THE freight is on its way to Philip Island for round one so we are nearly ready to get started. PTR as always did not test before January as we prefer to concentrate on getting the next year bike to its peak before testing. My view has always been what is the point of testing last year’s bike? Testing costs more than actual racing so we have to maximise our testing time with new development.

Now I know a number of Supersport teams have done more testing than us and with the modern media of Twitter and Facebook we all know everyone’s view almost in real time. I agree Kenan will start as one of the favourites if not the favourite for the title but we are happy with our testing and current position. We have not made proud boasts that we are going to take the fight to Kenan or that he will be facing an even stronger PTR Honda team, that is not our style. We are happy with the progress we made during the winter and with our testing performance on track.

As with all teams we did not get as much dry track with really good conditions as we would have liked, but we had some dry and wet time. With us changing to Bitubo suspension this in the end worked very well for us to confirm a wet and dry base setting for round one. You may all think that is a PR spin as all teams do, but this in our case is the real truth. I could not have asked for more from my boys and the team continues to go from strength to strength – despite rider and a couple of staff changes we are stronger than ever and all up for the fight.

I am not sure if any of the other Supersport teams have gone out to Australia early to get even more testing ahead of the official tests on Monday and Tuesday. Either way we all have two sessions of 1.5hours each on both days, so if we are not ready for Philip Island by then we never will be. We then have two days to make any changes before practice and qualifying, then it’s time for all the talking to stop as the lights go out on Sunday the 24th. Then we will all see exactly where we are in the whole scheme of things.

With 35 full time riders and six different manufacturer machines on the grid things are looking really good for Supersport despite the difficult financial times we all find ourselves in. The depth of field should give us even more competitive racing than before, which will be good for us as teams and I hope you the fans. There was some great racing last year, especially from a PTR point of view, and lets all hope for more of the same and better this year.

I know we will all be considering new rules for 2014 but please let’s all take a look at the current rules as they cannot be far off. There is less support for teams in WSS compared to the MotoGP paddock and less TV coverage makes it harder for us to bring backing in. With this in mind and still 35 riders on the grid, I would once again like to ask the people in the right places to consider Supersport rules for the Superbike class.

In WSS it is possible for a private team to compete with the factory teams as we at PTR have proved over the last three years. I am sure under Supersport rules PTR could consider moving up to Superbike along with some other very good WSS teams. Maybe this way both classes would have a good grid and with the right team you would have the chance to fight for victory in Superbike as well. Under current Superbike rules a private team has no chance even if it has the right budget. With talk of more production based rules in our paddock, let’s not go too far as WSS is proving all makes can compete under the restricted engine tuning rules which are not so standard that whoever has the flavour of the year road bike wins.

I also still think there is a definite case for the stock classes to become full production racing, thus maintaining the classes and making a distinct difference between Stock and the Supersport and Superbike classes.

Cheers

Simon

As a team we won the Manufacturer’s Championship for Honda, Jules won the fastest lap award and Jules and Sam finished first and second in the qualifying performance award.  I know we did not win the title but I am sure Jules would have at worst given Kenan a much closer run for the crown if he had a better understanding of our bike and the tyres at the start of the season.  He came to us late and only tested for the first time at the pre race Philip Island test.  From round four onwards (Monza) he outscored Kenan.  That is impressive.

By now you will all know Jules has left us to sign for Crescent Suzuki in WSB.  Some, including me, would say what a strange thing to do.  We as a team are of course disappointed. Jules was influenced by his manager who just so happens is also the new Suzuki Moto GP test rider Randy De Puniet’s manager. He thought Suzuki was a better opportunity than winning the WSS title with us – a task he would at worst have started the year as equal favourite with Kenan Sofuoglu to do.  I am sure you can all see that finishing at best around eighth in WSB for Suzuki will be far less advantageous for his career than winning the World Supersport Championship.  Previous WSS winners Cal Crutchlow, Chas Davies and multi race winner Eugene Laverty all moved up to compete on Superbikes with real Championship winning potential which is completely different to what Jules is doing.

I did advise Jules to wait one more year when the rule changes would have made a much more level playing field, but the temptation of WSB now was too much.  Don’t get me wrong, he did a great job for us and I wish him all the best for next year and beyond and would welcome working with him again anytime in the future, but doubt his choice will give him the launch pad he is looking for.  It makes as about as much sense as Lewis Hamilton leaving McClaren for Mercedes.  Similar in that only the increase in money makes sense.

Sam has also moved on and some of you may be surprised because PTR is his personal management team and we did a deal for him to race as our rival.  I have always said we would never hold Sam back and his new team had the chance of offering him a three-year deal with Superbike as part of the contract.  We could not offer this so are happy that Sam has a new opportunity which we hope he has much success with.  Sam is a great rider and we look forward to competing with him in 2013.

Kenan is back again next year but he is changing teams and other technical parts so all the front runner will be in new situations:  Kenan, new team; Sam new bike and team and PTR with new riders.

We have announced two riders so far In Luca Maconi and Imre Toth.  All our riders will be different this year and I would like to take this opportunity to say although Martin, Ronan and Mathew are not with us next year, we enjoyed working with them and wish all three every success in your new opportunities whatever they are.  In the case of Ronan as I write this I am not sure if that is Motorcycle Racing or acting.

I know you will all be thinking who PTR will have as what is perceived as our lead rider and I expect to be able to tell you all in the next couple of weeks.  I will say that this rider and the other two riders to name along with Luca and Imre will continue to help us build the strong spirit of the PTR team and we aim to be running at the front again in WSS 2013.

Cheers

Simon

PTR news is brought to you by The Property Insurer, your only source for the best flood insurance in the UK.

What a year it has been for PTR. I know we have finished runner up for the third time in four years and missed out on the title and congratulations to Kenan. But you have to say Jules Cluzel has been nothing but impressive on the PTR Honda.

Jules never saw the bike until he got to Australia and had never ridden on Pirelli tyres.  His first three round scores were fourth, crash and sixth.  If we held those events now I think we all know his results would be much stronger and he would have taken the title to the last round with Kenan.  For sure, along with Kenan he will be the rider to beat in 2013.  Let’s hope we can keep him at PTR and give Kawasaki a big fight and for the fans a racing treat.  Kawasaki have been interested in Jules but I hope you all agree with me he would be better off on our Honda.

Sam Lowes has been incredibly fast this year and along with Jules has three fastest laps.  There is an award for this at the end of the year and it can only now be won by Sam or Jules.  There is also a qualifying performance award in which Sam and Jules are separated by one point and cannot be caught by anyone else.  So as you see as a team we have been dominant and also given Honda the lead in the manufacturer’s table going into the last round.  Sam looked to be in with a great chance of fulfilling his ambition and winning the title for a large part of the season, even after crashing out of Assen and Misano. However, a jump start in Moscow (we can’t argue he did jump it) which resulted in only 12^th place followed by a crash out of the leading group of four after Foret had run him and Sam wide resulted in only 14^th after he remounted put him out of contention.

Fifth place in Portimao after a massive moment at the last corner injured his shoulder means he goes into the last round this weekend at Magny Cours only fourth in the standings.  I know Sam wanted to win the title so much and can now only finish third at best and we are all right there with him as his two wins so far this year and tremendous speed at every round deserves nothing less than this.

One last point on the jump-start that I just have to add.  So a jump-start means a drive through and eventually 12^th place.  OK we all know the penalty but how can almost knocking another rider off his bike (the famous Sofuoglu and Foret incident in Aragon) mean only a drop from 2^nd to 5^th in the race.  I am sure you would all agree no matter which rider you are on side with that this just cannot be correct.

Moving on, I know I have said this a number of times but I cannot stress enough how proud I am of our whole team, for their spirit, commitment and drive that has made all our results possible.  On top of the superb performances by Sam and Jules, Ronan Quarmby became the first South African rider to get a Motorcycle racing podium for 25 years when he finished third for us at Imola.  Add a fantastic ride to fourth at Silverstone where he battled with the leaders for nearly the whole race and other good rides and he is eighth in the championship with more than a reasonable chance of grabbing seventh overall at Magny Cours this Sunday.

We have also seen very good speed from Mathew Scholtz but his youthful enthusiasm led to more mistakes than he or we would have liked.  However, he has shown great character to keep his faith and has been rewarded with a top ten finish in the last round at Portimao.  He goes into this weekend in good form and I am confident he will do a great job next year.

Martin Jessopp has been disappointed and we are for him.  A few crashes mid season lost him momentum and we all hope he can finish with a season best result this Sunday to end his first World Supersport season on a high.

So, from a PTR side what about 2013?  I can tell you if we could we would be happy to keep all our riders as everyone has contributed to a fantastic team atmosphere.   We all know this may not be possible, as Sam for instance would like to move up to World Superbike or Moto GP CRT.  As you may know we also manage Sam personally and as much as I would like him to go again and win the WSS title next year I would not in any way want to hold him back.  We all want to see Sam reach as high a level as possible in his career.

As I said earlier we are also hoping to keep Jules to challenge Kenan for the title and I expect to be able to tell you all about that soon.  Mathew looks set to stay for another year and we are still talking with Ronan.  Martin would like to move back to Superbike and if this happens we wish him all the best, he and his family have been a joy to work with this year.

One way or another we will have some new faces in the team in 2013, watch this space and we will update you as soon as we can.

Cheers

Simon

*** To buy GBRacing engine case covers- the best in motorcycle crash protection – at the lowest price online with quick delivery, visit www.performancetechnicalracing.co.uk.

*** If you need any sort of property insurance, visit www.thepropertyinsurer.co.uk.

The race direction then put the incident under investigation and imposed a drop three places penalty.  Now the rules say a rider has five-laps to take a penalty and with only four-laps left by the time the penalty was imposed Kenan simply did not have to take it.  Strictly speaking under the rules he completed the race before his last opportunity to drop back. He was lucky here as he clearly had no intention of doing so, a point shown by him trying to go into the winner enclosure at the end of the race.

He even had the cheek to say he thought he was the fair winner of the race!!!  Remember, he ignored a penalty for jumping the chicanes at Imola and got black-flagged. The punishment does not fit the crime.

In my opinion the penalty was simply nowhere near harsh enough for such an outright dangerous move.  It is not the first time with Kenan either.  Off the top of my head when he came back to Supersport the first time he kicked out at Josh Hayes at Portimao (Josh was then riding for us) for having the cheek to overtake him.

He also rode into Eugene Laverty at Salt Lake City on the final lap to get the win.  Both these incidents went without penalty.  He continued in his ways in Moto 2 at Barcelona when he clashed with Julian Simon causing injury to him.

Now I know some Kenan fans may say Eugene crashed and took him out at Imola at the end of 2012 on the last lap, this is true but Eugene was going for a fair overtake not just riding into competitors with no regard for their safety.

At Aragon Kenan should have been instantly black-flagged or received a race ban for his actions.  I know he was demoted to 5^th anyway after being allowed to take the flag but is this really enough of a deterrent for a rider who for some reason just loses his head and takes it out on his competitors.  It’s not a one-off incident by Kenan regardless of who the rider is, that move was dangerous and deserved a much harder penalty.

This by the way is not just a rant at Kenan who I will say is a great rider who’s riding skills In the Supersport class I respect; or a cheap shot to try and get our biggest competitor banned.  I love racing and want to see it as safe as possible and I feel this penalty just did not send out the right signals for Kenan and indeed all the other riders.

He was not the only rider who got off lightly at the weekend either.  Look at what Bautista did at Assen Moto GP.  Rushes down the inside of turn one with no chance to stop and crashes into a totally unaware Jorge Lorenzo.

His penalty to start from the back of the grid at the next race is a joke.  In reality he is starting from 12^th as he will very quickly move past the CRT bikes.  The innocent Lorenzo on the other hand has lost his 25-point lead in the championship and an engine that could affect the rest of his season.   Marquez got away with an outrageous clash at Philip Island last year with in effect the same penalty after crashing into another rider on the slowing down lap.  Ok I know it was a minute penalty on his qualifying time but let’s face it that was just starting from the back of the grid.

I understand it is difficult for race direction and someone will have a problem with whatever they decide but I believe the penalties have to be enough to make the riders think very hard before getting involved in things like this again.  In all cases of the riders above they have done it more than once.

We see it in other sports as well.  I am a big football fan and if a player diving seeking a penalty was a red card offence they would not do it.  As it is a yellow card it is well worth the risk.  I understand Kenan has been told any more behaviour like this will not be tolerated.  Let’s hope he listens this time and we only have his riding skill to comment on in the future.

Also I would hate to see another rider commit a lesser offence, which lets face, it would almost have to be punished to make an example for Kenan’s unsporting and dangerous behaviour.

Come on Kenan at least have the courage and come out and say sorry for what you did, you are a great rider who can challenge for the title fairly and do not need to do things like this.

Can I finish by congratulating Sam on another great victory and having the maturity to not get involved with Kenan knowing he was the true winner of the race.  Well done Ronan as well probably his best ride of the year for 6^th.  Jules slid off but he will be in contention at Brno as he always is.  Mathew has no luck at all and after his bike did not get off the line was hit by another rider; and Martin was unable to start after a practice crash.

Here’s to great results for all out riders at Brno and we will continue to take the fight to Kenan in a fair and sporting manor.

Cheers

Simon

**** THE PTR SHOP IS NOW OPEN

A WIDE selection of products for most modern sportsbikes is now available direct from PTR at the best prices on the Internet. Visitwww.performancetechnicalracing.co.uk and click on the shop for the below products on sale today!

EBC GPFA brake pads

Samco brake hose kits

GBRacing engine case covers

IRC Tyre warmers

It is cheaper to buy from PTR direct on most occasions rather than eBay, where high charges force prices higher.

****PTR news is brought to you by The Property Insurer, the UK’s leading price comparison and specialist provider of low cost home insurance. Visit for details on a GUARANTEE to match or beat your home insurance quote and donate £5 to the motorcyclist favourite Air Ambulance Charity.

AFTER a difficult Assen where Sam crashed out of a big lead and our only result was sixth for Jules, we really needed to put things back on track at Monza.

Sam dominated practice again and was fastest wet, dry or in the middle – and both Sam and I were confident we had the pace no matter what.  Sam is always quick in the rain anyway, but if anything we were stronger in dry conditions at Monza.  Jules had only qualified 10^th after a problem in the dry qualifying but in dry free practice and wet conditions he was right there so we knew both had a chance to challenge for victory.  Ronan was back on track after his Assen problems; Mathew was once again riding well and just needs to transfer this to the race results his talent deserves.  Martin is looking better but struggles to put the one qualifying lap in and this is effecting his grid position at the moment.

What a race for us at Monza. Sam and Jules quickly settled in first and second and pulled away from everyone by a big margin.  Ronan crashed on lap two whilst battling for third and Mathew also crashed out of another possible top six result.  Ronan already has one podium this year so I am sure he will be right there at Donington and Mathew just needs to calm down and be patient in the races and it will all come together for him.

Martin stuck in there and as his confidence in the wet conditions grew he started to move up the field and it was a good boost for him to get his first point of the season in 15^th.  Back to the battle at the front and just as Sam had eased away from Jules a little he went straight on at the second chicane as the rear pushed on corner entry.  Such was their lead he was able to rejoin in second and as the race progressed he slowly closed the gap again on Jules.  I have to say it was making me just a bit nervous as our two riders went into the last lap and after a great drive off Ascari Sam got alongside Jules into the final turn.  He passed him but ran wide and Jules grabbed the victory.  I can’t say enough about Jules, Sam and our whole team for this result.  It is our first ever 1-2 and is a just reward for the effort and commitment put in by everyone in the team.  We are keeping our feet on the ground though but will go to Donington this weekend boosted by the fact that Sam is back in second in the championship just 10 points behind Kenan Sofuoglu, with Jules in fourth just three points behind Sam.

Just a little thing that amuses me, it’s amazing that the small group of personal detractors on Twitter and Facebook go so quiet when we win.  They are so quick with their ill informed criticism but nothing when they are proved wrong.  Apparently we have a slow bike in WSS but have just got a 1-2 at the fastest track of the season. What, nothing to say anymore?

One thing I feel does need addressing is the situation we had at Monza where riders and certain teams power played a major part in their only being half of one of the Superbike races at the weekend.  We all saw the problems in Superbike Qualifying when as the track dried – especially on the long start finish straight tyres were coming apart.  It is difficult for Pirelli but you do have to ask why teams just kept sending their riders out on wets when the track conditions were getting better.  The front wet was hanging in well and had our race been on a drying track we would have had no choice but to go with an intermediate rear.  I know some of the riders will hit out at me but I am not getting at them.  The problem is when you ask a number of riders what they think you will get a number of different views.  This will be because they see it differently and some will feel it is not as big a risk as the next rider but also politics come into play and in this case Ducati were not as hard on the tyres as the 4 cylinder bikes.

That said had it been dry Ducati were going to struggle on this very fast circuit.  Maybe they should have asked for the faster 4 cylinder bikes to be slowed down on the straight for them.  This is of course a ridiculous suggestion but if you see what I mean where do you stop.  Someone always has an advantage.  That’s a World Championship and over the course of the season the best rider and team win.  Well unless you are in BSB of course and then it is the best rider and team over the last three rounds.

Before the cancelled first race I saw max Biaggi slowly strolling down pit lane when he should have been on the grid, in the certain knowledge that the race would wait for him in Italy whilst they repaired his bike that seemed to have a problem.  This should not be the case!  Certainly in the second race if there had been less discussion on the grid between riders and the race started it would have run either full distance or for sure past two thirds and the fans and teams would have at least got one full points leg not the eight lap half point race we ended up with.

The Superstock race ran on a mixture of tyre choices without problem.  Our Supersport race ran with everyone on full wets without problem.  Mind you there were people on the grid trying to get a discussion started about this; I was asked what my position was.  Simple we did warm up in drying conditions without problem.  I know Kenan Sofuoglu had a tyre come apart and Broc Parkes tyre was starting to chunk.  Sam’s were perfect and even Jules who is hard on tyres had no problem.  The track was wetter for the race so no need for discussion.  This point proven by the fact Kenan finished third on full wets.  You have to ask then why was Johnny Rea on the Supersport grid getting involved in this?

I would suggest an ex rider is put onto the race panel who make the decisions; Frankie Chili was at Monza maybe there is a perfect candidate.  This person needs to look at the situation and make the decision on the race starting.  If he says start then start, if certain riders and or teams don’t want to start that is their choice but this should not be able to rob the sport and fans of races.

In the first Superbike race it was not even the race leader who put his hand up first to try and get the race stopped.  We all know racing is dangerous and we all want to reduce the chance of any injury as much as we can.  However we have a duty to our sponsors, fans and the promoters to keep the show on the road.

One last comment that would help save time and allow the possibility to run races in difficult conditions.  I know in this column I made a comment that could be taken as negative to the BSB shoot out system (actually I do think it is bad) but one thing BSB definitely have 100% right is their re-start procedure.  If a race is stopped at the re-start there is no big delay while the whole grid procedure is repeated.  This is an unnecessary waste of time.  Riders go out on the sighting lap.  Only one mechanic is on the grid just to show his rider where to stop.  No tyre warmers, stands, umbrella girls, nothing.  Once all riders are back from the warm up lap and then the race starts.  The sooner WSB adopts this rule the better.

Cheers

Simon

****PTR news is brought to you by The Property Insurer, the UK’s leading price comparison and specialist provider of low cost home insurance. Visit for details on a GUARANTEE to match or beat your home insurance quote and donate £5 to the motorcyclist favourite Air Ambulance Charity.

THERE have been a few things said on various websites about our team by armchair pundits without a clue – mainly saying that I am making a fortune from managing a race team. I thought it would be a good idea to put the record straight.

In the current financial climate we are working harder than ever to make the numbers balance but we have managed to do so. There are no banker bonuses here; this is all about bringing together the best riders we can on to the best bikes we can build against a backdrop of losing a title sponsor from financially stricken Portugal.

Last year we ran four bikes all the time to exactly the same level and when James Ellison got to grips with things he too challenged for victory with Sam Lowes.  We also ran at a number of rounds the PTR Romania Honda and as such five riders.  We are now only doing the same thing.  For years Ten Kate has supported many teams and everyone seemed happy with this. PTR is now following a similar proven business model.

Another point raised was that certain staff changes might weaken our team.  Without beating around the bush Mark Woodage did a good job and was crew chief for Eugene in 2009 when he finished runner up in the Championship the first time.  He then went on to work with Miguel in 2010 and then Ellison for most of 2011.  We have gone our separate ways now and we remain friends – I wish him all the best in his new roles with Wilson Craig Racing and the new Splitlath Aprilia team.

PTR is and always has been about team work and Carl Meakin and Paul Williamson as crew chiefs together overseeing development have stepped up and our team has gone from strength to strength over the winter.  Our other staff members Matt Llloyd, Ben Fry, Chris Anderson, Sam Neate, Mark Kelly and Jamie Ferguson have all worked well together to put us in the best position yet as we head to Philip Island for round one.

We have PTR Honda with Ronan Quarmby who I believe will be a force and now Jules Cluzel who I also think will be right there in the fight.  Sam Lowes has moved across the garage to Bogdanka PTR Honda and will be joined by Mathew Scholtz.  Sam learnt a lot last year and starts as one of the title favourites; Mathew tested well in Almeria and will also be right up there fighting.

Our sister team Bogdanka Racing is a supported PTR team and will run Pawel Szkopek and PJ Jacobsen.  Pawel had a best result of 12^th last year and like Miguel Praia with Parkalgar I am sure will go from strength to strength and I will be surprised if he does not get at least one top 10 finish this year.  PJ at 18 has a great future in front of him.  I expect him to get better and better all year.  Let’s see how far up the field he can get.  I am not going to predict positions now as there is no need for undue pressure.  He has time on his side and will be another strong rider to emerge from the USA.  It is about time we saw another talent emerge from that side of the Atlantic.

Martin Jessopp rides as a sole rider in Riders PTR Honda.  He brings with him his technicians from BSB – crew chief Lee and his chassis man Greg.  He was impressively consistent in our Almeria test and I am sure we can all learn from each other and take the whole team forward.  He was runner up in his last Superbike ride in Macau and I am sure will surprise all when the lights go out in Australia on the 26^th February

Our rider line up is also the strongest ever and whilst I anticipate Sam to lead the team Jules, Ronan Mathew and Martin are certainly not going to make things easy for him and that’s before we start on the returning Kenan Sofuoglu.  The Turk beat us in 2010 so let’s take the fight to him and the rest of the field and go one better in 2012.  PJ and Pawel will build as the season goes on.  This is the most exciting year yet for the PTR team and I for one can’t wait to get going.  I have to say a big thank you again for the tremendous effort the team staff has made to get us in such good shape for the start of the season.

Hope to see as many of you as possible in Philip Island.

Cheers

Simon

***PTR has moved to a new page on Facebook – please visit and like http://www.facebook.com/pages/Performance-Technical-Racing-LTD-PTR/342811925749796?sk=wall

****PTR news is brought to you by The Property Insurer, the UK’s leading price comparison and specialist provider of low cost home insurance. Visit for details on a GUARANTEE to match or beat your home insurance quote and donate £5 to the motorcyclist favourite Air Ambulance Charity.

AS we all know the Italians love a holiday so we don’t get to race in August and then end up with four races quite close together after that.  Never mind at least I had a holiday and all our staff also had at least a week of so we will come back refreshed at Nurburgring.

This has given me the opportunity to see what is happening in BSB and take more notice of misguided articles and I see my old mate Gary Pinchin has been at it again in MCN.  For the last few years, including this year, he publishes an article on Rob Mac racing telling us this is going to be the year he will mop up.   Even Gary must be coming to the conclusion now that he might just need to leave that out of next year’s features.  There have been more musical chairs in Rob’s team this year than you will ever see at any children’s party and still no results.

At the TT we split with Wilson Craig Racing as most of you may be aware.  There were many reasons but most of all it was because Wilson did not pay his agreed bills so I pulled the pin.  At the time Cameron Donald and William Dunlop were right on the pace.  Cameron had won 10 out of 10 races over Easter and only lost out in the NW200 Supersport race (the only race run due to weather etc) to the superior riding skills of Alistair Seeley.

At the TT Cameron did get a fortunate second after a lot of the leading riders dropped out in the opening race of the week and MCN’s Gary Pinchin went on to say how Wilson Craig Racing showed how they can do it alone.  In the next week’s MCN I did not see any mention of how out of four starts on the 600’s they managed 3 DNF’s and in the case of one of William’s races did not make the line, so did not even bother to start!!!

After that they had mediocre results for the rest of the week in the races they did actually manage to finish.  OK after that they won some of the local Irish road races but come the big day again at the Ulster Grand Prix it was no wins once again.  In the 600 races they even managed to lose to Michael Dunlop on a far inferior machine.  With all this in mind it was with great interest that Gary followed the TT story up with how Wilson Craig has gone from strength to strength since we split. It’s more like going from strength to shooting themselves in the foot overnight.

I wish he would ask them just how many engines they have managed to break since we stopped helping them – it’s a lot – and no wins either at any of the races.  Engines built to the same spec as ours by Chris Mehew and run by amateurs.  I am angry about this one-sided piece of reporting but I suppose when you look at his Rob Mac fairy tales it is about par for the course.  I have been friends with Gary for years and won’t fall out with him over this, I just wanted to bring the truth to his attention.  Congratulations to Wilson for the results they have achieved in the smaller races, I suppose he had to do them even though he told me he wouldn’t – he must want to get some results…maybe if he wins enough prize money he may pay us what we are owed by him.

Lastly I just have to mention the Brands Hatch BSB round on the long track.  Except on the first day which was held on the short track due I am told to noise restrictions.  Is it just me or do the majority of you wonder what was going on there?  They might as well all have stopped off at Mallory Park on the way down as they do not have a BSB race this year and held the day there.  The long track and the short track only have three corners in common and even then that will not be totally relevant if you run the correct gearing for the short and long circuit.  In these hard times as far as I can see that was the best advert for making BSB into two-day meetings as I have ever seen – and remember they got an extra Superbike race in on Saturday due to the cancelled race at Oulton Pk when it was flooded out.  Stuart Higgs and Jonathan Palmer have done a great job but that certainly was not their best idea ever.

Cheers

Simon

THERE has been quite a lot of talk recently about the rules for Superbike racing in the UK and for WSB with some people saying that there should be a more noticeable difference between MotoGP bikes and Superbikes.

For me I would like to see Superbikes run to the same rules as Supersport as this would make a significant reduction in costs.  The trouble for instance with the EVO rules is they don’t really make a massive reduction in the cost of building a competitive bike. The cost for racing wheels, brakes and suspension etc still make this quite an expensive bike.  In Supersport we use standard wheels, fork outers and swing arm.  If this was the case for Superpbikes there would be a big saving in building costs.  For instance a set of fork internals cost about 25% of the cost for a full set of top of the range racing forks.  Then consider that a rider who wants to be really competitive needing a minimum of 6 sets of wheels to cover all his options and you can quickly start to see how the costs build up.

Engine tuning would also reduce significantly with only cylinder head work really being allowed.  As the Supersport class has shown, this allows manufactures to become quite even on the track.

I know there is a point of view that the fans want to see special bikes but they also want to see fuller grids with more competitive riders able to fight for the podium.  If you look at a top spec Supersport bike they are pretty special when they are built right.  Personally I would prefer not to see control ECUs as I believe this allows teams to compete against each other to get the best possible set up for handling and fuelling for the engines.  If this has to be the case as it now is in British Supersport then OK as I believe in the UK we will see this for Superbikes in 2012 as well.  There is a lot of exaggeration about the cost of this per bike and I have heard figures of £60,000 being quoted for a system for Supersport.  Believe me if it cost that much we would not have it.  For our bikes the cost is much nearer to £15,000 for a full system allowing a vast range of  strategies to be monitored and controlled to improve machine performance.  Don’t get me wrong a very good rider will be able to lap very close to his lap time if you turn the electronics off, however tyre wear etc is quite a bit more over race distance without electronics helping the rider.  Also it helps riders with slightly less ability or feel to get closer so making racing closer.

I know some people around the paddocks will have a different and sometimes almost a complete opposite view but these are just my thoughts.

If we did do this for Superbike then what would have to happen for the Superstock class?  Well I would like this class to return to a full production race meaning exhausts as well.  This would then make a much bigger visual and sound difference to the classes.  From a fans point of view they could see top riders getting the most out of bikes the same as they rode to the track on.  At the moment Superstock and Superbike sound just about the same.  This would also make the cost of competing in this class much more affordable giving talented riders without huge backing a chance to show there worth and have a better chance of climbing the ladder.  This can only be a good thing to get the next batch of young British riders out on the world scene.

I will be quite interested in what those people who love making anonymous comments on forums have to say, I am guessing there will be quite a range of differing views but let’s see…

Cheers

Simon

Well I am just back from Phillip Island so thought I would give you all the inside view of the event for our teams (Parkalgar Honda & Bogdanka PTR Honda).

We got there on Saturday and set the garage up.  Next day we sorted the bikes and got everything ready for the following two days testing.  Sam had two crashes in the test when he allowed himself to get rattled by riders looking for a tow.  As I explained to him he should take that as a compliment considering he has only just started in the Championship, especially as one of these riders was self confessed Championship contender Gino Rea.  Now I know Gino loves a tow but surely not from Sam when Gino is in his second season in the series and his dad wondered if I had lost my mind when I signed Sam.  I wonder if David Rea still thinks that?  Anyway, Sam is like a sponge and took it all on board and never put a foot wrong for the rest of the event.  Good man Sam.

James also had a big crash at turn one that left him with knee ligament damage and meant he had to miss the second session of day one.  At the end of the testing we were in pretty good shape with Sam but James was struggling with his injury.  Our other two riders Miguel Praia (Parkalgar) and Pawel Szkopek (Bogdanka) both did well.  Miguel was struggling little but we knew he should be able to put it together when race week started.  Pawel also crashed twice but despite this he was very quick in the wet session and showed good promise for his first race with us.

The Clinica and the Australian medical staff were all very helpful for us with James and they found us a way for James to go and have keyhole surgery on the Wednesday to enable him to be fitter when official practice started on Friday.  Away he went and when he came back although a bit sore the improvement in his movement with the damaged left knee was remarkable. – full credit to the surgeon who did it.  While he was there we took his wife Sarah to the wildlife park and she got some great pictures with the kangaroo’s and Koala’s etc.  I must say though Sarah and the vast majority of the mechanics were not so keen on the Emu’s.  Biggest coward award here must go to James chassis technician Matt Lloyd. Take a bow Matt for being the big girl!

In qualifying Sam continued to impress us by grabbing a front row start in third in his first race for us.  He also had great race pace so looked in good shape for the race.  James qualified in 11^th and when you consider this was not even two full days after surgery hats off to him and I knew he would have better race pace.  The loss of track time in testing had hurt him a little but we had some things to try in warm-up to fine-tune his bike for the race.

Unfortunately when we woke on race day it was raining hard so we could not confirm our changes in warm up.  That said Sam ended warm up fastest with James a fantastic second and Pawel  fifth; things were looking good should it be a wet race.  The locals assured us it would clear for lunch-time and it did just that.

You will all have seen the race by now and an outstanding performance by Sam to get on the podium in his first race WSS race for us.  Now I know some people have said our bike was down on power and I must admit the Yamaha did have a slight top end advantage on us.  The Kawasaki seemed to be just about equal.  Over the whole lap we were right on the pace.  Both Sam and I think that he could have broke clear earlier when he caught the then leader Salom.  He opted to stay behind him to look after his tyres as this was the first time he had run at the front in WSS.  This allowed Parkes and Scassa to catch up again and lead to the final lap show down you all saw.

Just to give you all more of an inside view; gearing plays a big part around Philip Island and with a head wind on race day our bike was not revving out in top.  Both Yamaha and Kawasaki have more gear options than us so they had an advantage there.  We could not have changed the overall gearing as the ratios for the corners would then have been too short in places.  Also with more experience with our traction control system Sam would have trimmed some off as the tyre wore – it may have been holding him back a little – especially onto the start finish straight.  I think you will see a different story at Donington and the other races this year.

James finished sixth and although he was a little disappointed with that I was more than proud of him and admired his commitment after the surgery.  He is also in a good position as we look to round two at Donington and I am sure there will be races this year when both Sam and James  get on the podium.  I am excited about that and hope you all are as well.

Both Miguel (clutch) and Pawel (engine problem) failed to finish which was a great shame as they had both shown they would have been in the top 10.  In Miguel’s case eighth looked a strong possibility.  Pawel had 5 crashes during testing and the event and this may have played a part in his engine problem.  I am sure this is not an indication for the rest of the season and I expect them both to make their respective fans from Portugal and Poland proud as the season unfolds.

Cheers

Simon