Held wearing Racer Joe Burns: his BSB Assen report

National Superstock 1000 racer and Held wearer Joe Burns  gave British Superbikes a go at Assen on a wildcard entry. He did rather well we think! Here's his report:

Assen in Holland was the scene of a 2014 debut ride for Joe Burns in the British Superbike Championship, the preceding week was spent working hard to prepare a bike that would comply fully to the BSB regulations, several late nights resulted in a departure to Holland with a bike that had been on the dyno, but not been track tested.

Free Practice 1 on a track that Joe had never ridden before ended with Joe 26th fastest and with a lot of time to find, the team worked through a number of set up adjustments and by the end of the session felt they knew more about the bike and its handling characteristics.

Joe Burns at Assen. Photo courtesy of John Jessop Photography

So to Free Practice 2, during this session Joe found almost half a second on his lap time, however everyone was moving forwards, consequently Joe was 27th quickest.
In Free Practice 3 Joe and the team clicked, Joe now understood the bike and the layout of the circuit, when the flag fell marking the end of the session he was 18th fastest and had made a 2 second per lap improvement in comparison to his earlier times.
Confidence was good for Qualifying, however Joe’s time did not improve over the one set in FP 3 with the result he complete Q1 in 24th place, missing out on participation in Q2 by 1 second.

The race day warm up saw Joe set a time that was 25th fastest, however the weather now began to play a part with Race 1 starting damp and then turning wet part way through, Joe started with a slick front and wet rear, he got a good start and by lap 2 was in 14th place, he then picked up a place per lap and by the eighth lap was in 9th position. However a combination of the weather and his rear tyre wear then intervened and unfortunately the bike slipped out from under him. No serious damage resulted, but the BSB rules stop you remounting and continuing in the race.

Race 2 took place in dry conditions and Joe started from 10th position on the grid a result of his lap time in race 1, placing him between Shakey Byrne and Stuart Easton, however this time the start was not so good and he fell back to 15th, however he worked his way forward to 13th place by lap 13, at which point disaster struck on the pit straight, a complete electrical failure stopping the bike. He coasted to the pit lane exit where sadly he parked the bike.

At the end of the weekend Joe said, “I knew this race weekend would be tough for me, arriving at a strange circuit with a bike that we had only completed the evening before our ferry booking was a big ask, however I am happy with the work we put in and I think that particularly my performance in race 1 proved beyond doubt that I can race with the top BSB riders. I really want to move up to a full season in BSB, but that is dependent upon my sponsors support.”

The next Superstock 1000 race takes place at Silverstone 5th October.

We're proud to support and supply Joe Burns- for more information on Held please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Our gear: the Held Masuda Fibreglass helmet

I gave the Gaffer a sideways glance as he asked me to put to one side my Held ST-6 full carbon helmet and use the Held 'Masuda'. I love the ST-6 and was reluctant, at first, to try out the sub-£200 helmet. 

However, as it appeared from the box I was immediately impressed. Held have an Italian designer on board now and the looks are great!

Held Masuda: German quality, Italian design £199.99

 First impressions:

Very comfortable, way beyond it's £199.99 price tag. A great fit, made perfect by the integral cheek pump system which allows you to pump it up to provide a PERFECT fit.

Held have improved on the integral sun visor too- pops back up with a single touch on the button. I was particularly impressed with the no-tools visor change, practiced a few times to get it right, now I can change it like a TT pit crew (!)... Certainly beats messing around with the visors on certain other brands, and busting a few side pods on the way...

Next to the chin- the cheek pump system. Big one to pump, little one to release air

Easy on-off visor change system

After testing:

I've now ridden over 600 miles in the Masuda and it's comfy as anything. The removable cheeks pads (which I've washed once already) and the Outlast lining (designed to regulate temperature) work well to keep the lid fresh as a daisy :) The investment by Held in the lining pays dividends too in terms of comfort on longer rides.

If you've never used an integral sun visor give it a go- perfect for the in-out UK sun and more importantly you can ride on into dusk without having to change visors / take your shades off!

Integral sun visor, breath deflector and plenty of air vents

 
Don't ask about wind noise as such- I ride a naked Cafe Racer and it's noisy! All I will say is that I also have an Arai and a Shark and the Held Masuda is no noisier!

I like the slightly smaller shell size as well, suits me and doesn't make me look like I've got a goldfish bowl on my head.. ;)

Really impressed too with the paint, nice chevrons on the top (see below) and i've washed it a dozen times or more with warm, soapy water and it still looks like new. 

 
All in all it's a great lid, with a price tag that offers exceptional value. Here's the official specifications:

• Washable cheek pads
• Clear, scratchproof visor
• Air-vents at front & chin
• Quick release ratchet chin-strap buckle
• Clear lacquer
• No-tools visor change mechanism
• Choice of 2 shell sizes for a perfect fit
• Clear, dark tint, silver & purple iridium visors available
• Inc. sun visor
• Pinlock ready visor
• Integral pump system

You can see more of the Masuda and the colours available on page 246 of our online catalogue:

NEWS: Burns Back On The Podium.

Latest BSB National Superstock 1000 news from Held wearing racer Joe Burns:
 

The team arrived in Donington Park highly motivated from the last result at Silverstone and with the determination to maintain the progress made with the performance of Joe and the bike. 

Free practice took place in dry and bright conditions and despite a traction control problem Joe ended the session 4th quickest with a gap to the top position of 1.274 seconds, the team used the time between free practice and Q1 to locate and fix the issues with the traction control. Qualifying 1 was completed with Joe in 5th position, but more importantly closer to provisional pole, the gap being just 0.865 seconds.
Qualifying 2 was run in cloudy but dry conditions and once again Joe was 5th quickest, the combined results of Q1 and Q2 left Joe in 5th with a gap to pole 1.226 seconds, but more importantly grid positions 2 to 5 were covered by just 0.392 seconds! A close race was in prospect.

Podium for Joe at Donington- photo courtesy of Jon Jessop Photography

In the race Joe achieved a great start and jumped straight into 4th place which he held through the first corner, at which point the race leader made a mistake and fell off, elevating Joe to 3rd. As the race developed it was clear that the leading trio of O’Halloran, Jenkinson and Burns were pulling away from the rest, however Lee Jackson made a big effort to catch the pack and on Lap 9 he managed to slip past Joe, however this swop of positions lasted only one lap, Joe retook 3rd place and showed his race craft by defending and maintaining the place for the last laps of the race. 

After the race Joe said’ “This is a great result for me, the team and all my sponsors, particularly JG Speedfit, Refresh Recovery and EACS, the season did not start as well for me as I had hoped but we have put in a lot of work, and today is the result of that effort. It was a good race for me and I enjoyed myself hugely, there was no way I was going to let Lee Jackson past me again, once in 3rd it was my place! I leave here really excited about the last races of the season.” 

With this result Joe now lies 7th in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship.
The next race takes place at Silverstone 5th October.

To see more about Held motorcycle clothing and accessories in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk, online catalogue too!

BURNS FINISHES IN TOP 6, AGAIN!

The Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship does not accompany the British Superbike Championship to Assen, consequently each year they have the opportunity to showcase the talents of the series riders at a major event in the UK, this year it was as a support race to the Hertz British Grand Prix MotoGP. 

Joe Burns at Silverstone in his Held leathers! Photo: Jon Jessop Photography

 Held wearer Joe arrived at Silverstone without his race engineer, who had broken his wrist at Cadwell Park the previous weekend, consequently the team was a man down. However Joe was confident that a good result could still be achieved. 

Free practice on Friday was encouraging, when the chequered flag came out Joe had set 4th quickest time, 1.8 seconds off pole, qualifying 1 took place later the same day and once again he was in 4th place, but the gap had closed to 1.254, so a step in the right direction had been made with the adjustments to the bike. 

Qualifying 2 ran on Saturday and Joe once again finished in 4th place with a significant closing of the gap to pole, 0.783 separated him from Danny Buchan, but more importantly he was only 0.042 behind Lee Jackson in 3rd place, it looked like a podium possibility for the race. 

The race took place late Sunday afternoon, and Joe had his best start of the season so far, by turn 1 he was in 3rd place and chasing the leaders hard, and maybe took a little too much out of his rear tyre, consequently he dropped to 5th place which he held until lap 8 when a safety car period was called, this allowed the pack to close up, and shortly after the restart Joe was passed by Hudson Kennagh, dropping him to 6th position, however it was a close finish with 4th, 5th and 6th crossing the line all within 0.29 seconds. 

After the race Joe said, “I am disappointed to have finished in 6th place, my qualifying pace was improving all through the weekend, my start was good and holding 3rd place for 4 laps boosted my confidence, but maybe the rear tyre was overworked and I lost a couple of places. Superstock 1000 is very close and at the front of the grid a tenth of a second is a huge amount of time, however I am taking away a lot of positives from this race meeting, and I am pleased to move into 8th place in the Championship table.” 
 
Joe Burns wears Held leathers. See more Held here