New Era Superclub at Brands Hatch

Monday, July 14, 2008

Last weekend's Brands Hatch Indy played host to the 8th round of New Era's Superclub Championship, Saturday being a Moto Star day and Sunday being Superclub.

The weather on Saturday was better than expected and remained dry which allowed Wade to try some new setup ideas and improve the bike.

During SOT qualifying the track was drying and Wade took to the track with an intermediate setup qualifying 4th.  At the F600 and Pro bike qualifying the track was dry and allowed Wade to use his dry setup from Friday.  He posted a 50s flat time, good enough for pole ahead of a 35 bike field.

During the first SOT race Wade pulled a good lead from start and won.  The first F600 was much the same story; after a short battle with a Kawasaki rider Wade cleared the pack and built a 3s lead and in doing so set the fastest lap anyone recorded over the weekend of a 49.59s.

Wade was confident the setup could be improved further and could drop into the 48s bracket as he felt he was far from perfecting the lap.  Wade lead the 2nd SOT race but there had been an engine blow up at Paddock hill so he took it easy there allowing the local rider Joe Reading to close on him, as the entered the final lap Wade was leading, he dived under a back marked at Druids only to have him turn in on him.  Taking avoiding action Wade lost the front end dropping the bike into the gravel trap!  He did comment the bike felt better with the last change and a 49.71 with oil at paddock proved this point.

During Sunday qualifying Wade kept his head in difficult constantly changing conditions and did exactly what he needed to do qualifying in 2nd in the field of 600's and 4th in the SOT.

The first SOT race lined up with all runners on dries but with a small amount of drizzle coming down, as the grid set off Wade fought and gained 2nd slotting behind a KTM1170 as they entered clearways the drizzle still seemed light but as Wade wound on the throttle the rear snapped away on the damp tarmac and Wade was down.  The race was stopped due to the rain and restarted as a Wet race due to intermittent showers.  Ben Thompson and Becky worked hard repairing the bike in time for the 600's.

The first 600 race was fully wet and Wades first time on the Pirelli wets on a grippy circuit, wanting to ensure the bike was ok and settle into the wet tyres he came home a solid third way ahead of his championship rival who was in 9th.  The 2nd SOT race took place on a drying track which proved too much for the soft compound Pirelli's after battling with two others Wade settled for 3rd knowing he needed to focus for the final 600 race.

The final 600 race proved to be a fantastic battle between Cronshaw and Wade both riders dropping into the 49s bracket.  Conshaw must of been paying close attention to Wades riding on the Saturday (which Cronshaw had sat out of) as he knew exactly where to ride defensively on Wades strongest passing point on the short track.  The backmarkers kept falling awkwardly for Wade but each time he closed back on Cronshaw pressurising him the pair finished fractionally apart with Wade taking 2nd.

In a weekend full of ups and downs Wade was quoted saying 'I have really enjoyed Brands, posting the quickest lap time once again and importantly improving the bike and closing the gap on Cronshaw.  I need to learn from my errors of judgment as these only prevent me from riding to my full.  I also really need to find budget for a second bike as this is holding me back'.

Wade would like to thank MKW Suspension and his team for their support.

Wade's next outing is at British Supersport at Oultan Park on the 26 and 27th of July.

Results

Sat
SOT
Race1 - 1st
Race2 - dnf

F600
Race1 - 1st
Race2 - dns

Sun - Superclub
SOT
Race1 - dnf
Race2 - 3rd

F600
Race1 - 3rd
Race2 - 2nd