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Matt’s back on the track, and Lamonde is on board once again for the 2021 BMCRC MRO Minitwin Racing Series. Celebrating his win in the pits After a delayed start to this year’s Minitwin season due to the ongoing Covid restrictions, it looks like racing will be starting again from early May at one of his favourite tracks, Oulton Park, and Matt is back on the grid with Lamonde sponsoring him once more to keep it rubber side down. Matt is champing at the bit to get out onto the track and defend his 2020 Bemsee MRO Minitwin Championship title, but he had some work to do on the bikes first. Matt’s growing collection of race trophies Cast your mind back to October 2020 when, following his brilliant Championship win at Brands, Matt decided to run both the wet and dry SV650s in the No Limits endurance event at Donington Park with Bob Collins from FWR as his teammate. A rare moment of sunshine on an otherwise cold and wet weekend at Brands. Photo: JTW Motorsport Photography Having qualified 7th against much bigger 1000cc sportsbikes and National 600s class, Bob was out as the team’s first rider – charging across the track, starting the bike, and gaining four places before turn 1. According to Matt, he’s fast for a fat lad. The race was wet at the start, and having the lighter bike on wet tyres definitely gave an advantage. But 45 minutes into a three-hour race, a moment of madness (along with a clumsy left foot and a brutal right hand) led to 3rd gear letting go and blowing up the engine on the wet bike. Fortunately Bob managed to nurse it back to the pits, and he and Matt were able to get the dry bike went out for the remainder of the three-hour race. The result was epic, the boys not only won their Class, but also brought home the trophy for 3rd place overall in the national 600 Class – a brilliant achievement, and even more so considering they were riding the 72bhp SV650 on wets in a class with bikes like the R6 and ZX6, which produce up to 130bhp, have traction control, and run on slicks. So what has this year got in store for Matt in terms of racing? Matt retired from the Met motorcycle fleet in 2020 Having retired in 2020, seeing out the end of his service at the Metropolitan Police Driving School, Hendon, as an Instructor (on two wheels of course!), and having since taken on the Workshop and Office Manager role at FWR Ltd (www.fwr.co.uk) Matt’s got even more time to focus on getting the setup right for this year. The bikes have been rebuilt, with a new engine in the wet bike since Donington Park. The dry bike has a new Power Commander, which has been mapped for better mid-range power, thanks to Gavin Reed at MSG, and to Dan Diamond who has done all the dyno work. The suspension has been changed too, to make it more adjustable for the rider, and all within the regs of course. With renewed sponsorship deals from Lamonde Automation, FWR and MSG Racing, Matt is sporting new RST factory leathers, with new logos and a built-in airbag. Given Matt’s indomitable fight and his incredible riding skills, we suspect this could be an extremely fast and very interesting racing season, and we can’t wait to see what it brings.
For more information on Matt’s back on the track in 2021 with renewed sponsorship from Lamonde talk to Lamonde Automation Ltd