Donington Park hosted Rounds 8 & 9 of the NG Supertwin championship. With our Kawasaki ER650 Supertwin fully prepared (and wearing a shiny new chain), we set off from our Northwich base around 2pm on the Friday and arrived at the circuit around 4pm. When we arrived at Donington Park there was a car track day running, so we parked up outside the paddock with the other racers - with the collection of old caravans making it look like a gypsy site! Once in, we setup in a prime position and then got 'scruitineering' and 'signing on' out of the way on Friday evening in order to give us an easier Saturday morning.

When Saturday arrived it was hot! Like typical Englishmen, motorcycle racers also like it when the sun makes an appearance - but the 30 degree recorded temperature made wrestling a motorcycle sweaty work!
In the morning practice session, we blew away some cobwebs and got to enjoy some laps around Donington Park again (our last visit was in 2011). By the end of the session, we were on pace with our rivals.

As we are leading the NG Supertwin championship, we started the Saturday Qualifying race started from pole position - and we won the Qualifying race! - meaning that we would also start the Final (points) race from pole position in our class. We also established a new class lap record in the Qualifying race! But it wasn't all great news because in the Qualifying race the rear tyre was moving around a lot, which is unusual with our machine setup. We had reduced the rear tyre pressure by 2psi (from 26psi cold to 24psi cold) earlier in the day, so thinking that this may be the reason for the rear tyre squirming around, we reverted back to our previous psi setting for the Final race.

A good start in the Saturday Final race meant that we managed to take the lead into the first corner. The rear tyre was working better and we continued to lead the race all the way until the final lap when Kevin Davies overtook us on the inside line into the Old Hairpin - but we managed to hold the outside line and then retake the lead into the following corner, hold the lead to the line and won the Final race by 0.44 of a second, taking the 25 championship points. During the race, we beat our own lap record time but whilst chasing us, Kevin went even faster and took the lap record from us. On returning to the pits, our Kawasaki Supertwin had a rattling sound coming from the engine area, so overnight we stripped the bike down and found that the lower exhaust mount bracket was at fault - so this was repaired and we were ready for another day of racing on Sunday.

A heavy rain shower overnight meant that Sunday was hot but thankfully a bit cooler than Saturday. We took advantage of the Sunday morning practice session to double-check that all was well with our machine but the session was red flagged on lap 2 after a rider fell, then restarted for four laps before it was once again red flagged after another rider fell. The session did its job though and we were able to confirm that our Kawasaki ER650 Supertwin was fighting fit.

We started the Sunday Qualifying race from pole position once again but this time Kevin Davies managed to carve through the 'Sound Of Thunder' traffic better than us on the first lap and pulled out a gap that we were unable to close, despite setting a new lap record on the final lap, so finished in 2nd.

Onto the Sunday Final race and a choice of a 'cautious but safe' inside line at the first corner meant that we got bogged down at first corner and dropped down into 3rd place. It took a few laps to catch and pass Stephen Sweetman who was in 2nd place before continuing the chase to leader Kevin Davies. Lap on lap, we were slowly catching the leader until eventually we ran out of laps! Our 2nd place finish was gratefully received, especially since there was a 'leg dangling' moment coming out of the last corner on the last lap (see video).

We even got a small mention in the NG Race Report. The report also highlights that former Darley Moor racer Keenan Armstrong experienced the same issue as we did at Darley Moor Round 4.

The Donington Park results increased our championship points tally to 180 points, as well as providing a further 45 point increase in our championship lead (now 109 points). With a maximum of 125 points still available over the final five NG Supertwin races, we have managed to put ourselves into a good position to potentially secure the NG Supertwin championship at our next race meeting at Anglesey on 16th/17th August.

Before then, we are hoping to make some further chassis modifications - so watch this space...  :-)

Videos from Rounds 8 & 9 of the NG Supertwin championship at Donington Park, showing onboard footage from our Kawasaki ER650 Supertwin, are now available via the Two Daves Racing YouTube channel.

Famous? Almost! We have now made an appearance on the Lavastorm Analytics website...

http://www.lavastorm.com/blog/post/hot-application-a-better-racing-strategy-with-location-data-and-lavastorm-analytics/

Videos from Rounds 3 & 4 of the Darley Moor championships, showing onboard footage from our Kawasaki ER650 Supertwin, are now available via the Two Daves Racing YouTube channel.

Rounds 3 & 4 of the Darley Moor championship season welcomed us this weekend - but with the weather forecasts expecting thunderstorms it was bound to be an interesting weekend!

Darley Moor Round 3
Despite weather forecasts of thunderstorms, it wasn't until 8.30am on Saturday when light rain began to fall, so wet tyres were the obvious choice for our Formula Darley qualifying session. The slippery conditions made for a lot of traffic - some of which were on dry tyres, including the unfortunate Formula 125 rider who fell right in front of us on his first lap - but we managed to qualify in 2nd place. In the following Mini Sound of Thunder qualifying session we also qualified in 2nd place (and in 4th overall on the combined grid), meaning that we had front row starts for all of our races!

Formula Darley Race 1 was wet and we got a good start and were in 2nd place behind Ross Richards. Unfortunately, the race was stopped on first lap and restarted due to a crash. At the restart, we got another good start and were into 2nd position again, before moving back to 3rd position on lap 2. We continued to stay in touch with leaders until lap 5 when we got stuck behind a backmarker at the chicane. Then on the final lap, another Formula 125 rider crashed right in front of us, forcing us to take avoiding action and cementing our 3rd place finish.

The Mini Sound of Thunder Race 1 was less wet and more damp. We settled into 3rd position by the end of lap 1, with Paul Turner close behind us. We managed to pull a gap to finish clear in 3rd place.

With the Formula Darley Race 2 taking place after lunch, the track had a chance to dry but still looked damp so we (along with most of the grid) went out on wet tyres - but on the sighting lap it was apparent that there was a dry line everywhere except at the hairpin. We tried to take it easy on the wet tyres but killed the wet rear tyre on our way to a 4th place finish.

The final race of the Saturday, Mini Sound of Thunder Race 2, was completely dry. We finished in 5th place after struggling to carry speed into the corner. We managed a fastest lap of 1'02.72 on the final lap (our Personal Best lap is 1'02.42), so were up to speed but just took too long in getting there.

Darley Moor Round 4
Unlike Saturday, the light rain decided to wait until we were out on track before it began to fall on Sunday. With the light rain continuing to fall, we daringly put a single fast lap in to qualify in 3rd place for the Formula Darley grid. With the rain showers then stopping, we remained on dry tyres and qualified in 4th position in the Mini Sound of Thunder session (9th overall on the combined grid).

With the rain now starting to fall heavier, we decided to switch to wet tyres prior to the first Formula Darley race. But then the rain stopped and a dry line appeared on the track, so we quickly changed back to dry tyres (which was the correct choice). With the race started, we were running in 4th place when the bike started to misfire, which resulted in us moving back to 5th place. It was only when the bike finally coughed to a halt, on lap 4 of 6, that we realised what the problem was - we had ran out of fuel! With all of the rushing about to change wheels we had forgotten to check the fuel level... Doh!

With our Kawasaki Supertwin now featuring a filled fuel tank, we headed out to Mini Sound of Thunder Race 1, now desperate for a finish. At the start, a collision at the first corner had a rider fall in front of us once more (the third of the weekend!) which brought out the red flag. A 20-minute wait on the starting grid followed and when the circuit was reopened, we were only given a single warm-up lap before the race was restarted. Cautiously, we took the first couple of racing laps to warm our tyres before taking a 5th place finish to help settle us down, ready for the rest of the day.

Formula Darley Race 2 was entertaining with us slowly catching and then passing Ant Porter for 3rd place on the last lap of the race, but Ant managed to repass us, meaning that we secured 4th place. A lap time of 1'02.48 on the last lap was only 0.06 off our personal best lap time.

For the final race of the weekend, Mini Sound of Thunder Race 2, we got a good start and settled into 2nd place behind Paul Turner. Championship leader Brad Vicars passed us a couple of times but then ran wide, meaning that we were able to immediately make a repass. We managed to complete 6 of the 8 laps in the 1'02 second bracket (with our best lap only 0.02 off our personal best lap time), and finished in 2nd place with a race time of 8'30.05 - over 5 seconds faster than our previous best 8-lap race time which was a great result for us.

With four of seven rounds of the Darley Moor championship now complete, we currently stand 5th in Formula Darley championship and 5th in Mini Sound of Thunder championship.

The next round of the Darley Moor championships will take place on Bank Holiday Monday 25th August.

Prior to that, we have Rounds 8 & 9 of the NG Supertwins championship at Donington Park on 26th/27th July.