Friday 6 May 2016

Held Racer Report: Kurt & Matt Wigley, Superstock 600

Round 2 – Oulton Park

This weekend was the second race of the 2016 British Superbike season at a wet and cold Oulton Park. The team had an excellent start to the weekend with Kurt running in second place for the majority of the morning practice session and Matt in 4th. It was difficult conditions as some areas of the circuit was dry and others wet. We completed the session in 4th for Kurt and during the final couple of laps Matt got pushed to 10th out of the 40 competitors.

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Qualifying one took place on the Saturday evening which began wet before beginning to dry up and finally followed by hail. The fastest qualifying times were set during the initial stages of the session due to the change in weather conditions which left Kurt in an impressive 6th position on the grid and after being in the top 5 also Matt completed the session with a strong 10th position.

The second qualifying session of the weekend was the most challenging as there was a tough decision between a new wet or new rear tyre, this was a last minute decision due to the instant changes on conditions presented. During the beginning stages the lap times were around 8 seconds off the previous session due to the water on track but this soon disappeared as the qualifying progressed and by the final 5 minutes new fastest lap times were being set. Kurt planned ahead and ensured he had a bit of clear circuit in front of him for the final lap where he crossed the line jumping up to 5th position after narrowly missing out on 3rd on the grid but leaving the team with great excitement. Matt spend the session building on his times and racing with other competitors but when it came down to the final laps when the dry line began to appear he struggled to put his lap together despite having faster sectors meaning he started the race from 15th.

The bank holiday race finally came around mid-day on Monday just in time for the rain. We were all in good positive spirits for the race especially with Kurt starting in the middle of the second row which also gained the team additional television coverage whilst the delayed start took place due to the standing water on the circuit. As soon as the lights went out Matt began his mission to battle his way to the front in the heavy rain with visibility due to the spray of other bikes. It didn’t take long for Matt to enter the top 10 but by this point Kurt had already been caught out by the slippery conditions and lost the front in the chicane crashing out. Matt continued to progress after watching Kurt’s race end early and found himself in 6th position. During the final two laps, Matt almost joined Kurt on exiting a turn as the bike pitched him out of the seat which unfortunately resulted in the two places previously gained being lost. Matt crossed the finish line to take 8th position for the second round of the season.


After such a great performance this weekend we are all looking forward to Brands Hatch in a couple of weeks and are feeling determined to achieve some good results.

To read more about Held in the UK 
please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Thursday 5 May 2016

Held Racer Report: Leon Jeacock, National Superstock 1000

Character building weekend for Held wearer Leon

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After a solid start to his campaign in the opening round at Silverstone, Leon had high hopes going into round 2 of the ‘Pirelli National Superstock1000 with Black Horse Championship’ at Oulton Park Cheshire.

However bad luck struck and he went into free practice on Saturday morning feeling decidedly under the weather after falling ill the evening before. The session was held in driving rain and the circuit was sodden. Using the conditions to gain some wet settings he brought the Geo E Davies BMW home in one piece. Qualifying one was held four hours after free practice and the fickle British weather had turned from an unsettled and wet morning to a bright and dry afternoon. Leon provisionally qualified nineteenth despite his poor health. This proved to be his starting position on the grid as qualifying two on Sunday turned out to be a total washout.

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Despite everything Leon was confident of a points score in the race even starting from row seven as he said “the BMW was mega around Oulton” Going for a wet front and dry rear tyre combination, the race plan went out of the window at the first corner as he was caught up the midpack shuffle. He was pushed out wide onto the extremely wet outer edge of the track and it took some skilful manoeuvring to keep out of trouble. Ending up thirty fifth at the end of lap one Leon put his head down and set about carving through the field and gained places lap after lap. Putting in a great comeback ride he just missed out on a points finish as he crossed the finish line in sixteenth position.


Speaking after he said “I am happy after the weekend I had to come through with the result I did especially after being pushed out wide onto the dirty wet part of the track at the first corner, we showed great pace and the BMW was awesome. It's been a great team effort in trying conditions”

To learn more about Leon Jeacock please visit www.leonjeacock.co.uk

To learn more about Held in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Wednesday 4 May 2016

NEWS: YAMAHA PROVIDES TRACK-DAY TEST RIDES

YAMAHA PROVIDES TRACK-DAY TEST RIDES

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Yamaha Supersport Pro Tour 2016
The new Supersport Pro Tour arrives in the UK this month and introduces a test ride opportunity for supersport and track-day riders. The Pro Tour carries a fleet of demonstration YZF-R1 and YZF-R6 machines that are available for riders to test ride on the race track.

The Pro Tour track rides will give an opportunity fully to explore the performance of these race-developed machines with free instruction provided by professional riders. The tour will visit Oulton Park, Silverstone and Donington Park and to take up one of the free supersport test rides you simply need to join one of the three chosen official trackdays at these iconic circuits.

The public is being asked to sign up for one of these trackdays today and then book a demo YZF-R1 or YZF-R6 for one of your sessions at:

13 May 2016    Oulton Park    MSV Trackdays    0843 453 3000  
 www.msvtrackdays.com

16 May 2016    Silverstone GP    Silverstone Trackdays    0844 372 8329    www.silverstone.co.uk

21 May 2016    Donington Park    Focused Events    0845 026 7272   www.focusedevents.com


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