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Mark Castle Mid Season & Prepares for the Manx GP
I’m busy getting ready for the Manx GP at the moment, nearly as busy as getting ready for my wedding on the 26th July, but not quite!!! I’m in the process of finishing off an RVF 400 for Brian Wyles who lends me the Rotax for the Supermono Championship, a kind of Thankyou and return favour, hopefully it’ll be as good as mine when it’s finished. My own RVF has been for her pre Manx rebuild and is awaiting collection from RLR Motorsports in Shropshire, might have to fit that one in between the reception and the honeymoon!!!!
As for this years Manx Grand Prix, I’ve been offered a fantastic deal, to good to be true really. S&S Motorcycles of Nottingham were on hand with advice and assistance at last years Manx, especially after the spill in the Newcomers race, well they must see some potential because they’ve offered me two R6 Yamaha’s for the Junior race and full support on my own 400 for the Ultralightweight race. All the bikes will be looked after by the S&S mechanics lead by Kev Spurr, which means that I can get down to the important job of riding the course. I need to find 2 grand towards the cost though so and offers would be greatly received!!
In preparation for the Manx I did an afternoon test at Mallory last month, which was my first ride on anything over 400cc on a track, except the single cylinder. With about 120 BHP on tap the R6 was definitely a big step up from the 72ish offered by my little Honda. The test went very well indeed and I felt really settled right from the off, steadily getting quicker and quicker. The bikes are currently being rebuilt and a running in session is planned for the race bikes prior the leaving for the Isle of Man in August.
I visited the Isle of Man to watch the TT in June and spent a lot for time with the team who were running Russ Henley in the Junior TT, I even did the fuel stops for him which gave me chance to experience what my own Pit Crew were going through last year. More importantly though, it gave me a real chance to see first hand the professionalism by which S&S motorcycles run their team and just how well set up the bikes are. Whilst we’re talking TT’s a quick claim to fame is that my own RVF went through the start line speed trap at 129 mph, which was quicker than John Mcguiness’ RVF at this years TT, however he’s doing 111mph laps and I’m not!!!!
The British Supermono Championship is hotting up nicely but unfortunately due to missing a round whilst in the Isle of Man, I’ll have quite a fight on my hands keeping the 3rd place that I’ve held for most of the season. My best meeting so far has to be the opening round at Donninton park over the Easter weekend, I had two satisfying 3rd place finishes after a race long battle on both days with seasoned Supermono competitor Tony Crowe, also Rotax mounted. I had warmed up at Mallory the weekend before though, at a New Era club round and picked up a 2nd and a 1st in the singles races, so a good start to the season really and certainly a confidence booster after the awful time I had in 2002.
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Aircooled Supermono race results for the season so far are:
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Donington Park
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April 19th
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3rd
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Donington Park
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April 20th
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3rd
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Snetterton
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May 10th
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4th
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Snetterton
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May 11th
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3rd
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Cadwell Park
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May 26th
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5th
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Pembrey
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June 28th
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3rd
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Pembrey
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June 29th
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2nd
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Mallory Park
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Sept 14th
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2nd
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New Era, Single Cylinder race results for the season so far are:
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Mallory Park
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April 6th
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2nd & 1st
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Cadwell Park
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May 25th
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1st
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Cadwell Park
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May 26th
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1st
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Pembrey
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June 28th
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1st
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Pembrey
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June 29th
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2nd & 1st
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Mallory Park
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Sept 14th
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1st & 1st
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I’m currently in 4th place In the club championship single cylinder class but I haven’t done all the rounds, only the ones that run with the Supermono races.
I had my first taste at international racing with a trip to Spa Francorchamps, where the European Supermono were supporting the Liege 24hours endurance race, on the 5th and 6th of July. I was very kindly lent a Tigcraft framed - watercooled Yamaha by Sally Harmer. The bike was wonderful to ride and even in the pouring rain on a set of intermediates I managed to qualify 22nd on my first practice session, which was my first ever look at the track. I only had one other practice session before the race, it started damp and then the rain came down again, I didn’t improve my times because I was still on the intermediates. Race day dawned damp again but began to dry, so we stuck with the intermediates…Big mistake, the heavens opened but it was too late to change the tyres. The only other rider who didn’t have full wets on came in on lap two. I stuck it out, passed a few riders, then on lap 5 the bike decided it’d had enough even if I hadn’t, and stopped running. Fortunately due to wet electricals and not a blow motor as is the tendency with the big Yamahas, so we made the rest of the weekend into an impromptu Stag Party, including walking a full lap of the perimeter road to watch the 24hour race which took us almost 5 hours.
Some Pics (to follow) from Pembrey, No. 16 is the Spondon-Rotax, with the Bikes owner Brian Wyles in Hot pursuit, No. 20 is Sally Harmer’s Tigcraft-Yamaha, which I rode at Spa, the photo’s from practice at Pembrey prior to the trip to Spa.
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