Bright and early.

Here we are at Oulton Park.

Getting sorted.

We are just sorting out the body work, graphics, and getting ready for morning practice.

Oulton Park BSB - National Superstock 1000.

Photo: Ryan, BritishSportPhotography.com

I've known Roy Armstrong for years - we've raced together in the Battle of the Twins in the 90s.
Roy is a great sponsor for Richard Fogg, who I've also ridden with, in the Supermono championship.

Roy has asked me to support Richard in his National Superstock Championship events, and supplied me with a Ducati 1198 to do it on. Nice!

There is no pressure, I'm not going with anything to prove - Richard is the no.1 rider in the team - I'm simply there in a mentoring / coaching role, and Roy says I can do the race if I fancy it.
Getting through qualifying would be a start!

It will be interesting to ride the bike, work with Richard and Roy to set it up, and just see how we all get on.

Great time.

The weather is still fabulous.

Blu and Yoda are wanting a refund as they are wearing their tyres out!

'Frank' has been going really well, I think he's ready for some new boots - on their 3rd track day now I think the Avon VP2s are ready for a change - oh, and I think he needs some new brake pads too...

Monkey time!

'Frank' and I are back here at Cadwell Park with my V2Pro on track training scheme.

The weather is glorious, and the pace is hot.

Coaching a couple of Throttle Monkeys, Blu and Yoda.
They are really 'on it'.

It's just SO fast!

I can't believe how fast the bike is.
Just working on trying to get the set up how I like it.

Oh what a wonderful day...

...the weather is rubbish though.

Naked Sabina!!

Mark Hanna has just sent me these couple of photos to prove to me that he's still working on Sabina!

The good news is that she should be ready to get out in time for Pembrey Friday practice for the ThunderSportGB round there.

I best get on and see if I can get an entry...

Britishsportphotography.co.uk action shot

Nice gloves... now who could they possibly belong to?





Great action shot from my day at Cadwell Park.

Very quiet, so very busy.

The track day is quiet, probably only about 14 riders in the advanced group.

So we are getting lots done and loads of track time.

Avon VP2

Really happy with these Avon tyres I'm evaluating.

Seem to be working well - did half a day at Oulton last week and now half a day here.

Will carry on and see just how much track work I can get out of them.

Tuesday - must be Cadwell.

Lovely sunny day.
'Frank' and I are here at Cadwell Park doing some 1to1 track work.
I recognised the bike, used to be Sarah Jordan's and then it belonged to 'Chunks'.

Good day out.

It was great to meet Nige, an extremely competent rider and I have to say, a pleasure to coach.

We've had a good day out all in all.
Six sessions provided us with plenty of laps.

Warming up

And drying out nicely.
The BSB Suzuki team are here with Syl Guintoli learning the track.

More importantly, Mark Hanna is here with him, pretending to be a mechanic - and I've actually seen the drawings for Sabina's head stock bearings at last.

Mark just has to get them made now!

Not this morning.

Thunder, lightning and pouring rain this morning mean that I will probably be keeping the Avons until it dries up...

Tyre evaluation - Avon VP2.

As it looks like I'm going to be on track with 'Frank' quite a lot this year, I'm going to have a go at evaluating lots of tyres, and let you know what I think is a good tyre for track day use.

Graham Matcham from Avon has sent me a pair of their perfomance tyres VP2 to check out, in respect of grip and longevity.

Off to Oulton Park in the morning, with a Client, so I've put them on 'Frank' to see what he thinks of them.

You can check out the website here: Avon Tyres

Action shot - Donington Park.

The weather and greasy track conditions meant that it was a bit of a difficult day - but Neil Jones from focusedevents.com managed to get some good photos.

As it was getting more and more tricky keeping up with the fast lads that request coaching, on 'Bill', I'm a bit sad to say he has gone back to BMW.
I'll miss the heated grips and mirrors; but change must come.

So - please meet 'Frank'.

New Phase.

Phil has bought one of last year's Phase One bikes.
He is looking forward to getting to grips with it; planning to be doing some of the Hottrax Endurance events on it.

Greasy morning.

Nothing new here at Donington, still as slippy as anything and its not even raining!

V2Pro - training machine.

I've got so much tuition booked for this season, that I've had to acquire a machine to do it on.
Here it is - as yet un-named.
First day out tomorrow at Donington - hmmn, weather forecast: rain, rain, rain and more rain with a bit of wind thrown in - nice...

Video overview of MT125 Test