Category: Superbikes

1. Dunlop on pole for the North West 200

   Posted on 8:34am Wednesday 15th May 2013

   Honda TT Legends’ Michael Dunlop will start this weekend’s North West 200 Superbike races from pole position, while Michael Rutter and John McGuinness will start from seventh and ninth respectively.

   Today’s second practice went ahead in persistent rain, meaning that there was no improvement on Tuesday’s times from any of the riders. Dunlop was the fastest rider in both sessions and his best lap of 4:33.173 was seven seconds quicker than the second placed rider Bruce Anstey. The two Superbike races will go ahead on Saturday 18 May.

   Neil Tuxworth   Considering the terrible conditions we’ve had for practice here at the North West, which have not only been wet and windy but constantly changing, to have all three riders qualify in the top ten without an incident is an excellent way to go into the races on Saturday. Dunlop’s performance on the Superbike machine in particular has been outstanding in each session.

   Michael Dunlop   I still feel like we’ve got a bit of work to do, but the bike’s working really well and it’s great to be starting the race from the prime position. We’re quickest and we’re ready to go, but there’s not much more we can do now until race day. Let’s just see what happens.   John McGuinness   I mistimed my fast lap and got caught in traffic on Tuesday so it’s a real shame that today’s been wet and I couldn’t improve the time. It’s a little disappointing as I’ve been on the front row many times here. I’ve been going great on the Superstock and the 600 but this is a priority race and it’s not really happened for me. I’m on the third row and if I can make a good start and be strong on the first lap I think we’ll be alright.

   Michael Rutter   It’s a shame we didn’t get the chance to improve on our times today. The conditions have been horrendous but the bike felt good and we’re happy enough with qualifying. I just hope we get some decent weather on Saturday so that we can give it a good go.

2. Honda TT Legends forced to retire from the Bol d’Or

   Posted on 11:35am Sunday 21st Apr 2013

   John McGuinness started the race for the Honda TT Legends and the first few hours saw him, Simon Andrews and Michael Dunlop put in an impressive performance that took them from 28th to third place.

   As evening fell on the Magny Cours circuit in France, light rain caused a few incidents for other teams, but the Honda TT Legends settled into a steady fourth place, where they remained through the night until daybreak.     

   Just after 8am, Dunlop made an unexpected pit stop and the Honda TT Legends crew set to work, eventually identifying and fixing a problem with the heat exchanger. McGuinness re-joined the race in 13th place but unfortunately the irreparable damage to the engine had already been done and it subsequently overheated. He was forced to dismount and push the bike back to the pits on the first lap and the team retired from the race.

   The EWC will continue with the Suzuka 8-hour in Japan on 28 July.

   Neil Tuxworth   This is a very disappointing end for the team after all the hard work and effort everyone has put in. It’s unfortunate but we had a problem with the heat exchanger which caused the engine to overheat and fail towards the end of the race. It’s our first incomplete event in seven races and our first ever retirement from a 24 hour race, but it happens to everyone at some point and the main thing is that everyone is ok. We haven’t had any injuries to anybody and although there was some leakage from the bike, it doesn’t look like it caused problems to anybody else as the safety car came out very quickly. Like I say, very disappointing for everyone but we have to move on and look forward to the road races coming up in the next few months.       John McGuinness   We’re just gutted not to have finished. The lads have done so much work on the bike – new electronics, traction control – all sorts of bits and pieces that they’ve spent hundreds if not thousands of hours on. We’ve had a fantastic run of results up to now with seven races completed and we were looking good in the race. We were top five again and chipping away, but unfortunately we had a problem 18 hours in. I’m just speechless really, just gutted, but we’ll try and take the positives out of it. We were running a lot closer to some of our rivals so we can take that to the next round.     

   Simon Andrews   It had gone well up until that point. I did a good few stints at the beginning to get us up to fourth and I was happy enough with that. It’s a shame what’s happened for everyone because the guys have worked so hard. The chassis was working well and we had the quickest bike out there at some points, so it just would have been nice to reward everyone with a podium. We were third at one stage so to go from that position to coming away with no points at all is not fun, but that’s endurance racing. We can be happy with the hard work we’ve put in and the way we’ve worked together and we’ll look forward to the next round.     

   Michael Dunlop   It’s so disappointing for all the lads after all the hard work they’ve done. I really feel for them because it’s not just about us riders, it’s a massive team effort and they put so much into it. I just got my head down and got on with it, going with the flow really. It was going well up until that point, but we’ll go back and take a look at the bike and come back bigger and stronger next time.

3. Donington Back on Track

   Posted on 12:01am Tuesday 19th Feb 2013

   After a couple of false starts, mainly due to the weather, our events at Donington Park have really started to pick up in recent months and are looking as though they will once again become a staple part of our programme for many years to come. 

   The winter restoration show at the end of December was a great success with 2,000 plus visitors full of Christmas cheer poured through the gate to see around 70 trade and autojumble stands plus an excellent selection of classic cars and bikes on display.   

   The Japanese and Modern Classic Motorcycle Event in February this year was a major success after the snow halted proceedings on the Sunday in 2012 . 

   The building was full to capacity of stalls, club displays and private entries with 3,000 happy visitors attending from all points on the compass. Bike of the show and winner of £100 was Dave Yates with his 1980 Yamaha LC, and winner of best club display and a £100 cheque was The UK two Stroke Club. Traditionally the season opener this event will now have a twin event at the end of the season with a new one day Classic Japanese event being launched on Sunday 15th September at Donington Park. This replaces the car and bike autojumble originally announced for Sunday 22nd September 2013.   

   This coming weekend, Sunday 24th February, we will be back at Donington for a general classic car and bike autojumble, at the time of writing the hall is over two thirds full and with indoor stalls at just £25 (pre paid), not to mention the BOGOF offer on stalls for autojumblers, Donington represents a perfect opportunity for enthusiasts to clear their garages and get unwanted parts back into circulation.

   We are so confident that this event will prove to be equally as successful as the Classic Japanese bike show we will be doing a re run on Sunday 14th April, again on a BOGOF basis on indoor stalls. At both the February and April events there will be a dedicated classic car and bike park right next to the exhibition hall with adult admission being £5 instead of the normal £6.50 so come in your classic, save money and you can even put a sale sign on your vehicle too! 

   We will be running Donington on exactly the same format at the end of the year on Sunday 3rd November and Sunday 29th December so put these dates in your diary.  Donington Park is ideally located right next to East Midlands airport just two miles along the A453 at J23a and J24 of the M1 motorway right in the centre of the country.      

4. Breaking News... The FH-DCE SUPER RALLY® in the UK!

   Posted on 12:01am Tuesday 22nd Jan 2013

   Held each year in a different place and organised by a different member clubs of the FH-DCE, however it has been quite a few years since we last saw this event in the UK.

   The last time was in 1989, @ Longmarston Raceway, Warwickshire and prior to that 1984, Brighton and 1979, Brands Hatch.

   The 'get togethers' started in 1964, bringing together different member clubs of the FH-DCE, however the the first Super Rally® was held at Kastelree Belgium in 1975 and has now grown to become for many Harley-Davidson® owners - a must on their events yearly calendar! Recent years have seen this event held in Germany, Lithuania and Greece.

   The Super Rally 2013 was to be held in Ireland, hosted by H-DC Ireland, however was cancelled as they had many issues and mitigating circumstances, along with issues by from some of local authorities. So this event in 2015 is great news for the H-D Riders of Great Britain.

   The FH-DCE SUPER RALLY® in the UK

   West London Harley Riders are hosting this event in 2015. Beer, bands, stalls, camping, showers, attractions, etc... More details to follow...

   venue: Lincolnshire Events Centre, Lincolnshire Showground, Grange-de-Lings, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN2 2NA
   price: TBC
   tel: 07733 357339
   website: www.wlhr.org

5. Win tickets to BSB Finals!

   Posted on 12:01am Monday 1st Oct 2012

   Go BSB Racing with Ace!
    
   Teaming up with MSV, organisers of the UK's premiere motorcycle race series, BSB, Ace Cafe London has an extra pair of tickets up for grabs as a raffle prize, at the cafe on Friday 12th October, to attend Round 12, the Finals, being held at the famous south London circuit Brands Hatch on Sunday 14th October.
    
   Spend £5 or more over the counter at the cafe and receive a raffle ticket. Draw will take place at 10pm.
    
   www.britishsuperbike.com
   www.msvracing.com