Round 7 Race report - Satisfied to be in one piece!

Round seven of the calendar was held at local circuit Mallory Park at the weekend and only by the skin of their teeth were Brian & the team on the grid. Brian has suffered from sponsorship non payments, But at the final hour two great people came forward to allow the team to compete!

Mallory Park has never been one of Brian’s favourites but he was just happy to get on the bike on Friday and managed to post the 11th fastest time of the day. For qualifying it seemed like it was going to be a pressing weekend and after the first session the team lay in a lowly 15th position. With changes made to the bike and some words of support Pete hoped Brian would improve in the afternoon to ensure it wasn’t an uphill battle for the race. Brian did improve but the track appeared to be slower and nearly all riders were half a second slower than they had been in the morning where as Brian was half a second faster! This moved them upto 12th on the grid a row further forward than in the morning.

‘Todays been tough, I’m not really at my best around here, its just stop, start. The bikes good but gearbox selection is where we need to focus. We run a non power valve engine and unlike nearly the rest of the field who with their power valve engines have a wider spread of power allowing them to get better drive from the turns. We may well have a few improvements for tomorrow so hopefully I can get a good start and run with the front guys.

With the gearbox internals changed Brian felt confident of further improvements and just look toward getting further up the field and bringing the bike home for some points.

Brian got an average start and completed his first lap 9th but in touch with the front runners, a few laps on and he was up with the KRP train and looking to make a move. When he did it was a little too forceful and he ran wide into the hairpin narrowly avoiding any contact. Frustrated he tried to re-bridge the gap as now Shaun Horsman was breathing down his neck. They moved ever closer to the battle for third but then KRP rider Paul Jordan low-sided right in front of Brain as he exited the Hairpin forcing him to take evasive action to avoid the spinning machine. This allowed Horsman by and also the group in front to break away. With his focus now on Horsman Brian tried all he could but when it came down to a last lap lunge there were 2 back markers uncomfortably placed and Clark had to settle for Sixth place, for the third round running.

‘Well not a result I need but we managed to get here just and at least we are going away with more points and no repair bill! This type of circuit is not good for me and at least the last 5 rounds are all at proper circuits so hopefully we can get back to the front and chase down the championship. We now stand fifth overall and only 20 points off second so that’s our next point to focus on. I must say a huge thanks to those few people who have pledge extra to ensure we may finish the season, hopefully I can give them something in return by 5 strong rounds to be proud of. We have two weeks to prepare for Brands Hatch so everything will be perfect and we can crack on after those KRP Boys.’

Round 8 is at Brand Hatch in Kent on 7th – 9th August. To support the team or just to keep upto date with progress contact Brian at brian@brian-clark.co.uk