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Race Report Round 4 – Donington Park with British Motorcycle Racing Club, Bemsee.
The boys were out in all practise sessions on one of their favourite circuits – Donington National, which is is fast and flowing and combined with weather that got better and better they knew they were in for a good weekend.
All three were happy with their bike setup, so it was really about getting themselves dialled in.
Leigh (#293) was in attendance with his Minitwin (Suzuki SV650) and had also entered Thunderbike Sport as a second class, which is Matt’s (#9) main class. This meant he was to compete in 8 Races over the weekend, that’s pretty tough going, luckily he is the youngest of the team and can cope with that!
Leigh went out in qualifying in both classes on Saturday morning;
Qualified 11th in Thunderbike Sport (TBS) with a 1:21:268 putting him 21st on the grid as the class has two classes, TBS and Supertwins.
Qualified 15th in MRO Minitwins (MT) with a 1:20:584
Race 1 TBS finished 11th in class with a good laptime of 1:18:977
Race 1 MT finished 10th with a laptime of 1.19.07
Race 2 TBS started 11th in class and 20th on the grid – he finished 8th in class with a laptime of 1:19:734
Race 2 MT started from 8th finishing 11th with a laptime of 1:19:735
Race 3 TBS started 8th in class and 21st on the grid – he finished 8th in class with a laptime of 1:19:739
Race 3 MT started from 12th finishing 10th with a laptime of 1:19:056
Race 4 TBS started 8th in class from 22nd on the grid – he finished 8th in class with a laptime of 1:19:599
Race 4 MT started from 11th finishing 9th with a laptime of 1:19:049
A good weekend for Leigh, gaining more and more confidence going into turn 1 on lap 1 with each race, getting better launches with a change to his start procedure and learning more and more racecraft, narrowly missing out on a 7th place in race 4 with a missed gear whilst leading the fast and wiley old Minitwin rep legend Kev Lilley.
Tom (#74) also had a good weekend with a strong qualifying session putting him 6th in Class and 18th on the grid.
Race 1 Started 6th finished 4th narrowly missing out on 3rd by 0.177 seconds with a laptime of 1:14:763
Race 2 started from 16th on the grid finishing 5th again by less than a second with a laptime of 1:15:524
Race 3 started from 17th on the grid finishing 5th by 0.119 seconds with a laptime of 1:14:838
Race 4 started from 17th on the grid finishing 6th by less than a second again with a laptime of 1:15:566
A good consistent round for Tom, building on his confidence round by round and we are hoping this continues onto his favourite circuit for Round 5 at Cadwell Park where he has collected the most podiums/trophies at throughout his racing career.
Matt is a big fan of Donington Park national albeit he has mixed emotions from it, he broke the lap record when he competed in Minitwins back in 2020 as well as breaking his spine there back in 2021!
On Practise day, Keith Roissetter (Bemsee’s Commentator) paid Matt a visit, Matt let slip that he had his eye on the lap record, but needed someone to push him in order to do it. Keith didn’t keep it quiet and broadcasted that in the opening race (No pressure then). The lap record was set by a very very fast and talented racer by the name of Jack Sim at 1:13:747 in 2021, had Matt set his sights too high?
Qualifying got off to a good start putting him on Pole position for Race 1 with a 1:14:669 (0.992 seconds off the lap record).
The whole weekend Matt had company in the form of James O’Mara who was there competing on his BSB BMW F900R. Although they were in different classes, they were racing to be first over the line for bragging rights! It was James that came out 3-1 1st over the line. James is a young, brave rider and knows how to muck up Matts rhythm and stop him getting away and used that experience to see him achieving 3 great wins to Matts 1 in their own battle.
Matt won all 4 of his class races, had 3 fastest laps overall. 3 Pole positions and this is how the fastest race times looked.
Race 1 = 1:14:339 (0:592s off lap record)
Race 2 = 1:14:523 (0:776s off lap record)
Race 3 = 1:14:111 (0:364 0ff lap record)
Race 4 = 1:13: 536 (0:222 under lap record)
So yes, Matt got what he set out for and got the outright class lap record – and this was down to him chasing down James after a mistake on lap 2 where he lost grip and was “pinged” out of the seat on lap 2.
To say he is chuffed with a great weekend is an understatement.
For more information on Lamonde Racing 2024 – Round 4, Donington Park talk to Lamonde Automation Ltd