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October
2009
Hello
to you all,
Well,
as our season has now drawn to a close, here’s our
final results update for the year.
Team
Race – Jauer – Germany
The team for this year was Wilkinson, Keane, Millard brothers
and ourselves. Millard’s and Wilkinson took part in
the first race – Millard’s finished 9th and
Wilkinson finished 16th after having a front wheel puncture
leaving Team GB in fifth place after the first race. In
the second race it was us and the Millard brothers for Team
GB. We gated in the middle of the pack and riding well to
move through the field into 8th place after 20 minutes until
disaster struck and we crashed off a jump. Unfortunately,
luck wasn’t on our side this time and Luke had to
go to hospital as a precautionary measure for some injuries
to his chest. This meant that we were out of our 2 races
and also Wilkinson missed his 2nd race due to a wrist injury.
This all meant that Team GB had no chance of a decent placing
in this year’s team race.
British
Championship – Final Round – Lyng, Norfolk
After the cancellation of the final round of the British
Championship at Winterpick Farm, we were pleased to hear
that a substitute venue had been found and the final meeting
would be held at Lyng in Norfolk. Practise went well and
the sandy track suited our riding style well. After winning
race 1, we’d wrapped up the British title and went
on to win the remaining two races. However, during the second
race, we had a coming together with a back marker that trapped
Stuart’s foot between the 2 bikes. We managed to carry
on to take the win but the pain from Stuart’s foot
gave cause for concern and we feared the possibility of
a broken bone. After taking some strong pain killers to
numb the pain from Stuart’s foot, we took the win
in race 3 but a visit to hospital when Stuart got home confirmed
the worst, his foot was broken and he’s now in plaster
for up to 6 weeks. Luckily, this bad news came at the end
of the season and Stuart has the winter to recover but this
was definitely not the best way to celebrate winning another
British title.
So
with another season over we are very pleased to have won
another British title – Stuart’s 7th and Luke’s
5th. We also moved back into the top 10 in the world championship
finishing in 9th place this year and also taking our first
ever world championship win. On top of all of that, both
of us became the highest ever points scoring driver and
passenger in the history of the British Sidecar Championships.
All in all, a good season and we cannot wait to get going
again in 2010!!
As
always, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank
everyone for their help and support this year. We hope that
all of you can continue your help into next year and please
feel free to contact us if we’ve not already spoke
to you about next season.
Yours
in sport
September
2009
Hi
Everyone,
Well
firstly, we need to apologise for the lack of newsletters
over the last couple of months. With our busy racing schedule
we have struggled to get the newsletters written so here’s
a summary of our recent races
British
Championships
We’ve had 2 more British Championship rounds since
our last newsletter and we have had some good results winning
all but 1 of the 6 races and finishing 2nd in the other
race due to a clutch problem off the start line. Coming
through from dead last after getting off the line at least
10 seconds after everyone else, we raced hard and were within
half a second of taking the win when the chequered flag
fell. We now hold an 89 point lead with 1 round remaining
but with double points up for grabs at the last round we
still need a few more points to be crowned British Champions
for 2009.
World
Championships
We’ve been having a fairly good season in the World
Championship rounds this year and we have contested every
round again in the hope that we can get back in to the top
10 by the end of the season. We have consistently qualified
on the front row and have generally been finishing in the
top 10 in most races. In the Belgian round we had 2 really
good races finishing in 5th and 6th place but unfortunately
in France, Stuart aggravated his wrist injury so we had
to pull out of the first race although we managed to finish
in 10th in the last race. We have just got back from the
last Grand Prix at Rudersberg in Germany where we had an
excellent weekend qualifying in 2nd place. With the track
suiting our riding style and following on from our qualifying
pace, we secured a superb 3rd place finish in the 1st race
and going on to WIN our very first WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
by over 20 seconds in the second race, an achievement that
we have strived for throughout our racing career and one
which we are thrilled to have finally achieved. This excellent
result gave us 2nd overall on the day and a final championship
position of 9th place.
The
Ken Hall International Trophy
Once again, we were pleased to be racing at the Ken Hall
International on August Bank Holiday weekend and we put
in 3 consistent rides against some of the top GP crews taking
3rd overall on the day.
We
had been expecting to race this coming weekend (20th September)
at the last British Championship round at Winterpick Farm.
However, we have just heard that, at this very late stage,
the club has cancelled the meeting. We are now waiting to
find out if the meeting will be re-run on another weekend
or whether we can once again tell you that we have secured
the British Championship for the 7th time (5th time for
Luke). We hope to be able to let you know for definite in
our next newsletter.
We
also have the Team Race coming up which is being held at
the Jauer track in Germany. This year, it will be the Millard
brothers, Scott Wilkinson and David Keane representing Team
GB with us so we will be hoping to have some good results
that weekend.
Yours
in Sport
May
2009
Hi
Everyone,
Well, our season is continuing well so far and here are
our latest results
Torrington
British Championship - Round 4 - 31st May
Race 1 – Had a terrible
start on a very tight and twisty track. Chased down the
leading pack and were in 6th place at the end of the first
lap. Continued to chase hard and picked off the leading
bunch to take the lead by half distance and held on to the
flag.
Race 2 – Had a better
start this time but still in 3rd place into the first corner.
With the hot weather making the track extremely dusty, visibility
was a huge problem for everyone but we managed to get to
the front and take another race win.
Race 3 – Due to the extremely
dusty conditions and for safety reasons, the 3rd race was
abandoned and we now hold a 33 point lead in the championship.
Reims
International meeting - 21st May
As we’ve now had a few DNF’s in the Grand Prix
and no longer running in the top 10 of the championship,
we decided not to make the long and expensive journey to
Ukraine Grand Prix this year and instead decided to enter
the French International meeting at Reims. In timed practice
we were quickest with a 4 second gap to second place.
Race 1 - We gated in around
6th place but moved up to take the lead by the 4th lap but
a broken rear wheel bearing kept forcing the chain off and
put us out of the race.
Races 2 & 3 went much better
with us taking the victory in both races but we were disappointed
with the first race DNF depriving us of the title "Kings
of Reims"!
Poland
World Championship - Round 3 - 17th May
Qualified in 6th place
Race 1 – Gated in the
top 10 and holding that place until half way round the first
lap when the chain came off. Managed to restart but the
deep ruts and big stones on the track damaged the sprocket
and put the chain off again ultimately putting us out of
race 1.
Race 2 – Had a reasonable
start rounding the first corner in the middle of the pack.
Raced hard on the very rough and rutted track coming through
to take 10th place at the flag.
15th overall on the day and now holding 13th in the championship.
Switzerland
World Championship - Round 2 - 3rd May
Qualified in 4th place so on the front row for the start
Race 1 – Had a bad start
and well down the field into the first corner. Raced hard
to fight our way up to 11th place at the flag.
Race 2 – Had a much better
start this time and running in 6th place in the early laps.
Held this position until 10 minutes into the race when the
mousse in the rear wheel broke up forcing us out of the
race.
16th place overall on the day and holding 11th place in
the championship.
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