After two rounds dominated by heavy rain, we turned up to Brands Hatch in the grip of a mini heatwave and with the prospect of a dry track all weekend.
A clear run in consistent conditions makes a big difference for the riders as they get up to speed and fine tune the set-up of their Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki ZX-10RRs. We know that both Jason and Max go well at Brands so the whole team was looking forward to a positive weekend and some strong results.
What a circuit, the name ‘Brands Hatch’ is synonymous with motorsport the world over. The amphitheatre of the Indy Circuit gives way to the grand prix loop which swoops through the trees as the track goes down through the 180 miles per hour Pilgrim’s Drop and then up through the blind crest into Sheene Curve. Spectators are spoiled for choice with so many spots to get a close up look at superbikes being ridden on the limit.
Free Practice
Air temperature 30 degrees and track temperature 48 degrees as the bikes rolled out at 1pm on Friday for the first of the 40-minute free practice sessions.
Max’s session was curtailed by a technical gremlin, so he’d have a busy FP2. Jason worked through his programme and was running P6 until some fast laps were posted at the end of the session. Had some teams opted to run their second free practice tyre thinking the track temperature might he higher when it was time for the afternoon runs? The times from the practice sessions determine the top 12 who go straight through to the second phase of qualifying proper.
Still as hot as you like at 4pm for FP2. Max’s technical glitch all sorted. Immediately faster but with times so tight it was always going to be a struggle to make up for missing a session. A long new tyre run at the end enabled Max to get within 0.9 of Glenn Irwin’s fastest time of 1.25.8. However, with the times being so close Max was P17 with work to do in the first qualifying session on Saturday lunchtime.
Jason opted for a significant chassis change going into FP2, trying it out for a few laps on the used tyre from FP1. Once he was comfortable and the second set of free practice tyres went in, he was right on the pace, P4 just 0.2 slower than Vickers’ fastest time. As the session drew to a close, the times continued to drop. On his 14th lap Jason found half a second to hold onto P4, only to be pipped in the dying seconds by Glenn Irwin and Kent. P6, 0.3 off the fastest time but confident there was a bit more to come.
With the times so tight and Brands offering limited overtaking opportunities, qualifying strongly was going to be essential – as it always is.
Qualifying
Cooler conditions and cloud cover made things more comfortable on Saturday morning. The qualifying hour phase of the weekend starts with a ten-minute run for the whole field to give the riders a chance to assess any engine or chassis set up changes and check out any changes to the track conditions. Both Max and Jason could feel the difference and were happy enough with the overnight changes we’d made.
Max was out in the first qualifying run and started the 15-minute session on old tyres before a quick change to new tyres for a time attack during the remaining eight minutes. Time for five laps in ideal conditions to compete for the top three times that see those riders through to Q2. Didn’t work out for Max who reported the bike was chattering into the slower corners. The vibration through the bars significantly reduces rider confidence on corner entry and makes the exit less smooth – all a bit ‘on/off’. Max ended up P8, three quarters of a second slower than Ryde and quarter of a second from safety. Time to focus on making progress in the races.
Jason had a strong run in Q2. Straight out on new tyres rather than taking two bites as a number did, first on used tyres before a change to new Pirelli slicks, front and rear. P7, less than 0.4 from Vickers’ pole position time (which was only just over 0.1 shy of the lap record). Impressive times especially bearing in mind that only the slightly harder compound SC0 rear tyre is the option this year as the supersoft SCX is no longer permitted.
Three very close races coming up.
Race One
20 lap feature race. Temperature climbing again meaning 30 minutes very hard work ahead for the riders. It’s why they spend hours in the gym and riding miles on their push bikes – stamina and strength really matter, especially over the final five laps.
Good start from Jason off the third row and into turn one, Paddock Hill Bend, P6, but then squeezed at Druids Hairpin and a bit offline down into Graham Hill Bend left him back in P9. That was pretty much the race for Jason as he struggled to find a comfortable pace to move forward. The second half of his race was taken up dicing with Buchan and Jackson – crossing the line ahead of Buchan but 0.014 behind Jackson as they crossed the line side-by-side, P9.
Max had a tough time too as he was severely compromised by his poor starting position – P19. Battled his way forward, eventually making his way up to P12. 10 seconds behind Jason who in turn was 14 seconds behind Vickers who won by over seven seconds – quite some performance in such a competitive BSB field.
Race Two
Overnight rain and much cooler. Damp track meant a steady 10-minute warm up on Sunday morning but fast enough to check out and confirm some set up changes on Jason’s bike. Both he and Max ended the session confident they were better prepared for the day’s races.
Race one lap times set race two grid positions. For the 12-lap sprint race, Max would go from P13 giving him more of a chance to go with the leading group. Jason two places further up P11. Both would have to get their heads down.
Decent launches off the line by both before it all went off at the apex of Paddock Hill. Buchan making a move on the inside of Kent clipped him and both went down, taking Irwin with them. Jason avoided the chaos and emerged P6. Max was lucky not to be collected and lost a whole load of places taking avoiding action. Safety car deployed to clear up the mess and look after the riders, thankfully they all escaped serious injury.
Safety car in and the race resumed, Jason put firm but fair moves on Haslam and Andrew Irwin for P4. Max was now all the way back in P15 and working his way forward.
Red flag – Hedger crashed heavily leaving himself and the remains of his bike in a dangerous position. Another five lap restart – grid based on track positions the lap before the red flag. Jason P4, Max P13.
Max made a perfect start and arrived alongside Iddon in turn one only for Andrew Irwin to push Iddon wide causing Max to brake and lose four places as those on the inside were unimpeded. After that all he could was fight back to one place higher than where he started as the five laps were soon over. Jason fared even worse as he’d lost the feel from his bike after the restart and a couple of hard moves pushed him back. Unable to respond, Jason finished a disappointed P11 after Nesbitt passed him on the run to the line.
Race Three
One last chance to finish the weekend with a couple of decent results. 20 lap feature race. Due to our difficult sprint race restart, we weren’t helped by the lap times for grid slots rule. Max P11, Jason P13.
Safe starts and Max and Jason came out of Druids together with Jason just ahead. Max put a cheeky pass on Jason into Surtees and then into Paddock Hill bend on lap two, Max made a clean pass on Brookes only to be pushed wide at Druids as Brookes retaliated. Spoiled Max’s race as he lost three places, but it worked in Jason’s favour as he was able to nip inside and pass Max and Brookes in one move.
Not much happened after that. Jason got by Haslam briefly before being passed by Glenn Irwin recovering from a back of the grid start following his race two crash. Crossed the line P8, right behind Irwin and with Nesbitt hard on his heels. Max completed the race P12, stuck behind Brookes – that lap two incident – and on the back of the group which included Haslam, Nesbitt, Irwin and Jason. Up front, another dominant victory for Vickers making it a triple winning weekend for him.
Championship Standings
Another hard work weekend with others making progress in the points standings.
Jason is still ahead of Haslam, but Vickers’ three wins have moved him up him past Jason who is now P7 in the standings on 128 points. Max is still P12 on 70 points, really not a true reflection of his speed.
Next Time
Thruxton next – high speed drifting and tyre management on the fastest circuit we visit. Scene of Jason’s triple win last year and Max leading a race for the first time and coming within fractions of a second of his first superbike podium. The pace is really hot this year so I’m sure it will be ‘elbows out’! Anyway, let’s hope we have good weather and a clear run to some decent results.
Hope to see you there.
STOP PRESS
We’ve been supporting Max’s younger brother, 16-year-old James, in the new Kawasaki Superteens Championship. Difficult start to the season due to a couple of technical issues and an ankle injury sustained at round one at Oulton Park, but it all came good at Brands. Third place in the first of three races was James’ first podium in the class. He followed up by showing his true speed and racing talent by winning both Sunday races – the second by just 0.007! All three races were really close and dramatic with six or seven youngsters battling wheel to wheel at the front. Well done James, richly deserved.
Regards. Nigel. Team Principal.
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