Testing race for Held wearing racer Joe Burns at Brands Hatch

 

Held wearing Joe Burns, currently 3rd in National Superstock 1000

Once again the English Summer delivered a hot race day, qualifying 1 and 2 took place on Saturday and Joe finished the day 2nd fastest behind Adam Jenkinson, a very satisfactory result. 

Joe did not get the best of starts and fell back into 4th place, however by lap 2 he had recovered to 2nd place and began to reel in the leader James East, on lap 5 Joe was in a great position to take first place, but East missed a gear causing Joe to touch his bike. The resulting damaged brake lever caused Joe to lose time, he could not brake as he would normally. 

This incident allowed Hudson Kennagh to take the lead and then Tommy Aquino passed Joe to take second place, with an ill handling bike Joe lost time to fourth place man Tristan Palmer with the net result that on Lap 14 Joe lost 3rd place, a great disappointment for him. 

Following the race Joe said; Brands looked to be one of my stronger circuits and I was pleased to qualify 2nd, the result is not what I expected, however I am glad that I finished in fourth and only dropped one place in the championship standings, it is very close with just 12 points between me and 1st place. 

Held wearer Joe Burns- not far off the lead!

The result drops Joe into third place in the championship, the gap is now 11 points to 2nd and 12 to 1st, at this stage of the season it is looking good. A satisfying result, the next race takes place at Oulton Park August 9/10/11.

To find out more information on the Held gear Joe Burns wears please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Keeping the ladies comfortable..

You've got to love the UK. But the weather can sometimes leave a little to be desired! 

The Held Tamira Jacket for ladies, at under £250, deals with just about everything Mother Nature throws our way- check it out:

One of four different colour schemes available

For several seasons the Held Hakuna adventure riding jacket has been a best seller for men. This is the ladies version. The jacket has a removable inner lining that is both waterproof/breathable and thermally insulated. With that lining zipped in, the jacket is waterproof and defends you against rain and wind-chill. Take it out, however, and you have a superb summer touring jacket with plenty of air vents. Multiple outer pockets make this practical for border crossings and the French motorways. The waterproof inner lining can be stuffed easily into a large pocket situated on the outer lower back panel. The back offers a protector pocket that can be upgraded with CE Level 2 armour from the Held range.

 

One of the other colour variations

More information

• 500D Polyamide
• Removable waterproof, breathable & insulated inner lining
• CoolMax mesh lining with 3D Air-Mesh panels
Features:
• 4 outer pockets and one external stuff pocket for the lining (back)
• 2 inner pockets & 1 mobile pocket (not suitable for Smart Phones)
• Airflow zippers on forearms, chest and back
• Adjustable waist belt
• SAS-Tec Level 1 shoulder & elbow armour
• Double sleeve adjustment

Check page 86 of our online catalogue for more details- and to see the matching trousers: Online Catalogue

Race Report: Held wearer Sean Neary, Ducati 848 challenge

Race Report – Round 3 – Snetterton 300

Race 1: 14th
Race 2: 10th 

Sean Neary, Ducati 848 challenge racer and Held wearer

It’s been a very eventful two weeks that’s for sure. We competed in the W 100 Powerbike Championship the weekend prior to Snetterton and it looked as if we would skip the Snetterton round while searching for a further sponsor to assist the team. 

A big crash at Anglesey on 30th July meant the bike sustained some damage but thanks to my Held suit I escaped with cuts and bruising but no breaks thankfully. On the Monday night I received a call from Charlie at Arclid Power who said he would make it possible for us to get to Snetterton, if I wanted to ride. 

Now if anybody asks me do I want to ride you know what the answer is! Charlie ordered the parts we needed from JHP Ducati Coventry and Cheadle Autobodies repaired the panels for us. I took a week off training as I didn’t have much movement in my neck and also heavy bruising on the hips. Thanks to the whole team we managed to get the bike repaired and off to Norfolk we went.

Sean's Held Phantom II gloves clearly visible

Many of my competitors had been testing the previous week at Snetterton so we knew we would be up against it. We tried yet another spring in the rear shock so practice was used to try and tweak this and remember which way the circuit goes. 

Qualifying turned out to be interesting to say the least. We changed gearing on Friday night and unfortunately the lads didn’t tighten the rear wheel. We left pit lane and 200 yards later the rear wheel locked against the swinging arm meaning we didn’t even get a lap in during qualifying. After some pleading with the organisers to let me in the race they agreed to let me start at the back although I hadn’t even completed a lap. The mechanics were distraught at their error but these things happen and I am 110% sure it won’t happen again!

Race 1
Starting from the back of the grid and needing some serious track time was never going to help. I battled through to 14th from the back of the grid. The positives are that I made up a good number of places but I will never enjoy finishing 14th! Enough said.

Race 2
I started race 2, 15th on the grid and after a good battle for 10th I managed to finish in 10th. After the disaster of qualifying if somebody had offered me a top 10 I would have taken it. We also tried a new rear spring again this weekend which was much more positive. A few more tweaks and we will be back challenging for the top 5 and hopefully higher for the Oulton Park round. In addition with assistance from Motul we now have the front braking issue solved and the team know exactly what to do to ensure they stay strong throughout the race.

To summarise it was certainly a tough weekend but the way my team worked after the qualifying session gave me great faith for the remainder of the season. My sponsors once again pulled together to get us there and as always I am truly grateful. With Arclid Power now on board for the remainder of the season in addition to our existing sponsors it should give the team more stability. I am now in training for my Calais to Amsterdam cycle at the end of the month so I will be in fighting fit shape for Brands! Let’s av it!

Thank you all
Sean #10



To find out more about the gear Sean wears please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

7th Place for Held wearer Joe Burns at Snetterton

National Superstock 1000 racer Joe Burns and his Held leathers

 Soaring temperatures at Snetterton Circuit over the weekend helped encourage a huge crowd of spectators to come and watch for some excellent racing, with the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship continuing to maintain its strength with 54 entries.
Qualifying 1 took place on Friday afternoon, with Joe still learning the Snetterton 300 track layout, the resulting 8th fastest time was just 7 tenths off the table topping time set by Jimmy Storrar who was riding a BMW, a bike well suited to the long straights of this circuit. 

Saturday brought a continuation of the good weather, and Qualifying 2 was held just after midday, by the time the chequered flag came out Joe had posted the 6th fastest time giving him a combined qualifying grid position of 7th for the feature race on Sunday.
Joe did not get the best of starts and fell back into 11th place, however by lap 3 he had moved up to 10th and then the race was interrupted by a safety car for 3 laps whilst a fallen rider and bike where recovered, by lap 13 Joe had made it to 7th place where he would finish the race. 

After the race Joe said "I came here not expecting a great deal, it not a favourite circuit of mine, so to finish 7th is better than I expected, but this is a long season and I have held onto 2nd place in the Championship."
 
The result keeps Joe in second place, the gap has opened up to 25 points between 1st and 2nd place, but closed down to just 1 point between 2nd and 3rd . A satisfying result, the next race takes place at Brands Hatch on July 19/20/21

For more information on Held motorcycle clothing, Held motorcycle helmets and Held motorcycle accessories please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Held gloves - how they are made

Held gloves. Many awards, huge amounts of great feedback. Here's how we make 'em. Here's why they're good!

Grading

Every single piece of cowhide, kangaroo pelt and stingray skin is checked by hand – often by Erhard Held or his son Christian Held personally. Hides are very rarely perfect, but any faults such as marks from barbed wire, thorns or ticks are identified and the piece rejected. The leather is then soaked so that it can be stretched for punching, to ensure that the finished items will not lose its shape with use.

Punching


All Held gloves are punch cut. This is far more precise and provides a cleaner edge than cutting with scissors. A costly, sharpened metal die must be fabricated for each leather section. And when you consider that a pair of Held Phantom gloves has 156 individual sections, this means we need a lot of cutters! It then takes 18 minutes to punch out each pair.

Moulding

We only use carbon fibre of the highest grade, which we punch-cut and pressure mould ourselves to ensure a perfect fit. Once cut, each piece is heated to 450˚C and then subjected to 40 tons of pressure and shaped over our custom moulds. These custom protectors are often underlain with shock absorbing gel and sometimes even overlaid with Titanium.

Stitching

Each pair of gloves take a highly skilled machinist 90 minutes of sewing time.

Finishing

Finally every single Held glove is carefully formed on hot irons to create the perfect ergonomic fit. Once this is achieved, the material and workmanship of each one is carefully inspected. If even the slightest irregularity is detected, the glove will be rejected.

There! Hope you found that interesting. We'll be blogging lots more from now on - so please be sure to check back. Meanwhile, if you'd like to know more about Held, our range, our stockists etc please visit www.held-uk.co.uk 

Pics: c Held GmbH; schöffel design

c Held GmbH; schöffel design

JPS Norton replicas in the pipeline

JPS Norton, time to raid the piggy bank

Forty years after winning the 1973 F750 TT, Peter Williams is to build 25 replicas of his winning JPS Norton. The legendary motorcycle development engineer and former dealer who introduced the first viable cast wheels, disc brakes and beam frames to racing, has put a price tag of £65,000 on the replicas.

The engines are to be built by renowned Northampton Norton specialist Mick Hemmings, using all new parts, including Williams’ own design cams. Only four of the original JPS Nortons were built and these are now valued in excess of £250,000 which, says Williams, puts the replica price into perspective.

Williams said the project will be used to raise working capital for the development of a new model with a carbon-fibre monocoque chassis. He produced the first prototype in conjunction with Lotus and development is underway for low volume production. For more information tel 01327 220534; info@peterwilliamsmotorcycles.com

For some superb motorcycle clothing to accompany that imminent JPS Norton purchase please visit 
www.held-uk.co.uk