I guess this trip to Jerez started on Wednesday night when I boarded the 777 to fly back from Atlanta…it had been a mad few days in the USA, with the election process taking centre scene. I had woken that morning at about 2 am to hear the acceptance speech of President elect Barack Obama, a historic moment and reason to party, but I was too tired and went back to sleep!

After flying all night and spending much of the day in bed at Gatwick, which as you know is exhausting! I boar... More...

This will be a shorter version of a race report than I usually do…….for one reason I fell off and for another in respect of Roob,…..who crashed the same day..

Glen picked me up from my old Mums in Grantham late afternoon, the plan being to get to Oulton by 7pm and set up the caravan before night fall. A quick drive over to the caravan storage met our first problem….the lights didn’t work on the Caravan. This was eventually found to be a wiring fault in Glen... More...

BMCRC/MRO, Cadwell Park August 2/3/2008

My week at home after the last race weekend at Cadwell had been spent enjoying the French “Joi de Vie” It made a change not to have to jet off anywhere. I used the time at home to go out on the road bike doing an average of about 40 kms a day and continuing with the weight training. Which at the time felt good but Thursday evening I felt as though I needed another 3 days off to recover! Catching the 0645, flight from Toulouse to Gatwic... More...

Cadwell Park 26th 27th July. 2008-07-29

Last week had been good and hot. I spent 3 days in Madras at the Taj Coromandel Hotel. It has an old world colonial charm and the usual, ever friendly staff. The daily temperature was about 33 degs and training in the gym was to be good practice for a hot weekend at Cadwell. Back home I kept up the training regime doing lots of Kilometres on my bike and weights every day.

Thursday, I left the house in France at 8am, to travel over to Cad... More...

It was 31 deg at home as I packed yet another case to come over to the UK to race and then Sunday fly to Chicago……”You could stay,” said Dom with just a bit more of a wish in her voice and a glint in her eye.
”No I have to go.” I had booked the practice day Friday as I haven’t ridden at Donnington for two years. I didn’t want to go straight out and race without knowing where I was going. I did that once at Brands and it all ended in tears at P... More...

I arrived in good time at Cadwell for my second visit there this year. This time I was to race with the Bemsee club in the Powerbikes and perhaps the Superstock 1000 class.
Thursday evening was initially good weather and I got the Caravan sorted but then as I decided to attempt the jigsaw puzzle of the awning, I’d never even taken it out of the bag before, it started to rain, hard, and the wind got very strong, I mean really strong…..Anyway after about an hour of trial and error... More...

Derby Phoenix, Snetterton. 20/21/22 June

This time it was all going to different. No rushing about no jet lag and no stress. I had a week off before the Snetterton meeting so planned to keep the fitness routine going, my new push bike is just great! And be in top shape for my first visit to the “Fast Track” for two years. Fate as always had other ideas…..Monday morning, while helping clear up after the weekends family bash I put my back out lifting a Ping Pong table&#... More...

Two days before the Almeria track day started I was on the beach in Abu Dhabi watching the Red Bull Air Races…..that was some impressive flying! I wondered how much a Race plane might cost? The sport has speed danger, lots of adrenalin and quite a bit of glamour just my ticket! It seemed that half of Abu Dhabi was there to watch. The day was finished off with BA Captain, Paul Bonhom taking first place.

After flying back to Heathrow and then on to Bordeaux, I jumped into the van w... More...

Ah ha, great! The clocks go back! That will give me an extra hours sleep before setting off for Nogaro and my first real French Track day. Well I needed the sleep after flying back from Atlanta. Awake most of the night, I finally got to Bordeaux at 5pm a bomb scare in the ladies loo took another hour to resolve then home. Changing the wheels to newly shod Metezler Slicks, easy job? Not when the bloody axel bolt decides to strip the thread and requires sawing off. Lucky I had a spare axel, new b... More...

Catalunya Testing with Hottrax



After a 5 hour drive from home in France I arrived at Circuit de Catalunya, The Hotel Augusta just off Junction 13 would be home for the next few days. It’s clean and tidy and just 5 minutes from the track….as long as you don’t get lost that is!

Catalunya is a fantastic track with 8 right hand and 4 left hand corners, grippy tarmac and lots of elevation changes.

The facilities are al... More...

Practice Friday

All went well with testing until the last session when I High Sided coming out of the Hairpin!! Bruised and battered I got away quite lightly but had to spend the rest of the night with Glenn my spanner man rebuilding the K7. Racing was going to be hard after such a crash…..and it was.




Saturday practice.

The first few laps were taken very easy as I wanted to make sure the bike was handling properly, my left knee was very sore and se... More...

Practice Practice Practice!


Firstly a huge sorry for not getting some news out sooner but life got real difficult after the Brands Hatch meeting. The Ducati was taken to Pro Twins to assess the overall damage, which was not too bad actually. The frame was not bent, nor the sub frame so good news there! The clutch was taken apart for a proper clean as was the timing belt covers to make sure no dirt and grit was hiding there. While all this was being done a Quick Action Throttle was ... More...

It was all going to go well this week end, I had fine tuned my bidding to get back into the UK early on Saturday, leaving enough time to get some sleep before picking up the Ducati, complete with new Slipper Clutch from Pro Twins, and ambling over to Brands. Although I had not ridden there before I planned to walk the track and get a real feel for the place before practice on Sunday. But as usual the world of aviation was to throw a spanner in the works. I was due to leave Newark, New Jersey air... More...

Cadwell Race Report May 12th

Saturday morning was dry, I was in the 2nd heat of the All Comers. Practice the day before had gone well, the bikes setup changes had made it so much easier to ride, I was confident of getting better results this weekend. At the collection area I was given grid position 23, not the best. As we lined up, I saw 4 Novice riders and a 250cc bike made up most of the front two rows. Turn one, Coppice, was going to be crowded!! The Ducati gave me another good start... More...

Setup Changes by Pro V Twins.

After my last meeting at Mallory, Dom and I had gone to Hong Kong for a few days to party! Well she had been working and I had enjoyed the delights of First Class travel. While there I had enjoyed myself a little too much in Lang Kwai Fong, After a night of alcohol, good Asian food and dancing in, Insomnia, I had managed to aggravate my lower back. Dancing is definitely more dangerous than racing. The pain only became apparent after the anaesthetic qualitie... More...

As usual I was late, not because any fault of the world in general but down to my own desire to cram 30 hours into 24!! I had been in Madras since Tuesday, three days in the sun thinking about the days racing at Mallory and working on my fitness and suntan, seemed like the ideal way to prepare for racing. But after the 11 hour flight back and another dash up the A1 to my Mothers house, changing the oil, and trying in vain to change the rear sprocket (if only I had loosened the chain it might hav... More...

Race Report. Croft 31st March, 1st April

The notice board gave the air temp as 34 deg and pool 28 deg, I guess a bit hot for racing but it was still Thursday and the forecast for race weekend was a lot cooler, but staying dry. Friday 30th was always going to be a busy day, getting to the track for the first race of the season always seems to take longer than mid season. On Thursday, when I heard my mate was already on his way, I knew I was well behind the drag curve. The fact that I wa... More...

Cadwell Track Day, 11th March.

I guess the day started at about 3am when I woke with food poisoning, just one of the joys of foreign travel! Just what I needed on my only UK Test Day, before racing starts on 31st March. The day before I had returned from Abuja, drove to Winchester and picked up the 1098 from Moto Rapido. The 600 mile service completed and now with its new, Profibre, Race Fairing and 520 chain conversion. The 1098 looked every bit a race bike. Then, a... More...

1098 Breaking News!

After successful testing of the 1098 in Nogaro the long haul back to the UK was done on Tuesday 6th March. Rain and high winds made for a difficult 14 hour journey, but enabled the Ducati 1098 to be with, Moto Rapido, first thing Wednesday to carry out the 600 mile service. The 520 chain conversion and the newly acquired Race Fairing, supplied by, Profibre, are also to be fitted.. See link page for contact details to Rich at Profibre.

All of the above is pre... More...

The flight back from Chicago was 7hrs 20min. It had been snowing during our departure and complete de-icing of the Boeing 777 had been required. The delay caused by the weather though was soon clawed back thanks to the help of a 130 knot jet stream that pushed us towards the UK, with a speed over the ground of over 600 mph. An expeditious arrival into Heathrow, an event worthy of note in itself, lead to us parking on stand 10 minutes early. All this was just another night’s work, but Tuesd... More...

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