Looking back and found my old racing website

[weeksy]

Very interesting, well, to me anyhow. It's missing stuff as the web guy and me didn't remain friends.


NEWS

11th January 2005
Steve will be competing in the Derby Phoenix 750/1000 Twins series over the next season. The planned events are listed below.

CROFT SATURDAY / SUNDAY APRIL 2ND / 3RD

ANGLESEY SUNDAY / MONDAY MAY 1ST / 2ND ( Bank Holiday )

CADWELL PARK SATURDAY / SUNDAY MAY 14TH & 15TH ( Full circuit )

DONINGTON PARK SUNDAY MAY 29TH (National circuit )

MALLORY PARK SUNDAY JULY 17TH

SNETTERTON SATURDAY / SUNDAY JULY 23RD & 24TH

CADWELL PARK SATURDAY / SUNDAY AUGUST 13TH & 14TH ( Full circuit )

OULTON PARK SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 3RD ( Full circuit )

MALLORY SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 11TH

The bike has been prepared and is now almost ready. Modifications for the new season are PFM supersport disks, Brembo radial Master Cylinder, 520 chain and sprockets.

First test is planned for the 12th Feb at Cadwell park.

27th September 2004
Well the season has been saved by Louigi Moto. I had a chat with him a few weeks back about the possibility of hiring a bike for one of the last 2 meetings if I were fit enough. I received a mail and phone call from Louigi which went like this. "Ducati 996S 125bhp, quickly race prepped from a season off, finished in the top ten last year with New Era sound of thunder and podium finishes in the novice races with Chris "back ache" Mitchard riding.

Bike has STM slipper, Performance Friction brake pads, Brembo iron floaters, full 50mm Termi's, Ohlins rear and Showa front, you will have three sets of wheels, Marchesini 5's with Pirelli Slicks, stock rims with Mich inters and stock rims with Pirelli wets, Paintwork is fairly fresh in a fetching metallic black! I will bring the warmers and Generator, awning, spares, tools etc, if you can provide the fuel for the bike that would be great. Really all you need to bring is yourself, leathers, lid, boots, gloves, ear
plugs and licence"

Not a lot I can say to that really apart from YES !!!!!.

Been out and got myself a new 1 piece Alpinestars and a nice set of Alpinestars GP Plus gloves and on Sunday 3rd October I'm back out on a Ducati. I'm excited, nervous and happy all rolled into one. Keep an eye out for the updates after the race.

22nd August 2004 Mallory park.
Morning started pretty well, got some help from the Greedys boys to fit the damper bolt which had come loose, and got to Scrutineering. No problems with that and went to sign on. Managed to get a 750 Race as well as the all comers, so it was 4 races all in all.

Practice 2.
Went out and could I Bollox hold a line in gerrards, I was almost falling off the bike trying to pull the bloody thing down, came back in very unhappy with bike, lap timer showed a 1.04 best lap. eeek

spoke to Greedy boys again and they added a load of compression and damping
pretty much all round.

Practice 4.
Managed to sneak out for another go, bike was holding a much better line, and not bouncing so much into Edwina's, came in a lot happier. No times as I'd left timer off as it was depressing me LOL.

Race 2.
Starting 32nd place and no bugger behind me, all comers race so up against pretty much everything. Managed to take 4 bikes round Gerrards after a distinctly average start, and spent rest of race chasing guys down. got up to 24th over the line and was fairly happy. Checked race times and it was a 1.01.4 Bloody hell, matched my best ever lap. Have to take into account I was only using 4th gear on the straight so there's plenty of scope with better gearing on it.

Race 7.
Starting last again, this was a different kettle of fish as I was up against the big 750's. Had great battles and kept the 4th place guy in sights for several laps, ended up with a 12th place but had been in a great battle all race. Then found out that because of a problem with Edwina's (straight on is 10 seconds) as I missed braking point so sort of half turned it round on grass I had been kicked out of the race. damn. not a happy boy.

Race 14.
Started 11th and had a crap start, 15th into first corner and struggled all race to pass the guys, we were just all so much more on it than we were 3 moths back, the pace was intense. Only managed to pass 1 guy, but bloody hell it was a good race. Another best of 1.01.5 so I was happy.

Race 18.
All comers C final, starting 7th. Nailed the start and was sitting in 6th half way round Gerrards, took a wide line on the exit and was about 6' from the left kerb, perfect I thought for a defensive line into Edwina's, flicked up to 4th and pinned on the straight.... Side swiped from the rear/right and the bike is on the deck and I am with it. Bounced and rolled for an eternity and eventually stopped. Panic time.... could move all the limbs though so knew I was alive. Medics and Marshals were amazed I was standing up just a few mins later. Off to med centre and I have suspected broken arm (distal radius) and that's about it.

Bike is DAMN ugly. bought a new frame and subframe for it today, but it's
gonna be a long slog to get it all right....

18th August 2004
Weeksy has an entry for this weekend in the All comers race with Derby Phoenix.

It's the favourite track of the rider at the moment, and Weeksy will be starting at grid position 32!

The plan is to make up enough places to run in the B final which is run over 10 laps and should give him a lot quicker riders to chase/run with.

4th July 2004

Yesterday at Mallory will go down as the day I will never ever forget. To say I drove home in a state of elation is an understatement.

Race1.
31st on the grid and in the All comers, big old class and I had every bloody one of them in front of me LOL. Picked off at least 5 riders on the first lap into Gerrards and I was going well. Had a race long battle with a KRDR650 (whatever that is, looked like a ZXR400) by the end of the race I done the guy by 2/100ths and picked up 24th place. Lap time was 1.03.91 which is just over half a second off my best. Felt there was more to come though.

Race 2.
this was the 750/1000 twins class and I felt back in familiar surroundings, all the lads I'd met from first meeting were around me and I was ready for battle. Had a hell of a race long battle with a Gixer and ZX7, we both managed to pass the ZX7 with 3 laps to go as he was suffering from cramp and struggling on Edwina's. So it was just me and Gixerboy (Lee, top guy). 2 laps left and I was sitting as close as possible to him on the whole lap, however losing out terribly on the start finish straight, but making it right back up into Gerrards, so I thought "right I'm having you on Edwina's" tried it and just never managed it.... but the thought was there and I knew I could do it next time round. I was trying so bloody hard in this race. The throttle seemed to be on the stop more than it was off it LOL. So into Gerrards last lap.... he's about 6 bike lengths ahead of me, I start driving a little earlier than usual and he's there, lined up for the overtake. Stuff it up the inside and hard on the brakes, back end getting a little squirrelly under the slipper. But I'm through.. YES YES YES. All I had to do was hold it now. Late as possible into the hairpin and I was almost home. However we were approaching the section he was strongest, on the power over the line. Somehow I managed to get a great drive out of the elbow and held the place. HUGE relief. Got back and the guys and girls in the pits were going nuts. It really was that good a race (don't really do justice above to how much of a part the ZX7 played) More importantly I had conquered the top 10. 9th place finish. Got to be happy with that Wandered over and got my timing sheets, 1.01.1 WHAT ??? REALLY ??? Well the transponder doesn't lie. Incredible. over 2 seconds off my best ever lap time. and 2ND NOVICE.... Does the day get any better.

Race 3.
This was 99% as race 2 apart from me doing him Gixerboy 2 laps from the end and him getting the SWEETEST revenge ever doing me into Edwina's on the last lap instead and taking the 9th place and 2nd novice. LOL. Talk about GUTTED. Well until the realisation had set in. I WON MY FIRST TROPHY. happy happy days. 1.02.1 was a pretty decent run as well. I was happy and devastated all at the same time.

Race 4.
This was a HUGE race for me and I was more nervous for this than any other race before. It was the allcomers C final (riders from 21st-32nd in heats) and I had been drawn 7th place. Oh dear... LOL Lots and lots of unfamiliar faces around me and I had bikes everywhere !!!!! Off the line NOOOOOOOO ended up 21st into Gerrards. Devastated. this was a 10 lapper so I had LOTS of time to get back into this. Had battle after battle after battle and never got overtook for the whole race, but did plenty of overtaking myself. Was quicker than any of the guys up to 8th place. But there was only enough time to pick up to 12th. But I really felt like I'd been in a race. really felt like I had come of age. Another lap of 1.01.7 and I was REALLY
ecstatic.

Everyone of the gang were jubilant with my performance and I was rightfully very happy. Bike was PERFECT. Can't give enough praise to AJ Racing for the on-going work and the Suspension setup on Weds, bike felt perfect in every single corner.

I took 2 seconds off my best lap, got into the top 10 and picked up a trophy. My life is complete. Went to bed a very happy bunny.

31st May 2004
Race report Mallory Park

Well the weekend got off to a great start with the bike prep going really well. HUGE HUGE thanks to Crust for giving up his Saturday to prep and lockwire the bike. It looked pretty damn nice if you ask me.

Beers and Laughs with Bobble, Crust, Ange and GSXR-Ian on the Sat night kicked it off really well, but we took it a little early so there was no major hangover on Sunday while loading van and driving up.

After an eternity of driving up and then waiting we were in and setting up. Straight over for scrutineering and we passed perfectly. Domski, Sam, Hell and Kelly came over for beers and BBQ food, Couch and Luce came over to eat all our BBQ chicken

Terrible bloody nights sleep to be honest, but up in the morning, fit transponder and wait for the big day. Bike was looking well at it's best with new Decals (thanks NC30G ) and got a lot of admiring looks.

me, Couch, and the MotoSPort@gredys boys were all out in session 1 for practice. To be honest i really wasn't that nervous, it was just like a trackday at this stage, no pressure and no worries. Came in after the 10 laps and i'd been going pretty well.

So onto the races,

Race1:

Starting in 15th place of the Twins class. The tension started to build as we had a VERY long delay with the 600s throwing it into the floor before us, we were in the holding area for at least 15mins. Eventually we're on the grid, the light go RED... holding the throttle.... Pin it..... Front wheel lifts as we're hurtling towards the corner, well they were, i was on the limiter in first 3 gears and being left... DAMN.... in last place on first corner. Spent the rest of the race catching and chasing people down. The last one was a guy on a TL1000R, GREAT battle with him, swapping places and paint about 4 times, had him on the start/finish with 2 laps left but he took me back into Gerrads... Amazingly this is where i started to think.... makes no difference if he's ahead there long as i lead over the line " Last lap i'm on his tail coming towards the hairpin, kept it tight and got ready for the Devils elbow. Pulled it down inside the guy and kept it on HARD... waiting for the highside LOL. I managed to pass him and beat him by 3/100's of a second. HEE HEE. 14th place and i was happy.

race2: Red flagged after a HUGE off (one guy VERY unwell) at Edwinas and we were stopped on Grid for 20 mins or so.... This made it very strange. Crap on the start again and yet again even though 14th on grid out of 19 i'm last into the frist corner. Again picked up a few places and was really getting into it by the last lap (wasn't sure it was last lap though) and posted my fastest time of the weekend 1.03.28 and was catching the two guys in front of me, Had a great dice with a pair of ZX7Rs and almost put one guy into the grass and he followed suit and nearly put me in it 1 corner later. Was quite amusing, but after a mistake he pulled away... tried to catch up but race ended to quickly.

All in all a GREAT weekend.

Thanks list :
Ange for the support. Domski and Hell for the wisdom and support for last few months. GSXR Ian for the push back into racing for me (get well soon bro). Bobble, crust for beliving in me. Couche for the push back into it. special thanks to AJ Racing for preparing the most amazing Ducati. Mark at Rideinbiketyres for the discounts. skidlids for the endless use of wheels.

24th January 2003
Well the bike is built and ready to go, been in AJ Racing all winter and is now sorted, current mods:



Blueprinted and Gas Flowed engine
carbon/steel braided hoses
Double sintered pads
new clutch
50mm Titanium full system
new grips
Setup suspension



So what's the plan for this year..... well we're now looking at 18 March for first trip out on track with possibly a May date with Racing.... I've been so bored spending the winter not riding and can't wait to get out on the beast and give it a good thrashing.....

15th May 2002
The day finally came....

Spoke to Geoff Peaple.... (great guy, great prices... awesome painter) "come and pick up the bits" he says....

They looked fantastic.... brought them to the office to spend many hours fitting them all..... amazingly enough, being the clumsy sod that I am I never dropped a single piece while fitting it.......

Stood back and looked at the job... WOOO HOOOO it's fantastic.... everyone has been very impressed with the look and the work.....

Went to start the bike.... remember.... I'm the worst mechanic ever.... would it go ???? would it h*ll ....... had I put fuel in ??? had I connected the fuel pump properly.... errrrrrmmmm yes I think so on both counts.... d*amn ... the kill switch... nope, not that stoopid either..... what the bloody h*ll is it....... 5 minutes of head scratching later...... I remembered...... the SODDING immobiliser !!!!

What a numpty......

Well I'm off to get the slicks off in a few and then will be taking my new baby out to play.....

Cheers all.....

15th April 2002
Well the diary continues, I imagine you've all given up reading it but what the h*ll , if I've got to be in the office, it might as well look as though I'm working...

Pembrey


After spending the Friday with my bike in 1,000 pieces and some fantastic help from Kev E trying to fit a set of race bodywork, why is it that the bloody things never fit properly.... I mean to be honest, in parts it wasn't even close to a good fit... after much grunting and pulling and pushing from Kev while I chatted on phone. Well done mate.... It was fitted !!!!! well, the front was fitted, the seat unit was a nightmare due to brackets and supports.... oh well... load the van and away we go.....

Stayed in Llanelli town for the night went to an amazing place called La caprice, firstly the tallest bloke in there apart from me was 5'7".... hee hee.... even shorter then Kim... also it was like a disco type pub but strangely the mix of people in there was unreal, young 18 year old guys with 55 year old men and 50 year old women dancing to Anastascia was hilarious to watch..... had to get out of there before we went insane.... off to bed...

Saturday


Weather great, track great, superb organisation from Rice Racing, what more can you ask for..... Threw the paddock stands together to get ready for the tyre warmers... well almost.. "ding" one of the supports broke on the front stand !!! "sh*t d*amn and bollox"..... oh well no warmers... Threw on the lap timer and away we went.... First thought in my mind.... "what the h*ll am I doing in the fast group again"..... deep breaths and remember the words of "master Yoda" smoothness is the key to good lap times....... Obviously Yoda has never seen me ride !!!!! Came in after first session panting for breath but fairly happy.... Checked lap timer. 1.14.3..... really..??? me ??? no way... decided lap timer was broken..... The 207 Sportmax were now getting decidedly poor, rear wheel sliding a little on the power, (no it wasn't deliberate).... but didn't hold me back too much......... Spent the day trying my best to actually follow people this time in the hope of picking up lines and getting towed round to a decent time..... Managed to get a 1.12.5 which I was bloody made up with and in that session a few 1.13's too.... Spent the 1pm session pretty much blasting round on my own till about 8 laps in and I tried pushing a bit harder out of Dibeni and it all went wrong.... "sh*t.... STAND UP BIKE...... clunk clink and oh noooo, I was on the grass flying toward the paddock... "don't touch anything " words of wisdom filled my mind.... but I had to.... I was in the tyre wall otherwise.... managed to use the engine and a slight touch on the brakes to get to a standstill, PHEW... thank fook for that !!! Panting deep breaths again and see Kim on the Honda cure looking for me coming round... (she'll be waiting a while then)... eventually she came to realise I wasn't coming round and seemed very frantic that I wasn't.... sorry hunny, didn't mean to scare you...Then the day was sadly over, I was knackered though, well ready for end of play.... I'd spent a few ££££ this weekend but the bike was still in one piece, so was I and I was happy.... Met a few really great guys, One on the blue R1 next to me in van, sorry mate I forget your name, too many people, too much adrenaline.... Also there was some nutter on a KTM Duke (Paul)..... some of the lines he was on were something else, it was actually funny but also exceptionally distracting to be on the same track as him....

Out for a Curry and fitting slicks on Sat night, ready to see the lap times tumble on Sunday..... IT rained, I came home, end of Story....

Oh well, another safe weekend, improved to approx a 1.15-1.16 average and a 1.12 best... got to be happy.... another few seconds hopefully out of a sticky set of rubber and hopefully I'll be there to play with you guys next time out !!!!!

Keep you updated, next if Track day with Phil Bevan, come for a laugh.......

2nd April 2002
Well, somehow managed to get to Pembrey for a trackday to see how the Duke was on a track.... arranged through Next Step Advance, great day thanks to the guys.



There was only approx 12 in each group and only 2 groups so the track time was endless..... sun was shining and bike was ready to go. This was my first time at the track and first session on track since the accident so i was nearly peeing my pants by the time we arrived.....



Signed on and had a little giggle to myself when the guy said "listen lads, no wheelies" i thought to myself, "if i was capable I'd consider it"....... Decision was made by them already that we were in the fast group, less likely to be from looking at me and more likely the fact i was with Dominic Cann... (great instructor by the way)....



Sitting in pit lane and getting ready to go out i spoke to one of the instructors (Dave) requesting he show me a few lines..... well i certainly showed him a few i can tell you... sadly none of them took in any of the usual turn in points, Apexes or exit points..... Immediately taken to the canteen for a bolloking after the session.... I could see Dave looking at me and thinking, "have you ever actually ridden a bike"......



Couple of sessions later and line showing from Dave and Dom and i was starting to get into it.... well, until a HUGE slide coming out of the hairpin nearly spat me over the highside..... guy came over to me in the pits laughing later on about it....



Day ended quite smoothly with me finishing the last sessions with exceptional consistency and putting in 5 laps less than half a second apart.... sadly they were exceptionally slow lap times of 1.17 and 1.18 but i was very very happy..... The Duke was incredible and flew round bends like on rails and the only factor slowing it down was me...... Off there again with Rice Racing on the 13th and 14th..... trying for better lines and a 1.14....



Keep the sticky side down...

21st March 2002
Drive down to pick up the 916... exceptionally excited, ready to hear the ridiculous noise of the twin carbon Termignoni race system. Bike looks great when i get there, although, could do with a wash !!!!! (come on Kim, make an effort). Throw it in the back of the van and set off home. Anticipation fills my mind, first time on a twin, not been on bike at all for ages now.



Turn the key and it grumbles moans and bursts into life FUCK ME it's loud. Much louder than i remember, but awesome nevertheless. (note to self: get more earplugs) Engage first and pull away, first thing i notice, it pulls away a lot quicker than the blade, strange sensation. Even Stranger still is the fact that within 2 seconds i'm at 11,000rpm and need to change up to second. Spend the next 30 minutes getting used to the engine braking and the difference in torque, go to play on a nice roundabout and long left/right twist section used for practice, getting close i have real issues changing gear, this is weird because it's behaved immaculately before this. Decide to give the practice a miss and go home and find out the problem.... Onto the 329m, pull into 3rd, CLUNK into 4th and decide, no more changes, lets just get home...... next thing, lose all drive and bike trundles to a stop.. SHIT DAMN and BOLLOX. Speak to the ACE mechanic who's sorted this for me.. . i can almost see him shaking his head and thinking "what have i done " He's trying to explain to me "are the springs moving?"... i'm looking and thinking "what sodding springs"..... hmmm.... look at the Right side of the bike.... AAARRRRRGGGHHH..... i'm sure this is not a good sign,..... Clutch cover in a million pieces and clutch plates hanging out all over the place..... My fears are correct when i explain and he say "are you kidding????" Well no i wasn't.... Sit there for 45 mins while i wait to be 'rescued' My mate comes along and within 20 mins has stripped the clutch and proceeds to put it back together.....Jesus i'm impressed..... All going well.....then... oops... broken seal on the hydraulic reservoir... Bike is dead.... Throw it in the van and back for repairs. Immense gratitude to the guy for picking me up and sorting this.... he felt really guilty but to be honest i felt equally as bad... It transpires that the centre nut which holds the clutch basket, clutch plates etc in place had come loose and fallen off.... Go home and cry into my pillow thinking "this never happened with a HONDA" Then slap myself for even thinking it... Ducati's are a different type of bike.... It's all part of the fun i hear echoing in my mind......



Sunday

Pick up the Duke again.... running like a dream..... Thanks mate.... great job done...... blasting home and decide to stop and wait for friend who gave me a lift in car. He goes past (eventually) press the button to start it up...... nothing, not a whisper...dead.... kaput....shit damn and BOLLOX again.... What is it with these things.... 20 mins later...it suddenly starts.... jump on and blast home, again cursing the sodding bike..... But on the way home i still think... This handles like a dream... and what a bloody impressive noise.... get back and investigate problem.... loose wire leading down to the starter motor.... will sort it later on Monday..... go to bed with bike parked downstairs and thinking PHEW..... glad we resolved that.... So the nightmare continues.... it's weird though, it's a nightmare but i'm actually loving it.

14th February 2002
"Steve's got a Kawasaki ZXR400...". Well, amazingly I've sorted myself out with a bike! It's a bit of a tatty ZXR400, not great, not tuned and not quick, but it's mine and I'm playing at Pembrey on the 3rd March... few questions though, does anyone have any bodywork? I really need a seat unit. Thanks to Mark Wilson at Ride In Bike Tyres.



5th February 2002
Oh dear, Steve's gone and sold the Blade and bought a Ducati 916. Luckily, its one of those that goes round at least 3 corners in a row, yeah right!

5th February 2002
Website pulled apart by DOMSKI, and made to look nice!

[weeksy]

2021-03-10_09-08-52 by Steve Weeks - Flickr2BBcode LITE


2021-03-10_09-08-47 by Steve Weeks - Flickr2BBcode LITE