tickets for today’s event will be valid for the new date with no extra charge.   The grids for all of the races within the BSB programme will be as set yesterday, 5 April.   The 10/11 May date was scheduled to be a BMCRC meeting and some races from this will be incorporated into the BSB event.”

“I am so sorry that so many people have had a frustrating day of uncertainty but can assure everyone we have done everything possible to minimise the disruption of such extreme weather in April.”

Jonathan Palmer
Brands Hatch Sunday 6 April 2008

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.

International Motorcycle and Scooter Show 2007
Organisers have announced an all-star line-up of big-name riders and celebrities due to attend the Show, including World Superbike Champion James Toseland, British Superbike (BSB) star Chris Walker, The Long Way Down’s Charley Boorman, legendary motorsport commentator Murray Walker, The BBC’s Hairy Bikers as well as a host of other racers from MotoGP, World Superbike and BSB.

The impressive array of stars scheduled to be at the NEC on various dates throughout the Show will be the closest thing you’ll get to an out-of-season race paddock, filled with the biggest names in motorcycle racing. British racing legend and soon-to-be MotoGP rider James Toseland will open the Show to media on the 22nd (press day), with Troy Corser and Leon Haslam joining in the fun. MotoGP rider and Valentino Rossi’s 2007 team-mate at Yamaha, Colin Edwards, is also set to jet over from the US to make an appearance.

This year’s Show takes place on the new dates of 23rd November - 2nd December (Press Day - 22nd November), in new halls 1, 2, 3, 3a & 4. Ticket prices have been frozen for a third consecutive year making the Show even better value. For more information visit the website www.motorcycleshow.co.uk.