'Team work makes the dream work'

BSB ROUND 6 – Thruxton Race Circuit TOMMO21 RACE SUMMARY 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship Quattro Plant Hire British Supersport 600

Saturday: - Qualifying - P27 - Sprint Race (12 laps) – P22

Sunday: - Feature Race (18 laps) – P24 Best Lap: 1:20.1 Ideal Lap: 1:19.8

Event Sponsor: JMF Heating and Plumbing Ltd

Summary: What a roller coaster! Living only 10 minutes from Thruxton, I was well up for the challenge of the fastest track in the UK. However, Friday saw nothing but mechanical issues, yet a massive team effort overcome all problems thrown our way and didn’t stop a great weekend of successful racing in front of massive local Thruxton crowd!

Friday: FP1 / FP2 Finding our way in FP1, I was happy with the progress we were making until the last few minutes of the session where the bike wouldn’t shift up through the gears. This happened a year ago, so knew it was the selector fork. A bit of work by the team before FP2 and we were good to go again. However, on lap 2 of FP2, I was trying to hang onto the coat tails of Harry Rowlings racing when I was black flagged. Pulling off the racing line and looking down, I couldn’t see anything wrong but pulled over on the exit of Church. Giving the bike a slight rev as I felt nothing on circuit, a buff of blue smoke come out of the exhaust and I quick hit the kill switch. Engine was done for. Thanks for the bottle of water the marshals give me. The orange army are always spot on!

Having crashed Trudy at Brands, I knew that engine wasn’t fit to use. There was a point on Friday when I thought (and declared) the weekend was over, however my old man offered the use of his engine out of his road going 675 in Ipswich and we were back in business. Thanks Dad, not just for the engine but the late night of stripping it out of your mint road bike! Driving through the night and into the early hours, I collected the engine before returning to the track for 0400hrs then home to bed for some much needed sleep. The team; Jason, Ricky and Alex then arrived at the circuit for 0600hrs to remove the old engine and fit the new. Given that it was a road engine going into a Supersport bike, it wasn’t quite as simple as one in one out but the boys overcome the issues with the spare I had and got it in and running with 10 minutes to spare before qualifying! Great effort in the baking heat team!

Saturday: Qualifying Working into the session, I posted a respectable time putting me P27 on the grid, but I was safe in the knowledge that there was loads to come from the bike and me given that it was only my second ever session at Thruxton.

Sprint Race: Getting a good start, we jumped from P27 to about P23. Hanging in there with Burrel and De Vries ahead, I picked up my lap time passing Burrell then De Vries who put on a strong fight for a few laps. Finishing P22 from P27 following all the issues from the day and morning before was a massive success not just for me, but all the team.

Sunday:

Feature Race Having missed FP2, we were still making big changes to the bike even at this late stage of the weekend. Setting off, I struggled in the first few laps with the heavy fuel load. By lap 5 I started to push on, but was already 2.5 seconds behind Jordan and De Vries ahead. I pushed as hard as I could, setting a PB in the process but the gap was static. Going into the final 6 or so laps, I had a few big moments including losing the front in the fast left hander of Seagrave. It now evident that just rolling off and throwing it into Seagrave without a dab of brake on entry was a bad idea! I managed the last few laps from there until the end of the race while Burrell behind was keeping me honest. Finishing P24, I was happy with the result in what was very hot conditions.

Thruxton was packed of little fans who wanted posters, stickers & autographs, supporters from the nearby community who we helped with tickets and importantly local sponsors, some of which have been helping me for many years and finally got a first hand taste of motorcycle racing and everything that goes on behind the scenes. It was fantastic to see you all & share the weekend with you!

The biggest thank you of all has to go to the team who worked and sweated their nuts of all weekend to keep the show on the road. It may seem like it, but this is NOT an individual sport and we racers can only do our thing on track thanks to the team behind the scenes!

Unfortunately funds are beyond tight, so I’m having to missing the next round at Cadwell Park and possibly Oulton Park. If you'd like to support myself at either of these events, please see www.tommo21racing.co.uk or email me at tommo21.motorcycleroadracing@gmail.com

You’ll next see me on track at childhood home track of Snetterton between 9 – 10 Sep!