Here are some photos from Aintree Round 1, taken by official photographers Colin Port and Tony Else...

After the successful test session, we headed back to Aintree on the evening before the opening meeting of the season to find the paddock surprisingly empty. To make use of some hard standing we setup in a 'long and thin' configuration - which felt weird for a bit - then went for a walk in the sun before having a relaxed evening. Unfortunately, no Northern Lights were seen in the paddock skies...

​Scrutineering began at 7am on the Saturday morning so we were up bright and early to get that out of the way, then we got the North West 200 races streaming via the laptop. It was a very sociable meeting with lots of visitors - which included Kevin Robinson, Joel Donohue and Sam Pointon.

We were out in three qualifying sessions and in six races, starting with the Supersport 600 qualifying. We felt fortunate that our first session would use the same machinery as on the test day - because at least it would feel familiar! We settled into the session and got comfortable to set a 1:00.84 lap time before catching some slower riders that took a few laps to pass. Finally finding some space, we were ready to try for a better lap - but as we came around to start our lap the chequered flag was out! We qualified 8th for the races.

We were next out in 750cc Twins qualifying, which was the first time that we would ride the Aprilia RS660 at Aintree. After spending a few laps bedding in new brake pads, we managed to log a 1:01.48 lap time - which was below our target time (1:01.999) for the season - so we decided to set a new target time of 1:00.999... We would start from the front row of the grid (3rd on the combined grid, 2nd in class).

Our final qualifying session was for 700cc Supertwins. We went slightly quicker and posted a 1:01.19 lap time which again was good enough for another front row grid start (3rd on the combined grid, 2nd in class).

It was time for the races! Our first race of the day was also Aintree's first race of the season - Supersport 600 Race 1. The starting lights were on then off in a flash, which caught most people out. We got an OK start but our first race on an unfamiliar circuit showed that we didn't really know where we could overtake (or what was possible) so we played it safe and made suitable overtakes when we could. We steadily moved up the field and by the chequered flag were just behind the 5th place finisher, taking a 6th place finish after setting a New Personal Best lap time of 59.29. We also set a new target lap time of 58.999 for the 600...

Out into 750cc Twins Race 1 and we gave ourselves a challenge by getting a poor start (which has always been a theme with us on the Aprilia RS660!) and coming out of the first corner in 6th place (4th in class). On lap 2 we managed to drive passed Ste Johnston on the approach to Beeches to take 3rd position and then made the same move passed Andy Herd on lap 4 to take 2nd position. From there we chased down Mike Bampton but couldn't quite make a move. We finished 2nd by just 0.192 of a second, setting a new Personal Best Lap time of 59.92 along the way which we were very happy with!

​700cc Supertwins Race 1 was run twice, after being red-flagged on lap 4 of the original race. Both parts of the race are shown below. In the first part we got an OK start but were surprised by how early the pack hit the brakes for the first corner and had to scrape ourselves through the first corner - most probably causing the pack behind to run wide too - and by the end of the opening lap we had managed to take the class lead (and be 3rd on track overall). We stayed in that position until the red flag was shown.

After parking up on the start/finish straight for a few minutes, the race was then restarted as a short 3-lap race. Another poor-ish start saw us drop to 3rd in class (5th on track) out of the first corner. After a couple of aborted overtaking manoeuvers on Ste Johnston he decided to gift us the position by running wide at the final corner of the opening lap. We then had to try to bridge the gap to class-leader Andy Herd and a 1:00.12 lap on lap 2 helped to do that. Onto the final lap and we dived for the inside at Village corner and took the class lead. Then on the final corner of the race we managed to take another position to take the Supertwin race win and finish 2nd on track.

After a very short break we were out into Supersport 600 Race 2. An OK start and a cautious opening to the race saw us drop to 10th position before moving up to 9th mid-race and finding clear track ahead. With an open circuit we were able to set a new Personal Best Lap of 59.006 (so very close to our 58.999 target!) and started to close the gap the the riders ahead. But we ran out of time... At the chequered flag we finished in 9th position but were just 2.197 seconds behind the 5th place finisher and had set a faster lap time. We know what to work on and are hopeful that we can contend for Top 5 finishes before the end of the season.

In 750cc Twins Race 2 we actually got an OK start on the Aprilia - but everyone else got a better one! We left the first corner in 6th position on track (4th in class) and made steady progress forward. We moved into 5th position on track (4th in class) on the opening lap, up to 4th position (3rd in class) on lap 2 and then once again had to bridge a gap to Andy Herd to move up to 3rd on track (2nd in class) by the end of lap 5. Surprisingly, when we came to the last corner of the last lap we saw class-leader Mike Bampton had unfortunately crashed out (whilst attempting an overtake for the overall race lead) - so we crossed the line to take the win!

The final race of the day was 700cc Supertwins Race 2. A typical start saw us 5th on track (3rd in class) at the first corner but by the end of the opening lap we were up to 3rd on track (2nd in class) after driving passed Ste Johnston down the back straight and then being gifted a spot by Wayne Pudge (in the SteelFrame 600 class) running on at the end of the straight. On lap 3 we made a move passed Andy Herd into Beeches to take the class lead and were catching Mike Bampton (in the SteelFrame 600 class) who had the overall race lead. On lap 4 we were close behind Mike down the back straight when some unexpected smoke came from the Honda's exhaust. We took the overall race lead, completed the last couple of laps and won the race by 5.648 seconds.

​At the end of a long day we took the girls to collect a couple of trophies, then headed home to watch some MotoGP on TV!

Each race earns championship points this season at Aintree. At the end of today's meeting here are how the standings look.

700cc Supertwins Championship Standings (Top 5)
David Carson     50
Andrew Herd        40
Stephen Johnston 32
Gary Broughton    26
John Miller           22

750cc Twins Championship Standings (Top 5)
David Carson     45
Andrew Herd        36
Stephen Johnston 29
Michael Bampton  25
Alan Brooks          24

Supersport 600 Championship Standings (Top 10)
Stephen Gorton     50
Duncan Burns       36
Christopher Jones  36
Max Ainscouch      24
James Leathan     18
Liam Thornton      18
David Carson     17
Caleb Williams      17
Matt Bell              13
Wayne Pudge       12

Now that a couple of days have passed, we have had an opportunity to look into the data. For your viewing pleasure, below is a comparison between the best laps on each machine (Black=Aprilia and Orange=Kawasaki). In case you were wondering, we registered a maximum speed of 153.8mph during the day  :-)

We have a little bit of a break in the calendar now, which will be followed by another very busy period... We are next out at Aintree Round 2 on Saturday 15th June before packing up and immediately travelling to Darley Moor Round 2 on the following day (Sunday 16th June). Then we will be back to Anglesey for Wirral 100 Round 3 the weekend after (22nd-23rd June). We'll keep you informed of our progress.
​

Here are some photos from the Aintree Test Day, taken by official photographer Colin Port...

With the Aintree race season kicking off on Saturday 11th May, we decided it would be a good idea to attend the test day - having only visited the circuit twice (once in 1999 and once in 2015) in the past. We decided to take just the one bike and to run a simple setup. The day was very relaxed and there were plenty of familiar faces in attendance and, fortunately, we were graced with beautiful weather for the day.

​We had some target lap times in mind, which we would aim to get by the end of the season. We had done a Personal Best lap time of a 1:05.0 on the Kawasaki ER650 Supertwin back in 2015 so thought that a 1:01.999 would be a good target time for the Aprilia RS660 Trofeo (which wasn't here today) and as the Kawasaki ZX6R is more powerful we thought that a 1:00.999 would be a good target time.

We were assigned Group B for the test and had the opportunity to go out in four 20-minute sessions throughout the day. By chance (or luck) our test group was sparcely populated which was great as it gave us room to learn the track uninterrupted. We quickly learned that it is a very bumpy track and (as the videos show!) we tried many different lines before finding something that worked for us. That being said... We guessed at these racing lines, so there still might be some room for improvement when we get on track at the race meetings.

Due to the nature of these videos (being test day sessions) we decided to uploaded them in their 'raw' form - so you might have to skip through them to find the good stuff. But in case you were wondering, our fastest three laps of the day can be found from 11:24 onwards in the "Session 3" video.

In Session 1 we tried to sort out the basics and after 12 laps had managed to reduce our lap time to a 1:02.1.

​In Session 2 we made some compression damping adjustments to see whether we could dial out any of the bumpiness - it didn't work but I guess that there is no setting that would make this circuit feel like an uber-smooth Donington Park! The circuit (like all others) has it's own unique characteristics, so we decided to just try and live with it. After another 12 laps we had reduced our lap time to a 1:00.21 but were hitting the rev limiter in top gear, so needed to make a gearing change.

We changed from a 15/46 to a 15/45 gearing setup for Session 3 which was sufficient to stop us hitting the limiter. As we had got into 1:00-laps in Session 2 we felt comfortable that the lap times would come to us more easily - but they didn't and we were stuck on 1:01-laps! It turns out that if we feel comfortable with the bumps, then we're just not going fast enough...

​Realising that (despite not really liking it) we had to attack these bumpy corners to get anywhere, our lap times then started to drop again. By the end of our 14-lap run we had put in a series of laps in the 59-second barrier with a best of a 59.38 (although Dave Snr's time from "last corner to last corner" was captured as a 59.21).

We had got to a point where we felt ready/comfortable to join a qualifying session, so decided to call it a day. We had exceeded our expectations and had met our objectives for the day.

Before we left, we watched a bit of on-track action and witnessed Ste Johnston have an unfortunate engine failure along the back straight on his Suzuki SV650 Supertwin. With only a short gap until the race meeting we hope he can get the bike up and running again.

Our next outing will be at Aintree again - at their championship opening round on Saturday 11th May - and then we will have a 4-week gap until the next race meeting. It has been a hectic start to the 2024 season, so a little break will probably be appreciated by then. We'll let you know how we get on!