Welcome to the first Newsletter of the 2008 season.
This year Andrew has taken the opportunity to compete in the National Superstock 600 championship as the National Superstock Cup for 1000cc machines that he was in for the last 2 years has been dropped from the calendar.
The National Superstock 600 series is run on the same lines as the previous one but is for 4 cylinder 600cc, 3 cylinder 675cc and 2 cylinder 750cc machines. It is run as a support class to the British Superbike Championship and has the added advantage of television coverage and features races from all the major circuits in the country.
A 2008 model Yamaha R6 was ordered late last year and delivery was taken in January in order to prepare it for the season. However even though the bike was earlier than expected as it was a new model the parts to convert it for racing were not available until very much later. It was an eleventh hour finish but Andrew managed to get the machine ready a week prior to the first official test of the year.
Andrew took in a track day at Snetterton on the Thursday before the official test at Easter and was immediately impressed with the machine and compared it more to the small two stroke machines that he had started his career on with its extremely high revving engine and nimble handling.
Official Test Snetterton 22/23/24 March The Team were ready for the official test the following weekend at the same venue although with the late arrival of the race bodywork the machine was presented unpainted.
The weather for Easter was awful with snow and very cold temperatures disrupting the whole weekend and Andrew only managing to complete 6 laps of the Norfolk circuit in less than ideal conditions.
Round 1 Brands Hatch 4/5/6 April The first round of the series was to be held two weeks later at Brands Hatch on the Grand Prix circuit and the team set off on Thursday hoping for some better conditions although the forecast was not inspiring.
The first free practice session was held on Friday and the weather was good with Andrew quickly adapting to the machine and trying to make the most of the limited time to select a gearing setting and relearn the 2.30 mile circuit.
The fist 25 minute session saw Andrew record a time that put him 5th fastest and give him an indication of what would be needed in the first qualifying later in the day. The weather stayed dry and Andrew was able to go even quicker and his time for grid positions put him in a provisional 12th place out of the 53 competitors.
The second qualifying session was held on Saturday afternoon and this time it was very wet and no times were improved upon. Andrew recorded a time that would give him 21st place but the combined results of the two sessions meant that he would start the race from the 3rd row in 12th place.
Sunday was meant to be raceday but from 06.30 in the morning it started to snow and it just kept snowing until just after lunchtime and the meeting was unfortunately abandoned. It has since been rescheduled for 10th/11th May and the grid positions will stand but with other commitments already in place it is unlikely that Andrew will be able to make this event.
Round 2 Thruxton 18/19/20 April Fridays free practice time went very well in dry but extremely windy conditions and Andy was 17th quickest out of the 54 entries for 40 grid positions.
Saturday however was not so good as both qualifying sessions were held in torrential rain one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Andrew was cautious in the first learning how much he could push on the wet tyres and trying to get a gearing setting to suit and finished in 32nd place.
The second session later in the day was not so good Andrew had some issues with the suspension and although he went 3 seconds a lap quicker he fell off the qualification screen and ended in 41st place. Luckily for him one of the other riders had fallen and was injured and was out. Starting from 40th was not ideal and Andrew was in determined mood when they went out for warm-up on Sunday in better conditions having made some significant suspension changes he was 9th quickest on a track that was drying but still had some damp patches.
For the race he made a good start but with 40 riders going into the first corner it was going to be tough, he was considerably faster than those in front but passing on the high speed track was difficult.
However he put in lap times that were equivalent to the riders in the top 15 and steadily made his way through the traffic and was up to 26th place when the race was prematurely halted 4 laps early. At his pace he would have made the top 20 had the race gone the full 14 laps. He was very happy that he had been at least able to get the first race under way and is now looking forward to Oulton Park when he hopes to be able to qualify better.
Coming Soon:- Round 3 Oulton Park 03/04/05 May Round 4 Donington Park 24/25/26 May
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