Denmark - Djursland Ring
20th / 21st September

Vanni and I had a great time in Denmark – scooping all the IHRO trophies between us.

Race day morning brought bright sunny weather but it was cold to start with. I was only entered in the IHRO races and as a result just a 350 and 500 practice session. Most of the other regular guys had entered everything possible it seemed, so had loads of practice.

What a track, most unusual; when it was time for my first session I asked Vanni to show me around; he’d raced there a few times and set off into a nice pace to follow. After a few laps I felt I could push on a little so passed him and tried some practice hard braking into the hairpins, all three of them.

There was a section after a long hairpin where you dropped down a steep hill, then went into a long opening out curve uphill then mid corner dropped down another steep descent on to the straight!

Quite challenging to say the least, but it was going to be the key to a quick lap.

The events main competition was going to come from Mike Cooper and Gary Thwaites. The first 350 came and I was quickest posting a 56.9 with Mike Cooper second then Vanni third.
For the 500 I was once again quickest, with a 55.6 - then Gary and Vanni. It was clear I had sorted out where I was going but how fast could I go?

I would have to pick up the pace in qualifying to be assured of a comfortable margin for the race.
Second session on the 350 and I went quicker still posting a 56.4, ‘Cooperman’ slid off on cold tyres so it was Vanni that came in second with Martin Hudson third. The 500 was similar with me going quicker and unofficially breaking the circuit and class record with a 54.9, Gary then Lars Sandberg next.

Before we knew it was time for the first 350 IHRO race, a push start and I led from the line to the flag with no worries.

Mike Cooper pushed early on but I managed to open a gap and then keep it constant until the end. Vanni came in a close third behind him.
Unfortunately there was a bad accident in the parade, causing a long delay, working on such a tight schedule and early curfew meant as a result the rest of the days racing was cancelled until next day.

The first race was the cancelled 500 race from Saturday, I knew Gary was going well and Cooper’man was not far behind time wise so I didn’t mess about after the start of the race.

Another push start and Buster fired up like a good’n, not looking back for a few laps I pressed on. Starting the third lap crossing the line I looked back and had a huge lead, so I simply just kept going not wanting to slow and break my rhythm.

It turned out Mike’s machine had failed to fire up and Gary’s machine took three goes before it started so he had a torrid time getting through the traffic; and in the end he was ultimately disqualified for passing on a yellow flag, bu$$er.
Torben Nielsen came in second with Vanni third.

350 race next;, Cooper’man was fired up for a good result - but unfortunately highsided while leading out of the second hairpin. No sooner had he crashed than Betty’s motor made a strange noise from the engine, then broke her con rod putting me out of the race too!

This left the door open for Vanni to take his first IHRO 350 win; not easily though, he had an epic battle in the early stages of the race with Colin Daily and martin Hudson with Andy Molnar coming home in fourth.
When Vanni returned to the awning all his fans and family were waiting for him and pulled him from the machine and threw him up in the air - real local hero stuff.

The last race for me was the second IHRO 500, after his crash Mike Cooper decided not to race; so that left Gary who was determined that I wouldn’t have it easy. Due to his previous disqualification it meant he had to start from the back though; from the start he pushed hard, ultimately running out of brakes at the end of the back straight and crashing out. Red flags came out as he was knocked about quite a bit, eventually he was back on his feet and we restarted the race.

Torben Nielsen had the bit between his teeth and was riding out of his skin setting a quick pace; I felt I could go quicker so followed him round until the last lap, then passed him to take the win - sorry Torben.

Overall a very successful weekend’s racing, Vanni was happy, I was happy and the organisers were happy - that in my book is a job well done.

EDIasia 400 Brands Hatch GP
27th / 28th September

Brands hatch was the final round of the Bemsee Championship; with changes in my schedule it meant I was able to use it to get my last chance to ride Ming. Peter had built a new motor, but as yet, it had not been raced; I had arranged some time on the Slipstream dyno on Friday afternoon to help set up the carburetion.

When we first ran it up it was miles away from being right, however 3 hours later the graph was looking much better.
Practice time came around, and getting out on track I knew straight away there were problems, the carburetion was far from being right. It would only work on full throttle, if you used any less the bike would just not accelerate at all. Not good when the bike is on its side in mid corner.

Anyway, somehow I managed to put Ming on pole with a 1:39.2 - a bit scary, but I’d done it anyway. Mark from Dyna Pro said to go along – almost instantly he knew what the problem was and gave me some setup information to try. We adjusted the setup – straight away just running the bike up in the pitlane, I knew it was miles better.

We took Ming back to Mark to give it another run for him to compare, things looked great, but as I rode back down the paddock to the garage the motor started to make some strange noises.

I knew instantly it was terminal, a big end bearing I thought. Thankfully Steve had nagged me to bring the standard spare engine, so we set about pulling the motor out. No point rushing as we would miss the first race so focused on getting it right for the second one. An hour and a half later Ming burst into life once more and fantastically sounded good too!

Although I’d set the pole time, as I missed the first race I would have to start the race from the back of the grid. Not the best place to start from but I have done it before and knew what I had to do.

Head off on the first lap and not let the leaders get too much of a gap with only 6 laps to make up the distance. Ming is tricky off the line having a very tall first gear but I managed to barge my way through the field and started the second lap in about 6th place, but Adam Lyon, Steve Palmer and Phil Polden were miles in front almost the whole length of the start/finish straight!

Thankfully Steve Jordan had set the suspension up brilliantly and Ming was riding like he was on rails. Good job really as the spare engine is the best part of 15bhp down on the leaders. A few laps later and I’d caught and passed Phil, this spurred me on to pull in the leading pair. On the last lap I caught and passed Steve Palmer and was on Adam’s heels, but on the run down to clearways for the last time Steve out dragged me, holding me off to the line pushing me out to third place.

When catching the leaders I had set a new outright 400 lap record of 1:37.3! Not bad with just 61bhp….

Sunday brought more lovely weather, but unfortunately due to some race stoppages, the organisers changed the program and an announcement over the tannoy told us that the EDI 400’s were only going to get one race.
This time I was on the front row for the start and as the lights went out I was swamped going into Paddock for the first time.

Young Adam was off like a rocket and had ‘checked out’, meanwhile I cleared the main group and set about catching the 2nd and 3rd place riders. They were having a real ‘ding dong’ consequently not just holding each other up but me too. I managed to pass them eventually but it was way too late, Adam was too far in front to catch. Then to add insult to injury Ming started to jump out of gear.

The small gap I had opened up evaporated and after another missed gear on the run down to Clearways young Danny Buchan passed me on the way in, it was all too late for me and he held off to the line, another third place.
Overall I can’t complain really after the motor went on Saturday morning we had risen like a Phoenix from the ashes; and to say that the bike is absolutely standard is more amazing.

Many thanks to Peter Day for most generously supplying and preparing Ming for the year. Cheers Peter, simply, without you it would not have been possible.