All 3 team riders were riding during the weekend. Steve Jordan in the Powerbikes, Peter Molloy in the BCL Minitwins and Sarah Jordan out for some practice in the Powerbikes prior to the first round of her championship at Donington Park Easter weekend.

 

The second weekend of March is the traditional date set for the series opening round. During the past 3 seasons the weather has been very kind to everyone, but it wasnt to be so during this weekend.

 

Friday testing whilst remaining dry was very cold and track conditions were very unpredictable. A 3 riders achieved their goals during the days testing, with Steve confirming that his GSXR1000K6 is now fixed from a testing accident two weeks prior. Sarah was working on new settings which transformed the bike and regulary knocked out 51 second laps to confirm she is now feeling very at home on the new bike.

 

Saturday qualifying was oversubscribed for the Powerbikes meaning 51 riders were sent out to try and set a quick lap. Sadly a riders bike dropped oil around the circuit meaning the session only lasted 8 minutes making it very difficult to settle down and get some clear track. Steve qualified 15th and Sarah 22nd from 51 riders.

 

 

Peter also had a very busy track to contend with during his minitwin qualifying sessions. He managed though to qualify on the front row in 4th place.

 

With the powerbikes split into 3 groups it meant that there were to be 3 races per day with each rider taking part in 2. Steve drew the lucky straw into the group which due to their time slot managed to get two dry (ish) races over the weekend and two wet ones. Tyre choice in Race one Saturday meant that Steve had to pull in but the rest of the weekend went well for Steve, a 6th overall (4th in group) Saturday and 10th (4th in group) and 6th (3rd in group) Sunday.

 

Steve was very pleased with these results considering the conditions and lack of feel from the circuit.

 

 

Sarah drew the unlucky straw and had 4 wet races over the weekend. Having entered for testing prior to her first proper round Sarah was looking for plenty of dry tracktime during the races to settle into the bike and run a final test on the new settings at race pace. Being a very confident rider in the wet it was a steep learning curve only having ridden the bike on a damp track once prior to this weekend. Race one Saturday went well with a 15th overall and 7th in group. A DNF in race 2 Saturday was due to an over efficient stock radiator and very cold temperatures. With the bike running at only 38oc Sarah decided not to risk any damage an