Only just got round to watching the racing that was recorded last weekend. BSB - Brands Hatch GP Circuit - 22/23 July 2017 Race 1 2. Dan Linfoot +0.365 sec 7. Jason O'Halloran +2.102 sec Race 2 7. Jason O'Halloran +10.866 sec DNF Dan Linfoot Dan Linfoot qualified No3 on the grid for the start of Race 1. He led for for a lot of the race that was bunched up after the Safety Car came out. He won his PODIUM place though conquest rather than through attrition, taking the fastest lap that put him on Pole position for Race 2. He spent a lot of time in front of the camera surrounded by the best of them. Looked good. Race 2 went a bit pear-shaped for Dan as he crashed on Lap 4, with the front sliding out from under him - similar thing happened to Josh Brookes on Lap 9, which left Shakey Byrne disappear into the distance unchalleged. Jason O'Halloran kept pace with the Kawasakis of Luke Mossey and Leon Haslam. He came in 7th place. The Honda Fireblade looked good. It does not appear to have the ability to carve its way through the field to the front, like Shane Byrne seems able to do on his Ducati. But still, Pole positions, fastest lap, PODIUM finishes, lots of time in front of the cameras, must mean things are on the up for the Honda Fireblade.
BSB - Thruxton - 5/6 August 2017 Race 1 6. jason O'Halloran +6.797 sec 15. Dan Linfoot +20.734 sec Race 2 5. Jason O'Halloran +14.971 sec 12. Dan Linfoot +21.630 sec I confess, I did not see the racing as I was away on holiday that weekend. So I have only managed to read some about it online and in MCN. It seems tyre wear was an issue on a super abrasive circuit - Shane Byrne actually retired from Race 2 because of tyre wear issues. Honda Racing struggled to maintain grip and tyre life, but commented that other teams were facing similar issues. http://www.bikesportnews.com/news/n...lack-of-grip-proves-problematic-for-ohalloran Josh Brookes won the first race. I would like to have seen that thundering win on the lovely yellow and black R1 - and he is not a bad sort either ! he crashed out of the lead in race 2 though. Everyone now concentrating on making it into the Showdown places.
BSB - Cadwell Park - 19/20 August 2017 Race 1 5. Jason O'Halloran +1.106 sec DNF Dan Linfoot Race 2 4. Jason O'Halloran +5.739 sec In Race 1 Jason and Dan started 5th and 7th on the grid respectively. But Dan Linfoot did not make it past the first couple of corners from the start, before crashing out. He was forced wide on to the grass. He stayed upright but he had to lay the bike down on its side as he was heading straight back into the pack of riders that had not finished passing him yet - slick tyres on wet grass meant he could not change direction, or apply the brakes, so he just laid it on its side to avoid colliding with the others. Jason O'Halloran continued his pursuit of the leaders. He spent a few laps defending his 3rd place, fending of Shane Byrne. However, Shane eventually passed him and he lost a further place to Peter Hickman to finish 5th. In Race 2 Jason O'Halloran started 9th on the Grid; Dan Linfoot did not make the start as he had chipped a bone in his hand during the off in the previous race. Leon Haslam went across the grass on Lap 13, and had to put it on its side as there was no other option for him. Shane Byrne pulled out with what looked to be a gear selector issue. There was some fierce racing for the front places, with Peter Hickman, Lee Jackson (new lap record) and James Ellison - with James Ellison taking the win on the Yamaha R1. Overall, obviously not so good for Dan Linfoot, but Honda Racing have Jason O'Halloran in the top 6 as they head toward the shoot out
Anyone else notice the Eurosport commentator extracting the urine out of the Blade when Bradl I think it was actually overtook someone. Made me laugh
WSBK - Lausitzring, Germany - 18/19 August 2017 Race 1 DNF Davide Giugliano Race 2 13. Stefan Bradl + 36.772 sec 17. Davide Giugliano + 1 min 1.401 sec Where to begin. Stefan Bradl crashed during practice, on some spilt oil, and hurt his elbow. He went on to qualify in 15th place but was ruled out as unfit to race, by the medical experts - so he did not make the start of Race 1. Davide Giugliano qualified in 16th place and was able to make up a couple of places in Race 1 before retiring with a "technical issue" with only 4 laps left to go. In Race 2 Stefan made up a couple of places from his qualifying grid position, whilst Davide finished in the same position as his qualifying place on the grid. Really they were among the back markers and rarely seen - one comment was made when Stefan was seen overtaking Raffaele de Rosa near the end of the race - as if a minor miracle had been witnessed.
FIM Endurance World Championship. The 2016-2017 season ended back in July this year, at the Suzuka 8hr race. Honda Endurance Racing finished the Championship in 13th Place overall. To be honest I have not followed this championship at all, but it deserves a mention as part of the overall post being about the new Honda Fireblade's first racing season. So here is a link to the Honda Racing website that has some details of the race at Suzuka, and overall mention of their season with the new Fireblade: http://www.hondaracingcbr.com/b18/mixed-suzuka-8-hours-for-honda-endurance-racing/# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 2017-2018 season will start on 16/17 September 2017 (next weekend), at the Bol d'Or in the South of France. A link to the FIM World Endurance Championship website for the new 2017-2018 season: https://www.fimewc.com/event/bol-d-or-2017-2018/ Maybe one for next year !
BSB - Silverstone - 09/10 September 2017 Race 1 11. Jason O'Halloran +1:08.452 sec 16. Dan Linfoot +1:37.868 sec Jason O'Halloran qualified in P1 on the grid. There was some talk among some of the riders about delaying the start of the race, because about half of the track was wet with standing rain water, and the other parts were dry. This led to concerns about tyre choice being nearly impossible. Tyre choice made all the difference with the wet tyres paying off overall, as the track did not dry out completely as expected. Shane Byrne and Leon Haslam crashed and Glen Erwin won on the Ducati. Race 2 5. Jason O'Halloran +1.329 sec DNF Dan Linfoot Dan Linfoot crashed on lap 1 soon followed by other fallers including Leon Haslam. The Safety Car came out on lap 8 due to a crash near the edge of the track - so the bikes had to be slowed down to allow the marshals and medical staff to be able to work safely so close to the edge of the track. They Safety Car circulated for 2 laps, then the race was Red Flagged when the motor of Shaun Winfield's Anvil Yamaha blew smoke and some oil on the track. There was some confusion about whether the laps completed under the Safety Car counted towards race distance, and so whether the result could be declared. Eventually the result was called and the riders were not required to go out again - Josh Brookes won on the yellow and black Anvil TAG Yamaha R1. Race 3 1. Dan Linfoot DNF Jason O'Halloran Nervous riders on the grid. For some, their places in the top 6 Showdown were at stake, which would have to be settled in atrocious rainy conditions. They had every right to be nervous as what followed was the worst rate of attrition ever seen - at lest in the memory of James Whitham and the commentary team. Dan Linfoot started in last place on the Grid, in P21, and he went on to win the race by over 4 seconds - of the 21 starters only 7 finished when the race was red flagged on Lap 10. Josh Brookes was momentarily high sided and thrown off his bike - but his bike carried on down the track, still upright, without him and came to rest in the gravel trap with Josh Brookes running after it. Even with riders going slower, except Dan Linfoot and Michael Laverty on the McAms R1 Yamaha, they were still falling all over the track. Dan Linfoot did really well, and showed great courage and skill in appalling conditions - Michael Leverty was prepared to take the fight to him but ran out of time to catch him. Amazing race. So, Honda Racing make it into the title showdown, with Jason O'Halloran and the new Fireblade - great stuff. edit. P21
Last race was crazy, only 7 finished never seen a MotoGP or BSB race that before, it must have been a costly weekend for the teams repairing all those bikes
Thanks for the comments. I will have a read of MCN on Wednesday if it is available - sometimes it is Thursday that the local shop gets a few copies. I hope Shaky has not caused his TV commentator's career any harm by swearing in the interview - he briefly used the naughty " f " word .
Bol d'Or - Endurance World Championship - Circuit Paul Ricard - 14/17 September 2017 (2017-2018 season) 1. GM94 Yamaha 2. Wepol BMW - Motorrad Team 3. Honda - Endurance Racing For a while the standard No. 5 Fireblade of F.C.C. Honda France was ahead of the new Fireblade SP2 - but they crashed out of the lead after 20+ hours. They were able to make it back to the pits and get the bike repaired, but of course lost quite a lot of time. The Honda Racing team also had their troubles. They came in for a pit stop at the the same time, but the bike was not running properly when they left the pits to rejoin the race. So they had to do another lap and come into the pits again, to have the problem looked at. The problem for the No 111 Honda was with the generator, which was completely replaced when the bike came back in. The full fuel tank came off and was given to one of the mechanics to hold on to , while the work was done. Jonny Twelvetrees was interviewed as they watched nervously to see if the Honda had been fixed - relief as the sector times seemed to indicate that they had solved the problem. The real excitement came in the last 20 minutes, of the 24 hour race. Lucy Glockner of the Voelpker NRT-48 BMW team was in 3rd place, just ahead of Sebastien Gimbert for the Honda Endurance team. Lucy rode very professionally, on a bike that was faster on the straight than the Honda SP2 - but the Honda Firebalde was noticeably being held up by the BMW in the twisties. Sebastien Gimbert, on the Fireblade passed Lucy, but was reeled in again and passed on the long straight. He passed her again as he chose a better line through some back markers. We lost sight of this epic duel as the attention went to the winner as he crossed the finish line, and we had to wait to see the No. 111 bike come across the line to see the result - 3rd Place - HONDA FIREBLADE ON THE PODIUM !! Well done Honda ! Results https://www.fimewc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Bol17_ProvisionalResults.pdf Honda Endurance Racing http://www.hondaracingcbr.com/
WSBK - Portimao, Portugal - 16/17 September 2017 Race 1 15. Takumi Takahashi +54.303 DNF Stefan Bradl Stefan Bradl crashed early in the race, with 17 laps to go - he had started on 8th Place on the grid. Takumi Takahashi, a Honda test rider, finished in 15th Place after starting on P19 on the grid. Jonathan Rea, on the Kawasaki, was already two seconds ahead by the second lap - he was not challenged at any time and just cleared off into the distance to take the win. His team mate Tom Sykes did not make the start line because of a spectacular crash during practice warm up when he crashed at the top of the hill with a full tank of fuel that burst into flames. He burnt his arm and damaged his hand so did not take part in the racing. Race 2 10. Takumi Takahashi +50.000 sec Leon Camier, on the MV Augusta started on Pole position and most neutral fans probably wanted him to win - it would have been a great result all round. After the start he was gradually overhauled though - with 11 laps to go his bike blew smoke and he was forced to retire. Some positives - Apriia were in the mix, and the camera work was better in that it followed some of the racing action rather than just following the race leader round. In the interview Jonathan Rea said that they were already testing for the 2018 season, as the 2017 season is already within a few points of being sewn up for him. Honda were barely seen or mentioned.
BSB - Oulton Park - 16/17 September 2017 Race 1 10. Jason O'Halloan +20.758 sec Dan Linfoot started on P4 of the grid, and was soon in the lead. He stretched his lead to almost 10 seconds before he was forced to retire on lap 15 in a huge pall of smoke. He pulled over at some speed and managed to keep it upright as he raced across the grass - quite a sight to see him racing across the grass with smoke billowing out of his bike - and sad that he lost his commanding lead of the tricky wet race. Jake Dixon had to start from pit lane, as he did not make the starting grid in time for the race. He has suffered a mild fall in practice but the bike had flipped on to its nose and did quite a bit of damage - which took time for the mechanics to repair. They did a great job to get him in the race at all. Jake carved his way through the best of them to make it to 4th place - a remarkable achievement. Leon Haslam won the race on the Kawasaki. Race 2 1. Dan Linfoot 8. Jason O'Halloran +4.607 sec A dry race, everyone on slicks. From around the middle of the race a group of three riders tussled closely for the lead positions - Bradley Ray, Dan Linfoot and Leon Haslam. Very close but Dan Linfoot took the WIN by 0.054 seconds over Haslam with Bradley Ray only 0.114 seconds behind to come in third. Great racing.
Cracking racing all round, I watched it last night, Linfoot deserved that win, quite a few bikes had what the commentators call "moments" I'd call it shitting my pants
WSBK - Magny-Cours, France - 30 September/ 01 October 2017 Race 1 8. Davide Giugliano +1:05.775 DNF Jake Gagne It was confirmed that Stefan Bradl will not be taking part in any further racing this season, and so Jake Gagne was brought in to ride Stefan's bike. He had a steep learning curve to learn the track fairly quickly, as well as learning the bike. Sadly he did not finish, with only 2 laps left to go. Jonathan Rea, on the Kawasaki, stormed off to win the race by +16.316 seconds to become the World Champion for the third time - the only rider to win three WSBK titles. Well done to him, however not much was seen of the Honda Fireblades. Race 2 11. Davide Giugliano +45.621 sec 12. Jake Gagne +47.231 sec Chaz Davies won it on the Ducati. Comments that this Panigale will be the only Ducati model not to ave won a WSBK title, as the new V4 will be out next year. Meanwhile Jonathan Rea was out of the race, as he brushed passed Eugene Laverty's fallen Aprilia - which wiped out his right side rear set. He pulled in to the pits straight away but it was game over for Rea, but Eugene managed to get his bike back on track to finish the race. BSB - Assen, Holland - 30 September/ 01 October 2017 Race 1 10. Jason O'Halloran +15.666 sec 11. Dan Linfoot +15.719 sec Qualifying had been in the heavy rain, so the stating grid was mixed. Race day was lovely and sunny, which resulted in some very fast racing - with riders giving it full beanage round the fast Assen track - almost everyone stayed on with only one faller. Shakey, Haslam, Ellison and Guintoli, the lead riders, showing how it is done. The showdown contenders might resent the presence of non-contenders in the mix, getting in the way as it were, but Leon Haslam got his head down and got on with it to get the win. Nice to see James Ellison on the lovely McAms Yamaha R1 in the mix, and making third spot on the podium. And nice to see the new Bennetts Suzuki GSX-R at the sharp end of the racing - comments that Sylvain Guintoli and his Gixer are better suited to the fast flowing continental circuits like Assen, than the rest of the narrow BSB circuits to be found in the UK. I almost forgot about the Hondas, as we did not see much of them. There was so much quality action at the front, that there was not so much time for coverage of the rest ! Race 2 9. Dan Linfoot +9.502 sec 13. Jason O'Halloran +16.385 sec Another dry race - and another corker. Guintoli, Haslam, Ellison and Byrne trade places continuously - some great overtaking moves, and all so close. On lap 16 all four of them are side-by-side as they come down the straight and into the 1st corner trying to manoeuvre and out brake each other - places get shuffled again. Josh Brookes, on the Yamaha R1 catches them and joins the fight for the podium. Sylvain Guintoli hangs on to the narrowest lead to win it - the first win for the new GSX-R. This time I completely forgot about the Hondas. With racing like that, and the Championship deciding points on the line, it was the best racing you could wish for. But still, well done to the Honda team !
