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ALEX GAULT - MAG SPORT RACING 2007 - Brands Report - 22nd - 23rd July
With Alex taking part in the British Round of the European STK600 held at Brands Hatch (Kent) on the weekend of the 4th/5th August we took the chance to race with Bemsee/MRO who were racing on the same circuit last weekend.
This is the first time we have raced with this organisation, which is said to be the stepping stone to British Championship, indeed a lot of the riders do both series, and it was apparent.
Do they call Kent “The Garden of England”?
Should be “The Bank of England” I’ve never seen so many Big American Motorhomes, Transporters and huge Awnings outside the British paddock; very professional set-ups and I must say a very well ran meeting as well!
Bemsee/MRO play host to a number of one make series, Aprilia SuperTeen (For the youngsters coming into the sport), Yamaha Past Masters ( for the slightly more mature racers) The Triumph Triple Challenge ( for the ones wanting to make a name for themselves) along with the usual Power bikes, SuperBikes (Called Forza Extreme) and of course Super Sport 600.
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Start of Sundays race and honest there are 3 other bike to his left just out of shot! |
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The Friday Test-Day was plagued by rain at one point the circuit was unride-able rivers running along and across it, in fact Alex was very lucky in one of his sessions, hitting one of the rivers which sent the bike into a massive “tank slapper” You could tell by the look on his face he had been “stirred” .
The format for the meeting was 2 x Qualifying Sessions, 1 x Super Pole race on Saturday, with a warm-up session and two races on the Sunday. Alex went fairly well in first qualifying, posting the 7th fastest time out of the 33 starters.
Now how often do I say “Bloody Rain!” as they went out for second qualifying the heavens opened, we did have him on wets but as it happened it was a blessing in disguise after only 3 laps Alex returned to the pits with the clutch slipping, if it had been a dry session he would undoubtedly fallen down the order.
We managed to temporarily fix the clutch for the “Super Pole” race. Where Alex managed to move himself up onto the front row and 4th place on the grid for Sundays races.
Sunday Races
We are and he is starting to get to grips with the Bike now, however what this weekend did show up was as most of our testing had been done in wet or dampish conditions as Alex started to push harder in the dry all or suspension settings are out, however that didn’t stop him getting a fantastic start!
This position didn’t last long with Alex not being happy with the suspension set-up he slipped back to 3rd but as the pack rounded “Druids” for the 3rd time Alex lost the front end and crashed out into the Gravel trap, now we put it down to the front forks bottoming out but 3 bikes crashed out at the same corner within a lap of each other so don’t know if there was perhaps something on the track surface?
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The view we hoped every one would see as Alex took the “Hole Shot” going into paddock bend |
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The last race of the day
And we nearly missed it! With all the crashes throughout the day, everything was running late, the organisers had shortened the races to catch up, this caught us out, thinking there was loads of time till Alex’ race…………..Not so, thanks to the lad who ran up to us saying “Are you not going out!” PANIC!!!
As always the bike is readied after our race so it was ready to go, Alex put his helmet on and jumped on the bike and set off to the assembly area……….too late, the other bikes were already on the grid and as they set off on their warm up lap………no Alex!
It was OK though, another rider had also been caught out and the assembly area staff let them join on the back, after the main grid had been released (Sigh of relief from Dad!)
We had went the wrong way with our…………(Ok….OK My!) suspension adjustments. (I can’t be good at everything, it’s hard being perfect!)
Alex said after the race the bike was very difficult to ride, he fell back lap after lap until sitting in 5th with the chasing pack of about 6 bikes closing in on him.
Alex managed to settle down as he got used to the handling and started to close down on the 4th place rider John Branett on his R6, Going quicker and quicker as he adjusted to the bike, I seen the two coming out of “Clearways” and as they entered “Clark Curve” on the last lap, I thought “this is going to be close”! I ran round the other side of the building to catch sight of the finishing line on the “Brabham Straight” just as the two bikes crossed, Alex got the 4th place by 0.01 of a second.
That was an exciting finish!
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From another angle and yes from a professional photographer (I can’t be good at everything, it’s hard being perfect!) |
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Unfortunately John was judged to have jumped the start and given a 20 second penalty demoting him to 12th in the final standings.
I did say in previous reports, I thought our luck was changing. With the way the weekend went, making the most of the test day and Alex holding onto the bike in that massive tank slapper. It raining for the second qualifying when the clutch started to slip, only minimal damage done to the bike in the crash, then Alex said. “On the last lap coming out of “Stirling’s bend” a squirrel ran across the track in front of John I seen him look at it as he almost ran it over, (I don’t know how I missed it myself) that distracted him that little bit which made all the difference in the run to the line!”
So some ones looking after him!
This was a very good result for Alex he is constantly the top non Yamaha R6 rider. Off the top 15 finishers in this race, 10 were on R6’s, 2 x Suzuki’s - 4th (Yee Haw) and 11th. 1 x Kawasaki - 5th. 1 x Honda - 8th and 1 x Triumph 675 - 9th.
A good weekend of very enjoyable and exciting racing at lot learnt and a lot more questions too, thanks to every one who helped and to Roz Watkins who collected and brought us the new clutch parts for Alex’ bike from Robinsons in Canterbury.
I also have to say No Animals were harmed in the making of this report!
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