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TRIPLE MMM RACING COMPETE WITH THE MRO AGAIN.

After competing with New Era for most of the season, we decided to do the MRO meeting at Brands Hatch GP circuit. Mainly as it's one of the best circuits in the UK. It would be good to race against some of the teams we had not seen for a while.

We did not do the Friday practice day, as funds were still quite low, so the weekend was going to be tough we would have to make do with old tyres for most of the weekend.

SATURDAY.

QUALIFYING 1.

The session went quite well, Andy was just keen to get back on the bike after such a long lay off. The speed returned pretty quickly, Andy was pretty much straight away one of the quicker riders out there.

Andy managed 6 laps in the first qualifying session, and every lap was an improvement. To our surprise we were 5th at the end of the session with a best lap of  1min 37.408 seconds. This was a couple of seconds slower than the lap time we had managed in 2004, but since then one of the corners had been tightened up a little. Even so, 5th from 24 riders after a near 3 month lay off was pretty impressive. It certainly surprised a few of the MRO front runners.

QUALIFYING 2.

This session ended up being almost a waste of time, due to stoppages. Andy did 2 laps before the red flags came out, then another 2 when the session restarted. No improvements to the lap time was made, and Andy dropped to 6th on the grid. To be honest, we were very pleased with this result. We didn't expect to be near the pace so quickly. Pole position was Gary May with a stunning lap of 1min 33.576 seconds.

SUPERPOLE RACE - 4 LAPS.

This was supposed to be over 6 laps, but due to the amount of race stoppages through the day, it was cut to 4 laps. The race started at about 6pm very near the noise cut off time.

Andy didn't get too good a start and dropped to 8th, the old tyres were now beginning to struggle to find grip. Even so, Andy managed to get one place back before the chequered flag, and moved up to 7th. This meant that Andy would now be moved form his qualifying position of 6th, down to 7th for Sundays races.

SUNDAY.

Overnight on Saturday, the bike received it's usual thorough strip, inspect and rebuild. No problems were expected, and none were found. The weather for the day was looking good, so a good days racing was on the cards.

RACE 1 - 9 LAPS.

From 7th on the grid Andy made a superb start, and was 3rd away from the line, he quickly took the lead on the entry to Paddock Hill bend. It was an absolutely awesome start to the race. Going onto the back straight Andy was passed by Chris Bishop and finished lap 1 in second position. On lap 3 Andy was passed by both Gary May (ex British 250 championship race winner) and Lee Dickinson. He managed to stay right with them for a couple of laps, but now a lack of race fitness was beginning to show, and Andy dropped down to 5th position and was slowly being gapped by the lead pack.

Andy kept hold of a comfortable 5th position. A superb result considering our lack of racing this season.

Best lap - 1min 35.174 seconds.

RACE 2 - 9 LAPS.

Before the race we decided to gamble on a different gearing set up. As we were treating the meeting as a bit of a practice session we felt we had nothing to loose by trying.

This time out, not such a good start, Andy dropped to 9th off the line into Paddock Hill bend, but managed to get a couple of places back to finish lap one in 7th place. The new gearing was taking a bit of getting used to, and on lap 2 Andy dropped to 8th position, where he stayed until lap 5. On lap 6 Andy was now getting to grips with the gearing, some corners were better some were worse. Andy had now made it up to 6th position and was rapidly catching Chris Bishop. A passing move was imminent, and on lap 8 Andy made the decisive move up to 5th, where finished the race.

Andy improved his best lap to 1 min 34.716seconds.

CONCLUSIONS.

Considering all aspects of the weekend, it was an awesome performance from Andy, we were not expecting to get back on the pace so quickly after such a long time out of the saddle.

Normally for an MRO meeting we would use 3 or 4 new tyres and also do the Friday practice, but as funds were very limited, we did no practice (unlike most of our rivals) and only had 1 new tyre all weekend.

 

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Click the blue titles below to read our previous news updates.

2006 - Mid Season Report.
2006 - New Era Superclub Round 4 - Pembrey.
2006 - New Era Superclub Round 3 - Oulton Park.
2006 New Era Superclub Round 1&2 - Snetterton.
2006 Testing Sessions News.
2006 Pre-season News.
MRO 2005 Round 8 - Brands Hatch News.
MRO 2005 Round 7 - Pembrey News.
MRO 2005 Round 6 - Cadwell Park News.
MRO 2005 Round 5 - Knockhill News.
MRO 2005 Round 4 - Snetterton News.
MRO 2005 Round 3 - Silverstone News.
MRO 2005 Round 2 - Croft News.
MRO 2005 Round 1 - Brands Hatch News.
Pre Season News Update 2005.