Held Racer Report: Wigley Racing, Brands Hatch British Supersport

Brands Hatch GP Race Report 

The final round of the British Superbike season took place at Brands Hatch on our third visit to the Kent based circuit of the year. The weekend began on a good foot as we hit the damp circuit for free practice 1. Kurt took the first stages of the session steady due to the unpredictable conditions but then began to increase the pace as the dry line appeared leaving himself in P4 for the opening session.

 Free practice 2 proved to be somewhat of a challenge for the team as an incorrect gearing change meant that Kurt was struggling to get the power on the exit of the turns, despite this, we began developing the suspension setup for the demanding circuit so that it did not go to waste.

The challenge with finding a smooth bike setup continued into the qualifying session as each lap Kurt was on the limit of losing the front entering the first and final turn, along with this, we continued to search for a solution to the bike running excessively wide on the exit of fast turns. Kurt improved on his lap time throughout the session but unfortunately it was only enough to leave him in P15 for the grid in the afternoons sprint race.

The opening race of the final round was tense as several changes was made in a bid to reach where we aimed to be. As the lights went out, Kurt immediately began to make up positions, however, it wasn’t long before the bad luck struck and it became apparent Kurt was suffering with progressive brake fade. On the entrance to turn 4, Kurt failed to slow down enough but attempted to make the corner nevertheless. This resulted in him losing the front and crashing out. Kurt was unhurt nor was the bike severely damaged but frustration arose with how the day had panned out.

Due to Saturdays race being cut short for the team, we started the feature race back in P19 but determined to make the most of a bad situation. With nothing to lose, we made a further gearing change along with alterations to the front suspension and engine braking. As the lights went out for the second time, Kurt headed to the outside of the circuit aiming to keep a smooth line and carry the momentum. Over the course of the race, Kurt moved up to P11 for the finish.

Despite a series of DNFs and technical issues at the beginning of the year, we concluded our rookie season with a P15 in the British Supersport series and totaling eight top 10 finishes. We would like to greatly thank everyone who has been involved throughout the season as we could not do it without you. 2018 plans will soon be confirmed as we aim to continue our progression. 

We're pleased to supply Wigley Racing over the years with Held. They are currently using Held Phantom II gloves! www.held-uk.co.uk

Held Racer Report: Kurt & Matt Wigley, Thruxton

Thruxton Race Report

Last weekend British Superbikes were down at Thruxton for the seventh round of the championship. Due to the lack of time following our discovery of the reduced bhp of the Supersport R6, we were to attend the fastest circuit on the calendar knowing that top speed would be a struggle.

Nicely showing off the Held Gloves!

FP1 began looking positive, however as the session progressed, Kurt struggled to improve his lap time due problems with the bikes handling. Exiting the fast sweeping corners, the bike was sliding and bouncing around in the attempt to high side. The team put their heads together to establish a solution following the 13th place finish which is not where we aimed to be. This lead to a series of suspension changes to compensate for the bumpy flat out circuit.

The second free practice session began to look positive as by lap 4 Kurt had knocked 0.6 of a second off his best lap from the previous session, however, this came to an abrupt stop as it became apparent that we were facing similar problems to the mornings FP1. The session came to an end with a 15th place finish and confusion as to where we had gone wrong.

Saturdays qualifying session was later in the day leaving us some more time to understand what we were up against. Under further inspections we identified that there was a mechanical fault with the rear shock meaning there was nothing we could do to the settings to resolve the handling issue. The shock was removed and serviced in preparation for Q1. Kurt took another 0.6 off his best lap time but because of the series of events leading up to this we were playing catch up and had to start from scratch back at the original base setting for the suspension as any alterations previously made were obsolete. The session came to a close with another 15th place finish.

Saturday afternoon brought the 10-lap sprint race for the Supersport class. Further changes were made leading up to the race which always hold a risk that it wasn’t for the better, however, this was not the case and Kurt’s personal best lap time was improved again. Kurt was in a heated battle with another 5 riders making his way up to 11th position at one stage. On the final but last lap, Kurt over ran the chicane leading onto the home straight and in the attempt to revert the advantage gained he fell back to P14 for the chequered flag.

Sunday brought an 18 lap feature race meaning tyre wear was a problem that everyone faced due to the abrasive circuit of Thruxton. The second race proved the difficulty faced with competing when down on power as every lap Kurt was overtaken on the back straight reaching speeds in excess of 150mph. This meant that he had to try and outbreak someone leading to him failing to stop and missing the chicane on several occasions each time knocking him out of a rhythm. The race came to a close with another 14th position finish picking up points in the championship but frustrated with the circumstances of the weekend.

Cadwell Park is right around the corner and we aim for a better performance with plans in place to replace the engine.

Held UK are proud to support Kurt and Matt Wigley with Race Gloves! www.held-uk.co.uk

Wigley Racing: Donington Park WSBK Race Report

Donington Park WSBK Race Report

This was the second weekend Matt had visited Donington Park to race this year.  This was good for the team as we was able to pick up where we left off. As the supersport class does not compete here we was down to one rider.

 Fridays Free Practice proved to be a step in the direction that we had hoped for as Matt was able to pick up where he left off and get up to race pace in the early stages of the session. Despite the 37◦C track temperature and sweltering heat, Matt was still able to put his best time in towards the end of the session, putting him in 27th Place.  Although there was plenty of room for improvement it was a good start to the weekend. 

Saturdays Qualifying however took a turn for the worst. Although Matt had high aspirations with a plan for improvement, his progression was stalled when an unbalanced tyre hindered his lap times.  As the session progressed Matt was unable to get any feel from the bike as the front end was juddering violently.  Despite this being the case Matt still matched the time from Fridays FP1 session but the lack of improvement put him 31st place on the Grid for Sunday’s back-to-back race.

Matt had a brilliant start to the 100 mile race as by lap 2 he had battled his way up to 23rd place.  As the race progressed and the pack fanned out it was harder to jump each gap.  By lap 10 we had used up all the good rubber and as Matt started to slow, he was swallowed up dropping back to 27th place.  For the restart Matt took his 27th place grid position. This put him at more of an advantage due to his inside positioning on the track.  This allowed him to gain places with fewer risks on the entry to the first turn.  With new tyres Matt was able to push through the pack and work his way up to 20th place. After an off track excursion on lap 2 at the Foggy Esses he had it all to do again.  Nevertheless as the race progressed Matt battled his way up to a respectable 19th place and knocked 1.9 seconds off his personal best.

It was a positive result for the team with yet another top teen finish in the Stock 1000 class.  We look forward to the next British Superbike round at Knockhill in just a couple of weeks’ time. 


*Held UK are pleased to supply gloves to Wigley racing! For more information on Held in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Held Racer Report: Kurt & Matt Wigley, National Superstock 600, Rd 6

Round 6, Snetterton 300 Race Report

The weekend of the 9th & 10 July was the 6 round of British Pirelli National 600 Superstock where we had a rollercoaster of race meeting. The sixth round kicked off to a bad start with Kurt being taken out mid-way through Fridays practice session when someone crashed into the back of him entering the hairpin of turn 2. After spending the past two weeks building Kurt a new bike the whole team was disheartened. Matt had a better session with getting to grips with the circuit and the tricky wet conditions.

Later that day was the first Qualifying session of the event and looking at the forecast it was to be the only dry session meaning this one had to count. Matt was sent out on circuit with no pit board or crew in pit late as the team were working franticly to get Kurt’s bike fixed from the mornings incident and passed through technical control. Kurt eventually made it out on circuit with 6 laps remaining of the session where he began late 20’s and every lap jumped up another handful of positions until the final lap which put him in 13th. Matt had ‘a bad day at the office’ as he struggled to settle down and piece together a lap time which put him on the backwards foot for the race in 24th.

Qualifying two was a wet session as predicted by the forecast therefore nobody could improve their times which wasn’t our best interest as we felt there was more to give with additional time, however the morning warm up session on Sunday was a step in the right direction. Matt lead for most of the short session as he was determined to get up to pace ready for the race later on. Kurt spent the session in the 30’s testing out some changes the team had made to the suspension in order to allow the bike to turn in easier when carrying speed, on the final lap Kurt got his head down and set a time that was 0.4 of a second faster than his qualifying session leaving him 4th and Matt 9th out of the 40 competitors.

This weekend was an early race at 11:30, just in time before the rain returned. As the lights went out both lads began to barge their way through those in front, unfortunately for Matt, he only made it to turn two before a repeat of Kurt’s Friday incident was duplicated and he hit the ground following another racer crashing into the back of him smashing his back wheel. Once it was established that Matt was okay the attention of the team was turned to Kurt. After the first lap he made it up to an impressive 8th place and continued to better his lap times picking people off throughout the sprint. The end of the race came and Kurt crossed the line in 5th place as by the time he got to the front of the group the leading 4 had already broken away. This was a solid finish putting Kurt up to 8th in the championship.

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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.

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.

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