Burns Races to 1st place 4 times at Knockhill

The opening bike race meeting of 2013 for Knockhill Motor Sports Club provided the spectators with some thrilling entertainment, with Joe Burns winning 4 of the 5 KMSC Superbike/Clubman Championship races.

Joe Burns - Superstock 1000 podium next?

Joe topped the qualifying time sheet in conditions that were dry and sunny but with strong gusts of wind, undeterred  he beat the other 28 riders to pole position by 1.317 seconds! 

Sunday dawned with a typical mixture of rain, sun and wind, however in the changeable conditions race one took place in the dry and Joe was able to race away from pole position and pull a lead of 3.85 seconds to come home in first place and with the added bonus of fastest lap of 50.892, set on lap 7.

Joe’s second race of the day took place in damp/windy conditions, which slowed the lap times a little, however the result was another win, and this time by an excellent 10.492 seconds, and fastest lap of 51.104 on lap 6. 

The third race of the day was in equally difficult damp and windy conditions,  however this did not stop Joe from taking a lights to flag victory, romping to the line by 10.392 seconds, and with another fastest lap of 51.497 to add to the collection from the day.

Race 4 for Joe, and after venturing out on track he found the conditions to be very mixed, dry in parts, with a very narrow dry line to the hairpin and then streaming wet further round, so the decision was made not to risk the bike, so he sat the race out. 
Race 5 of the day for Joe and with grid positions decided from your previous race result he found himself at the back of the grid, he quickly worked his way through the back markers and hit the front by lap 5, but this time the result was much closer with just 0.225 separating Joe in first place from Bruce Birnie the reigning Scottish Superbike Champion in second place. 

At the end of the very busy days racing Joe said that ‘Once again the bike felt really good and strong we have the setup right for Knockhill, and this has been useful preparation for Oulton Park next weekend. I am very happy with the JG Speedfit Kawasaki bike, and today was very enjoyable with 4 great results, I cannot wait for Oulton Park. 

Joe and the JG Speedfit Kawasaki Racing team left Knockhill very satisfied with the weekends work, the Knockhill Motor Sports Club website described the KMSC Superbike/Clubman Races as follows: ‘In the Superbike class, it was that man Burns who would prove the class of the field, aboard is JG Speedfit Kawasaki Racing machine, securing four wins in an impressive display’. 

For more information on the gear Joe wears, Held Bike gear, please visit www.held-uk.co.uk  

Burns races to 4th, sets fastest lap

The solid start to Held wearing racer Joe Burns Championship campaign in the 2013 Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship continued at Thruxton over the weekend of 12, 13, 14 April, and once again the weather played its part in proceedings with the Friday morning warm up being wet, however undeterred Joe topped the group B timesheet by 4 10 tenths of a second. 

Held wearer Joe Burns - National Superstock 1000 frontrunner

Once again with close to 60 entries Qualifying was spilt into two groups and Group B took to the track  in the late afternoon in dry and bright conditions.  By the end of the session Joe was 3rd quickest just 0.185 off the fastest time. 

The weather came into play again on Saturday with qualifying 2 halted due to rain, which just poured down flooding the track. The consequence being that Joe started 6th on the grid based on the aggregate times of the two groups. 

Sunday dawned with a mix of cloud and sunshine, and the race took place in dry conditions with Joe using his tried and trusted race strategy, keep clear of any first corner mayhem and put in good consistent lap times, and once again it went to plan. 

Joe dropped to ninth place on the first lap, but then began to work his way forward, there were some damp patches on track that were catching the unwary riders, even Joe had a ‘moment’ when he went sideways at Cobb, however he recovered quickly and by lap 7 was in 4th place and catching the leading trio by 1 second a lap. 

By lap 10 he had closed to within 0.3 seconds of the third place man Steve Brogan and the John Guest Speedfit bike and rider looked supreme, everything was set of a thrilling finish until three riders fell off just before Allard, causing a red flag.

Consequently Joe finished the race in 4th, but once again with fastest lap to his credit, and with a huge confidence boost of knowing that he was catching the leaders and with 5 laps left would have been on the podium. This would have been a nice early birthday present for him as on the 15th he celebrates his 21st birthday. 

After the race Joe said that ‘The bike had felt really good, and I am very disappointed not to have had the opportunity to challenge for the podium, just 3 more laps and I would have been past them! But I must take the positives, I am happy with the JG Speedfit Kawasaki bike and today was a good result with more points on the board, I cannot wait for Oulton Park.'

Joe and the JG Speedfit Kawasaki Racing team left Thruxton with 21 Championship points and 4th position in the leader board. There is now a short break until round 3 which takes place at  Oulton Park on the Bank Holiday weekend of 04/05/06 May. 

Joe Burns wears Held leathers and gloves. For more information on the Held range please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Sean Neary Brands Hatch race report - Ducati 848 Challenge round 1

Race Report – Round 1 – Brands Hatch

Sean Neary - in his Held gear

It has been a long winter waiting for this weekend! After an awesome pre-season I was feeling confident in the run up. Unfortunately it was clear from the first practice session that our base set up which we had worked on in Spain and Anglesey just wasn’t working. I was running wide under acceleration which is the most crucial aspect to make a fast lap.
I finished the practice session in 6th which I was surprised about really as I knew the set up wasn’t working. After speaking with the K Tech (Suspension) support team we decided to go back to their recommended base settings and start over again. The difficulty of doing this at BSB is the lack of track time we get and it’s risky to make big changes when going into a race/qualifying. That said I knew we had to make big changes to make it work so I took the gamble and qualified 10th therefore putting me on the third row of the grid. We made improvements to the set up but we were still running horribly wide under acceleration.

Race 1
An average start saw me in about 12th going into the first corner however the elbows came out and I managed to work up to 6th position before the brake lever began to fade as the race went on. I managed to finish the race in 8th position. Not what I was looking for but a solid start! We made some more changes to try and help with the suspension and bled the brake system overnight.

Race 2
I struggled again in race 2 under acceleration and almost had a huge crash on lap 12 trying to ride around the problem. We once again lost brake power and it now looks like we have a damaged master cyclinder (sorry for the technical report which probably sounds very boring!) We will be purchasing a new one to eliminate this problem moving forward.
Brands Hatch was always going to be a tough round as we don’t do any testing there but I didn’t expect it to be as tough as it was. I will now get some testing in before Donington to ensure we can get to a good base setting with our suspension and we should be flying. The pace was hot in the 848 Challenge so it’s going to be a great season.
Thanks to all my sponsors for making this happen. We come away from round 1, 10th in the championship so we can now build on this now and I will be giving the gym some treatment until the next round!!!

For more information on the Held motorcycle gear that Sean wears please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Solid Start to 2013 Season by Joe Burns

April 5th, 6th and 7th saw the opening round of the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship, and who would have predicted that the race would be run in bright sunshine and a balmy 10°C? Particularly as when the team set up on Thursday it was snowing!

Held wearing racer Joe Burns- pic from Jon Jessop photography

With 60 entries two qualifying periods are used to establish a grid for the Sunday feature race and a Saturday race for the slower competitors. The John Guest Speedfit Kawasaki ran faultlessly, with Joe qualifying 6th on Friday and 6th on Saturday, aggregate times from these two qualifying periods put Joe 12th on the grid for the Sunday feature race, and clearly in the top 20% of the field. 

The race strategy was clear, keep clear of any first corner mayhem and put in good consistent lap times, and it went to plan, despite a slightly hesitant start caused by the sideways gradient of the Brands Hatch grid, Joe worked his way forward to finish a thrilling race in 8th place and with the credit for the fastest lap at 47.342 seconds. This was achieved on the 19th lap, proof that the 2013 Pirelli tyres on the John Guest Speedfit Kawasaki last well.

Joe left Brands Hatch with 8 points on the championship score sheet and now heads to the fastest circuit in the UK, Thruxton in Hampshire for the 14th April race day.

For more information on the gear Joe wears please visit www.held-uk.co.uk