Testing

鈥淯nable to make the Thursday track day, we were hoping for good dry sessions, unfortunately the test on Friday was a very mixed morning with a wet session, a drying session with wet patches, and a very wet session with heavy rain. So, a mix of seasons in one morning. More of a riding around than being able to test anything. In the drying session I managed a 1:45, and must say the EBC GPFAX pads gave a good feel in all the mixed track conditions.鈥�

Qualifying

“With new tyres in on a now very sunny and dry Friday afternoon Oulton park track with a few damp patches, I pushed as hard as I could, making the most of the EBC pads and managed a 1:43.6. With all the competitors struggling to manage the conditions, we were very happy with 9th on the grid for Saturday鈥檚 races.鈥�

Race 1

鈥淣ot one of my greatest starts, but made 7^th out of the first corner, but changes to the electronics unfortunately made the bike just slightly less sharp than qualifying and the bike wasn鈥檛 pulling through the gears like it had been in qualifying 鈥� I was very focused on keeping a consistent lap time throughout the race but I was losing out too much at the end of the straights and eventually lost 3 positions. Finished 10th on track and 8th in the race with a 1:41.8.”

Race 2

鈥淎fter a long wait whilst the endurance race finished, I was back in my gear awaiting my last race when there was an accident and the meeting had to be abandoned. Hope everyone involved is OK and make a full recovery.鈥�

鈥淲ith scorching weather at the picturesque circuit, we went out for the first session with the same settings from Anglesey, and I found the bike was not working. Myself and Dave thought that this would be the case, so we had a plan for big changes which we carried out through the day whilst running on old tyres from Anglesey. We made some really good improvements to the bike and ended up with a 1:34.4, so I was very happy.鈥�

Qualifying

鈥淲ith new tyres in, the bike I headed out into qualifying and got out first on circuit and tried my best from the start, hoping not to get any traffic which I didn鈥檛 get. With only 10 mins, it鈥檚 all-out and I made a lot of mistakes, but qualified 9th and 7th in class with a 1:34.0.鈥�

Race One

鈥淲ith no changes to the bike and feeling confident, I made a good start, passing a few at the first couple of corners. I made a few more good passes and had a good race to 7th in the race, with 5th in class with a 1:33.4.鈥�

Race Two

鈥淥n Sunday morning with a new rear tyre and another good start made, I was in a good race-long battle in a group. I managed to make some good passes with the help of the EBC GPFAX brakes, but was passed back on the straights. In the areas where the Yam works best, I got stuck behind bikes with different track strengths, so from half-way through the 14 laps I couldn鈥檛 move forward and finished 10th in the race and 7th in class with a 1:33.2.鈥�

Race Three

鈥淎nother good start and some good battles and overtaking on the first few laps put me in a good position but a lonely race, running constantly in the very low 1:33s for all 13 laps 鈥� no gains or losses on track. Very happy with a 1:33.0 鈥� 8th in the race and 6th in class. Overall, a good weekend, finishing with a weekend ideal of 1.32.5 and 5th overall.鈥�

鈥淭hank you to Dave at Phoenix Race Support for all the help advice and general tellings-off as always. Thanks also to Mum and Dad who without them this wouldn鈥檛 be possible. And my beautiful family of Kayla, Matilda and Tallulah whose support in the paddock and at the side of the track means the world.鈥�

Photo credit: Gavin Elliot

鈥淎fter a successful trip to Spain testing, we arrived at Snetterton happy and ready for action. Testing went well but the lap times didn鈥檛 feel like they were there. Might have been that the old tyres we were on. In the last session, we ended up with an oil leak which we managed to track down and fix 鈥� we hoped 鈥� as it was everywhere.

鈥淨ualifying – With a scrubbed 2023 front tyre and a new SC3 rear we had ordered prior, and expected cold conditions but on a budget and limited time, we went out and I felt better. I managed one flying lap of 1:57.3 and realised that the oil leak had returned so I pulled in putting me 14th on the grid. We then set about finding and fixing the oil leak which we thought was coming from an oil line o-ring. This meant the rad, exhaust, etc coming off to get to it which myself and Dave at Phoenix Race Support got to it and sorted out in time for the first race.

鈥淩ace 1 – I managed a really good start and made a few places up and was in a good battle. On the beginning of lap 3, I noticed the oil leak had returned. I tried to monitor it and see if I could finish but out of the last corner, I had a big slide so I pulled into the pits. This time the oil leak looked like it was coming from the clutch cover gasket. We resealed it and took the bike on the dyno, no leak. Lap time of 1:56.8.”

鈥淩ace 2 – Another good start and some more places gained from 11th on the grid. On lap two, again the bike got very loud and the exhaust started blowing causing a lack of power. Also that lap the red flag came out so a 6 lap re-run. Another good start and some good racing finishing 11th on a 1:56.6.

鈥淩ace 3 – After fixing the lambda bung that had spat the middle of itself out, we started 10th and got another good start and had a race-long battle with a few riders, which I felt I had pace to go faster than, but couldn鈥檛 put myself into a position to pass unfortunately. Finished 8th on a 1:55.7.

鈥淥verall a really good weekend and a second faster than I鈥檝e been around Snetterton.

Massive Thankyou to Dave at Phoenix Race Support, my wife Kayla and the girls for all their support, my Mum and dad whom without them I couldn鈥檛 race, as well as all my sponsors.鈥�

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.

Snetterton 1000cc Super Series with No Limits Racing

鈥淥ut of season, our preparation with Dave Ogden at Phoenix Race Support has been busy to say the least, with many changes to our steed. With testing at Cartagena in the sun, I felt like I was hitting the ground running with a stallion of some pedigree, with a new Parkitt heart and pacemaker and revitalised LC Customs glossy coat to look at, not forgetting the almighty stopping power of the EBC discs and GPFAX brake pads. A special thanks to Dave, Team Boss and Graham and Anne 鈥� my ever supportive Mum and Dad 鈥� for help and support enabling all this.鈥�

Friday – Test Day

鈥淪o, onto where the action happens and to Snetterton for Friday鈥檚 test day, which was really productive with Parkitt Dyno and Suspension helping with some electronic gismo setup changes which really helped with the bike. Plus, we had Alex from A.J.R. suspension, Penske Racing Shocks and Dave from Phoenix Race Support 鈥� the Team Boss 鈥� helping to dial in the new Penske gas front fork internals which are amazing. During the dry afternoon sessions I managed a new PB, at a track I seem to struggle with, so that has got to be showing the steed鈥檚 good bloodline.鈥�

Qualifying

鈥淲e had still not got the bike to behave exiting the corners perfectly, and after a few chats with Dave and crew, Dave came up with a setting that he was convinced would work, and it did 鈥� it was a dream and on part-worn tyres I set a new PB of 1:57.4 and 10^th on grid (8^th on results) against several BSB riders of note.鈥�

Race 1

鈥淎s we arrived onto the grid, the inevitable happened: it started to rain. Travelling back to the pits, we had tyre trails from the other bikes鈥� tyres, so some water had seriously gone down on the circuit. We had 15 minutes to change tyres. We opted for intermediates. Back on circuit, I noticed a wide variety of tyre choices, from wets to slicks and upon the warm-up lap it was apparent I should have opted for slicks.

鈥淚 made an OK start and managed to pass a few around turn one, riding as hard and stopping best as I was able to on the 91传媒-shod R1, finally finishing 9^th on track and 6^th in class with a lap time of 1:59.8.

Race 2

鈥淭he next day, I was on the grid in 9^th place. A dry race, but very cold temperatures. I made another fair start and overtook a few riders into turn one. We got to Coram鈥檚 on the first lap and I was feeling brave and managed to overtake four riders on the outside of the turn which got me into 5^th for a few seconds, before being out dragged down the start/finish straight due to a poor exit from the last corner.

鈥淚 was in a really good battle for positions throughout the race. On the second lap another rider tried to make a pass on me on the outside of the hairpin, ran in too tight and ran into the side of me, which forced me onto the curb on the inside which sat the bike up as I nearly lost the front, unfortunately this meant we hit again, nearly causing me to crash and the other rider went down. I lost a few positions in the meantime, with all this excitement unfortunately the race was red flagged on lap 7, with me finishing 10^th on circuit and 7^th in class with a lap time of 1:56:8 鈥� a PB.鈥�

Race 3

鈥淲e fitted another scrubbed front tyre on the bike as the existing tyres had expired. What a big mistake that would turn out to be. Another good start and I passed a few again around the first corner from 11^th on the grid, but noticed that the front tyre was not right 鈥撀營 felt like I had no grip and it was pushing everywhere meaning I was losing confidence all the time.

鈥淚 still managed my fastest ever time around Snetterton which speaks volumes as to the team鈥檚 possibilities. I was running 6^th all race and found the EBC brakes constant throughout, until the last lap when I was overtaken as my pace had slowed by over a second due to the pushing front tyre so I finished 7^th on circuit and 6^th in class, with a lap time of 1:56.1 鈥� a weekend PB.鈥�

Championship position after round one – 6^th

Paul Charman

#9聽鈥撀�1000cc Elite Series

鈥淧aul had never used EBC in the past and had struggled for top 15 positions.

He loved the feel of the brakes and immediately ran in the top five in his first round, and always within the top 10 鈥� very strong at all circuits on brakes with a P2 at Anglesey in the wet.

鈥淲e had major engine failures but never a brake failure, and even after missing five races with engine failure, he finished 9^th in the championship.鈥�

Brandon Wright

#888 鈥� 600cc Cup

鈥淏randon was new to 600cc and loved the feel and power of the EBC brakes, with a few podiums under his belt and his best round at Croft. Unfortunately, he had financial problems due to sponsorship funds being withdrawn after the penultimate round. Although missing the last round, he still finished 9^th in the championship in his first year on a 600cc.”