Pre-season Training, Almeria, Spain
Just got back from Almeria in Spain where we went for pre-season training. The set up at Almeria is great and so was the weather and the racing with no limits. On arriving at the track on Friday morning there must have been some rain the previous night as the track was wet. Nothing else for it but to unload the bike off its travel cradle and get the wet wheels on.
Everyone took it steady for the first session which gave Ross chance to learn the track. Ross stayed on wets until the track dried out a little and then it was on with the dry tyres. From the first dry session Ross was on it and riding with confidence. Towards the end of the day we changed the gearing and found a little more speed through the twisty bits.
Saturday and Sunday and track conditions could not have been better and Ross managed to get a lot of track time. Come Sunday afternoon and a few sessions were red flagged as tired riders rode over their limits, so we reluctantly decided to call it a day.
Mallory Park 6 March 2011
The first race meeting of the year was a local one for Ross, just a 45 minute drive to Mallory Park for the East Midlands Racing Association season opener. It was going to be a busy day as we had entries for 600 Superstock and Formula 600.
Qualifying for both races was wet which saw Ross in 12th place on the grid.
Ross made a poor start (in the first 600 Superstock race) but it didn't matter as the red flag came out after just one lap. In the restart, another poor start, but he managed to finish 9th.
The first F600 race soon came around and Ross had put himself in 10th on the grid. A not too shoddy start and a smooth riding style put him in 5th place at the finish.
The second Superstock race got underway shortly after lunch and Ross made a reasonable start but took to long to get past a rider who was a demon on the brakes, leaving Ross to finish 8th.
The final F6000 and Ross made a pretty good start and was 3rd on the first lap. This was short lived however and he was passed leaving him in 4th place where he stayed for the rest of the race.
All in all a good start to the season and a good warm up for Thundersport's first meeting on 12 March.
Mallory Park: F600 Final Day
And so the final round of the Formula 600 Championship a day that the weather forecasters said was pretty much dry everywhere, so why where we experiencing drizzly rain all the way to Mallory Park?
By the time Ross's qualifying was due the track had a dry line with just one or to damp patches, but he still managed a second row grid position after qualifying in eigth place.
He had entered the Builbase Trophy race for a bit of extra practice and qualifird tenth, first 600 and a fastest lap time of 55.526. A considerable improvement on his Formula 600 time of 58.397. At EMRA they insist on running the Fformula 400 qualifying at the same time which means there are forty eight bikes on track at the same time. Why not run Formula 400 with the Superstock 600, which would mean thirty three bikes on track?
The start of the Formula 600 race saw Ross make a cracking start and before the end of the first lap had moved up to third. Due to two riders coming off at Edwinas the race was red flagged. In the restart Ross made another good start but by the chequered flag had managed a credible fourth place.
The rain came for the Buildbase Trophy race and Ross decided it would be good practice if the second F600 race was wet. After half a dozen laps on what were already worn wet tyres Rross decided to call it a day. If Ross can take anything away from this meeting then it must that he knows he can lap in the 54 second lap time.
Thruxton 15 October 2011
As a finale to the racing season, and for no other reasons than it is a great track, we decided to do North Gloucesters only meeting of the year at this circuit. Practice at N.G meeting is exactly that, not timed qualifying, grid positions being allocated by champtioship points, so no matter how fast you are in practice if you have no points you start from the back of the grid.
The first race got underway with Rross starting from thirty second on the grid out of thirty three. Clearly enjoying the challenge Rross was passing riders hand over fist and would have passed a few more but the chequered flag was out signalling the end to this five lap qualifier. Ross purely by forcing his way past other riders finished eighth.
Second race was scheduled for six laps, once again ross started from the back of the grid, but had passed five riders by turn one and continued to push past riders until lap four when the race was red flaggeed. Ross had finished forteenth and had just caught up the leading group when the red flag came out - a brilliant end to the season on a terrific track, in spite of N.G's stange way of allocating grid positions.