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.
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
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.
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| Joe Burns at Assen. Photo courtesy of John Jessop Photography |
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
