| | Biker News - Regularly updated
Category: Superbikes
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After a couple of false starts, mainly due to the weather, our events at Donington Park have really started to pick up in recent months and are looking as though they will once again become a staple part of our programme for many years to come.
The winter restoration show at the end of December was a great success with 2,000 plus visitors full of Christmas cheer poured through the gate to see around 70 trade and autojumble stands plus an excellent selection of classic cars and bikes on display.
The Japanese and Modern Classic Motorcycle Event in February this year was a major success after the snow halted proceedings on the Sunday in 2012 .
The building was full to capacity of stalls, club displays and private entries with 3,000 happy visitors attending from all points on the compass. Bike of the show and winner of £100 was Dave Yates with his 1980 Yamaha LC, and winner of best club display and a £100 cheque was The UK two Stroke Club. Traditionally the season opener this event will now have a twin event at the end of the season with a new one day Classic Japanese event being launched on Sunday 15th September at Donington Park. This replaces the car and bike autojumble originally announced for Sunday 22nd September 2013.
This coming weekend, Sunday 24th February, we will be back at Donington for a general classic car and bike autojumble, at the time of writing the hall is over two thirds full and with indoor stalls at just £25 (pre paid), not to mention the BOGOF offer on stalls for autojumblers, Donington represents a perfect opportunity for enthusiasts to clear their garages and get unwanted parts back into circulation.
We are so confident that this event will prove to be equally as successful as the Classic Japanese bike show we will be doing a re run on Sunday 14th April, again on a BOGOF basis on indoor stalls. At both the February and April events there will be a dedicated classic car and bike park right next to the exhibition hall with adult admission being £5 instead of the normal £6.50 so come in your classic, save money and you can even put a sale sign on your vehicle too!
We will be running Donington on exactly the same format at the end of the year on Sunday 3rd November and Sunday 29th December so put these dates in your diary. Donington Park is ideally located right next to East Midlands airport just two miles along the A453 at J23a and J24 of the M1 motorway right in the centre of the country.
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Held each year in a different place and organised by a different member clubs of the FH-DCE, however it has been quite a few years since we last saw this event in the UK.
The last time was in 1989, @ Longmarston Raceway, Warwickshire and prior to that 1984, Brighton and 1979, Brands Hatch.
The 'get togethers' started in 1964, bringing together different member clubs of the FH-DCE, however the the first Super Rally® was held at Kastelree Belgium in 1975 and has now grown to become for many Harley-Davidson® owners - a must on their events yearly calendar! Recent years have seen this event held in Germany, Lithuania and Greece.
The Super Rally 2013 was to be held in Ireland, hosted by H-DC Ireland, however was cancelled as they had many issues and mitigating circumstances, along with issues by from some of local authorities. So this event in 2015 is great news for the H-D Riders of Great Britain.
The FH-DCE SUPER RALLY® in the UK
West London Harley Riders are hosting this event in 2015. Beer, bands, stalls, camping, showers, attractions, etc... More details to follow...
venue: Lincolnshire Events Centre, Lincolnshire Showground, Grange-de-Lings, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN2 2NA
price: TBC
tel: 07733 357339
website: www.wlhr.org
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Go BSB Racing with Ace!
Teaming up with MSV, organisers of the UK's premiere motorcycle race series, BSB, Ace Cafe London has an extra pair of tickets up for grabs as a raffle prize, at the cafe on Friday 12th October, to attend Round 12, the Finals, being held at the famous south London circuit Brands Hatch on Sunday 14th October.
Spend £5 or more over the counter at the cafe and receive a raffle ticket. Draw will take place at 10pm.
www.britishsuperbike.com
www.msvracing.com
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After a gruelling 24-hour battle, the Honda TT Legends team has completed the 76th annual Bol d’Or, placing ninth in the race overall and sixth in the Endurance World Championship class to claim 19 points.
The race took place in challenging conditions at the Magny Cours circuit in France, with intermittent rain and cold temperatures making for an eventful 24-hours. Cameron Donald, John McGuinness and Simon Andrews competed for the Honda TT Legends, with Donald taking part in the running race start at 3pm yesterday.
The team began well, maintaining a steady pace through the changeable weather to hold fifth place until the early hours of Sunday morning. As dawn broke, Andrews was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop with a quick shift issue that was quickly rectified. The team re-joined the race in sixth place behind Yamalube Folch Endurance.
As the weather deteriorated further, the Bol d’Or almost came to a premature end for the Honda TT Legends when Donald lost the front end and suffered a high speed crash on the back straight. In line with EWC rules, the uninjured Australian pushed the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade back to the pits, where the team set to work repairing the extensive damage.
The well-rehearsed TT Legends crew fixed the bike with co-ordinated expertise, successfully returning it to the race with McGuinness at the helm in under 20 minutes. The slick repair saw the team maintain sixth position in the EWC class, while running ninth in the race overall. The final two hours passed without incident and the Honda TT Legends completed the race to claim 19 championship points. The race was won by SRC Kawasaki with SERT and Monster Energy Yamaha in second and third respectively.
Neil Tuxworth
I think the best we could have expected was fifth in that race. We couldn’t have come any higher at the pace we were going at. We still finished sixth overall in the EWC race which is good considering we lost time doing repairs after Cameron’s crash. It’s certainly been the most difficult endurance race that we’ve done and the one with the most problems. We’re going to analyse everything that has happened, figure out where the issues lie and continue from there. Hopefully we can have a better race the next time out.
John McGuinness
Not the result we came for but it was one of our strongest rides yet. We were holding fifth and looking good in very difficult conditions. It was a gruelling race with temperatures as low as 2 or 3 degrees through the night. I got caught up in some of the bad weather and had to pit for tyres changes which meant I then had to do double stints with 50 or 60 laps at a time and that is hard work. After Cameron slipping off at probably 150mph and the bike cart wheeling its way though the gravel, luckily Cam was alright and the team did amazing job at getting the bike back out there. We wanted to be a bit further up but at least we’ve picked up some world championship points.
Cameron Donald
After starting and finishing Le Mans last year I got to start and finish the Bol d’Or, which is really special. It was an absolute ordeal of a race. Everyone had their moments to shine and it was a big teem effort, but unfortunately we just didn’t quite come up with the goods. It was a little bit of bad luck and me skidding up the road didn’t help, but just to finish another 24-hour is a massive achievement.
Simon Andrews
It feels good to finish my first 24-hour race. Ten months ago I was lying in a hospital and my first race back I’ve completed a 24-hour so I feel triumphant and I’m pretty happy. We were quick and we were safe, I did everything to the best of my ability and I’m going home with a smile on my face.
For news, videos and images follow @HondaTTLegends on Twitter, bookmark www.hondattlegends.com and subscribe to HondaProRacing on YouTube.
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Both Honda World Superbike Team riders, Jonathan Rea and Hiroshi Aoyama, took two top ten finishes in today's opening round of the 2012 World Superbike championship at Phillip Island in Australia.
With the race victories going to Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa, Rea took seventh and fourth places in the two 22-lap outings, while his team-mate Aoyama finished eighth and ninth.
Starting from the outside of the second row, 25-year-old Rea enjoyed good starts to both outings. In race one, however, a lack of rear grip had dropped him back to seventh at the flag, while in race two, he held second place for much of the race after a set-up change improved grip levels. However, with just two laps to go, he slipped behind Biaggi and then lost out to fellow Brit Tom Sykes on the final straight.
After problems in qualifying, World Superbike rookie Aoyama, started from 16th on the grid. Opting for the softer rear tyre in both races, the Japanese rider fought through to the top ten in race one, while a small set-up change allowed him to make it a double in his debut SBK outing.
Jonathan Rea – 7th and 4th
We’ve still got a bagful of points to go on to Imola with but we wanted to be on the podium in both races. I honestly feel like we got a bad tyre in race one and in race two we didn’t want to run in the same situation, so we were thinking about changing the tyre, but all our logic and race runs throughout the weekend told us to keep this [harder] tyre in the heat. Directly, I had more grip – OK, the temperature was even hotter, which would go against our logic – but the tyre felt like it should feel and I was able to ride strong and consistent until probably five laps to go when durability fell off and I was going backwards. I felt fresh and strong in both races and the guys have worked well all weekend. We had a little crash on Saturday and the boys worked so good with the one-bike rule to get us back out there. You have to think that this circuit is a bit unique with the tyre character, how long you’re on the side and the heat generated in the tyre. Now we move on to some tracks that are good for us and there’s a lot of work to do back at base. The guys need to find some speed, so that’s on the agenda; I’ve just done a de-brief and everything feels OK. I want to say thanks to everyone for all their help this weekend – it feels good to get to the start of the season fit and healthy and I’m looking forward to round two now.
Hiroshi Aoyama – 8th and 9th
I think it’s not so bad for my first Superbike weekend. We had a not-so-easy start on Friday when I had one crash and we had a lot of problems. That didn’t help us to go much faster and we tried many things but couldn’t improve. In the races we managed to finish in the top ten with eighth and ninth and I want to say thanks to all the guys who worked for me. It was a tough weekend but ended up not too bad. I’m looking forward to the next race in Imola – of course I’ve never ridden there, so it’s going to be tough for Friday. We have month to improve the bike a little bit and, if I can find a better feeling, I can push a little bit more and this is what I am looking for. Anyway, considering the situation now, it’s not so bad!
Riders' comments are available to view on video at the following link:
2012 World Superbike championship, round one
Phillip Island, Australia – 4.445km, 22 laps
Race 1 results:
1 Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia 34m13.963s
2 Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW +7.104s
3 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Ducati +7.378s
4 Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki +12.189s
5 Jakub Smrz (CZE) Ducati +16.424s
6 Michel Fabrizio (ITA) BMW +20.200s
7 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Honda World Superbike Team +20.223s
8 Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Honda World Superbike Team +24.108s
Race 2 results:
1 Carlos Checa (ESP) Ducati 34m26.728s
2 Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia +5.707s
3 Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki +12.521s
4 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Honda World Superbike +12.665s
5 Leon Haslam (GBR) BMW +18.179s
6 Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW +18.831s
9 Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Honda World Superbike Team +19.554s
Championship points after one of 14 rounds:
1 Biaggi 45, 2 Melandri 30, 3 Sykes 29, 4 Checa 25, 5 Rea 22, 6 Guintoli 16, 9 Aoyama 15
Next round: Imola, Italy – 30 March - 1 April
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