The Smiths brothers, Gary and Mick had asked me earlier in the year to sometime have a run out on their NWS GP1 Lung Minimono; as due to restricted finances they were going to sit out the full season, just using selected races to showcase their machine. It’s a 450 Honda engine in a NWS Minimono chassis, already proven to be very competitive by Alex Hutchinson last year in the British Supermono Championship.

It isn’t that often you get the chance to ride at the British Moto GP weekend but thanks to Dave and Bernie Stewart from ThundersportGB, they’d organised the GB2 class as a support race, with supermonos under 690cc eligible to run with 250 two strokes and up to 600cc twins.

Photo by Paul and Linda Jones www.pljphoto.com

So, that’s how it happened – I had ridden the bike before about 2 years ago during a back to back test session for Performance Bikes but this was going to be my first time on it, riding in anger.

We had two timed sessions one Friday afternoon and one Saturday; with two races, one late on Saturday and the other Sunday right after the Moto GP itself.

The weather was going to play its part in proceedings as Donington is notoriously slippy and we knew Saturday was going to be wet.

Friday started off looking fine. The Smiths sisters as ever had put a great machine together and I was really looking forward to riding it.

With only 15 minutes to get a setting and a good qualifying time for the race we had to do our best on Friday, as it was clear Saturdays practice would be wet.

We were housed in a compound outside the Exhibition centre and let out on to the track on the exit of Foggy Esses - not perfect, as pitting for alterations was out of the question, but, we got on with it.

On track, straight away, I knew I had a problem, the gear linkage was sticking and selecting gears was a nightmare, I had to press the lever down then lift it slightly before selecting the next gear and do the reverse when changing the other way. As a result I had no idea if I was actually going to get a gear entering a corner or coming out the other side.

I fumbled around with the gear lever making loads of errors and often not getting top gear by the time I got to the end of the straight.

I was loosing heaps of time and to compound matters further after two laps the carburettor started playing up.

When, after braking at the end of the straights then picking the throttle up again mid corner the engine would die then pick up again with a bang, not good when you were trying to be smooth!

Only four laps into the session and disaster struck, the linkage broke completely under the strain of me ‘man handling’ it.

I was on my way down to the Melbourne loop and stuck in 4^th gear, so I limped round to the main pit lane and stopped outside the Gressini Honda pit box.

Stopping the engine to see if I could fix it; the Gressini mechanics came to my assistance and handed me a pair of pliers. I turned the gear shaft round and selected second gear so I could start the engine and get back to the Exhibition centre.

Even after a long push we couldn’t get it started, James Toseland’s mechanics rushed out and used his electric starter to fire the motor and I was down the pitlane and back on my way.

The session was over but at least I didn’t have to walk all the way back home.

Unbelievably my time was under the current Supermono lap record and put me sixth on the provisional grid!

The sisters although disappointed in the bike breaking were chuffed with the time, so it was beers all round.

Lee Dickinson came up trumps, taking the gear linkage away for his Dad to weld up for the next day, thanks Lee’s Dad!

Saturday came around and we had a dilemma, it was raining so nobody was going to go faster but I wanted to see if we had solved the carb problem.

We had altered the float height, thinking that perhaps it was over fuelling under braking, so I had to go out and see if it was working.

However, as the first race was only 40 minutes later, we could not afford any ‘issues’ in the qualifying session.

The first two laps felt good but lap three and the problem came back so I pitted and saved the bike for the race.

The crowd was huge for the race and everyone was really nervous as we lined up for the off. There were two warm up laps, and several people even crashed out on them, so that’s how slippy it was!

No time to think about it though, red lights were on then off and we stormed off down to Red Gate for the first time.

I had not practiced a start on the bike and bundled it by pulling a huge wheelie and loosing loads of time.

Everyone was understandably tip towing round and I managed to pick off a few riders on the brakes then another couple as we came out of the corner and ran down to Craner for the first time.

I was in 3rd place as we arrived into the Old Hairpin and was desperately trying to be smooth but the front two were a bit slow in picking up the throttle mid corner and as a result I was running up behind them.

There was nothing I could do other than touch the brakes to stop me hitting them, unfortunately it was all too much for the front tyre, it tucked and down I went.

Before I stopped sliding I knew it was all over, even though I kept hold of the bike for as long as possible to stop it flipping over.

The fairing was ripped off along with the r/h footrest, brake lever and plenty of mud was stuffed all down the right silencer.

There is no desperate feeling like the long walk back to the pits so I jumped on the back of one of the Aprilia taxi machines to lesson the agony.

Understandably the sisters were gutted, all their hard work gone in one swipe on the opening lap.

A few beers later and in true Supermono racing spirit they dug their heals in.

“We’ve come here to race, so lets do it” said Gary and the rebuild started.

3am, the next day and the bike was looking good. Using the few spares they had, lots of elbow grease and loads of ingenuity we were ready for the second race.

Although the weather had improved with no rain, the wind had picked up to about 60mph, and was at the point of being dangerous! In the 125 and 250 races several riders were caught out and crashed so we all knew to be careful.

The crowd was over 88,000 and the atmosphere was fantastic; so after psyching our selves up watching Stoner walk it we roared out on to the track.

This was the first time I had ridden the bike after the crash, with no chance to test any repairs, I just got the two warm up laps to see if there were any major problems – mind you, if there was I was going to just have to ‘deal with them’.
I didn’t have to wait too long.

As we came to end of the warm up laps and rolling upto the line the bike was spluttering and would not run below 6,000 rpm without dying……

I thought “if this thing doesn’t pull off the line I’ll get mowed over by the field” so I pulled to the side of the track to see if I could see anything obvious.

The start marshal told me to pull off the track, but I knew if I did that it would end any chance of starting.

Photo by Paul and Linda Jones www.pljphoto.com

With Gary’s words ringing in my ears: “We’ve come here to race so let’s do it” I pulled back to my grid spot and waited for the lights to go out.

Slightly better off the line this time and as we all poured into Redgate I was in 5^th place, getting on the gas early I bagged one on the exit and set off after the top three.

I knew being dry I was going to struggle for top speed, and with the wind so bad I couldn’t push too hard in the corners, bu$$er…

After a few laps the leading two were getting away and I was struggling to pass the third placed guy, he would blast off down the straights and be in the way in the corners.

Yet, I knew if I could get a good tow down the back straight and do him on the brakes into Foggy’s I could gap him before the next lap. It worked and a few laps later I was 8 seconds clear but the leaders were gone.

Not helping was the carb issue, but I quickly developed a technique of opening the throttle as I was going into the turns, and by the time the delay was over it would kick in just at the right time, well mostly the right time...

Finally out came the chequered flag and it was all over, 3rd place in the Thundersport GB2 race. There were loads of the crowd waving and the marshals too, what a day!

Back at the Exhibition centre the sisters were bouncing around with excitement, a great result for them and their little bike. The carb problem aside, it makes one hell of a race machine, already proven and multi lap record holder and yours for a mere £7000.

I enjoyed my time on the bike and working with the sisters, rarely do you meet blokes with more passion for the sport than those two.

Thanks guys.