James Egan 81 - 2015 UK Race season adventure

New Season, New Bike - 2015 Ducati Panigale R

2015-04-11T16:46:00.000-07:00

It's been an incredible off season back in South Africa...

Top Results, Ups & Downs In a Run of Races - Rd.7-10

2014-09-09T04:46:00.002-07:00

5 weeks ago I did my last post and I haven't been lazy, we've just had 4 races on the trot since then! All of them had their challenges, starting with Oulton Park seeing us a have a difficult race to only take 16th, followed by my least favourite track; Cadwell Park getting 19th.

We then headed to Silverstone, one of my favourite circuits - a real high speed Grand Prix track where we actually featured as a support race to the MotoGP weekend. We tried a setting we've been wanting to try in qualifying conditions to try help me get higher starting spots, but unfortunately our gamble never paid off, and even ended with a chain snapping out of the final hairpin. I had to start 25th but fortunately Dan, my crew chief, gave me an awesome race bike and I managed to get up into 15th and have a go for 12th on the last lap! We had great pace and looked set to eye out another top 10 from so far back on the grid until two riders tailing me made an attempt to pass me inot the final hairpin, sending us all off wide and demoting us to 17th by the flag. It was such a close race and hard riding, it's just a pity we could grasp another top 10.

On to Donington Park we went, which was our most recent race last Sunday, and at the track I took my first British win on in 2012! I was really looking forward to this round as I knew we would have good pace here, but unfortunately my luck from these past couple race followed us here too, seeing another ride crash right in front of me at the start of qualifying, which left me no where to go other than straight into his bike and crash out. I got in one warm up lap which was just enough to get us 26th place, so once again I had my work cut out to try reach the top 12 again, but in this class that is full of good riders, that's a major test! Fortunately the bike was setup well already so we didnt have to change too much for the race. I went out in morning warm up to try the settings on old tyres and we ended 15th, which is where I should've qualified!

I took up my 26th spot and waited for the lights to go out. When they did, I managed to get one of the best opening laps I've ever done, getting straight up into 19th by lap 2, and was in a position to chip away at chasing down the top 15. I kept edging away the gaps and making passes to move up to 15th place with 3 laps to go! I met Canadian, Ben Young; Aussie, Davo Johnson and Englishmen Ashley Beach & Mike Booth.

A race for 14th place with past race winners was on! I worked my way through to the front of the pack as we crossed the line with one lap to go, but then a big crash from Davo Johnson brought out the Red Flag, which ends the race one lap back, which placed me down to 15th - I wasn't happy at that but nonetheless we were back in top 15 and scoring points from a 26th place start!

Top 15 is our minimum goal these days, but top 8 is where we should be finishing, and with two rounds to go, we still have opportunity. We have a 2 week break now, after which we head back to Silverstone GP and will hopefully be in for a more relaxed weekend!

It's been a very hectic past month and a bit so I'd like to say a big thank you to Mark, Dan, Ian and my whole MWR Kawasaki team for everything, and to my sponsors Rocket 88, Leatt Protectives and of course Mom & Dad! Along with our team sponsors Pawson Commercials and Spur Steak & Grill, without all of you it doesn't happen!

I'm going to enjoy a little rest now before we get back to the prep work for the final rounds!

Cheers for now,
James

First Top 10 Result! 9th Place - Brands Hatch GP Rd.5

2014-07-22T06:51:00.002-07:00

I've had a good time back in South Africa over the past 2 weeks, having braais with friends, training hard, seeing one of my best friends get hitched, and have some much needed catch-ups with some special people! But when I had to return to the airport, I actually couldn't wait to get back to the UK for this race.

As usual, hectic pace was present as I landed in Manchester on Tuesday night, unpacked my case, packed my bags for the race, had a sleep and I was off to Brands Hatch 7am Wednesday morning! But it dodn't ease up there with a string of hold ups all the way down... From Mark and I both forgetting our wallets at breakfast, to spending 4 hours in a road block for a brake light just 1km from the track! Not a great start to the weekend...

I was confident coming into this weekend as I knew we had the whole package; bike, team, fitness, track knowledge, etc. all in good form and improving each round, so I was expecting quite a bit when we arrived. This started early as we had a good FP1 (Free Practice 1) so felt good going into Q1 (Qualifying 1)

The weather was very hot, even by South African standards! Over 30deg with 70%+ humidity, the tyres and cooling systems (of the bike and rider!) were suffering. The forecast looked dodgy for Saturday's Qualifying 2, so I wanted to use all my tyre allocation in Q1 to throw in a fresh tyre half way through the session. Fortunately the wise advice of my team convinced me to save my tyre just in case the small chance of a dry Q2 came about, because it did!

Sitting in 19th from Q1, knew we had top 12 pace to reach in Q2. I hit the track with my new saved tyres with a few mins to go so they wouldn't overheat, and the pace was looking good with our times quickly approaching my Q1 time. Two laps to go I bettered it by 0,2 and started my final lap already up on my best, with each sector showing even faster setting us on track for a predicted 11th! Then I came up to a slower rider with about 1/3 of the lap left, so I went for a pass trying not to sacrifice time, and he cut me off!! I tried again immediately at the next corner as every corner I was behind him I was losing time. Again he blocked me and I managed to get through with 1 corner to go, costing me 0,4 of a second!! Which saw me get 17th instead of 11th. I was highly irritated... My ideal lap time would've put me 9th! But that's how it ended.

Determined to show my pace, even though it wouldn't count for anything, I went hard in morning warm up to prove to myself and the team we had the pace and we came back in 7th place! Ecstatic to say the least to be in a strong top 10 placing just before the race!

The race came about in the heat of midday and we lined up in 17th, eyes set firmly of the top 12. Lights on, lights off and the bike launched great into turn 1, seeing me shoot a few places up, I lined up a gap into turn 2 at the hairpin, shot into it, but unfortunately had to sit up when the rider in front of me got sat up by the rider in front of him, seeing a bunch of riders shoot past both of us, putting me back to 20th!

I gathered myself and kept calm to stay on the bike, chipping away over the 16 lap race. The bike felt great and we were making great progress through the field getting inside the top 15, then into 12th place with about 4 laps to go, but a big gap to the top 11. I pushed with everything I dared to close the gap, and with just one to go, I managed to grab the back of the pack.

With just a few corners to go, I knew I had to dig deep to make sure I didn't settle for 11th and into the last corner I lined up the two riders battling in front of me for 10th. They were going at eachother oblivious to my position and as we ran into the final sweeping corner they defended their lines and I decided to go in wide to carry my corner speed as that would be the only way I could pass them on speed over the finish line - exactly how it panned out in our favour! I got onto the front rider's outside through the sweep and pinned the throttle as early as I could and tucked myself into the bike as tight as I could manage to out drag him to the finish line by just 0.04s to take 10th and our first top 10!

It was an awesome race, I'm really enjoying my bike's setup now and it's so satisfying returning to the pits greeted by a jovial team jumping for joy. We celebrated our 10th place finish with the knowledge that we were capable of even better than that if I had got a clean opening lap, and were later graced with news of a rider in front of me who was excluded for not complying with technical regulations! This gave us our deserved 9th place!

I am thrilled to get our first top 10 finish and also now sit 15th in the championship, just a few points off top 10 too - a major milestone in this championship's standings.

Our whole team is working like a well oiled machine now, starting to reap race results, and such good vibes in the evenings between all of us. A rare thing to have in a race team.

Thank you so much to Mark, Dan, Ian and my whole MWR Kawasaki team for giving me the support I need on and off track.

A special thanks to our sponsors Rocket88, Leatt, Pawsons Commercial and big welcome to our new team sponsor Spur Steak and Grill!

Next up is Thruxton down south on 3 August to start our full month of races.
Cheers for now!

Successful Scottish Weekend with Top 10 Pace! - Knockhill Rd.4

2014-07-07T07:55:00.001-07:00

Our previous race at Snetterton two weeks ago went really well, seeing us take a solid top 12 finish with matching pace throughout. I was a little concerned at our expectations for this race at Knockhill as I had only ever been to the Scottish circuit once before and it was not my favourite! Fortunately we came away from the weekend with our best pace yet, seeing us consistently lapping in the top 10!

After a hectic week of meeting was relieved to jump in the truck with boys and hit the road north to Loch Ness country.

I decided to set aside my expectations for the race and approach it the same way I did for Snetterton. I knew I had the bike handling how I like it, so not much would need changing there, it was a case of finding good gearing and engine tuning for the tight and very physical little circuit. First practice went ok, but exposed a problem we had with the quickshifter when changing gear under acceleration over a bumpy section of the track, which was robbing me of massive time! When I pitted and saw our laptimes, even with us in 27th place, I was pleased because I knew how much time I was losing just in gear shifting! We worked on the settings of the quick shifter and prepared for first qualifying that afternoon.

Qualifying 1 saw only a gearing change for me, but most importantly for me, to test the shifter. I gave it my all, but our problem persisted and I couldn't better 23rd. Again, I felt quite positive with that because when we adjusted my laptime by the amount I was losing on the shifter problem, we would've been 11th! I slept well that evening knowing all we had to do was fix the shifter and we were in the running for a top 10 finish at a track I dislike!

Myself with the Captain of the new HMS Queen Elizabeth

Saturday qualifying 2 would be my big push for a top 12 start and I confidently knew we were capable of it because I'm really enjoying my bike how it is now, and a happy rider is a fast rider! We suited up, helmets on, dark visors in for the beaming sunshine, it was all in order for a good session - then...RAIN?! Thanks Scotland for literally raining on my parade. We scrapped qualifying 2 as we would not be able to better our times on a wet track. We parked it up with a gearing change ready for morning warm up, but we would now have to start the race in 23rd. Not ideal, but it's what we had.

Sunday what another glorious day and we hit the track for warm up, new gearing in and I pushed as hard as I dared to test it out. It was good but not great, so I would take the gamble of trying a change for the race.In the new settings went and we prepped for the race.

I pulled up to my spot on the grid, the lights went out but I had to hold back my normal starts and accept that I needed a few laps to find shift points with the new gearing. After fighting my instincts off, I had found a good rhythm and felt ready to push hard. The bike was working great under me and it got better and better seeing us go from 23rd, up to 18th, and then on the move to close the gap to the top 15 pack.

The bike was great on the brakes and it lapped up the passing moves I asked of it. I then had clear road ahead of me to chase down the pack which held 9th to 15th. Much to our pleasure, we closed it in every lap and set a whole string of top 10 pace laptimes, but it was only just not enough as I would cross the line just meters behind them. I was wishing for a few extra laps, but it was not to be and we would take 16th place, but our predicted finishing place with 3 extra laps was 9th! A fact we are all over the moon about!

I returned to a joyous team with high fives flying all aorund - just what we needed. Even though it is not our best result, I felt it was one of our best races, and certainly has proved to all of us that our goal posts have moved permanently form top 15 to top 10 now.

It's a great feeling to see our efforts over the past months coming to fruition. Let's keep the ball rolling!

A bug thank you to Mark, Dan, Ian and my whole MWR Kawasaki team for all the effort put in, much appreciated guys! None of us this would be taking place without the help of our sponsors - Rocket 88, Leatt Corporation, Pawsons Commercials, SA Racers Abroad, my Aunty Kath & Uncle Keith for giving me a bed to sleep in, and of course Mom & Dad! The support has been awesome from everyone - makes me really feel good knowing the backing we have. We're doing our best to report good news every weekend this season!

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, check out our new website which went live last week - www.mwrkawasaki.co.uk

About as professional as you can get, as you would expect!

I'm sitting in Munich right now, in the middle of possibly the busiest 3 weeks of my life, bombarded with travel, meetings, work, training, racing and one of my best friends wedding as I head back to South Africa. It's been a relentless attack on my body and mind of long distances, late nights and early mornings lining up my 2015 plans, and I wouldn't swap it for any other job in the world! Hopefully it will all be worth it - fingers crossed!

If anyone needs me, I'll be on the beachfront with my mates!

Cheers for now,

James

Our Best Result To Date! - Snetterton Rd. 3

2014-06-22T11:31:00.003-07:00

It's been a long 5 week break, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little concerned that I hadn't ridden a bike for the duration. A little comfort was founf talking to my Dad when he reminded me that through my whole career we've never been able to afford much riding time between races and I've always ridden just fine without the practice - fortunately his words lay true this race meeting seeing us exceed our goals considerably to have our best race to date! Thanks Dad!

It was great to get back to the track and meet up with my guys and the rest of the team. I was confident in my bike and the setup we found at our previous race at Oulton Park and was looking so forward to getting on track to twist the throttle again!

I took a slightly different approach the start of the weekend which I normally don't do, but this change made the fundamental difference in my riding. I won't say what it was as that's my little secret;) From the first practice we were on pace, sitting most of the sessions around 14th place - about 10 places ahead of where we normally find ourselves! This made finding small problems in setup a much quicker process, allowing me to have a bike I was happy with pushing hard well in time for Qualifying. This translated well into a starting place of 20th for Sunday's main race. A few places behind were I was expecting to start, but so so close lap time wise, I wasn't too worried. The team were very pleased as it was actually our best qualifying so far!

Morning warm up came about and we tried a small adjustment to my engine tuning, which worked well, setting us up nicely for the race. I pulled up to the line knowing I loved my bike, and couldn't wait to ride it hard again! Dan and Ian pulled the tyre warmers off while Mark gave me the pre-race 'Go for it' and I was ready to go for it.

The lights went out and the bike worked great off the line, seeing me shoot inside the top 15 after the 1st lap. Everything was working well and I felt good to push even harder seeing us reach the top 12! I felt comfortable where I was and made a another move into 11th before I saw the rider in front of me crash unexpectedly. The race was Red Flagged (Set to Restart) due to an engine blowing up, spilling oil on that corner - fortunately we managed to avoid the oil line! This meant we would restart the in our current positions, and I was in 10th place!!!

The team were buzzing when I returned to pitlane as we readied the bike for the restart. An hour or so passed as the clean up and another race took place, then we were called back to the track for a sprint race of 6 laps!

I pulled up to 10th on the grid, smiling at where we were starting. The lights went out for the second time, and the bike worked great off the line for the second time and we were in 6th! With the front in clear sight, I knew I had to just ride with my head to hold off as many of them as possible as I was in front of a lot of the top championship contenders who I knew were a bit faster than me.

After some epic racing with established championship front runners on their factory bikes, we came home in 11th place with the group for 3rd just in front of me! The riders we were with, including Freddy Foray (Double World Endurance Superbike Champ) on a factory Honda, who finished one spot behind me, is where I've been wanting so badly to be with and it was like a weight off my shoulders to finally reach them.

This 11th is a major milestone for me, but also for MWR Kawasaki as it's their best finish to date, and first points score in British Superstock 1000 and I'm so glad I could be the one to give it to them after all their hard work!

After a celebratory burn out and a few wheelies, I returned to an elated team of grown men skipping around hugging eachother. A satisfying sight knowing what we had just achieved!

I'm really chuffed with where we've progressed ourselves to and I can't wait to get back to work and build on this to make sure we can maintain these positions. Then work towards even better positions! The support I've had has been really great and thank you to everyone for all the nice messages and photos - much appreciated!

A huge thank you to the people who make it possible for us to even get to the grid - Rocket 88, Leatt Corporation, SA Racers Abroad and of course Mom & Dad! I'm so glad to give you some good results in return.

A special thanks goes to my team, the main man, Mark, and my guys Dan and Ian for working with me to make the bike my own, and the whole MWR Kawasaki team for making our race weekends so enjoyable and fun with all the laughs and cheers included!

Our next outing is Knockhill in Scotland for Rd.4 on 29 June - back to the gym I go!

Cheers for now,
James81

Solid Race Result & Awarded Rider Of The Day After A Bumpy Start - Oulton Park Rd.2

2014-05-07T16:11:00.000-07:00

Rd.1 was a disappointing weekend, fortunately we countered the disappointment with a decent result and awesome race this past long weekend at the beautiful Oulton Park circuit!

The season opener was a massive disappointment for us, knowing what we our setup was capable of made me furious at not getting to use it's full potential. We had a very successful test day at Oulton Park the following Friday which set us up nicely for this race weekend just gone. It started with a few questions over bike settings as usual and we made bad choices with regards to timing the changes, but fortunately got it right in time for final Qualifying!

My previous fastest time was in qualifying last year at 1:40.7, but the test day saw me lap nearly a full 1sec faster getting a 1:39.8! The setup we had was feeling good and put us 5th fastest Superstock 1000 there. Free Practice and Qualifying 1 was where we tried settings different to what we ran at the test day, this proved a bad decision as I couldn't go faster than a 1:40.3 putting us in a provisional 34th place on the grid! Not good!

I hated that we had wasted both Free Practice and Quali.1 on trying settings that never worked and now I would have to try put in a fast lap time with only one shot at it in Quali.2. We reverted back to the exact settings we ran at the test day as we knew I had my fastest lap of 1:39.8 in that setup which should at least salvage a top 30 start. I headed out on track for final qualifying after storming home the night before to just chill out and take my mind off the bike, which worked wonders as I just set myself riding with the old mindset I've always adopted of 'just ride the thing!'

I was aiming to at least match my testing time of 1:39.8 but knew I had more left in my riding to come if I could get comfortable. I got some clear track and set my head down and the bike felt great as I wrestled it round the bumpy circuit in a 1:39.4! I was real happy with the time but knew I had a little left and pushed on again but couldn't better it as I encountered arm pump for the first time in my life!(Arm Pump is a racers worst nightmare during a race as your forearm muscles pump up and your hand starts to cease up, losing control of your brakes and throttle - scary stuff on a 200hp bike at 250kmh!) I had to accept my time which put us in a much better, but still not where I wanted to be, 27th.
We clocked off for the day without touching any settings, prepped it for warm up and we had a nice team meal before bed.

Race day was upon us and I was really looking forward to riding my bike, just how a rider should be! Morning warm up came and went, and after my pre race massage to prevent the onset of any more arm pump, we headed to start the main race. I pulled up to my team on the start line and got ready to stare the lights down before planning my line into the first corner.

The lights went out and I got a great launch, taking a couple positions from 27th by turn 1 and a few more gaps opened up over the lap and we were sitting in a strong 18th place! We got to the Hislop Chicane where two riders collided right infront of me, both going down in the middle of the track, making me hit the brakes and swerve hard to avoid the tumbling Ducati and its disgruntled rider in the track, setting myself and a few others involved back to 25th. I now had to start my hard work all over again!

The bike really came to me during the race and I felt confident in it's handling so I could push harder to make up positions. I really enjoyed getting to ride hard and stick some good hard passes throughout the race, taking us up a few places each lap before I get to the front of the pack fighting for 17th and started my chase on top top 12 group with 16th place in sight. I put my head down and tried my hardest to close down the gap with 4 laps to go, but this was to be cut short as the red flag came out with 2 laps to go, meaning a crash has stopped the race early - heal up quick Victor Cox who ran off and took a bit of a knock to the tyre wall!

The race was run and we came home with a 17th place and by far the fastest lap I've done around Oulton Park at 1:39.1! I was pleased and the team were very happy with how we closed the weekend! I was disappointed the race ended early as I wanted to try push for the group infornt of me as we had the pace to do it, but maybe it's best it got shortened because little did I know I had a freight train of 4 riders glued to the back of me as I was making my way through the field, of them was superbike rider Marshal Neil, no doubt waiting to pounce on me!

This was by far our best result to date, not position wise, as there are more world level riders in the class than any other year, but overall it was a success considering the incident on lap 1.

I'm delighted to say the BSB Organiser thought so too when I was awarded Fred Clarke's Merit Award of rider of the day in Superstock! SO CHUFFED! It's a great achievement to take away from the weekend in 17th place!

Thank you so much for the support from everybody, it really means a lot, but especially to Mom & Dad, Rocket 88, Leatt, SA Racers Abroad fund and all of our supporters! My whole MWR Kawasaki team - thank you and I can't wait to get to the next one guys!

We have a 5 week break now so I'm glad we could go into this period on a high note and even an award to our name, not that it will make it go by any faster, but it will certainly make it more pleasant. I look forward to more hard training coming up before we head to Snetterton on 15 June.

Cheers for now!
James81

Not An Ideal Start To The Season - Brands Hatch Rd.1

2014-04-29T02:18:00.003-07:00

After a testing program which saw us smash our previous best laps everywhere we went, I was really looking forward to starting our season off well, but as is the nature of our sport, luck counts somewhat as well! The forecast was mixed with some dry and some wet sessions over the weekend. Qualifying sessions were the main timed outings in jeopardy, and unfortunately would end up costing us the race.

With over 60 riders, and most of the top 20 being title or race win contenders, the class is more competitive than ever, and still by country miles, the most ridiculously competitive championship in the world. This was evident in how close the times were all through practice and qualifying 1 where we were only 1sec off the fastest and that put us outside the top 30!!!

The rain came down for quali.2 and this saw us catapult up to 11th overall! The best position I've been in qualifying - unfortunately we would not be able to retain this position for the main race... During the rain soaked qualifying race, I was up to 8th place, and looking to pass for 7th. The track had a narrow dry line in one corner, only a little wider than a bike tyre, for all of us to get through. I was glued to the back of 7th as I was moving through the field when we entered that corner, but to my detriment, he braked a little early that lap meaning I had to go around him to avoid crashing into the back of him. This put me onto the wet part of the track meaning my grip levels instantly went from ok to slippery, sending me running off the track, and out of my qualifying place for the main race.

I was fuming when I got back to the pits, knowing what a disaster we had on our hands. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do about it, besides make the most of the time we had on race day by tweaking and fiddling all the bits on my bike we hadn't had a chance to before the race weekend.

My head wasn't in a good place last weekend, as I felt rushed and pressured building up to Rd.1 - not good for a rider! I must say I'm relieved that it's over, and disappointed we never got the result we should have, but as they say - THAT'S RACING!

We had a very successful test at Oulton Park on friday, which saw us outpace my fastest time from last year by nearly 1sec, which is massive! Our ideal lap time, which is made up by adding together my fastest individual track sectors to make my 'perfect lap' was surprisingly good, and I look forward to this coming weekend - Oulton Park Rd.2 is just a few sleeps away now!

Thank you to all of our supporters and sponsors behind us this season - roll on Rd.2!

Cheers for now!
James81

Pre-season Testing Complete - Ready for Rd.1 In A Few Days

2014-04-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

We have had a successful testing program this season, which saw us set high goals, and exceed them each time we hit the track! I'm very happy with how the team is working so far and I look forward to the first race which is coming up this weekend. The bike feels really good but I know there is still more to come out of it!

After our mixed week of fast lap times and big crash in Spain, I was eager to get to Snetterton for our first UK test. Bike was freshly rebuilt by my incredibly hard working team, and loaded into our new truck - the big daddy in the paddock!

We arrived two days early to set up as this was our first outing as the full team and first time we would use the new truck so it took some organising to get it race ready. Now that it's getting layed out and we're getting some systems in place, we're starting to feel more and more professional each time we use it!

The weather played its part with sunshine and warmth on the first day, much different to getting snowed out here last year this time! We set out just to get basic adjustments done and trouble shoot my newly rebuilt bike, and do some basic setup. Which is exactly what we did, much to my frustration as I'm sure any rider will experience. I was so eager to just put my head down go for some fast times, but that would not be possible until we get the bike right for me first. I went to bed that night irritated that I even looked at a timesheet, which I shouldn't have, but had a good idea of the changes in my bike and how to go about approaching the second day to reach our goal lap time when we throw the new tyres in. Off to bed I went with my mind lapping as faster than my bike!

The next morning was another sunny day and we hit the track with the old tyres, but new changes in suspension and they were great! We fine tuned them a bit over the next session, then decided to go with new tyres for the final session of the day. My fastest lap time at last years race was 1:54.3. Our goal was to break into the 1:53s laptimes, so it was quite a high bar to meet!

I set off and scrubbed the new tyres for a lap and started going to build to a fast lap, when to my surprise, I came past the finish line after that lap to see I did a 1:52.9 on my first building fast lap! Half way round that next lap when I was going to go a bit harder to try dip into the mid 1:52s, another had a massive crash right infront of me so I had to avoid him and would have to try again the next lap. The same happened that next lap when somebody crashed and left debris in the track so I only managed a 1:53.0 that lap. With my crash in Spain looming with all the other riders going down around me, I decided to call it a day as we had smashed through our goal time we wanted to achieve and there was not much point risking a lot more so close to the first race.

I came into the pits and the boys were very happy! We pulled the bike into the pit and took straight to analyzing our fast lap time before starting to pack up in high spirits. A great way to end the test!

On the whole it was a great success and one that Mark and my guys had to work very hard with me to make happen after our big crash in Spain. For that, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who helped us out, but especially Mark Webster and Mark Linton for putting in the overtime to make it as much of a success as it was!

As I write this, the team are busy setting up with the new truck at Brands Hatch and will be joining them in a matter of hours to start our first race weekend of the season.

A big thank you to everyone who's supported me to make this year possible:

-Mom & Dad, the backbone of my career, financially and everyother aspect too!

-Leatt, the Leatt Corporation has supported me over the years and I'm very grateful to ride the with my Leatt Brace protecting me from neck/spine injury,and to be a Leatt athlete under their brand in 2014.

-SA Racers Abroad, Clayton Francois has put so much effort in to finding us bits of sponsorship essential to making this possible and I look forward to continuing working with you this season!

-To all of our supporters who give me that great feeling when we share success.

Here's to a successful 2014 season!

Cheers!

James81

Great Holiday At Home, Back In The UK, Spanish Testing and Hectic Living!

2014-03-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

After a testing 2013, ending successfully, I could head home confident in my bike and team to have a great holiday back with my family and friends over the English winter, but South African summer months. It really was so good being home and keeping just as or busier than mid race season, except with things such as fun races, parties, motocross, mountain biking, skatboarding and going to the beach, ending days with a sunny afternoon braai (barbeque) next to the pool over some beers with my mates - a tough life in Africa! But most of all, I was overjoyed with the honour of receiving my national colours - The Protea Blazer!

I enjoyed myself but never slacked off too much, with the help of my long time trainer, Malcolm McCann, keeping me working hard over the months, and putting in the work with me right at the end to make sure I returned fitter than ever, and I can confidently say I feel the healthiest and fittest I ever have as I write this.
Another major issue of my time back home was finding funding for the season as we burned out our Egan family fund in 2012 to get my into the series, and we now rely on sponsors to make the seasons happen.
After many conversations, meetings and letters taking me far down the road, but still without a concrete agreement with anyone other than my ever supportive personal sponsors of Rocket 88 and Leatt, helping me along my way.

I am now back in the UK in the beautiful city of Chester, where I will be living with family for the year. As I landed it's been non stop for me, with late nights and early starts to get my bike built with the team as the 2014 Kawasaki ZX10R deliveries were delayed by so much, but we eventually got it running and ready to ride. On top of that, we were moving house and needed my van to move things, so I was playing delivery driver and removals service ontop of having to train to keep fit for our first test ride abroad. Some days saw me clock up 8hrs of driving time, sometimes on consecutive days, so I was relieved at the fact that we would be flying to Spain for the first test.

All came together in time and we set off for a sunny Cartagena Circuit in the south of Spain. This started out great with beautiful weather and ideal riding conditions, and after a day of setting things up. We were ready for our upcoming 3 day test. Fortunately we managed to get out for the final 30min session of the test day before ours, so I could have extra time to find my way round the new circuit, this was super important as I would not see all my due track time over the next few days...

The bike felt great straight away with the settings we finished last year on, which we all worked very hard to find for me. I made some changes throughout our first full day, learning the track nicely and enjoying the new bike. Our lap times came surprisingly quickly and I was really enjoying riding it, so we made the decision to put new tyres on for my final session of the day to push for the fastest time I could, as we would be changing suspension for day 2 and needed a lap time to compare with.

With the new tyres fitted, I treated the session as I would qualifying, taking a lap to get into it, then start pushing harder and harder. The setup we had was getting better the harder I pushed and I felt the bike like I've never felt it before, the feeling I was looking for all of last year, which gave me the confidence I've wanted to push the bike comfortably. We reached the lap time we had hoped to achieve by the end of the 3 days on about lap 5 of the session, and I wasn't push too hard. I built up more and we went even faster and consistently stayed fast as I was happy with the bike. We eventually got over 0.5s faster than our goal time when I went a tiny bit too hard on the brakes into one of the corners (coming off the infamous fast right hand sweeper round the back of the track) and the front tucked on me. I went down smoothly and the bike and I just slid along up to the gravel trap, but that's where the smoothly part ended...
The gravel was very deep and soft, which is good for cars, but terrible for bikes as my bike slid onto the traps it dug in and flung up into the air coming down, tumbling end over end to come to a rest on the other side of the barriers, in the access roads on outside of the track! I did the same backwards somersaults as I hit the gravel trap, thankfully my Leatt brace took a lot of the force when I tumbled onto my head. What started as a small front end crash, spelled the end of my 3 day test.

Although a crash is never a good things, especially one this excessively damaging to the bike, we took a lot of very valuable information away from the laps before, which is setup data that will directly help us go faster in races. So a disappointment to miss out on the last 2 days of riding, but a day and a bit saw us not just reach, but exceed our goal laptime which is the major achievement!

The work never stopped when we got back to the UK as we had to source parts and spares from wherever we could to keep the crash budget as low as possible for me, the seriously under funded South African! This meant hours and hours of phone calling and string pulling by Mark, our team boss, for which I'm extremely grateful! The bikes landed back a week later, so Mark and myself fetched them and headed back to Northern Ireland to get mine rebuilt. The bike is busy being built back up at the moment and our next outing on it will be our 2 day test at Snetterton Circuit on 8/9 April.

I'd like to say a massive thank you to Mark, Dan, Ian, Rob, Taka and all the team who helped me out in Spain and a special thanks again to Mark for all he's done to make it as affordable as possible for me to rebuild, as well as Mark Linton who is rebuilding the bike for us!
I have a couple £X,000s which I need to finance the rebuild and am working hard to come up with, via sponsors, donations, and any means possible. I will be looking for sponsors to get spots on my helmet starting from R5,000 or £300 which will go towards funding my race season to make sure we have a successful 2014! I will post the final details on that soon. Until then, that's pretty much what I've been up to in the racing world.

I can't wait to get back out on the bike after Spain, but a few more weeks of training will come first.
Cheers for now!
James81

Brands Hatch GP - Season Finale!

2013-11-12T01:15:00.002-08:00

Our races leading up to this weekend have been the proof of our hard work over the initial months of the race season. My team and I working to change so much to get me happy on the bike so I can push it hard for fast lap times, which is exactly what we started seeing!

The weekend's forecast was typically English with rain showers on and off over the whole weekend, so predicting what setups we'd need for which sessions was called just minutes before we were due on track. Something I've grown accustomed to riding around this year! Our practice session was wet, but our qualifying was damp-drying, always the trickiest conditions of all when there's a dry line in some areas of the circuit, but still damp in others. Wet tyres would tear up and not grip at all, dry tyres would have to go on but had very little grip at all in the damp sections - Some seriously calculated riding was required! By the end of the session, there was a narrow dry line nearly the whole way round the track, and we managed to get a decent lap in to get us 26th spot on the grid for race day. The second qualifying session was full wet, which unfortunately meant it didn't count as the laps in the damp-drying session were quicker, but we managed 17th in the rain, which would have been a great spot to start from! On the plus side, it looked like we were in for a wet race and our wet pace was looking good!

We got everything ready for the race and retired to the restaurant for a good team meal, always good having a laugh with all the guys before race day.

Sunday morning was beautiful and sunny, the other side of all the rain clouds... After a good warm up session in the wet, we were ready for the race and took up our 26th position with our wet tyres and setup. The lights went out and after a good launch, I darted for the inside line into turn 1 and again into turn 2, fortunately getting a whole bunch of positions nice and early in the race and we were knocking on the top 20. Ironically, us South Africans tend go well in the wet with our very limited knowledge and experience in wet conditions. More bravery than brains perhaps?? Well I quickly took notice that another nation that seem to know nothing about wet race tracks is the Americans! USA Supersport rider James Rispoli sat on my outside of the turn 2 hairpin and as I flicked the bike over to brake into the notoriously treacherous Graham Hill bend, he just kept it pinned! He hit the brakes and the bike was all over the show, with his feet off the pegs dragging along trying to keep the bike upright, I thought he was going to wipe out the whole pack of riders in front of us, but luckily he slipped neatly through a tiny gap between about 6 bikes and managed to stay on! He rode like this for the opening few laps, punching a hole in the field neatly for me to follow through until he ended up running off at the same corner a few laps later. I kept on at banging out the lap times as fast as I dared in the tricky conditions. Everything was working well so every lap I pushed a little harder and was determined to catch the riders approaching in the distance, amongst which was Isle of Man Legend, John McGuiness! It was one of the most enjoyable races I've had this year and I really had to dig deep to catch them by the end of the race, but we did it and we managed to catch and pass John by the end to secure 17th place and our best race weekend overall! Another lap and we could've had a top 15, but then again if my aunt was a man she'd be my uncle!

I was so pleased with how our race had gone and how our season had ended, I had to give the tyre a good celebratory burnout before returning to the pits to be greeted by an elated Dad and team. The bike's working great now and I truly am sad the season has ended as I've really started gelling with my bike.

Our team spirit is rare to find and even rarer to match in most paddocks and after all the celebrations, it was a real privilege to thank everyone for everything from the love that goes into the tea, to the passion that goes into my technical setup.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who's supported us and backed us throughout the season - we can't do it without you!
First and foremost, My Mom and Dad, for all the sacrifices they've made for me to chase my dream of the world championship. I couldn't ask for better or more loving and dedicated parents!
Mark Webster and my incredible MWR Kawasaki Team, you guys made me feel so welcome and a real part of the family, even though we've been working together for a season, it feels like many years! I look forward to sharing more success with you guys in the future too! Mark has taken me in and made me feel such a part of his own family, its been great having an 'adopted dad' to share the good times with!

Jason & Donna Davis, my new big brother and sister, and the most loved girls in the paddock - Evie, Holly and Meg! Thank you for always being there when I need a helping hand in every aspect of my British life. I'm very grateful to have a family like you to call my British family!
Uncle Keith and Aunty Kath, thank you for caring for me with the love you have, and always having the open door and welcoming meal at your home!

Evie & Rab, the chairman and woman of my very own fan club! We've had such good times over the last two years and I look forward to many, many more. Thank you for always supporting me with 110% effort on and off the track!
A special thanks must be said to my two main men on the race bike - Dan and Jay. I think we've done a fair job from where we started at the beginning of the season to finishing as strong as we have with so many unknowns thrown at us during the season. It's been an absolute pleasure working with you two!
To everyone who supports us, near and far, thank you so much! You don't know how much it means to me when I receive comments and messages for race weekends!

I'd like to say a special thank you to all of our sponsors from myself and everyone involved with our MWR Kawasaki team.
My Dad, Mike, for making Rocket 88 a part of my career.
Chris Leatt and the whole Leatt team for looking after me and my health! I never ride without the best neck protection in the world - my Leatt Brace!
Jonny and all the guys at Moto Direct for the best kit around - RST race suits, gloves and boots and the best helmets in the business, Arai!
Stuart at Forcefield Body Armour for the quality base layers, chest and back protectors keeping comfortable and safe!
Clayton Francois for the big efforts put in to helping us along the way on this pricey, risky path to the World Championship!
You have all made this season yet another special one to go down in the books!

This is has been the toughest race season of my career with so much thrown at me to deal with on top of the racing and I'm glad I've had all of you helping me in each of your ways to make the most out of it.
Here's to a successful 2014.

I really am disappointed it has all come to and end already, we are carrying so much momentum now with our results becoming competitive and consistent. I can't wait to get riding again!

Cheers for now,
James81

Silverstone GP Rd. 11 - Best Weekend So Far

2013-10-10T04:16:00.001-07:00

We got to the gigantic grand prix circuit ready for a weekend that had a recipe for a good result. We had tested here once earlier in the year, the bike has been feeling constantly better the past few rounds and we have been making fewer changes, finishing closer to the front each time. I enjoy racing at Silverstone, being a fast and flowing track, so I just needed to learn changes in my race lines and a few other riding bits to suit my super powerful 1000cc Kawasaki to the track.

As usual, our ever valuable first practice session on Friday turned out wet and rainy, but unfortunately I had more a grip problem than everybody else... My clutch cover gasket blew on my out lap, and I had a big moment when I got on the power, loading up my now well oiled wet rear tyre! I initially thought maybe the tyre needed to scrub in a bit but after 3 laps of suspiciously slippery corners, I pulled in to find oil pouring out the side of my bike. The session was red flagged and I vacated pitlane hastily - I was that guy, the one who dumped oil all over the track and delayed events by 30mins! It was an unfortunate happening, but the gasket was quickly replaced and we were back in action.

After everything was checked on the dyno, we prepped for a dry qualifying 1, not ideal as I had only got 3 laps of practice, but we knew our setup wasn't far off right.

We set out on track and the bike felt pretty good, but I had noted a few changes I wanted. With Quali. 1 being like our first practice session, I wasn't phased with our 33rd position.

Saturday afternoon would see us head out for our final qualifying session, confident of improvement, I headed straight out with our new setup and put my head down to get a good feel for the new settings. I pitted with about 10 mins to go, corrected tyre pressures, and took a breather to prepare for a fast lap to get inside the top 30. Tyre warmers came off, and I rode out of pitlane onto the massive track. I got a warm up lap in and put my head down to do a time, getting us a 2:13.1 lap time, 30th place. The next lap I knew I had to find a bit more. Timing worked out well as I came up behind a cruising Tristan Palmer on his Ducati Panigale. The good guy he is, he saw me approaching and gave me a tow and a slipstream onto the long Hangar staright. The rest of the lap went well and we dipped into the 2:12.7. I got one last lap in and managed a 2:12.5, getting us 27th place for the race - happy with the lap time, only 2sec off pole position, which around Silverstone, is more like 1sec on a normal size track, the closest we've been all year!

Unfortunately the nature of the class is so competitive, the positions are filled by many with such small amounts of time!

I noted a few changes I wanted to try in warm up before the race, and after the team had the bike prepped for Sunday, we headed out for a good team meal!

Sunday was upon us, I liked our changes and I was keen to get to the start line. The lights went out, and I got probably the best start I've ever had, catapulting from 27th, up to the top 20 by turn 1. I passed a few more people into the next series of corners before the long back straight. Luck would have a rider about 2 bikes in front of me have a big moment as we got onto the straight, forcing me and a few around me to hit the brakes to avoid him, letting all those people I had just passed, back past as I furiously tried to regain the positions.

The bike was feeling good, and we were lapping over 0.5s faster than qualifying. We were up to the top 25 and chasing down the top 20 consistently, and with 1 lap to go, I managed to close in on 19th place but couldn't make the pass stick in the last corner and we got our 20th place finish.

20th is not our position best finish, as we had 16th at Donington Park in July, but this was the closest we've been to the podium in time behind the winners, in reality making it our best finish! We dipped into the 2:11.9 lap time twice in the race and ran low 12s all race long, making us only 1sec off the 2nd placed Hudson Kennaugh, who is also the championship leader!

I really like the way the bike's handling now, it's more familiar to how I've always set my bikes up to my style, as opposed to how we we've been trying to set it up following general setup info for Kawasakis, which I battle to get comfortable with.

A big thanks to Mark and our whole MWR Kawasaki team, Dan and Jason for the bike setup, Donna & the girls and everyone supporting us! Our great sponsors (doubling as parents) Mom & Dad, Rocket 88, Leatt Brace, RST Race Suits, Arai Helmets, Clayton Francois of SA Racers and all our team sponsors.

The final round of the series comes upon us next weekend (20 Oct 2013) at the legendary Brands Hatch GP circuit, and our season draws to an end, ALREADY! My dad will be back for this round, I'm sure he can't wait to get back here and back to the race track again! This season has just disappeared and I feel like we've run out of time, wishing we had a few more races to get some solid position results!

I'm looking forward to getting to Brands Hatch and back on my ZX10R with my Dad again!

Cheers,
James

The Mountain and The GP Circuit - Rd.8-10

2013-09-10T13:41:00.003-07:00

I've had a tough last few weeks, hence the lack of updates and emails. My time has gone into testing and working with the team to make changes to better suit me all round, not just on track,and I'm pleased to say we've made improvements!

We've seen a return to Oulton Park for Rd.8, where we had a great race, but still lacked a little outright pace to get a good qualifying spot. All ended well with us taking home another near top 20.

After Oulton we had one of the most difficult circuits up next - Cadwell Park and it's famous Mountain section where Superbikes behave like motocross bikes! It's an incredibly technical track, so we arranged a practice day before the race weekend, which was unfortunately rained out from lunch time.

We arrived ready for a challenge and a challenge is what we got! Another bad qualifying session saw me start 31st, but fortunately our race pace again came through, taking a 21st place at the checkered flag, and catching some good moments over The Mountain!

This brings us to our most recent race, last weekend at my favourite track in the UK, where I took my first British win last year - Donington Park!

I had high expectations for this weekend as I know the track well, and the bike has been handling ever better. England presented us with a day of heavy rain on Friday, which saw practice and qualifying 1 take place in pouring rain! Weirdly, us South Africans, who have the least wet riding experience of anyone, seem to go fairly well in the slippery conditions - we finished practice in the top 5, and qualifying in the top 20!

Saturday was dry and sunny, leaving us to guess a setup, which was not far off, seeing us only 1.5sec off a top 3 spot, closest we've been all season! The competitiveness of our class kicked in, with the closest qualifying I've ever know, with under 2sec covering the top 32 riders!!! I had to settle for 31st place on the grid for the race, but still had improvements to make.

We made the adjustments over night and morning warm up went great for us. We were in a good position to start the race, and fortunately a good launch off the line got us up into the top 30, and my improved setup saw us quickly move up through the field into the top 25 and onwards steadily towards the top 20 after only 3 laps.

Our strong drive was ended prematurely when a freak situation befell us on lap 4 - the sound of a slipping clutch rang strong and loud out of my bike and our race charge was over...

I pulled into the pits and after the team hoarding my bike in desperation to try get me back out, the clutch was gone. It's a mystery for us as we replaced it only 2 races ago, and everything was fine with no signs before race day.
This was the team's first ever technical retirement from a race and a huge disappointment for all of us. As much as the odds for our best result seemed to be with us, they were in fact, not meant to be this weekend.

We're all back home and working hard towards our next race at the majestic Silverstone GP circuit, with some testing planned in our 3 week gap coming up.

Thanks to Mark and our whole MWR Kawasaki team for everything they've put behind me - Our result will come! Of course, thanks must be given to the main reason we're even here - My Mom & Dad, Rocket 88, The Leatt corporation, Jonny and the Moto Direct team of Arai and RST race suits, Clayton Francois of SA Racers, Jason & Donna and everyone who supports us for sticking behind us through our tough season!

World Championship Entry, Friends and Ex-GP Racer, Paul Smart

2013-07-16T02:45:00.002-07:00

It's been an eventful last week since our Snetterton race, going straight from the circuit to Silverstone for a test day, meaning a 4:30am start. Ride all day with the intention of preparedness for our big news of my wild card entry being accepted for the World Superbike round at Silverstone in August! Yes, our World Championship debut will be on the first weekend in August in the FIM Cup Superstock 1000 class, the world series of the class I'm currently competing in in the UK. A very exciting prospect, and we I'll be running my number #81!

A successful test over at Silverstone, with our new found front suspension settings, we headed down south to Brands Hatch for another test on Wednesday, meaning more 4:30am starts. This was another success with a scorching hot English 26 deg day... Once again getting us lots of track time, fortunately with a number of top runners from my class, so I mini BSB race took place every session - good fun!

After the long days on track, Mark, our team owner took his truck down the road to a friends house, that friend happened to be former Grand Prix racer of the 70's and Ducati's flagship GP winner, Paul Smart!

His lovely wife, sister of Barry Sheene himself, welcomed us with afternoon tea in their garden. Paul arrived shortly after on his Ducati road bike, to give us a little peak in his garage! Two of his factory Suzuki RGs, one 750 and one 500, among a few other bikes as you'd expect a retired GP rider to have. His pride bike,a virtually priceless Ducati which he brought Ducati their first ever major GP success on, was not there. Ducati had the bike in their own racing museum in Italy, where they are trying to buy it back from him...for rather startling prices I might add!

Paul is a massively nice guy, full of laughs and stories from his GP days in my homeland, bringing back memories from Roy Hesketh in Pietermaritzburg, along with names such as Alan North, Mike Grant, Rodney Gray, et al. A list of my dads friends! That was a great experience - thanks Mark!

After a fun weekend in London, meeting up with some friends from home, including Thomas who will be joining us on our Tomorrowland music festival trip, and a few races over the next month. The weather was properly hot, even on South African terms! Really had fun with some of my oldest friends, and newest friends all together. I'm now ready to get back to the track, and head to Brands Hatch this weekend for our next round of the British Championship.

I'll keep you all updated on the weekend, hold thumbs for us!

Cheers for now!
James81

Smash, Bang Snetterton - Rd.6

2013-07-12T01:11:00.000-07:00

We had a testing weekend in Scotland for our previous round of the British Superstock 1000 championship 2 weeks ago. I hadn't been to the track before so my goal was to bring it home in one piece so we could have a successful test at Snetterton the Tuesday after. We did exactly that!

We arrived at Snetterton, the circuit where we had relative success last year when we qualified on the front row and finished in the lead before a safety car situation and technical problem saw me and the other two championship contenders penalised and my lead made a 7th... We knew I had the pace and enjoyed the track, we tested here before the race weekend and I really pushed the bike hard to get set up done. We arrived as prepared as we could be, only to make a season changing discovery before the main race on Sunday.

I had got within 2sec of the fastest time during testing, which I thought was good, but when we entered race weekend and I couldn't go any faster, we knew we had a problem. We made some changes and still I could not better my times no matter how hard I pushed. We entered qualifying with a new set of tyres and just had to try and pull a faster lap together. I absolutely rode the wheels off the bike, desperate to turn our season around but I simply get any more from the bike. I knew the track well,I know my bike now, and that was it. The team then knew something fundamental had to be wrong with the bike, I was pushing my hardest, knew the track well and was riding as hard as I could, yet we were 2sec off... And so the digging began.

Jason and Dan investigated deep into our setup and all technical aspects of handling in the bike only discover incorrect oil levels in my front suspension, but majorly incorrect! Somehow we ended up with 50mm too much oil, which is like trying to squash a full bottle of water with your hands. Its too solid to crush the bottle, my suspension is too solid to give me any feel when there's movement.

After hours of decisions, advice and head scratching we came up with settings much more similar to what everyone else is running and what our suspension supplier recommended. We dialed it in and hoped it would work for the race!

With all our work done, settings checked, double checked and triple checked, we set up the braai (barbeque if you're English) and had a relaxing evening in the hot sunshine eating burgers before calling it a night.

The weather had been beautiful and hot all weekend, like a South African race meeting! Sunday morning was no different, waking to not a cloud in the sky, I hurried to jump on my newly changed steed for warm up . It was a completely different motorbike! It handled so differently to how I've had it all year, it required a completely different riding style, and even gearbox change!

With the old settings, I rode the bike on the limit, nearly crashing every corner entry, braking late in, stopping it, and firing it out on the power. Now I had a good front suspension feel, I could ride it much smoother and faster, more like my style! I came in, having matched my qualifying time with the old tyres and not even trying to go for a fast lap. The bike was starkly different!

The race came upon us, the lights went out and fortunately I got a great start, going from 31st to about 25th in turn 1! The bike felt so smooth and grippy, by lap 2 I was in 19th and on the move. As all was looking good for our top 15, I and we are so desperate for, it got spoiled by a rider behind me taking me out. He had passed me in this hairpin nearly every lap, only for me to pass him straight back again. Lap 5, I blocked the line, but he came through anyway, bumping me hard, unfortunately his front wheel hit my arm and handlebar, causing the me to crash out of the race.

I was furious we had lost our chance of a good finish. The cameras were on me as I emerged from the dust, I saw my fairing screen with my number, neatly broken off in the gravel, so I brushed myself, and took a bow next to it for the cheering crowd. Little did I know this was all live on Eurosport and was even worthy of a slow-mo replay! Have a look!

Front tyre marks from the rider behind

A bit of a disappointing end in the sense that we had a crashed bike, but a success in that we now have a bike that is working how it should be! I come away form this weekend happy and ready to stop the excuses! No more allowed!

We have some more testing coming up this week, which I am very excited for! I'll let you all know how it goes once the dust settled after our hectic week of 4am starts and 10pm suppers!

No one can say we're not trying hard to turn this season around!

Here's the video of my crash on YouTube:

Cheers for now, some more interesting blogs coming up soon, including an afternoon beer with '70's Grand Prix legend, Paul Smart!

Donington Park Rd.4 - Constant Improvement Upping the Positions

2013-05-31T06:24:00.001-07:00

We ended Rd.3 at Oulton Park on a positive note as we made big strides in improving the bikes handling to work with me, leaving me keen to get to Donington to carry on building on the setup. It was also a special event as we would be the support race to the World Super Bike championship, putting us in the paddock we're aiming to be in full time - the World Championship!

Fortunately Donington Park is theoretically my home track now, I just need to learn it well enough to be able to properly call it my home round. It's nice and close so Thursday I headed down the road with my caravan and got set up for the weekend. I then met up with the team and had an ogle at the giants of the world championship paddock - Italian hospitality trucks! Ducati must spend more on their hospitality truck, which unfolds into what looks like an ultra modern permanent building housing multiple Ducatis and artwork in a 5 star restaurant... Equalling them are teams like BMW, Aprillia and the other factory outfits. Very, very cool!

The rain came down on Thursday night, and did not relent for Friday, seeing us set out on track in honestly the worst conditions I've ever ridden or even driven in! Wind gusts of 47mph (65kmh), 4deg temp, pouring rain and occasional hail! Our wet weather setup was still good for 6th place on the time sheets, which we were very pleased with. The day ended well with us deciding to sit out qualifying 1 as it would not count if Saturday's qualifying 2 is dry, which was forecasted 100% dry and sunny. We made the decision to sit it out as did most teams.

Saturday was the stark opposite of Friday as predicted. Short and t-shirts all the way! This unfolded into a near perfect race weekend, weather wise. We got out for a dry qualifying, but as usual, had to guess a setup as we had no practice in the dry before then. Our gearing was way out and I just used what I could of hte motors immense power to get us round the track as fast as possible. It was going the best it has all year, with us sitting inside the top 15 comfortably in the first 20mins. 10mins to go, and everybody came in for new tyres to bang out a fast lap, we dropped to 26th, still a lot better than we have been doing. I came in, Scott whipped a new tyre in for me in no time, and I pulled back on track to get a flying lap in.

Our first lap out got us up to 20th, I then put my head down to get us a fast one with my bike working well as I want it to. We were on for a good lap, top 15 through all the sectors of the track, and even 3rd fastest through the Foggy Esses! Our predicted position was 12th by the time I reached the second last corner, where I came up to a slower rider. I pulled up next to him on the brakes into the hair pin, he turned tighter, seeming to block me for some reason, and I had to go really tight on the way in to avoid him. I got past, but was very off line, I got it to the apex, cracked the throttle, and just asked too much of the back tyre on that bad line. the bike let go mid corner and I went sliding along kissing my fast lap good bye, and nearly getting an Italian Pirelli in my face! (See photo) We ended up with 22nd place, still a big improvement over the previous race's 31st place!

I felt good for Sunday's race as our setup is coming along nicely now. We had morning warm up to try a few new settings which worked well and we then got ready for our race. I pulled up to the lights, with Hudson Kennaugh just a row infront of me, and I knew he would be fast off the line, so set my sights firmly on his back tyre. The lights went out, and we had a great first corner, which saw me gain a few places, by the first two laps the bike felt good and I pushed hard to keep up with Hudson as we made our up through the field. We managed to get into 12th place, such a great feeling after how hard we've been working!

It was great to be sitting in the top 15, but as the tyre wore out, I ran into a few suspension problems, but nothing as big as we've previously been having. I dropped back slowly and sat in 16th on the final lap, having a good little fight with Josh Elliot (former World Super Stock 600 rider). We passed eachother forwards and backwards, I got infront approaching the last corner, he made a lunge up my inside and I managed to just hold him and defend my line. I got on the throttle and the tyre let go giving a small highside out the seat, just enough for him to pip me by 0.02s over the finish line! We had 17th and our best result so far, ever improving!

The team were very happy with our performance now knocking on the door of the points and keeping our development going nicely.

I'm really happy with the momentum we're carrying now, as the team is really working hard with me to get me happy with the bike.

Unfortunately Donna and the girls couldn't join us over the weekend, but Jay made it out for our Friday practice before they set off on Saturday for Disney World in Florida, USA! They're over there right now and I'm sure having an absolute blast! Enjoy Davis'!

Thanks to our whole team for a great weekend improving yet again. Mark and all the guys making sure my bike is as good as it can be, Paula and the girls for keeping our tummy's full, Les Wood for the advice on track, and to everybody behind us giving us the great support we always need (Yes, looking at you Eeves),and our great sponsors Mom & Dad, Rocket88, Leatt Brace, RST, Arai, Clayton from SA Racers and Forcefield Body Armour.

It's Isle of Man TT week coming up, I'll be watching from home now as we have some more prep work to do before we go to a circuit I've never seen before, so have lots to learn about - Knockhill in Scotland. Hold thumbs for us and we'll do our best as usual!

Cheers for now!
James

Oulton Park Rd.3 - Seeing Progress!

2013-05-10T08:00:00.002-07:00

We've had a really tough past few weeks trying to find settings for the bike which work at the fast lap times. We made really good progress this weekend and it's such a refreshing breath of air after all the hard work we've been putting in. It turned into beautiful sunny, successful weekend for us, qualifying on Sunday and racing on public holiday Monday for a change!

We arrived on Friday afternoon, set up camp and met up with the team to talk strategy for the weekend.

This long weekend was the first forecast dry weekend we've had so far, but in true English fashion, it still rained, seeing us opt to sit out Free Practice after 10 riders crashed out of the session before ours. Fortunately we had tested last week so the wet riding was not essential for us. We set out for a dry first qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, getting some quick times in and making some small changes for qualifying 2 on Sunday.

We then set out for a track walk with the Oulton wizard - Jason, to talk me though some problems I was having on track. As we made our way round, the crowds already in the public camping areas astounded me. The weather was forecast to be great for race day, and it showed in the spectator attendance already! I settled in for the night after noting all the changes I needed in my riding and got a good nights sleep for qualifying 2 the next day.

We had a rough base setup from yesterday, getting the bike more comfortable to ride, but not fast enough. We went into qualifying on Sunday with a much better bike than we had at the previous rounds. Unfortunately as the nature of the championship goes, so did everyone else! Even though we only managed 31st place out of nearly 60 riders, after some changes between the two qualifying sessions, I got the bike feeling much more stable and ridable for me, which is the base setting we've been searching so hard for! This comfortable setting now allowed me to push the bike harder and in more control than before, so in going faster we exposed more problems as the lap times came down.

Jason and Dan (My crew chief) sat with me to troubleshoot the bike as much as possible on Sunday night before the race - this brought up the need for a few changes that we haven't tried yet, but we went for the risk as our hours of speculation pointed us towards it! We then settled back into the pit as Jason and Donna brought out the good smell of a team braai (Barbeque for the British/Aussies...) to relax for a some well deserved braai meat and beers for the guys.

Monday morning we made the changes before morning warm-up and straight away the bike felt better, more stable and capable of going even faster - just what we needed! Then Monday afternoon came upon us and as we rolled onto the start line, I could finally approach the race with the confidence in my bike I've been wanting.

The lights went out and I managed to get the bike off the line nice and fast, jumping up a few spots before turn 1, then doing the normal 'hold your breath and let the brakes off early' into turn 1, fortunately making it through clean! A few laps in and the changes we made were paying off as I was lapping faster than my qualifying time while in the mix of riders and making passes. Our lap times came better and better until I ran into some rear end grip problems earlier than anticipated, as we suspected might happen with our changes we made.

We managed to get onto the back of the pack behind the leaders, the closest we've been so far, and bring the bike home in 23rd place. Not the best sounding result, but 10th place was in my sights as I got onto the back of the pack which held 22nd place to 10th place, and our lap times were good enough to be in that pack comfortably now, and were only just over 1sec off the leaders. MASSIVE progress for us since the previous rounds!

I arrived in parc ferme to a smiling team, seeing our hard work starting to show on track now. Everyone was very happy with how our race had gone! We had consistently gone around 1sec faster everytime the bike got on track, and we were within sight of the front times.

This whole weekend has been very productive for us, finding things that work for me and the bike as a pair and I'm very pleased with what we come away from the weekend with.

The whole feeling in our pit is much more positive now that we're getting somewhere with the bike setup. Mark and the team have been really great with giving me what Jason, Dan and I ask for to get the job done and I feel we are well on our way now.

A huge thank you to Mark and our whole MWR Kawasaki team for all the work they've put into me so far, I really appreciate it and feel like we're starting to make good use of it now. Jason Davis, my mentor, and Dan Edlin, my crew chief, have worked no end with me on set up and I'm really happy with how we're going about things. To Scotty, Taka and Mark Linton for spannering faultlessly when needed and to Paula, Benice, Mick and Tina for making sure we're all well fed over the race weekend!

Of course, no progress could be made without our sponsors who make it all happen - Mark, Mom and Dad, Rocket 88 and Leatt Brace for the great support, Jonny and the Moto Direct team for my protective kit, Stuart from Forcefield Body Armour and Clayton Francois. Without you we would just be watching the racing!

I'm home in Nottingham now, had a day off of pigging out on pizza and chips, and now I'm itching to get to Donington Park for the next round, which we will see us race with the World Superbikes as the support race, which I'm really looking forward to!

Cheers for now!
James

Brands Hatch - Season & Eye Opener

2013-04-10T03:19:00.003-07:00

Finally the long awaited first round of the new British Super Bike season was upon us. I collected my dad from Birmingham Airport, gave a him a quick tour of my new home town, Nottingham (Yes, where Robin Hood's from), and we headed down to Kent to the iconic Brands Hatch circuit for my first British Super Stock 1000 race weekend, and as famously the worlds most competitive domestic class of racing, it lived up to it's reputation with 58 bikes in my class!

We left sunshine in the midlands to arrive to a mini snow blizzard to set our campsite up in... A bit out of the ordinary when you're setting up for a race weekend! Luckily it was forecast to pass overnight, which it did and gradually got less cold (by no means, warmed up) all weekend. We got the caravan rigged and got to our pit to greet the team and see the new setup with the bikes.

Mark, our team owner, impressed with the whole team being 100% professionally presented and equipped to get our bikes working as good as they look! A quick briefing for the weekend and we settled for some evening chat before meeting Jason, Donna and the girls, Evie and Rab as the best support team in the world pulled into the camp site! Ev and Donna cracked the wine bottles and Jay and Rab joined me to meet the team in the pit. We called it a night awaiting Friday practice.

Friday was a big day for us as we had no dry base setting for the bike and only one practice session and the first of our two part qualifying session. We made big inroads in setup with Jason and my crew chief, Dan, giving me everything I needed to get the bike closer to the pace. We still had work to do by the time Quali.2 had come around on Saturday but we were only 1 sec off the pole position time. Unfortunately for us, this is one of the most fiercely competitive championships in the world, and this meant we were 29th on the grid!

With the top 30 riders covered by only 1 second, we needed to find every split second we could overnight! The pace is utterly unbelievable with nearly 20 bikes in the same 0,3sec!!! We made a risky decision with setup making big changes which, fortunately, paid off for us.

Sunday morning warm up we managed to better our qualifying time by 0.2sec with old tyres and ended a satisfying 11th from our 29th yesterday! This meant little for the race as we still had to start 29th on the 8th row of the grid. We still needed about 0.4sec to be near the sharp end, which, at this pace is still considerably off. So we made more changes in the same direction for the race.

When the race lights went out on the start line, I expected to jump a few rows and many positions up off the line and into turn 1, but the reality of this championship hit when I only managed to pass about 3 people by turn 2! The bike immediately felt worse, but I didn't know why. I pushed on and after a few near crashes, I decided to back it off and bank a finish and use the data form the race to improve the bike for round 2. I managed to get up to 21st by the finish - not ever where I thought I'd see myself! A bit of a shock to the system, but we wrote the weekend off as testing for us as we had no dry testing before this weekend to set the bike up. We had gone too hard in some of the settings we chose for the race, and ended up going considerably slower than our warm up times.

We have noted all of our changes and between Dan, Jay and myself, we feel much better about what we know about the bike now, we know what to do to improve our settings and have learned so much about what works for me and what doesn't. We will arrive at Thruxton for round 2 much closer to the pace and will hopefully not be seeing any positions like that on my pit board again!

The weekend has been a valuable learning curve for us more than a race weekend, putting us in a good position for the rest of the season now. Mark and the whole MWR Kawasaki team have made me feel right at home as if I'd been there years. Dan is an absolute brain box with the bike and can answer absolutely any question about the bike and what it's doing when I'm riding it, giving me all the info I need to make it my own. It's great being made to feel so wanted and welcome, thanks Mark!

I never like excuses, ever, but hopefully we won't be needing to make many more of them this year. Results are what we're after and are putting absolutely everything we have behind achieving them, and with my mini team of Dan, Jason and Scott behind me, I have no doubt we will be able to tick all the boxes that need ticking to get ourselves on pace.

With our first weekend behind us, a huge thank you must be given to Mark and the whole MWR Kawasaki team, Jon and Paula Jessop, Mick, Evie and Rab for their all round and unwavering support, Donna and the family, and a special thanks to Dan and Jason for the hours spent going through bike data and head scratching to get the bike set up for me. Thanks to my personal sponsors - Leatt, for my life-saving neck brace, Jonny and MotoDirect team for my RST kit and Arai helmets, Forcefield Body Armour for my protectors and of course none of it would happen at all without the my biggest supporters and sponsors - Mom and Dad!

As I'm typing this, I'm sitting in our little caravan in a campsite near Thruxton waiting 'til thursday when we can move in to the track for round 2 this coming weekend. True gypsy style, we are genuinely living out of a caravan once again! Lets hope it all pays off.

Thanks everyone for the support, we're all working hard to bring better news at the rest of the rounds this season!

Cheers for now,
James!

BSB Testing & New Home Underway

2013-03-24T06:24:00.000-07:00

Since I touched down in February, a lot has been going on in terms of organising my life for the coming season, but none of those have dominated my thoughts more than the first time I got to get on the new bike!

Fortunately it's been a good start, working with my new team has been an absolute pleasure so far. Mark and the MWR Kawasaki boys and girls have welcomed me and the excitement in the team is great for me to see as I feel they all believe in me and are 100% behind my championship push this year. Thanks guys!

Our first shakedown was at the opening Official British Super Bike test at Donington Park, a track that will always be stuck in my memory as my first BSB level win last year in the Triumph Triple Challenge.
Making sure I didn't let that affect me and see me put it in the gravel, I just circulated to feel my around the new bike, and I had forgotten how ridiculously fast these modern 1000cc bikes are...

The day went well working with my new crew chief, Dan Edlin and my mechanic, Taka Inufusa, as we ironed out a few teething problems with the new bike and got started on my settings. We ended with some good times and more importantly, good data!

Next up was Brands Hatch BSB test, where a rain soaked track saw us fiddle most of the day with our wet set up. We made some changes in different areas of the bike and tested a few new parts, which gave me some great track time to get used to the bikes handling and power in the wet. A very close companion of mine is now the Kawa's brilliant traction control system, which I made sure was working hard with me trying to put down nearly 200hp on wet tarmac!

After lots of fiddling and adjustments, we managed to secure the fastest STK1000 lap time! But more exciting for us, was that we managed to get 2nd in the Superbike class on our Stock bike!!! Australian Josh Waters on the Factory Yamaha R1 Superbike was fastest, us 2nd, and MotoGP rider James Ellison on the other Factory Yamaha in 3rd! That's a time sheet I'm framing for my bar one day...

We concluded the successful test and headed for Snetterton to start our two day test there.

Unfortunately the weather never played its part as we woke up to freezing temps and snowfall. We waited it out but the weather was set in and forecasted clear day the next day but still barely above freezing. We decided to call it a day as the conditions were not good for any constructive testing and the risk of incident was pretty high so close before the first race. We debriefed and left the circuit with a great atmosphere after our first two outings on the bike.

My next mission was move in to the new apartment, which is a beauty of place in a modern apartment building in the city of Nottingham, really happy to have found it! But as usual with estate agents I've dealt with, their are many empty promises that I am fighting with them over now, but that's another blog's story...

We have our first race coming up in 2 weeks at Brands Hatch on 7 April - Looking forward to it!

Cheers for now,
James

Hello England!

2013-03-07T13:46:00.000-08:00

In February, the time came around for me to hop back on the plane to the UK for my second race season in the British Super Bike series. After a long duo of flights via Dubai, I landed in an icy London Heathrow Airport, snuck through customs and hauled my 30kg bag onto the tube and on to Wimbledon to meet Bjorn, Tammy, Paul and Mat Borra for a big reunion!

I dropped my bags, picked up a laptop and bought my ticket to see Nitro Circus Live, Travis Pastrana's wild crew of some of the most talented bike/car/tricycle/anything Pros to attempt a world record of the most number of simultaneously back-flipping motorcycles! We headed to the O2 Stadium in London and watched the crazy sight of 16 bikes landing that new world record, followed by a 3D showing of their new movie in the massive movie house! Great welcome back to England:)

The next morning, BJ and I headed up to Colchester to collect my van and poor caravan after a cold and snowy winter...I wasn't expecting the best from the contents of the van. BJ grabbed his things and headed back to London before his testing in Spain, and I started the journey up north to Chester.

Fortunately Jason and Donna Davis were good enough to offer me a room in their home while I find a place to stay. They welcomed me warmly and entertained me even better! The next evening Jay and I went to visit my good Aunty Kath and Uncle Keith for some hearty supper before heading into town for the festive Saturday night, a good evening all together!

Monday saw Jay and I meet my team boss, Mark Webster, in Manchester for the first time. A chat about our upcoming season, racing and all things motorbikes kept us all in conversation. It's safe to say we are all looking forward to get the season underway already!

I started the trips into the Midlands viewing flats and houses, starting in my original first choice - Derby. What a disappointment! Not the cleanest or best city I've come across by a long way. Next stop was Ashby (Ashby-De-La-Zouch). This is a nice little town in the rural midlands, good spot and good houses! But the one who won me over was the beautiful Nottingham, a real stunner of a city! It's full of history and old castles along with Robin Hoods Sherwood Forest. Driving through the city, I really enjoyed the ultra modern buildings mixed with the historic buildings, all clean and well maintained. So I now have a short list and some viewings coming up this week in some of the sleek, modern apartment blocks in the city center - quite a change of lifestyle but I'll give the city boy thing a go!

After one of the day trips into the Midlands, I decided to make a pit stop at Oulton Park race track before getting back to the Davis' - a very good decision. The British GT Championship cars were testing, a flock of stupidly fast Le Mans GT racers flying around Oulton! Ferraris, Porsches, Aston Martins, BMWs, McLarens, Ginettas, all blasting around while I drooled on the side of the track. The sights and sounds aren't nearly done justice in the videos!

That's about it so far, but next week sees us start our season officially with my first outing with the team at Donington Park for the Official BSB testing, well overdue in my books! Until then, I'll keep everyone up to date on my happenings on Twitter (@JamesEgan81) and Facebook (James Egan). Definitely give these videos a watch to hear those GT racers in action!

Cheers for now!
James

VIDEO

Time to Kick Start 2013

2013-02-06T09:42:00.001-08:00

2012 was a great and extremely busy year for me and the whole Egan family, and friends who helped us. Fortunately that hard work has started to pay off as we recently announced my signing with team MWR Kawasaki to race in the 2013 British National Superstock 1000 Championship on a Kawasaki ZX10-R race machine.

I've had a great time back home in South Africa, also jam packed with very little free time to just relax - but that's how I like it! After landing home in Durban at the end of November, I had a big welcome home party waiting for me, followed by a mini holiday to Cape Town with some racing thrown in, New years spent on the beautiful, rural beaches in neighboring country, Mozambique, and a whole lot of braais in between! The new year arrived and that's when we put pen to paper with Mark Webster of MWR Kawasaki, and continued the ever lasting hunt for sponsors. We kicked off our new signing with a breakfast run to East Coast Kawasaki - one of the biggest Kawasaki dealerships in South Africa, speaking about our 2012 season and the challenges as well as our upcoming year.

We then headed to Zwartkops raceway for the Passion of Speed International event where classic racers and their bikes from all over the world get back on track in a Festival of Speed. I was lucky enough to get to ride one of the beauties as Mac Mackenzie let me scrape some knee on his gorgeous RGB Triumph. It's a race-framed, mag wheeled racer powered by a '72 Triumph Bonneville 880cc twin cylinder race engine, complete with gear lever on the right hand side of the bike - not where I grew up having it! One of only two in existence, I was careful to keep full concentration when riding it! One of the highlights being chasing down legends like Mick Grant on his Suzuki RG500 Grand Prix bike with Jim Redman in hot pursuit!

My training has been in full swing and I am loving my time home in the beautiful South African summer, but I already can't wait much longer to get back to the UK and meet my new team, and get on track with my new ZX10-R!

Here's to a great year ahead with plenty more blogging to come!

Cheers,
James

Brands Hatch - The Championship Finale

2012-10-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Just 6 short months ago, we touched down on UK soil to embark on our mission for 2012 - begin establishing ourselves in the BSB paddock, and at this moment we feel we have succeeded! We headed back to Brands Hatch for the final time this year to say goodbye to our rookie season at the same place we greeted it, and with my dad back on the scene supporting me as he always has!

We drove through the grand entrance of the circuit and got everything set up for the weekend. Our trusty fan manager - Evelyn, collected my dad from the airport and they arrived at the circuit shortly after us. It was great to see my dad again as it had been 4 months since he headed home! The atmosphere in our pit was light and pressure-free as we had already won the premier championship, and had a small lead for 2nd in the overall championship. The team were happy and really enjoying the weekend, as was I, but I had my heart set on taking victory over the weekend as we had a good set up and I know the track well.

First practice went well and we hardly made any changes, and this set up stayed in the bike the whole weekend making Morne's job too easy, as he even resorted to working on other riders' bikes to stay busy! Between him and my dad, the bike was well looked after and a new set of tyres thrown in, saw us heading out for qualifying on friday afternoon.

Qualifying was a hectic affair with Rob Guiver, Phil Atkinson, Chrissy Rouse and myself all changing place for pole position as it's been for the last few rounds. With a few minutes to go, we were in 3rd place, front row, which was a favourable spot for me, so I pulled in to save the tyre for the race. On the final lap I would be knocked down a spot to 4th, which was still fine as it was front row.

We called it a day and returned to our caravan for supper, then I headed back into the paddock to continue team hunting...

Saturday's race 1 was a an upset for us as it was shortened from 10 laps to just 7. I was told this before I set off, but once we were on the line my mind went into normal race mode. This race set the mood early on with the 5 way scramble to turn 1 after the lights went out. Phil Atkinson and I led the way with Tom Hayward, Rob Guiver and Chrissy Rouse in hot pursuit, and by lap 3 it had turned into a wrestling match for space in the corners with myself, Rob, Phil and Chrissy. I spent the first 5 or so laps focusing on keeping a fast pace to keep the others behind me until Rob, Phil and I got into a battle, Rob broke away a little when Phil and I started passing each other a little too much. This played to my demise as I decided to rather settle imstead of passing back and try regain the lost ground on Rob, when as I pull out to pass Phil and pursue the lead, the unanticipated checkered flag was waving. I didn't realise how many laps had passed and missed my pit board on the final lap, forcing me to settle with 3rd as I only passed Phil after the finish line...I was livid to say the least, with myself for letting this happen when I felt so comfortable in the lead.

We packed up for the evening and I tried to head to bed for a sleep but couldn't take my mind off the day's mistake. I felt comfortable knowing our setup was good, pace was equal and race 2 couldn't come fast enough!

Waking in the morning, I was eagerly waiting the start of race 2 to make up for the previous day. Finally the time came to head to the grid, but with another twist in the situation - A lunch time entertainment car had decided to use its engine oil to lubricate the tar instead of itself, leaving an oil spill all round turn 1. It was cleaned up but none of us knew what the traction would be like.

We lined up on the grid race 2, the lights went out and we got another good launch into turn 1. From lap 1, Phil, Rob and Chrissy made sure I wasn't going to win this race easily, but I had my heart set on it and fought hard. After only 4 laps, each of us had hit the front at some point and I was fighting hard to stay in the lead. Rob hit the front, but going into turn 2's hairpin, he missed a gear while on the brakes, making him and Phil both run wide. I managed to get back on line and dived up their inside. Rob was pulling back hard from the outside of the track until he discovered I was now on his line, only by the big thud and crunch of us colliding! It was a hard hit, even knocking my bike into a higher gear, while lifting his rear wheel off the ground! I managed to keep the lead, but my bike was now in 3rd instead of 2nd gear, so I lost all the time I made by fiddling the gearbox before the next corner, and they were back onto me!

The race continued with the incident allowing Chrissy to get past us in the next few corners, and resuming our 4 way battle. I managed to take the lead again with 2 laps to go, then, in the same corner Rob missed a gear, Chrissy says his brakes faded as he sat behind me, making him shunt me on as he tried to stop his bike. I ran to the edge of the tarmac trying to regain control and slow the bike, which, annoying, saw my lead become a forced 4th place. I was fuming under my dark visor as I rejoined the circuit to chase down the leaders, but with only a lap and bit to go, I had to settle for 4th place...

Luck dictated we were not to have victory this weekend as all our other factors were in line to take the top step. My dad's little bar at home is called the "If, But Bar" - IF I hadn't been bumped wide, I could've won the race. BUT I didn't...

We had more to celebrate than to pity over as we had won the Premier Championship at the previous round, but we had now secured our 2nd place in the Elite (overall) Championship in our rookie season!

This weekend was incredible, not only because my dad returned for our final race, but also as it marked the end of our stirring of a new step in my career. I am no longer a rookie in the BSB paddock and hopefully our actions and results during the year will speak loudly enough for us to return successfully next season, in a higher class.

A huge thank you to everybody who cheered for us, supported us and to the people who made it possible for us to make this season happen! It's been a massive step in my career and a heck of a life experience. The support has been incredible and a great chunk of it came the special people who spent the time at the track getting hands dirty - Our team itself, Mike 'Dad' Egan; Morne Grundling who gave up his lifestyle in Australia after immigrating 2 years ago, just to help us have a successful season here in the BSB series; Jason and Donna Davis with their great help and Jason's expertise and priceless advice on track; and to our own PR and fan club manager - Evelyn and Rab, for supporting us and helping in every field where they can.

It's hugely appreciated how we all made a success of this season and had a great time doing it!

Thanks to the ones who really made it all happen - Mom and Dad! My parents are out of a pension to help me go racing, so we're making sure we put all our efforts into doing our best. Of course we also couldn't get it done as well as we have without our sponsors - Lawrence Watson, my lovely girlfriend Roxanne's dad, from LD Refrigeration; Jonny Towers and Mark & the team from Moto Direct, who kept me safe with RST Race Suits and Leatt Brace; and to Stuart Long from Forcefield Body Armour for my much appreciated thermal base layers and back and chest protection in this chilly UK climate!

We are now in pursuit of the age old racer's mission of sponsorship gathering to secure a ride for the 2013 season, so my home trip has now been delayed a month so we have more time in the UK instead of being out of sight and out of mind by going home. It was a tough decision to make as I'm really missing home, but home will wait for me, sponsors and teams won't! Please hold thumbs for us over the next few weeks!

I'll keep everyone up to date with our 2013 plans when they materialise a little further;)

Cheers, and thanks again for your support!

Regards,
James and the team

Silverstone BSB - Racing at its closest, bringing us our first UK Championship!

2012-10-06T07:57:00.002-07:00

Coming from a victorious round at Donington Park, we had a weekend off and were straight back on the road to the Midlands, this time to the famed F1 circuit of Silverstone.

This was a big weekend for our series as Rob Guiver, the championship leader and 10 year 125GP British veteran, had built a lead with his fast pace from the start of the season and was one race away from sealing the championship. We were the closest to stopping him from doing it, and were determined to delay his championship as much as possible. We now know our bike well, but the circuit was still a new one to learn for me with only a part trackday under my belt.

We arrived, set up and headed out for a track walk. This isn't your small-time circuit and being 5.9km long, over an hour later we arrived back at the pits slightly wiser.

Friday practice was cold and windy, as the rest of the weekend would continue to be.We had an idea of set up from our trackday, and a good base setting we found at Donington Park. This made my job a lot easier as all I had to to do was focus on learning the fast lines of this very fast, 14m wide ocean of tar.

We then qualified in the afternoon with our opening laps setting us in 1st, then going down to 5th with only a lap left of the session. Fortunately for me, Rob Guiver came past as I started the final lap and could use him as a guide to learn the lines, whilst putting in my and his fastest laps setting him 1st and us in 3rd.

I still didn't know the track well enough to push as hard as I wanted to, and the bike felt good with our base settings so we had a relaxed afternoon before a good nights sleep.

Race 1 was a late afternoon 5 way battle for the lead, producing some of the best racing I've ever experience. We got off the line well and took the lead into turn 1, followed by an aggressive by Phil Atkinson on me into turn 2, setting the 'take no prisoners' attitude for the race. Nearly every corner saw 2 or 3 position changes in our leading pack of Myself, Rob Guiver, Freddie Pett, Phil Atkinson and Chrissy Rouse. We bumped and bashed our way around 8 laps of the Silverstone GP circuit and started the final lap with Freddie in the lead, followed by myself, Rob, Phil and Chrissy in 5th, covered by under 1sec! Freddie and I exchanged the lead nearly every corner of the final lap, then coming onto the final straight, I closed on him and made a lunge on the brakes into the second-last turn, unknowingly having the same done to me by Chrissy who had been on the move from 5th place. He bombed both of us, sending me wide and Freddie free to dive back under me into the final turn, but in turn making them both run wide on the run to the line. I squared off the corner and dashed up the inside as we all crossed the line together, all 5 covered by 0.5sec! We managed a 3rd which we were happy with considering we were 2 spots ahead of championship leader, Rob, and closed a few points down on him.

I knew the track a lot better going into race 2 as we started from the front row again. The pace just as hot as the previous day's race, with our same 5 way battle from lap 1. Phil lunged past me into the lead on lap 1 again, I came straight back at him nearing the end of the lap with a debatable aggressive move, but nothing more than his move on me in race 1. This was to be the flavour of the race! While the 5 of us were batting it out, Rob Guiver picked up our slipstream down the long Hangar straight, blowing past us into the lead. He was just out of my reach on the brakes and managed to hold the lead to the end. We were left fighting amongst each other for the remaining podium spots, and what a race it produced!

The final lap saw us going 4 abreast into nearly every corner of the circuit, right to the flag. I lunged past everyone with two corners to go and ran a bit wide, nearly holding onto it, but it wasn't enough to fend them off, Chrissy, Freddie and Phil were on my inside, fortunately we managed to fend off all of them but one, giving us another 3rd.

It was the most fun I've had all season, and possibly ever during a race, bar the result of a non-victory. It's a great pleasure racing extremely hard, but fair against such talented riders such as Rob, Phil, Freddie and Chrissy. We can bump and push eachother as hard as we dare without the fear of one of us doing something silly.

Both times we arrived at the podium, greeted an excited group of BSB staff, team members and spectators. The reception of our races really made us, as riders, feel great. Thanks to everyone who was watching and supporting us! Well done to Rob Guiver on sealing the overall championship, a faultless season well deserved.

Scroll through to 4:50sec for our race highlights

Our season has been full of challenges and one of the most difficult to date, but it paid off this weekend with celebrations of our own to conclude as after race 1 on Saturday we were officially the Premier class Champions!

Thank you to my Dad, Morne, Jason & Donna Davis, Eevie & Rab and everyone who has helped us win this championship and achieve so much in our rookie British season. We wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for my Dad and his now tiny pension fund which he cashed in to bring me to the UK, the help from Lawrence Watson, and all our supporters including Jonny Towers from RST and Moto Direct, Leatt Brace and Stuart form Forcefield Body Armour.

We have one round left, bringing a close to our intense rookie season of British racing at the famous Brands Hatch circuit next weekend.

2013 planning has started and we hope to have a deal not too far away!

Cheers for now,
James and Team

Donington Park - Finally On the Top Step

2012-09-13T06:12:00.000-07:00

Cadwell Park was an incredibly difficult track to learn, and even more challenging to race on. I battled to stay at the front but the local knowledge eventually got the better of me, once again stripping of us the win.

We arrived at Donington Park with my mind fit from the technical Cadwell, so learning this World Super Bike circuit seemed a much simpler task.

With only one trackday under our belts, we set our sights on topping the time sheets as early as possible in the weekend to weed out any niggles in suspension. We finished our practice in 2nd place, harldy touched the bike, threw some fresh tyres on and got ready for qualifying.

Qualifying turned out to be the start of a very hotly contested weekend, with Rob Guiver, Phil Atkinson, myself and Chrissy Rouse being covered by 0,4s. It was eventful on track too with Phil and me possibly getting in each others' way.

Race 1 came around and thanks to Morne, Jason and our little team, the bike was ready to perform and I felt good about our setup. We entered the circuit behind the Nissan GTR pace cars and assembled on the grid, anxiously awaiting the 1 minute board. The teams and cameras cleared the grid, we set off on our warm up lap, returned to the line and set our sights on the lights.

The lights went out and we got off the line to the hole shot into Redgate (turn 1), I then attacked Craner Curves (the next set of fast sweeps) as hard as I dared to try break a lead. Nearing the end of the first lap, we braked hard to the Melbourne Loop hairpin where I was dive-bombed on the brakes by Phil Atkinson in 2nd. Unfortunately for him he couldn't get it stopped in time and crashed out of the race. I put my head straight back down and tried to bang out the fastest laps I could, extending my small lead by a second or two.

Nearing the closing laps, my brain was working overtime to get me safely and quickly around each lap of this circuit that we had such little experience of. With a lap to go, Rob was on my tail with only a 1 second gap when the red flags came out. Tom Ward had crashed and that marked the end of the race. We had done it! Finally we were awarded the victory that we had been working so hard for all season!

The team were going nuts when I arrived at the Parc Ferme knowing we were on the top step! Rob Guiver was a great sport and congratulated us as we headed up to the podium to spray the bubbly and collect our much anticipated trophy. The feeling was awesome when I stood over the crowd and sprayed the champagne from the step we had worked so hard to stand on. We headed back to the pits, elated, but I had race 2 to focus on as the rest of the team celebrated into the evening.

Sunday was time for Race 2, the tension was thick in the air and we repeated the routine to line up at the lights, waiting for them to go out. They did, and the race was underway. We got the hole shot into turn 1 and, again, I attacked Craner Curves as hard as I could to try break the pack to get a lead but this time the others were wiser to my tactics and there were more of them. Phil was hot on my heels with Chrissy and Rob in hot pursuit. I pushed as hard as I could to try break away and got the gap up to 1 second and managed to hold it for nearly the whole race. 2 laps to go and Rob Guiver was on a charge, chasing down the dangling carrot in front of him, which was me!

I had a small high-side coming out of Melbourne loop and Rob needed no more invitation as he was now right on my tail and made a pass on the brakes at the end of Park straight into The Esses. I followed him into the hairpin, braking where he braked and we both ran a bit wide, he had a moment out of the hairpin, which I capitalized on and planned to pass him back into the final corner, Goddards. I couldn't believe it when I missed a gear changing into 2nd, it hit the rev-limiter and I lost the ground I gained on him, but I had already dedicated to getting him on the brakes, I went through anyway but ran wide mid corner where he got back through, we crossed the line and I had to settle for 2nd place.

I pulled in to the podium and was greeted by our ever enthusiastic team, as well as the one and only, Carl Fogarty! I got a handshake and congratulations from Foggy and headed up to the podium to collect our trophy. What a day!

I was still very happy with what we achieved over the weekend. Rob has an edge on all of us in the final laps of the race at these circuits where he uses every single millimeter to gap us.

1st and 2nd in the Elite class for us was the best weekend we've had this season. We're back up to 2nd place in the overall championship, and have a nice lead in the Premier championship.

We are now back at our flat in Colchester after a testing 3 weeks of racing, travelling, practicing, repairing and now, finally, relaxing! Here's a quick breakdown of our schedule since Thursday 23 Aug (3 weeks ago):

Thursday - Pack and leave for Cadwell Park race weekend
Monday (Public holiday race day) - Finish racing at 4pm, pack and leave straight away, drive to Donington Park at night
Tuesday - Trackday at Donington all day, pack and leave for home in Colchester, drive at night
Wednesday - Prep bike, change oil, wash, etc.
Thursday - Leave for Silverstone, spend night at track car park
Friday - Trackday at Silverstone, pack and leave Triumph Live at Mallory Park, drive at night again
Saturday - Triumph Live 110 year Festival, fun race weekend
Sunday - Pack and leave, get a blow out on the caravan. Tyre rips apart fender and destroys cupboards and wiring. Eventually arrive home after spare wheel is wrong and AA take 3 hours to arrive.
Monday - Home and start fixing caravan in caravan park.
Thursday - Pack and leave for Donington Park, finish repairs at the track
Friday - Race weekend
Sunday - Race and pack and leave for home, drive at night
Monday - RELAX!

Just a taste of what life has been like here as a struggling, shoestring budget team that works out of our complex's car park and the back of a van!

A huge thanks, once again, to Morne, Jason & family, Eevie & Rab, Bjorn & Tam and everyone else who was supporting us over the weekend! It doesn't happen without my dad Mike, Lawrence at LD refrigeration, Jonny & the Moto Direct team and Stuart at Froceifield Body Armour!

Our next stop is the famed Silverstone GP Circuit in 2 weeks time. A bit of a rest now, then straight back to hard training.

Cheers!

Cadwell Park - The Mountain and it's Mental Race Track

2012-09-03T02:36:00.002-07:00

The last 2 weeks have been nothing short of hectic, and our next 2 week schedule is just as busy!

After Brands Hatch, we had a month gap until our Cadwell Park race meeting. Luckily we had this time to get some practice in at the famous Lincolnshire woodlands circuit. We had a few trackdays with typical English weather of dry-wet-dry-wet-dry track conditions, including one dry session in which I pushed hard to find the limits of my bike on this unique little circuit. I found that limit, but unfortunately went sailing past it when the bike sent me sky high in a violent flick over the high side coming out of the chicane before the bottom of The Mountain. A huge thanks to Morne for grafting hard to get the bike ready for the race!

Being a long weekend, the "Party in the Park" (Locals nickname for Cadwell Park BSB rounds) starts on Saturday and ends Monday. We arrived on Friday to literally thousands and thousands of spectators already set up! The mood was set early for a cracker weekend!

We got set up and took a walk around the track to see if there were any more details to pick up of this rich circuit. It really is an amazing place, enticing over 75,000 keen race fans on BSB weekend doesn't happen for nothing! It has an awesome mix of fast/slow, on/off camber, up/downhill, smooth/rough, flowing/stop-start corners! I've never experienced such a mentally tough track to race on.

A lap of the track as I've experienced it:
Out of the last corner, off camber, slippery under the trees, 2nd gear roll onto the Start/Finish straight.
Full taps in top gear into turn 1 left-hander, back a gear with a slight touch of the brakes back to flat out up to the right hand flick into a double apex right hander, half way through the right, back another gear and roll on to the second apex and onto the 'straight' which curves right down hill, then curves left to a steep uphill.

At the top of the hill you hit the brakes from over 140mph (230km/h for the modern ages) down to 2nd gear, 90 deg right hander, up to 3rd and dip it in right again to the long Chris Curve, constantly accelerating, then off the rev-limiter onto the brakes into the Goose Neck (right-left flick) through a big dip between the on and off cambers, and accelerate down a steep hill. Hit the brakes hard on the off-camber, then dip in to the on-camber left, accelerate hard up to the flat, stop-start, chicane (This is where I got dismounted on my way out) and then on to the bottom of the famous Mountain section.

Hit the brakes hard and turn into the steep uphill left hander, it flattens out as you flick right, then stand on the pegs and hit the tar motocross jump called The Mountain! Front wheel high in the air, feel the back wheel touch down again after getting some air time, and back on the power up to the Woodlands section. Off-camber turn in right to on-camber at the apex, flick left, flick right over a little hill, flick left again, brake hard into the 1st gear right hander, back on the power hard and dip right into the grooved last right hander before it's off-camber exit onto the Start/Finish straight.

What a lap!

Nothing can replace local knowledge and experience, so I had real task on my hands trying to put in a fast lap on this extremely technical track. With full concentration, I could get a full lap together so qualifying went well with us in 4th with the top 5 cover by only 0.2sec!

Race 1 was a hot pace, 6 way battle for the lead, including a local wild card rider. I sat comfortably in 3rd and decided to wait until the last lap or two to make my move to the front. Little did I know that Chrissy rouse was going to dive bomb me on the brakes into the chicane, sitting me up and relegating me to 4th. Foolishly, I repassed him straight away at the bottom of the Mountain, I ran wide and hi cut back across me to shut the door. I lost all my drive for the Mountain and was now far off the lead. Focusing on regaining positions, I started making small mistakes, now taking the toll of being a foreigner to this unique track. I was soon overtaking again after a mistake over the infamous Mountain, and crossed the line in 5th. I was irritated at myself as we were well capable of winning the race, having held the fastest lap of the race until the last 2 laps!

The fast, but not yet consistent laps meant I would be front row for race 2 start, but have the challenge of inexperience during the race against riders who grew up club racing on this track. But we are here for a challenge, so we got the bike prepped and called it a night.

Morning warm-up went well with us being fastest most of the session, eventually ending 2nd, only out done by Rob Guiver.

Race 2 saw the weather become typically English...Wet-dry-wet-dry-damp in patches, then light drizzle on the start line. I decided to go with wet tyres but we never had time to put the soft wet suspension in. We were hoping it would continue raining during the race, but it quickly dried out! I got a great start and took the lead, followed by Chrissy Rouse, we pulled away from the field. The problem came form about mid race when my rear couldn't take the punishment anymore, I lost nearly all grip and the others started coming past. After a race full of retirements and crashes, one behind me nearly taking us down too, we crossed the finish line in 4th. Again, irritated with the result, but happy with what we had achieved in foreign conditions and track!

Fortunately we still took the double win in the Premier class, extending our lead in the championship points.

It was an incredible race weekend at this truly spectacular, complex circuit. Seeing the pros jump The Mountain in the Superbike class was mind-blowing, no other words! Check out this video to give you an idea of the place, bearing in mind that the camera flattens it out very much.

A big thank you to my Dad, Mike, who spends the race weekends back at home biting his nails and pulling his hair out watching live timing, Lawrence at LD Refrigeration, Jonny and the team at Moto Direct and Stuart at Forcefield Body Armour. We couldn't do it without the help of Morne, Jason & Donna Davis, Chris and Bjorn over the weekend, it's greatly appreciated!

Next up on our jam-packed agenda is Triumph Live this weekend at Mallory Park - Triumphs annual 'everything Triumph Motorcycles' festival, including a race, demos, live music, etc. Looking forward to it!

Cheers for now!