Superbikes July/August 2015 Newsletter

Round 6 – Brands Hatch 17/18/19 July 2015

I am afraid that I haven’t had time to do a newsletter for a while so this will be a brief roundup on the last four races and a few pictures that I would like to share with you all.

On the Friday and Saturday the weather was dry and bright but Alex only managed 17th in the free practice on Friday, but as it says it is a practice and gives the rider and the team a chance to get the bike setup for the all important qualifying and main race.  In Q1 he was 15th fastest and for the first time since I have been attending BSB races, Jenkinson was disqualified after a technical inspection.  On Saturday Alex was a lot more confident in Q2 and managed 11th being 1.341s behind Tunstall which gave him a grid start in 11th.

Sunday the day of the main race, was a sunny but damp start but Alex didn’t fail us sponsors by battling hard to get a respectable 5th place in this 16 lap race behind Quigley who had the fastest lap time.

This is 2 fifth places in a row and 10th place overall being 5 points below Egan, so think he had a right to have a cool down!

Next we go to Thruxton ….

Round 7 – Thruxton 31/1/2 August 2015

Now Thruxton is not my favourite place as it is difficult to see any of the track and decent areas for viewing are very few and far between but it is the fastest track in the championship.  In Fridays free practice, Alex didn’t need to push himself as he wanted to save it for qualifying.  On Saturday in Q1 Alex came 7th (sorry Kevin but one of us in wrong and if its me blame the BSB website because I checked on there) being 0.6025s behind Kennaugh

and Q2 put on a great show to become 4th behind Elliott and only 0.277s  behind pole position Jenkinson.  Sunday race day was cloudy but dry and no one was sure whether there would be rain by the time of the race at 12:35.  In this 16 lap race, Alex was flying round that track with a podium well within his sights for the whole race.

In the second half of the race Alex was battling in the top five with Jeacock, Jenkinson, Seeley and Kennaugh then worked up to 4th place where he eventually took Kennaugh to get in 3rd place 1.07s behind Elliott and 1.253s behind Seeley. 

Wow what a race and a well deserved podium finish for our lad from Kent!

Alex now moves up to 9th place in the championship on 51 points and Jenkinson is only 5 ahead with 56 points.

And I apologise to someone, no names mentioned, but I have to add that Brookes is in the lead in the main BSB at this point and we got to meet him on a pit walk!

 Next stop is Cadwell Park ……

Round 8 – Cadwell Park 21/22/23 August 2015

Now I had every intention of going to the race, but it is a long drive and I had just come back off holiday so forgive me as I will stick some random photos in this one from previous races.  Here is a picture of the garage area as Simon, the mechanic just doesn’t get enough recognition for his behind the scenes hard work.  Even though they don’t look very busy, I can assure you there is a lot of work done in the background to get the bikes ready for the next race

I was thinking about what to write about practice and qualifying and it was difficult as I was relying on BSB Live Timings as Eurosport doesn’t seem interested in qualifying for the support races.  So here goes with the very limited information I could get … Friday was a dry and bright day and Alex was 9th fastest behind Robertson and later on in Q1 managed 8th behind Burns.  To be honest I am not sure what happened in Q2 on Saturday but

Alex was to start in 16th place behind Anderson in the race.

Sundays race was supposed to be 15 laps but after McNealy and Crowe came off on the second lap, the race was red flagged and delayed for 30 minutes. 

The race had to be restarted after an incident which  also shortened it to 8 laps which was always going to be  tough.  Then after Burns, on the new Aprilia, came off on the 5th lap and Godfrey on the 6th lap, the race was red flagged again and was classed as finished.  Alex had to be content with a 14th place behind Elliott with no real racing having happened, but at least he finished as 8 riders didn’t.  Everyone was obviously disappointed so it just left everyone to look forward to the next race at Oulton Park.  Sorry Alex but seems like Seeley got in the way for this photo! Onwards and upwards for Oulton Park ?!?!

Round 9 – Oulton Park 4/5/6 September 2015

Oulton Park is a challenging track for the riders but it is great from a spectators view with banks around the edge so you are almost overlooking the track.  In Fridays free practice Alex managed a 9th with 1:39.940 lap time behind Robertson.  In Q1 he went one better to 8th with 1:38.925 behind Burns and on Saturday Q2 a 1:39.837 bringing him 9th just 0.85 behind Tunstall and 1.111 behind pole position Elliott. On Sunday in the warm up Alex didn’t let up and said he was taking it easy but had 5th fastest time!  We all had our eyes on Alex as the race started, but unfortunately there was an incident on the first lap, first corner involving Alex, Jeacock and Wilks.  Even though we were right in front of the incident, we didn’t see what happened to cause it and unfortunately the tv cameras have their limits too, so we may never find out what actually happened.  Alex walked away from his bike, but appeared to be supporting his arm and was then taken away with Jeacock in the medical car.  The medical staff seem to be plentiful at these events and are on top form being located to cover all areas around the track.

Alex suffered a broken collarbone but left hospital a few days later.  The last I heard he was awaiting to undergo an operation to have it pinned.  It turned out that none of Motorbreakers Superstock 600 lads finished either but luckily no one was seriously hurt and I wish them the best too. 

We wish a speedy recovery to Alex, as we want to see him back out there soon as he is well enough.  I heard on the grapevine that his bike is already fixed and waiting for him!

Alex has kept his 9th place 9 points behind Robertson and 8 points ahead of Egan, but not sure of the outcome for the remaining three rounds of this season.

I will keep you all updated on Alex’s progress as I hear anything.