News Feed

Pembrey 15 & 16 March 2003

This was a disastrous weekend for us....... Practice on Saturday revealed no problems, the bike was running well, although the crew were a little stiff after the winter break. The weather was sunny, although cold, and the track bone dry. First race on Saturday saw us retire at about half distance with a deflated front tyre. Just bad luck. A new valve cured that problem. 

The second race on Saturday was to be no better. After a blinding start from the back of the grid, we were lying third when a misfire developed at about lap 3. This progressively became worse causing us to retire. A choked fuel filter was blamed, cleaned and reassembled for the next day.

 Sunday's practice session was completed with no apparent problems. The engine was clean, the tyres bedded down and the crew a little less stiff. With pole position on the grid we were ready to make good the failures of the day before and an early lead gave us an advantage for the first 4 laps, then the misfire returned. Once again it became progressively worse and we limped home last in the field determined to grab a few points if possible. This time, a loose feed wire to one of the coils was singled out as the culprit and duly repaired.

 Sunday's second race was a repeat performance of Saturday's. A good start, and attacking position were quickly followed by a misfire and then total failure of the ignition system. The feeling being that the loose wire in the previous race caused arcing in the coil and its eventual demise.

 So there we are. Two days, four races, three DNFs and one last place. Hardly the sort of performance we have been used to, but I guess it happens.

 Roll on Thruxton.....

Thruxton 30 March 2003

Another tale of woe! Saturday night provided a promising start to the weekend in the form of Fullers London Pride and Wadworths 6X and a forecast for dry and sunny weather. We developed a misfire in practice which forced us to withdraw after 3 laps. We changed the entire ignition system and begged another practice lap which was not really enough to tell us whether we had resolved the problem, but better than nothing. Thanks must go to Steve Bostock of NGRR for allowing us this lap.

Race 1 saw a retirement after 2 laps, the misfire still present. A thorough check afterwards revealed nothing obvious wrong. The batteries were changed and fingers crossed but race 2 ended for us in the same way as race 1 had. That's now five retirements in 6 races, two and a half times more than the entire previous 3 seasons, and still no firm idea of what the problem might be.

The thinking now is that there is no point in entering races until we know what is causing the problem. More news to follow.

Keevil 27 April 2003

Oh Dear, bad just got worse.

Practice went fine with a slight misfire quickly traced to a broken ignition wire. With this resolved, we started race race 1 from the back of the grid. At the drop of the flag, we powered through to find ourselves lying third at the first bend with just Andy Williams and Mick Robson in front. The bike was right on song and we gradually reeled them in and overtook both following a strategic move on the hairpin when we dived inside both forcing them to run wide.

That put us in the lead, but...... at the drop of the last lap flag, number two conrod decided to reintroduce itself to the outside world via a hole it made for itself in the cases. That's the end of our day's racing....!

Some serious thinking and much toil will need to be expended if we are to be ready for Darley Moor.

As things turn out, a back injury for me, and work commitment for Dennis have resulted in us being out for the season until....

Pembrey 20 and 21 September 2003

A new engine rebuild saw us at Pembrey. The van was out of action, and so was the trailer, so a borrowed tent and trailer were hastily obtained. Race 1 was a running-in one, and race 2 allowed us to gradually open up the engine. As we had not had time to get on the dyno, restraint was the order of the day. Two 10th places and no problems. Race 3 allowed us some more revs resulting in an 8th place and the last race of the day saw us in 5th. All in all, a result!!

Pembrey 11 and 12 October 2003

Having put up a good show in September, and on past form, we were selected to represent West of England in the Celtic Match Races at Pembrey. This is a two day event over 2x15 lap races. The others in our team were Jerry Martin/Jim Hibberd, Roger Lovelock/Dawna Holloway and Richard & Michael Swift. We managed good places on day 1, the race being won by Roger & Dawna, with the rest of us half way down the field. Unfortunately, Jerry 'Overed' it at Dibeni and much work was needed overnight to repair the damage. On the second day, Roger did the same, leaving the 3 remaining teams to fight for the points with the Irish, Welsh, Scots and IOM teams. We managed to secure 5th place, with the other two outfits coming in 7th and 8th. A good result but without points from Roger, we had no chance of winning the match so were relegated to 3rd overall. No matter. a good weekends hard racing which proved the reliability of the outfit, not to mention the fitness of the two riders....

That's the season over for us now, but we have just been told that NG Racing have awarded up the 'Endeavour' prize for 2003, so Cinderella shall go to the ball! Follow these pages in 2004 when I hope we shall have a much better season.