Donington track day and Mondello ISB
After brushing off the tumble in Portugal when he was taken out on the first lap, Josh was looking to get in some useful track time. To date the Irish Championship rounds have clashed with the Moto GPs so Josh has been unable to race at home.
Step in Mr McWilliams! The bold Jezza organised a track day at Donington for Josh in late April courtesy of Bridgestone tyres, and he was delighted to take them up on the offer. Things got better when we arrived at Donington as the Bridgestone boys were being hosted by none other that Ron Haslam with Leon on hand too!
Both Leon and Ron were very good to Josh in both talking to him about the track and Ron spent some time on track with Josh, and then gave him really good feedback afterwards, which he found very helpful.
With a Rookie round at Donington in June the time on track would be useful even though it was the short track. Josh used Ian Marshall’s 125 Honda and it handled the demanding track really well, although Josh did test it late in the day! In the last five minutes of the last session Josh lost the front at Coppice without warning and slid into the gravel trap where the little Honda took a roll and clouted him in the back for good measure. Trashed fibreglass was a good excuse to freshen up the little gem, and a master cylinder the only other parts casualty.
So with many thanks to Jeremy, Bridgestone and the Haslams, we headed home to prepare for Josh’s first outing on home soil in 2008.
Mondello ISB ‘Race of the Year’ 10th &11th May
The little Honda was treated to fancy new bodywork, and a new piston for the two day meeting at Mondello. A hasty fork rebuild the night before ended up with a compromise of one long fork and one short one, but with the same internals we hoped it would work ok. With Josh turning 14 years on the way to Mondello, would it be a birthday weekend to remember?
The Fingal Club were more than welcoming to Josh to help him get some good competitive track time which he had been lacking to date.
We went with the focus on plenty of laps, safe racing and maybe a few decent top ten finishes, as there was no pressure regarding championship points.
Rain greeted us on Saturday morning and the tyre bill was given a beating with a new set of wets to go along with the new slicks we had got before departing. A warped disc that had went unnoticed put paid to free practice, so with no laps done before qualifying, things didn’t really start that well. We were delighted with 9th in qualifying, as the track was drying with full wets fitted things were tricky.
The afternoon was a weather lottery and with slicks nearly fitted the old hand cut slicks that were on the other rims were preferred in the changeable conditions. As it turned out slicks was the call, but you would never have guessed with the pace the Josh lad set in race one! A mediocre start was followed by steady progression from about 8th to eventually 4th where Josh, Glenn Irwin and Drew Jamison joined battle. Josh and Glenn pulled clear of Drew and the two boys set an amazing pace for young guns in the low 59’s. Both made a few errors but Josh hung on to secure fourth behind the established stars of winner Nigel Percy, Mark Lunney and Paul Robinson. What a result! Definitely more than we expected, and probably the first indication that Josh has learnt from his Rookies experience.
So with the expectations raised, suspension adjusted, new slicks fitted morning warm up was a three lap sprint to scrub in the tyres.
Race two started well and Josh was in around fourth dicing with Paul Robinson when they had a coming together. Paul’s brakes seemed to jam and he bumped into Josh at turn one. This resulted in Josh loosing about three seconds and any chance of challenging. He dropped to around eighth, but despite a fading front brake managed to claw his way back to fourth at the flag for another very good finish. With Mark Lunney and Paul Robinson dropping out with mechanical woes, Glenn Irwin and drew Jamison got a brilliant second and third behind winner Percy.
Race three was arguably the best, and again Josh and Glenn locked horns. Percy and Lunney made a break after a few laps and would finish in that order, as the young guns traded places a few times before Glenn settled into third with Josh chasing hard. Drew Jamieson held on to the lads for a few laps before his challenge faded and Josh shadowed Glenn all the way to the finish. He hadn’t the brakes to challenge properly in the first and last corners, so had to pressure Glenn in the hope of him making a mistake. Glenn seemed to have lower gearing as he could pull off the turns better, so it was going to be difficult. Last lap time and as Glenn peeped over his shoulder going into the country Josh was right on his wheel.
“Glenn was riding superb,” commented Josh. “He was defending his line very well but I just kept up the pressure. Finally on the last corner he made a little error and lost a bit of drive. I took my chance and picked a line for a fast exit; slip streamed him and just pulled out in time to beat him across the line. I was over the moon, as that was some race. It was safe and neither of us took any silly chances which made it really good. We had a good laugh about it after and I think both of us were delighted with the weekend’s racing as Glenn had got second overall and I had taken third.”
So the birthday boy had a dream weekend with being the first clubman home and taking the fastest clubman lap, (and possibly the clubman lap record) too it really was icing on the cake!
Many thanks to everyone who made the weekend possible.
It’s off to France next, where Josh hopes to carry his good home form to the KTM in the Rookies.