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ARA Championships Round 3

ARA Championships Round 3

After what was a successful first test on the Tile Tec Fire Blade on Saturday, Mark decided he would try his luck in the Centre Championship race on the big bike.

The team got up to Jurby nice and early, so no long walk for Jill to and from the Pit wall. The team were hoping for dry days racing, but with the hail and snow on the mountain and showers in Douglas, this was looking unlikely.

Mark got out at the front for the 1300cc practice. Mark managed to qualify in 4th position on his first outing on the Honda. He was pleased with this as he knew he could go quicker as he was struggling to get the run out of the bus stop right. Dave was riding Mark's main 600 for the NW200 and managed to qualify in 10th position.

In the 600cc practice came the first time Mark had to adapt to two different bikes in one day. First 2 laps Mark thought someone has stolen the engine as the speed difference between the 600cc and 1000cc machines are huge. With a huge entry for this race came traffic, trying to find a clear run to set a quick lap was impossible. Mark was suprised with qualifying on pole with so much traffic to find away through. Dave qualified in 8th position, struggling further to have a clear run.

After the lunch break came the first of the 1300cc open races. Mark tried to practice his starts on the Honda on the warm up lap to no avail. As the bikes lined up on the grid at the end of the warm up lap, came the 'engage gear' & 'watch for the lights' board. Trying to keep the revs up and find the biting point of the clutch, Mark fluffed his start meaning he was lying in 7th position into the first corner. End of Lap 2 Mark was still lying in 7th place, struggling to find a way passed the rider in front. End of Lap 4 Mark was up into 6th place and trying to close down the riders in front. End of lap 6 Mark had caught and passed both Collister and Fenton putting him into 3rd place. Trying to chase down the leading pair Mark registered an impressive lap time of 1:09.7 on his first race on the new machine. Mark finished a very pleasing 3rd place, with Dave finishing in 10th place. This result has left Mark trailing current champion and championship leader Maher by 5 points in the championship.

In the 600 race Mark was not doing himself any favours with another poor start, leaving him with alot to do after being in 5th place come the end of lap 1. Mark managed to pass Harrison and Dedman down the back straight on lap 2 putting himself into 3rd place. With Fenton pulling away at the front Mark found himself behind Dudgeon and managed to make his move coming into the first corner on Lap 4. Mark set off in persuit of Fenton and put himself into a position he could attack on the last lap down the back straight. Coming out of the bus stop Mark tried to set himself up for a pass on Fenton. Being a little eager to get the power down, the rear tyre lost grip, nearly highsiding him. Managing to stay on the bike, Mark set off trying to catch Fenton and try to pressurise him into a mistake. Come the finish line Fenton was the victor by 0.1 seconds. Dave managed to battle his way to 8th position.

With both riders getting themselves ready for race 2 in both championships, unfortunately there was a red flag incident in the 400/125 & 650 class. Unfortunately Nathan Harrison had stalled his 125 on the line. Trying to push his bike out of the way as the lights went out, a rider starting behind Harrison has no where to go, resulting in a collision with Harrison. The accident had caused the fuel tank on Harrison's 125 to split, pooring fuel and oil on to the start/finish straight. The organisers and marshals attended the incident and tried their level best to clear the track. With so much oil and fuel on the circuit the club had no option but to cancel the remainder of the meeting.

Mygdal Racing would like to wish Nathan Harrison a speedy recovery and would like to see him racing again soon.

With the 2nd and 3th place finishes for Mark, this has put him in great form to head to the Northwest 200.

KR

Mygdal Racing

Race Night

Night at the races

Friday 27th April, Mygdal Racing held a fund raiser at Union Mills Football Club to help get the team to this years North West 200.

A big crowd attended and the team would like to thank everyone who made this night possible.

Mygdal Racing would like to thank everyone for their support and generosity to help the team achieve their goals for this year.

KR

Mygdal Racing.

15th April 2012

15th April 2012
What started out a cold windy morning at Jurby for the 2nd round of the ARA Championships, turned into a nice day once the sun came out.

Still having a few jobs to do on the bikes when the team arrived at Jurby, both Mark and Dave were last to have their machines passed by technical inspection.

With Dave running in the new engine on the main Yamaha 600 ready for the Northwest 200, practice times were slow, meaning Dave had to start from the rear of the grid for the Centre Championship. Mark managed to put himself 5th on the grid.

The 600 championship is going to be a great for the spectators this year with any of the top 6 riders looking for a win. Mark had some tyre issues after the Centre championship practice, so he was happy to put himself 6th on the grid. Dave had managed to push the bike in a little more, putting himself 9th on the grid.

At the lunch break was the launch of the Robert Kneale Memorial Trophy. The trophy is to remember Bob and his love for photography. Each photographer can submit one picture at the end of the season with the winner receiving this great prize.

Centre championship was going to be tough, as Mark used another part worn tyre for this race. As the lights went out Mark had a good start putting himself into contention. At the end of the 1st lap Mark was 6th in a long train of riders. After lap 4 Callum Collister seemed to have issues going into the second corner, Mark managed to avoid colliding with Collister putting himself into 4th position. Mark began to chase down the leading 3. Mark was closing in and managed to finish is a superb 3rd place. Mark was pleased with this result as he was the 1st 600 and fastest 600 time of the day.

600 race came and a great aggressive start from Harrison to put himself into 4th place. Mark was in 5th place as the leading train turned onto the inter-section of the course. As Rory Parker came around the corner that take the machines down the runway, Rory highsided himself taking out another rider. The red flag stopped proceedings after the 1st lap. The riders were brought back to the start line, allowing the tyres to cool. The restart gave Mark another chance to get himself to the front. Mark was upto 3rd place coming onto the 4th lap when another rider had come off, putting a stop to racing again. Once the race had been restart Mark managed to finish a pleasing 2nd with Dave 8th.

The 2nd Centre Championship race brought another close battle for the top 6 riders. Mark was upto 4th position coming onto the final 2 laps of the race with Collister infront of him by 1 second. Mark managed to close this gap at the finish line to a few tenths, 1 more lap and may possibly have been 3rd.

With the second 600 race, came another part worn tyre for Mark. Collister and Harrison had another fantastic start putting Mark in 3rd place. Mark was close behind the leading two put just did not have enough grip in his tyres to put himself in a position to pass. Dave managed to finish in another 8th place on a machine that was finished being built late Saturday evening.

Overall the team were pleased with the days racing. Mark managed to post a 1 minute 20 second lap on the standard 600, which match his lap time of last season on his fast bike.

The team are looking forward to the fund raiser on the 27th April, round 3 of the ARA championships and most of all the Northwest 200.

KR
Mygdal Racing

Test Day

Sunday 11th March

Sunday was the first time out for both Dave and Mark since the two day race meeting last September. The team took part in a private test session courtesy of Quay Side Tyres.

The track was green with moss and a few patches of standing water around the circuit. Not to mention the cold conditions at Jurby itself.

With the main R6 engine was still on the bench, the standard Yamaha R6 and R1 were the bikes of choice.

Mark took the R6 out for his first stint, just to get the brain upto speed and get some time on a bike. Mark then took the R1 out for his first ride out on the bike, whilst dave went for his first ride on the R6.

Both riders swapped bikes through out the day and had a few battles out on track.

Mark managed to put in several laps on the R6 within 1 second of race pace, whilst putting a lap time in of 1m 13s on the R1 on his first time out on the bike.

Over all both riders really enjoyed the day. Both are looking forward to the first race meeting on 25th March.