No Limits Oulton Park - Race Review (2020)

At long last, it was finally time for our first race meeting of the 2020 season! We last raced at Oulton Park over 6 years ago, despite living less than 30 minutes away from this great circuit.

Setting off with big smiles on our faces, it wasn't long before a series of issues was sent to test us - with caravan problems (overrun brake, fridge and water pump), a running generator not outputting any power (despite working perfectly when we put it away a few weeks ago) and a rare failure during scrutineering of the Kawasaki Supertwin.

A gentle drive to the circuit, the use of a coolbox and Dave Snr working his magic on the water pump worked around the caravan problems. Darley Moor regular Stuart Fitton came to the rescue with use of a generator for the weekend, as he had managed to secure the use of a garage. The scruitineering failure was due to a new No Limits club rule that we weren't aware of - whereby all engine cases required a secondary cover - and despite the fact that the Kawasaki Supertwin would need to wear through a crash bung, exhaust, footrest and fairing to get near the clutch cover - it was still deemed as necessary. We realised that the spare engine had one fitted, so a quick trip back to Two Daves Racing HQ had that final issue sorted. The weekend starts here...

The clutch cover before...

...and after the secondary cover was fitted!

Despite social distancing regulations, the meeting was a very social affair. Over the weekend we managed to catch up with Kyle Ryde, James Powell, Ian Morgan, Matt Waldron, James Ellison, Dijon Compton, Jed & Richard Fogg, Joel Cooper (who has supplied the majority of the fantastic riding photos used within this review) and we also introduced ourselves to some of the Northwich Bikers.

The Friday consisted of morning testing and afternoon qualifying. We took part in 3 test sessions on the Kawasaki ZX6R Supersport machine in sweltering conditions, and got faster every session. During the test sessions we finally migrated across to using our new RST new gloves. We closely monitored running temperatures following installation of the Kawasaki ZX6R Supersport lower radiator expansion, with the highest running temperature seen being 76 degrees. The Kawasaki Supertwin with it's own big radiator ran at a maximum of 82 degrees, so we're very happy with it's performance as other riders were seeing engine water temperatures in excess of 100 degrees this weekend.

​The first qualifying session was for the Pirelli Super Series 600 class. Prior to the session we had set a personal goal to circulate under the 1'50 bracket - so a target had been set! When the assembly area gates opened, almost all of the 40 qualifiers rushed out at once. Not wanting to get stuck in traffic, we held back for around 20 seconds and then headed out onto track. We were able to complete 5 laps (4 flying laps) without barely coming across another rider and set a fastest lap of 1'50.327 which put us 20th place on the combined grid.

Out into the Supertwin qualifying session - which was the first time that the bike had been used this year - we only managed to put in 3 flying laps due to a red flag during the session. Not having ridden the Supertwin posed a challenge, even down to the simple things like "What gear should I be in for this corner?".

One lap when approaching the Hislop chicane, a rapid series of downshifts from 6th to 2nd gear locked up the rear wheel and overwhelmed the slipper clutch, causing the rear tyre to screech and slide from side-to-side. We eased off the brakes, got the bike pointing straight and then run across the grass at Hislops - rejoining close to Knickerbrook. A good learning experience! Our best lap time of 1'57.154 was enough to qualify 5th on the grid (4th in class), but our 'ideal lap' was shown as a 1'56.497 so there was still more to come.

​On Friday evening we treated the Kawasaki ZX6R Supersport machine to a new dry rear tyre. After 150+ laps of the 2020 testing regime it was starting to feel a little worn, so a new one was fitted. The 150+ lap front tyre was still feeling good, so that carried on to fight another day! With the bikes cleaned and ready for Saturday race day, it was then time for a quick trip to the paddock bar.

Out with the old...

...and in with the new!

​We took part in the emergency Saturday morning practice session to scrub in the new rear tyre. To take part in the practice session you needed to collect a pass from the race office on the Saturday morning - it's been a while since I've seen so many people wandering around the paddock at 7am, as there must have been 60-70 people at the race office! During the morning session some riders were pushing very hard and two people had quite fast crashes, giving them a busy morning to prepare for the races ahead.

When we started 600 Race 1 it was madness through the first few corners, with a lot of bumping and barging. Being conservative, by the end of the opening lap we had been pushed back to 25th place. We got our head down, picked off a few people and at the end we finished 19th on track (13th in class), setting a new Personal Best lap time of 1'50.152 - good but not quite achieving our target.

​We quickly headed into the paddock and switched bikes as we were straight out into Supertwin race. Going straight out had both good and bad elements - the bad was that we were a bit knackered but the good was that we were already up to speed after pushing 100% just a few minutes earlier. A good start meant that we maintained 5th place on the first lap, before moving up to 4th place by the end of lap 2. We put in a series of solid laps and eventually finished 4th on track (4th in class), with a new Personal Best lap time of 1'55.004 on the Supertwin.

​Onto the second set of races, we realised that No Limits base the next starting grid based on fastest laps (rather than previous results), so we started 600 Race 2 from 24th on the grid. An OK start but tentative first lap saw us drop to 26th by the end of the opening lap, but a strong run of laps saw us catching and passing people to finished in 24th position on track (13th in class). We also set another new Personal Best lap time of 1'49.763 to meet our target!

Once again, we were straight out into Supertwin race - this time from 4th on the grid. After an initial great start, we pulled a wheelie so changed gear but found Neutral! After a quick shift into 2nd gear we found ourselves sinking backwards through the field. An attempt to go around the outside of the pack at the first corner was thwarted when we were pushed onto the rumble strips, and we headed towards Cascades in 7th or 8th position. We slowly fought our way through the pack, setting another new Personal Best lap time of 1'54.207 along the way. On lap 5 we caught 5th place and performed an 'around the outside at Cascades' move that impressed even ourselves, and we crossed the chequered flag in 4th place!

This was a fantastic and thouroughly enjoyable weekend. We walk away with a few things to fix, but both bikes are running great. Our next outing will be at Darley Moor Round 5 (including the test day) on Saturday/Sunday 12th-13th September.