SWERVE
6th October 2011, 21:18
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Magny Cour SBK round with Jake & Rob Lewis. Jake was competing as a wildcard rider in the European Junior Cup (EJC)
Arrived on Thurs eve, Jake and the juniors were just of on a track walk with David Salom (WSS 3). Me and Rob sampled some of the awesome hospitality in the EJC village.
Friday:
The morning was spent checking over the bike and kitting it out with Jakes numbers etc.We put in some base settings that Jake had from his previous ride at Silverstone. We were able to view open practice from vitually anywhere we chose (inc some of the marshalling points) which gave a real close view of the corners. The EJC pit was busy with all types of media and riders coming & going all day.
Junior coach (and kiwi) Simon Crafar held a very indepth track briefing and spent most of the day one-on-one with all the riders. By late afternoon the track temp was perfect and the air temp had dropped slightly (low 30,s all day) it was time for free practice. The session was 30 mins and nobody had raced there before so it was an even playing field. It took a few laps for most riders to start uping the pace. Jake made steady progress and finished the session 4th.
Sat:
Another very hot day.Once again there was lots of time during the day to watch qualifying in all classes. Jake was interviewed by Micheal Hill (sky sports) Lots more riders kept coming into the junior village some vistors inc Johnathan Rae - Tom Sykes - Luca Scasa. I caught Rob mesmorised by somebody ..... it was Mrs Melandri paying a visit......... i too stopped to admire:yes:
Late afternoon again saw perfect conditions for qualifying. Jake caught traffic early in the session, but found space and was lying 4th untill the dying seconds when he was pipped to 5th spot by 0.2 secs. So it was 2nd row - behind pole poition for the race. Not a bad spot as it gave him the correct line into T1. A evening in the company of Jeremy McWilliams was very entertaining.
Raceday:
As i write some of this young WSS hotshot Gino Rea has just sat down next to me to watch Moto GP on the big TV.:gob:
Jake had complained of rear end stability on the quicker sections so we made some suspension changes and did a bolt check ready for the race which is held between WSS 600 & WSBK.
WHAT AN HONOUR to accompany Jake onto the grid and soak up the atmosphere of an 80000+ crowd. He seemed quite calm but his focus on the job to be done was plain to see.
He got a holeshot start and took the wide/fast line into T1...... coming into T2 in the lead....WOW:woohoo:. He maintained a 0.3 sec lead in lap 1/2 then extended it to 0.6 in lap 3. A large pack of riders were hunting him down and on lap 4 the first two caught him. Laps 5/6 saw him swap 1/2/3 so any times i lost count. Then in lap 7 he had a gear selection problem and slipped to 6th and at the back of the lead pack.
He now proceeded to ride like a true champion does. 2.3 secs down going into lap7 and a pack of riders ahead....he took 0.9 off the leader in lap 8 and moved to the front of the pack into 2nd place:yes: then took a further 0.7 in the final lap and would have certainly caught the leader had there been another lap:yes:
Whata result:woohoo: me & Rob were jumping around like idiots on pitwall. Another wildcard rider (Josh Harland / UK) had taken the win.
It was a very emotional moment when he rode into parc ferme and onto the blue carpet and climed the steps to stand on the WSBK podium. I can only imagine how Rob felt seeing his son standing there:woohoo::woohoo:.
The competition carried on after the BBQ and prizegiving.... it was European Juniors v WSBK riders to see who was the fastest at the Magny Cour go-kart circuit. After one lap we were all pulled into the pits by the organiser and told in no un-certain terms that if i didnt "calm down on track" then we would leaving -quickly:innocent::facepalm:
The final lap times saw junior champion Matt Davies (Aus) split the WSBK guys top 3 laps were Johnathan Rae - Matt Davies - Leon Haslem. Jake was only a couple of tenths behind.
Upon returning to the pits an impromtu burn out competion was initiated by the WSBK riders.......... juniors definately won this one:yes:
What an experience it was...... this series is specifically set up to send young riders into WSSTK - WSSPT - WSBK. All the teams are watching this series with interest, and were glued to their monitors while the race was happening.
Jake and fellow kiwi Dan Mettam (4th in champs) have shown that they are capable of competing and beating the best........... im sure there are others here ready to folow in their footsteps.
Its about time we had a national team representing NZ at international road racing (the Black helmets.... possibly!) It can be done .......... i for one would love to see both these kiwis back next year aiming for the title.... and maybe with some team mates:scooter:
Arrived on Thurs eve, Jake and the juniors were just of on a track walk with David Salom (WSS 3). Me and Rob sampled some of the awesome hospitality in the EJC village.
Friday:
The morning was spent checking over the bike and kitting it out with Jakes numbers etc.We put in some base settings that Jake had from his previous ride at Silverstone. We were able to view open practice from vitually anywhere we chose (inc some of the marshalling points) which gave a real close view of the corners. The EJC pit was busy with all types of media and riders coming & going all day.
Junior coach (and kiwi) Simon Crafar held a very indepth track briefing and spent most of the day one-on-one with all the riders. By late afternoon the track temp was perfect and the air temp had dropped slightly (low 30,s all day) it was time for free practice. The session was 30 mins and nobody had raced there before so it was an even playing field. It took a few laps for most riders to start uping the pace. Jake made steady progress and finished the session 4th.
Sat:
Another very hot day.Once again there was lots of time during the day to watch qualifying in all classes. Jake was interviewed by Micheal Hill (sky sports) Lots more riders kept coming into the junior village some vistors inc Johnathan Rae - Tom Sykes - Luca Scasa. I caught Rob mesmorised by somebody ..... it was Mrs Melandri paying a visit......... i too stopped to admire:yes:
Late afternoon again saw perfect conditions for qualifying. Jake caught traffic early in the session, but found space and was lying 4th untill the dying seconds when he was pipped to 5th spot by 0.2 secs. So it was 2nd row - behind pole poition for the race. Not a bad spot as it gave him the correct line into T1. A evening in the company of Jeremy McWilliams was very entertaining.
Raceday:
As i write some of this young WSS hotshot Gino Rea has just sat down next to me to watch Moto GP on the big TV.:gob:
Jake had complained of rear end stability on the quicker sections so we made some suspension changes and did a bolt check ready for the race which is held between WSS 600 & WSBK.
WHAT AN HONOUR to accompany Jake onto the grid and soak up the atmosphere of an 80000+ crowd. He seemed quite calm but his focus on the job to be done was plain to see.
He got a holeshot start and took the wide/fast line into T1...... coming into T2 in the lead....WOW:woohoo:. He maintained a 0.3 sec lead in lap 1/2 then extended it to 0.6 in lap 3. A large pack of riders were hunting him down and on lap 4 the first two caught him. Laps 5/6 saw him swap 1/2/3 so any times i lost count. Then in lap 7 he had a gear selection problem and slipped to 6th and at the back of the lead pack.
He now proceeded to ride like a true champion does. 2.3 secs down going into lap7 and a pack of riders ahead....he took 0.9 off the leader in lap 8 and moved to the front of the pack into 2nd place:yes: then took a further 0.7 in the final lap and would have certainly caught the leader had there been another lap:yes:
Whata result:woohoo: me & Rob were jumping around like idiots on pitwall. Another wildcard rider (Josh Harland / UK) had taken the win.
It was a very emotional moment when he rode into parc ferme and onto the blue carpet and climed the steps to stand on the WSBK podium. I can only imagine how Rob felt seeing his son standing there:woohoo::woohoo:.
The competition carried on after the BBQ and prizegiving.... it was European Juniors v WSBK riders to see who was the fastest at the Magny Cour go-kart circuit. After one lap we were all pulled into the pits by the organiser and told in no un-certain terms that if i didnt "calm down on track" then we would leaving -quickly:innocent::facepalm:
The final lap times saw junior champion Matt Davies (Aus) split the WSBK guys top 3 laps were Johnathan Rae - Matt Davies - Leon Haslem. Jake was only a couple of tenths behind.
Upon returning to the pits an impromtu burn out competion was initiated by the WSBK riders.......... juniors definately won this one:yes:
What an experience it was...... this series is specifically set up to send young riders into WSSTK - WSSPT - WSBK. All the teams are watching this series with interest, and were glued to their monitors while the race was happening.
Jake and fellow kiwi Dan Mettam (4th in champs) have shown that they are capable of competing and beating the best........... im sure there are others here ready to folow in their footsteps.
Its about time we had a national team representing NZ at international road racing (the Black helmets.... possibly!) It can be done .......... i for one would love to see both these kiwis back next year aiming for the title.... and maybe with some team mates:scooter: