Finally David gets his reward at Brands Hatch

Well the season is now over for the ‘Double ‘M’ racing’ team, and what an end it was!

We were at Brands Hatch for the final round of the British Supersport championship. Again it was very challenging for us to even make this final round as we had suffered the mechanical failure at the previous race. It had become a race against time to have an engine prepared and put in the Double ‘M’ Yamaha ready to go to Brands! It really was thanks to the team and our sponsors dedication that everything could be put into place.

Going into this race weekend I hadn’t finished the previous 3 races due to mechanical failures so my main aim was to collect some points and secure my 2nd place in the British Supersport Cup.

The weekend got off to a terrible start. After the first free practice, I was 30th overall and 10th in the cup! Not the start I was hoping for… The following day we had another free practice and another chance. I had thought a lot about my riding and also the bike set-up and had made some bold changes to the bike for this. Thankfully the changes were positive and I jumped up to 18th and 2nd in the Cup!

Into qualifying and I managed to go one better to qualify 1st in the Cup.

There was three races over the weekend in which I managed 1st, 1st and 2nd respectively, cementing my 2nd place in the Fuchs/Silcolene British Supersport Cup.

We now look forward to the 2012 season with Double ‘M’ Racing where we will line up on the full British Supersport grid!

I would like to say a massive thank you to all my supporters,sponsors and team members. Although our season has not been easy, it has been very successful!
A big thanks to Mark and Libby @ Double ‘M’ Racing, Brenda Mitchell @ Motorcycle Law Scotland, Rod Mitchell @ Horsetiger Marketing & Media, Charlie Johnston, Gary Clark, EBC Brakes, KBC Helmets, Daytona boots, Alan Bennie, Peter Lavin and the rest of the team!

9th Rd of BSB at Silverstone awaits

It’s already the penultimate round of the British Supersport championship this weekend at Silverstone! It seems only a few weeks since our first race of the year at Oulton park!

I’m going into this round with confidence after a really good run at Donington Park BSB two weeks ago. Everything went well there in terms of my riding and form. Unfortunately, the team suffered an engine failure in the final race causing a lot of damage to the bike. As this is the ‘supersport’ class, the engines are highly tuned and under a lot of stress so it is not uncommon for one to fail. However, the mechanics have worked hard on the run up to this weekend’s event to fit the new engine and prep the bike accordingly, including ‘dyno runs’.

So, Silverstone is a track I enjoy but I know that this weekend will be challenging as I have to find a good set-up on the R6 in limited time, having never previously been here on the 600. The 3+mile circuit will not be easy to master and with the relentlessly fast pace of the Supersport class, you can’t give an inch!

I’d like to say a big thanks to everyone helping us to complete this season including Double ‘M’ Racing, Motorcycle Law Scotland, Horsetiger, EBC Brakes, Alan Bennie, Peter Lavin, Gary Clark, Daytona boots and KBC Helmets.

BSB Round 8 – Brands Hatch August

Round 8 of the BSB British Supersport Championship was at Brands Hatch and on the Grand Prix circuit.

Like many of the circuits this year, this was the first time here for me in over a year so the early sessions of the weekend were used to get familiar with the circuit on the Supersport bike and to set everything up to suit me.

The weekend started slow for me and in practice I wasn’t able to achieve the positions that I had hoped. Brands Hatch usually has a few ‘circuit experts’ and the pace was very quick right from the off! Fortunately, it was a dry weekend and I continued to push on and improve my lap times. I finished up free practice in 27th and 7th in the ‘Supersport Cup’… Of course I was disappointed and I knew I had time to find. The team worked well throughout the day to find a new setting to try for qualifying. I had the 30 minute session to push myself and move up the time sheets. The session went well and I was able to knock nearly 2 seconds off my lap time to secure 22nd and 4th in the ‘Cup’ but more importantly I was in touch with the leaders!
As usual, the Supersport Sprint race was on Saturday also. Of course the race was very close and difficult as expected… This race was 10 laps so I was able to make the soft tyre option last the duration. I think the race was average for me, I felt I could have pushed harder having slipped back one place to 23rd and 5th in the Cup for the chequered flag.

  Race two, the feature race, has been dubbed ‘The race of the decade’ with the front guys having an awesome battle for the win! The race was stopped several times due some big crashes. The race got underway for 14 laps on the 3rd attempt. I made a good start and was determined to improve on my race one result. I had a poor feeling from the rear tyre and I think it was because it had gone through more heat cycles than it should have with the race stoppages. Nevertheless, I tried very hard to push on. I was 3rd in the ‘Cup’ until the very last lap when I was passed by another cupper! I was pretty gutted to be honest but I felt I had done all I could with the tyre I had. I finished the race in 14th which is in the main Championship points. I was 4th in the Supersport ‘Cup’. I have maintained 2nd in the Supersport ‘Cup’ again but I must find more pace in order to challenge for the wins again.

As ever I am very grateful to all my sponsers and supporters. Thanks to Mark and Libby (Double ‘M’ Racing), Motorcycle Law Scotland, Charlie Johnston, Horsetiger and my mechanics Alan, Peter and Jimmy.  Thanks to Ian at bikesportpics for these photos

The next race is Round 9 at Cadwell Park 27th-29th Aug. See you there!