MAGsport
For the fast ones
As you may know Magsport Rider Alex Gault was to contend the European GSXR CUP this year however, although Alex was well within the age limits for the championship, the ACU refused to give him dispensation to race as he was 8 months too young by their rules. The ride was therefore given to someone else. Until now he has been contesting various rounds in various championships as contending one particular championship by that time was impossible.
A chance arose to contend the European Stock 600 Championship but Alex could not raise all the money required for the ride and had to bow out of the running. With the ride eventually going to South African Chris Lesson. Things took a turn for the better for Alex when it was realised that three rounds of the European Championship clashed with the dates of the South African Championships that Chris was also competing in. Misano in June, Brands Hatch in August & Vallelunga in September. With help from his supporters, Alex was successful in raising the money needed to be able to contest the first two and have an option on the last round.
The one thing about buying your place in a team is that everything is done for you. All Alex had to do was get to the circuit. This was done by a flight from Standstead to Forli Airport, hiring a car and driving to Cattolica where our hotel was only 5km from the Circuit.
On our arrival at the Misano World Circuit we were immediately amazed by the show that is laid on at every round of this World Super Bike Championships, very impressive. We soon found the MIST Suzuki set-up, the team Alex was riding for, and got Alex signed on and through technical inspections with the WSBK Inspectors.
After all the paper work was done it was back to the hotel. Cattolica, situated on the Rimini coast is like Blackpool without the promenade but with 30 degree temperatures. There are countless hotels as this is the vacation capital of Italy and our hotel, which was keenly priced; was situated right next to the railway lines that ferried them all in! However we were so tired it didn't stop us sleeping on Thursday night. It did however wake us up at 4.00, 4.30, 5.00, 5.30, get the picture?
Friday; Free Practice and First Qualifying. The bike had some faults which the extreme heat emphasised. Alex set about learning the track in free practice, making some adjustments to the set up for first qualifying. His best time from Free Practice which was held around mid day with ambient temp at 31degrees and a track temp of 35 degrees. 1.50.819 this put Alex down in 31st place of the 34 riders who took part. The other Brit Gino Rae was 2 places nearer the front with a time of 1.49.428. Leon Hunt who races in an Italian team and who had been at the practice day a fortnight ago was in 24th position with a 1.48.134. The fastest time from this session was made by Italian Antonelli with a time of 1.43.190.
Qualifying 1 started at 16.30, track temp 43 degrees ambient 30 degrees. Alex managed to drop around 4 seconds on this his second time on track and put in a 1.46.620. Now I must stress we did not treat this as a qualifying session, Alex had still to learn the track and approached it rather as a practice session rather than going for a qualifying time. This would normally be a very big gamble, as if it rained in the second qualifying session the time from this dry run would stick. But hell it's Italy, the Sun's splitting the trees and tomorrow's forecast was for more of the same. Although Alex took 4 seconds of his time, the problem was that every one else went fast as well. Leon was in 23rd with 1.46.091 and Gino, a place in front of Alex with a 1.46.057. An old Pal of Alex 'Billo' Gregorini, who Alex had practiced with when they both raced Minimotos, took provisional pole on this, his home circuit, with a 1.42.291.
Qualifying 2 Saturday 12 .15 to 12.45, ambient 29degrees, track temp 46 degrees. Againn although advised otherwise, Alex took this as a race practice, until we brought him back into the pits midway through the session and reminded him. He went out and managed to get a few laps being towed in the slipstream of faster bikes and put in a time of 1.44.788 a 'gnats thingy' in front of Gino's time of 1.44.838 with Leon's time of 1.44.590 gathering the three Brits together on the grid for the race! In 24th, 25th, and 26th place. Pole position went to Italian Michele Magoni with a 1.41.612.
I can't say I was unhappy with that result, as Alex races better than he qualifies (Something to do with me bullying him about crashing). Remember Leon and Gino have been doing this all year on their own bikes and here was Alex on a strange bike for the first time in a situation like this in front of God knows how many spectators, and riding in temperatures I couldn't bare to stand in never mind exert myself in. For him to be only 3 seconds off pole on this very technical track, the first time in this company was OK I think.
We had done all we could, we had fresh tyres, the suspension was not going to get any better, we cleaned and refuelled, the bike was ready but Alex was still not happy. Under the circumstances we could do no more and as 17.15 approached it was time for the race. We went to the holding area at 17.20 temp 31degrees track 46 degrees. The sighting lap started at 17.25. As the riders returned to the grid it was tyre warmers on and crash helmets off. We hid Alex under an umbrella searching for that little bit of shade from the blazing sun. As the 3 minute board came up it was back off with the warmers and clear the grid for the start.
The Race
As the lights went out Geno got the
mother of all starts, being two rows nearer
the front before the bulbs were cold. Alex
fluffed and as the bikes passed me he was
back in last place, however he pushed
from the off and as he came back round
he had made it up to 18th place, alongside
Belgian Lonbois and Italian Poma with the
three 'swapping paint' for 4 laps. At one
point Alex was up to 16th place and he
told me he had been physically pushed
wide by one rider as the rider passed him.
Alex said "I just did the same to him at the
next corner to retake the place."
Toward the end of lap 4 Poma who Alex
was slipstreaming, missed a gear, forcing
Alex to sit up and brake to avoid running
into the back of the bike. Four riders got
by Alex, who from braking had lost so
much momentum and that, as they say;
was that. Alex's bike could stay with them
when being towed up the straights but
could not punch a hole in the air when out
on his own.
The Russian Rider Leonov passed Alex under yellow flags on lap 7 (which you are not supposed to do) but Alex managed to chase him down, and at one point got passed him for 21st place but could not get the power down coming out of the corners and was re-passed going up the straight.
Alex finished in 222nd position, angry at his performance. Of the other Brits Gino finished in 15th and Leon in 24th. There was also one of the most destructive crashes I have ever seen in the race. A Yamaha ridden by Italian Petrucci absolutely destroyed itself. The rider was unhurt but the bike! Front wheel detached, forks ripped off, chassis at one point was at least 20feet in the air and coming back to earth crumpled into a ball, carnage! I think they might have only been able to salvage the internals of the gearbox! Then on lap 7 another Yamaha crashed and landed in the grandstand! Again, luckily, no one was hurt as the Grandstand was still under construction and no one had been allowed into it. Spectacular racing! I must comment on the French winner Berger who had a stunning race-long fight with second place Italian Magnon. Fantastic talent, Superb race! Well done to both of them.
To Sum Up
The trip did its job. I always try to look at
the big picture. Alex finishing in 22nd is
not a true reflection on how well he did. In
the de-brief Alex told us how close he'd
been to coming off at least five times in
the race when he had to take to the grass
going round the flat-out right hand kink,
when another rider used him for brakes.
How he was so close to crashing into the
back of the rider who had missed his gear
change, and twice when applying the
power coming out of corners. He said for
sure it had been close on many occasions
but the two times he counted, he'd been
out of the seat and just managed to avoid
the debris of a crashed bike. We entered
this knowing very little of what goes on or
what happens, before we left, obviously
we set targets. Our target had been to
finish 15th. Don't ask how we came to that
conclusion as we didn't know who he'd be
up against. I suppose it was based on the
past performance from the other Brits in
the class.
Looking for excuses? Ok the bike was not as good as it could have been, which did annoy me. I have always insisted that only after the bike is perfect do you spend money on frills. I suppose the WSB Paddock is one that you wouldn't want to be walking about in in rags but you're here to do as good as you can and until the bike is as fast as it can be I see no point in just looking good. In 6 years of racing I have never had the money to waste on team uniforms etc. This was the first time Alex had raced in this sort of company and the first time he had been on a track with a temperature of 45 degrees. He said the amount of grip between the tyre and track was amazing, which I know sort of contradicts his claim not to be able to get the power down coming out of the corners but believe me, that came from the suspension set-up. He also said "he'd got the bike moving around under him and it was difficult to gauge if the movement would just get bigger or if the grip would just let go instantly and result in a crash. I suppose he'll have to crash to find out the limit but we didn't want him to crash someone else's bike; not this weekend. The first 10 or 12 riders who finished were professionals i.e. this is their job inside very professional teams a-la "Ducati Xerox Junior team" etc. and every one takes it very, very seriously!
On the plus side again looking at the big picture, I do honestly believe Alex could have finished around 15th if you look at the ground he had made up and the lads he was with in the opening laps. They finished 13th and 114th.
More importantly, I believe with the set up and equipment we have got ourselves at the moment (we've just got some more trick bits for his Suzuki), I could have him finish constantly top 15. To get into the top ten would need an injection of cash and more experience from both Alex and his crew. Alex learned loads in a very short period of time and constantly got faster as his confidence built. We got to meet a few old friends and hopefully some new ones.
We would like to thank the MIST Suzuki team for the effort put in. Also our good friend Carlo B for his efforts and the introductions he arranged, to all of you who contributed to make this trip possible. Yes it was very worthwhile, despite the result, Alex did a good job and Mike was right when he said after racing in this championship. "you will not want to race anywhere else." He was right...shame we can't afford it!
AGR
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