PROJECT 39 ~ Junior 600 Championship

Mallory Park was to be the first ever race for the newly formed Project 39 team, and quite an interesting race at that. Project 39 consists of two riders (Colin Norris and Andy Rouse) competing in the Junior 600 Championship. For Colin it would be his first ever race, and for Andy it was his 3rd race and first ever outing at Mallory Park.

Saturday’s trackday kind of went like this: greasy, dry, greasy, greasy, dry, wet, greasy, dry, greasy, dry. It wasn’t a fast day at all, but at least gave Andy a chance to learn some lines. Over the day both of the rider’s times dropped bit by bit with Colin giving Andy the helping hand with his lines ( wisdom comes with old age apparently :-) ). All in all, a good day, and it set us up nicely for Sunday’s race.

Sunday morning, bright and early we were setting up for our timed practice session. So, 9 o’clock came round, gear on, bikes started and transponder on. Colin went out first and was putting in some very respectable and consistent laps at around 1.03 (as timed by the lovely pit board girls). At the 20min mark the girls called him in and it was Andy’s turn. Andy went out and put in a few 0.59 laps and came back in. Pretty happy with that we put our feet up...until the timing guy came over! “umm...your team transponder isn’t working.” Shit! We relocated the transponder from the tank to the frame (near the rider’s foot) and sent Andy back out with 4mins left. Andy put in a few 0.58 and 0.59 laps and returned to the pits to find out that the transponder still wasn’t working! Luckily, the Sports Timing guys managed to get one manual time of 0.594 which we could use as our qualifying time. Turned out to be a faulty (brand new) transponder. Anyway, 0.59 was enough to put us first in class and second overall. Not bad considering.

We sat back for a few hours watching the first part of the National Race and the Masters, then had lunch, then came our announcement “pit lane is now open for the Junior and National start procedure”. It was to be Andy to start, and he was certainly feeling the nerves. Everyone lined up on the grid (Project 39 4th on grid because of the mixed start) and took to their places. The flag dropped and Project 39 were third into the first corner (1st in class). We held 1st position for the first half hour until the rider change. Andy came in and was held in the stop box for a minute and a half then sent out to do a lap and a half before returning to the pits. This was due to overtaking under a yellow flag (oops). Overall we lost approx 2 and a half minutes as a result of the penalty which dropped us to 4th position 2 laps behind the leaders NR Racing. Oh dear! Anyhow, Colin went out and gave it all. We worked out that if we could gain just a second a lap over NR Racing during the next 2 hrs then we could get back up to first position. We tried as hard as we could but were stumped by a mammoth 40 minute stoppage. There was a massive multi-bike incident near Lake Esses that took a lot of cleaning up. The stoppage meant that we were loosing track time therefore loosing chance to gain positions back. In the last hour we managed to re-take 3rd position from Old Skool Racing which at least gave us a podium finish at the first round.

So in the end, an unfortunate but good day all round (and Andy has definitely learnt his lesson). The team are very much looking forward to Snetterton and are even more determined to gain some all important points.

A special thank you goes out to everyone who helped over the weekend (Mums, daughters, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc) as it really wouldn’t be possible without everyone there to help.

PROJECT 93 ~ National Supersport Championship

New team name, new bike, new team members, new rider and new tyres. Carl and Andy had a small amount of time in the saddle prior to the season opener on other bikes but Daz hadn’t even sat on a bike since the last race of last season. The new GSXR hadn’t turned a wheel since Andy’s meticulous preparation over the winter months. Suffice to say, the riders felt a little under prepared.

Testing

A test day had been planned for the Saturday but the rain, sleet, and snow hampered progress. What few laps the riders did manage proved that the bike had serious set up issues. Daz complained the he couldn’t even keep the pace in the Novice group. The team were up until 11 pm making changes to the bike in hope that it would lose its “Widow Maker” nickname.

Qualifying

Daz went out first to put in some safe laps to get the team on the grid. He pitted after 15 minutes to report that the bike was better but still a long way off. Andy went out next for a handful of laps then it was Carl’s turn. With 5 minutes to go Project Nine Three (for that’s the new name of the team) were 16th quickest. Daz knew he’d never get out of his usual start duties and grabbed his gloves and helmet and went out in the dying minutes of the session lapping another second quicker and getting the bike another 3 places up the grid.

Race

For this meeting, the 6 hour race would be split into 2 x 3 hour races. The first hour would be shared with the senior tag and master tag classes with the second 3 hour race shared with the junior tag classes.

A good start saw Project Nine Three up at the sharp end of the race and by lap 3 Daz was lapping over a second quicker than his qualifying time. The good start had put the team in front of most of the other Supersport competitors but the ever quick Jon Railton of Ducks Cross Racing was in front. Daz then took the class lead and managed to get a lap on their 2008 rivals Viking Racing before making the first scheduled pit stop. With a full tank of fuel Andy then went out for his first stint.

Andy consistently put in quick lap times but had a couple of pace car incidents to contend with. This can often break a rider’s concentration but the old master has been around long enough for it not to faze him. During this stint, Andy saw 2 of the Supersport teams fall. Roundall Racing crashed quite heavily bringing out the pace car and an end to their race. Ducks Cross also suffered a fall but luckily for them it was relatively minor. They were able to get the bike back to the garage for quick repairs and to rejoin the race. After Andy’s hour long stint the team were still leading the Supersport class quite convincingly.

Carl was next to join the race, however this would be Carl’s first ever race. Later on, Andy and Daz tried to think of what he must have been going through as they both tried to recall their first race. However, Andy couldn’t even remember what he’d had for breakfast so this proved a pointless task. Carl’s attitude and commitment to the weekend proved amazing as he lapped much quicker than anyone expected. He then pressed harder and lapped quicker and quicker and managed to set a personal best during this stint. His pace throughout the entire stint was much quicker and consistent than anyone could have hoped for.

With the first 3 hour part complete, Project Nine Three were leading the Supersport class by a huge margin and were 3rd in the overall National class. With Daz nominated to start again the team were interested in what he could do from his 3rd place grid position. Andy Rouse of Project Three Nine had been the fastest of the junior riders and was allocated 4th place on the grid alongside Daz.

As the flag dropped Daz got an excellent start and thought he’d got the holeshot but someone managed to beat him to Gerrards. Clearly Daz was upset so he rode round the outside to take the lead, got his head down and pushed harder and harder. Within ten minutes he’d managed to pull away from the pack by a respectable margin but an accident had forced the pace car to be deployed. Daz had to drop back to the rest of the pack while the pace car circulated. How annoying! The rolling restart didn’t quite go Daz’s way and he soon found himself battling with one of the 1000cc bikes. However this didn’t’ last long as the rider had to pit for fuel giving Daz an easier time. He remained in front for the entire stint before pitting in for Andy to take control.

As always Andy lapped quickly and consistently and defended the team’s lead well. The track was very busy with a large number of junior riders out there. Andy picked his way through the field knowing that one simple mistake could ruin the team’s hard work. 4 ½ hours into the race a huge crash put a stop to the race with the red flags displayed at every marshal point. The riders were stopped at the back of the circuit which created confusion in the pits. Who’d crashed? What was happening? No-one knew. Information slowly made its way to the garages. The crash involved quite a few riders with many riding into the debris creating further incidents. Team Viking had got tangled up in the carnage with their rider Crispin being hurt and their bike being badly damaged. Their race was over. Crispin was relatively OK but needed to visit the hospital. Again, Andy had all this deal with but never seemed to let him bother him. The restart went to plan and after a few laps Andy pitted to complete his last stint.

Carl’s instructions were quite simple. He knew he had to keep out of trouble and just bring the bike home. This would be his first experience of lapping so many novice riders. The irony here is that this was Carl’s first ever race and he too was a novice. Carl did exactly what was asked of him and he took his first ever chequered flag and class win. Incidentally it was Carl’s birthday, not a bad present eh?

Conclusion

With a bike still in need of setting up and with 3 riders not exactly prepared for racing the result was amazing. Project Nine Three may have been lucky that all its competitors ran into problems but the riders had the pace and were already leading before any of this happened.

The new team crew did an amazing job and soon learned how stroppy riders can get (Daz mainly). The team hope to build on this success and they move on to Snetterton. Class win, leading the championship and 3rd in the overall National class. Not a bad day really.