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

50p spring scuppers Held wearing racer Joe Burns

 A great start ends with first DNF of 2013. 

The team arrived in Silverstone in typical Autumn weather, cool and showers, the track remained damp in places so Joe decided to sit out free practice as there was nothing to learn, the forecast for qualifying was for dry conditions. 

Joe Burns

Qualifying 1 saw Joe achieve 6th fastest time, generally he was happy with the bike, but felt he could improve with a couple of set up adjustments. With set-up changes applied Joe took Qualifying 2 by storm and achieved a 1.7 second improvement compared to the first run, placing him second fastest. 

The combined qualifying times gave him a 3rd place start, front row of the grid, Joe said afterwards that ‘I am very pleased with the result and I'm feeling good about the race’.
Race day was dry and warm, ideal racing conditions, Joe lined up on the grid and made an excellent start to get into second place behind Filip Bacland before they entered Copse Corner. This pair then pulled a clear gap to third place and by the end of lap 2 Joe was lining up to take the lead. 

Towards the end of lap 3 Joe heard the bike engine note change dramatically and the bike lose power, he realised there was a problem and pulled into the pits fearing the worst, in the event it was a simple £0.50 spring that had failed, causing the exhaust to operate incorrectly. 

Joe and the team were extremely disappointed, Joe said ‘this is the first time we have had a failure of this spring, it is just incredible that a £0.50 component has let me down, I was ready to make my move on Filip and was feeling really comfortable, I feel I have lost a certain podium and probably a win today, it won’t happen again’.

For more about Held including a UK stockist list please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Made to measure gloves from Held

Always fancied a pair of Made to Measure summer / race gloves? Made personally for your hands? With a choice of colours? And your name embroidered on the side?

Well now we can do that for you!

Check out racer Scott Smart's:

Held wearing racer Scott Smart's personalised gloves

Or racer Gary Mason's:

Racer Gary Mason's personalised Held gloves

How much?

The Made to Measures are available in the Held Titan and the Held Phantom Glove. The service is charged at the price of the glove + 30% (max), meaning you could have a pair of Made to Measure Phantom IIs, with your name on the side, and a choice of colours for under £60 extra!!

How do I go about it?

We can liaise with a Held Dealer to sort it out for you, and it's a real simple process to get a Bespoke, one-off pair of gloves:

* Contact us at social@held-uk.co.uk  including your name and phone number,  and we'll help you through the process.

Then it'll be:

* Choose your gloves: Titan (RRP £229.99) or Phantom II (RRP £184.99) 

* Choose your colour scheme (Yellow, green, red, black, blue, grey, white... etc!)  

* Choose your lettering / numbers (Bear in mind the space available on the glove- 10 characters max - so if your name is Sokratis Papastathopoulos you'll have to abbreviate!) 

* Draw neatly round your hand on a sheet of A4 (like you did when you were a nipper) to just below the wrist joint

Re-live a childhood moment- the hand drawing!

Just what we need!

* Photo-copy your palm and the back of your hand (tip: put a tea-towel over your hand so as not to allow the light in as the copier lid won't close properly on your hand!)

Photocopier!

How long does it take?

Around 6 weeks from the day we receive your information and measurements!

So why not treat yourself! Drop us a line at social@held-uk.co.uk

For more information on Held in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk
 

Held wearer Tom Weeden Oliver’s Mount Gold Cup

Held wearer Tom Weeden signed off his debut road racing season in fine form at the Oliver’s Mount Gold Cup road races last weekend. The 19 year old was certainly in good company with most of the big TT names attending; Tom was up against the likes of John Mcguinness, Michael and William Dunlop, Guy Martin and Bruce Anstey to name a few. Tom entered the 3 races and was certainly kept busy jumping between 2 bikes all weekend. 

Weeden: Overtook Michael Dunlop in style

 He was entered in the Supertwin races on the Trickbits FBM Performance Suzuki SV650 and also in both the David Jeffries 600cc class and the Darren Lindsay Trophy on his own Triumph 675. Tom was racing against 1000cc bikes in the Darren Lindsay Trophy but was confident that if it was wet, as the forecast said it would be, then he was in with a good chance of a decent result.

Practice went well on both bikes. In the initial practice sessions Tom went 6th fastest on his Triumph and 3rd fastest on the SV650, this was certainly a confidence boost going into qualifying and into the races. Weeden went 11th fastest in the 600 qualifying session and 13th fastest in the Supertwin session but was confident that if he got off the line well he good push for a decent result from there. 

Tom made a good start in the 1st of the Supertwin races and soon started to make up places. He crossed the line in 8th position at the end of lap 1 and momentarily dropped back to 9th before reclaiming the place back. Tom put some consistent laps together before putting his fastest lap of the race in on the last lap to cross the line in 8th behind Chris Palmer. 

Next up was the Darren Lindsay Trophy for bikes of 600cc and above. Weeden was starting at the back of the grid and so just decided to have fun and treat it as a bit of practice. He made a good start again, however on the first few laps his brakes were not working properly causing him to run wide at the hairpins. He still managed to pull the bike home in 17th place after 8 laps around the Olivers Mount road circuit but was adamant he should have finished higher if it wasn’t for the brake issue. 

In the David Jeffries Cup Tom finished 8th in both the Heat race and the first leg, but had sorted out the brake problem and was confident that he could produce a good finish in the second leg on Sunday. 

Tom only completed 1 of the two available practice sessions on Sunday morning in order to save the only set of wet tyres the team had for the races. He completed 2 laps on his Triumph and went 9th fastest and then posted the fastest time in the Supertwin session after pulling in after only 3 laps. This boosted Tom’s confidence and he knew that if it was wet for the races then he was in for a good chance of a decent result. 

After 1 lap of the 2nd leg of the Darren Lindsay Trophy the rain started to come down whilst all the riders were on dry tyres. Tom pulled in hoping to be allowed to change to wets and that the race would be restarted. The race was then halted before half distance which meant a full race restart would be made. A lot of the riders felt it was a passing shower and went for intermediate tyres or drys for the restart, Tom however decided to risk it and kept the wet tyres on hoping it would rain again otherwise he would chew up his only set of wets. From the very back on the grid Tom had nothing to lose and everything to gain and decided to go for it for the 3 lap restart. 

After 1 lap Tom had moved up into 10th. Then on the second lap the rain came down and Tom decided to gas it and make up as many places as possible. Weeden found himself in 5th going into the last lap and decided to just keep his head down and stay focused in the difficult conditions. 

On the last half of the lap he caught up with the TT stars on their 1000cc bikes and snapped up the opportunity to overtake such high profile names. Tom moved up into 2nd place, overtaking Michael Dunlop around the outside into one of the hairpins and was ecstatic as he crossed the line to take 2nd from very last on the grid. 

Tom was next out for the second leg of the David Jeffries 600 Cup. From 12th on the grid, Tom made good progress on the first lap and crossed the line in 9th position. On lap 3 Weeden moved into 8th position and set his sights on the next rider in front of him. On the fifth lap he moved into 7th place and put in some fast laps to gap the riders behind. Tom crossed the line in 7th and then was straight back out in the next race on his Supertwin bike. 

The last Supertwin race had to be restarted twice after two incidents occurred on the track. But once they got away Tom made a great start and slotted into 4th place on lap 1. The rider in front narrowly avoided highsiding in front of Tom and he had to quickly make avoiding action as he slotted up into 3rd place. He remained there for the remainder of the race to take another top 3 finish and end the season on a high. 

Tom left the Oliver’s Mount road circuit over the moon with the results he had achieved and he can’t wait to return next year.





For more information on Held in the UK please visit www.held-uk.co.uk

Sean Neary: Ducati 848: Race Report – Round 6 – Donington Park

Here's the race report for Held-wearing Sean Neary's exploits at Donington:

Sean Neary - edging nearer the podium

 Firstly I need to thank all my sponsors for putting in further funding to allow us to complete the season. As ever I am humbled by the support but I now feel in a position where I can get the results to repay them.

After some strong results at Oulton Park myself and the Team were in a positive mood for Donington Park. In addition to that my bike had spent the weeks post Oulton Park at the JHP Ducati Coventry Workshop to resolve the power issues we were experiencing at Oulton Park. My engine was built by Jeff Green at GTEC Performance and there was no doubt that the engine was built to a fantastic standard. However that is only half the job and the bike has to be built correctly to ensure the engine can perform to its potential. Rick Hackett at JHP found a number of issues with the bike including a cracked exhaust manifold, blocked air tubes and a faulty power commander just to mention a few of the issues. With the assistance of JHP we gained another 10BHP which is an unbelievable gain in a one make series like the Ducati 848 Challenge. Massive thanks to Rick at JHP and also Jeff Green for building a bullet proof engine at the start of this season. It’s a little frustrating that we didn’t resolve the other issues earlier in the year as I’ve no doubt the season to date would have been very different had the bike been set up in this way. You live and learn as they say and it's safe to say I will never make a mechanic!

Held wearer Sean Neary- on it!

Practice on Friday at Donington was a complete washout so I went and did a few laps to ensure we had a good wet setup if needed. Qualifying on Saturday was interesting to say the least due to the mixed weather conditions. I opted for full wet tyres which in hindsight was a big error as the track was dry for the last 10 minutes of the session. I held 5th until the last 5 minutes when the teams on the dry tyres pushed me back to 12th which is as to be expected.

The bike was absolutely fantastic and credit to everyone involved as this is now a completely different bike to what I have been riding and I now spend my laps with a beaming smile as I still can’t believe the increase in performance!

Race 1

I would have been better off getting my Mum to perform the start which I did in race 1!!!! Absolute shocker which saw me 20th in turn 1. I fought back to 7th and had a great race long battle with Deane Brown and Daniel Fowler. I missed a gear on the final lap which put paid to my challenge for 6th place. Given the start and the work I had to do I was reasonably happy with the final result and still buzzing about the performance of the bike. I also set the 7th fastest lap of the race meaning a promotion on the grid for race 2.

Race 2

A much better start saw me 6th on lap one. I managed to get back past Ben Field on lap 2 and began to close in on the leading group. As I remember thinking we were in the hunt for some serious podium action I lost the front at the final turn on lap 2. Absolutely gutted does not do justice to the way I feel after that. These boys are the quickest in the country so I have to ride on the limit to be in with a chance. I don’t think my front tyre was quite up to temperature as they held us on the grid for a while but that said this was down to rider error, so I hold my hands up. I must say the Held Clothing kept me in great condition and I didn’t end up with a scratch. The Held Evo suit has had contact with the tarmac on more than 5 occasions over the last couple of years and they are still in 100% condition to protect me.

I was disappointed for the Team as for the first time this year that bike is capable of winning and I really can’t fault the effort of all involved. That’s racing as they say so we move on!

Assen is 2 weeks away and I can safely say I have never been so excited for a race in all my life! The bike is an absolute joy to ride and I am confident we can be challenging up front. Get me on that ferry now!

Thanks all

Sean #10

For more on Sean please visit his website

For more on Held, please visit ours!