91传媒

鈥淭here have been many changes to the bike and Paul has changed his riding style. This has resulted in improved track and riding position. However, it was still going to be a tough weekend against some very fast seasoned Cadwell riders.听

鈥淧aul is becoming a different rider every round and, to be honest, a totally different rider from a year ago. He as loads more to come 鈥� we talk constantly! I do push aspects and some may not be right, but if a rider is questioned and he analyses himself, tries many different things, then it’s all positive and that’s what continues to surface.鈥�

Friday 鈥� Test Day

鈥淲e had nice weather for a change, and a new setup to try on the bike (from both Dave Ogden and Alex at AJR Suspension). This worked really well. A few gearing changes were made due to trying different geometry. This was to get the best out of the bike for the narrow Lincolnshire circuit. Unfortunately, we ran into quick shifter and blipper problems 鈥� this meant that both wouldn’t work until two laps into each session.听

鈥淒ue to this issue, we lost all of the afternoon sessions trying to fix the problem which we later found to be a broken wire.鈥�

Saturday 鈥撀燪ualifying Saturday

鈥淎fter not knowing if we had fully solved the problem with the bike, we went into qualifying after a considerable wait due to a serious accident in the qualifying session before. We take this opportunity to wish Luke all the very best for a speedy recovery. We later went out on slicks 鈥� with the track being mixed wet and dry 鈥撀爄n an effort we to stay consistent and smooth. With the EBC GPFAX brake pads giving great feeling in the mixed conditions, we managed a 1:49.7 鈥撀爌lacing us 10^th 聽overall on the grid for race one.鈥�

Sunday 鈥撀燫ace 1

鈥淭his race was meant to go ahead Saturday afternoon but after the lengthy delays it was postponed to Sunday morning. The weather was raining so we had a wet track and no tyre gambles.听

鈥淲ith wets on, we managed to finish 7^th, hitting 1:46.1 with some good battles. This was the first time in the wet on the new engine/electrics. The bike felt ok, but we need to work with Parkitt Dyno Performance Centre on the wet map on the bike before our next round.鈥�

Sunday 鈥� Race 2

鈥淲ith the weather still changeable and still raining approximately 30 minutes before the race, we still had wets on the bike. However, the weather decided to change to a hot summer’s day.

鈥淎fter a track inspection, we decided to go onto intermediates but as soon as they were on the bike Mr Craig Sharman, who had just finished his race, informed us that the track was 95% dry. This meant another tyre change again onto slicks. Unfortunately, with only 20 minutes of heat in the slicks, we had no other option but to go out on these tyres. On the grid there was a mixed bag of tyres from slicks, intermediates to wets.

鈥淲e made a good start and managed to get the tyres up to a good temperature but then it started to rain AGAIN! This held us back for a couple of laps whilst the wets and intermediates worked better. The rain eventually stopped on lap 4 and the track dried very quickly. Paul managed to pick up pace and pass a few riders, resulting in a final position of 7^th and the best lap time was 1:36.6.鈥�

Sunday 鈥� Race 3

鈥淕lorious weather meant the slicks were fitted, our previous race lap time put us 5^th on the grid but Paul made a poor start as the bike bogged down on him and he lost quite a few positions. Was a really good race with the EBC brakes giving great stopping power throughout, ending the race 10^th, with a lap time of 1:32.9 on the result sheets which matches Paul鈥檚 PB but the dash showing 1:32.3 probably as he was alongside a bike on the finish line which is a PB.鈥�

鈥淐urrent championship position: 11^th.