Cadwell BSB

Good day had by all again, just got back from Cadwell Park after some good racing and a few serious mishaps

Chris Jones in the 125 gp is seriously ill in Hull Royal Infirmaryafter a bad rear end shunt at the start.

I watched Gregorio stuff it up Rutter before Michael fell off!

James Buckingham ran off and went grasstracking, and then down a 4' drop before returning to the track :P

Tommy Hill stuffing Haslam and Lavillia in Race 1 Well done Tommy :P

The luckiest restart for Leon Camier after a highside and red flag

The most scary bit was watching the 250 Honda Six leaving the track over the gooseneck and back on track, not the done thing with a £250.000 bike

And finally WTF was wrong with RobMcelnea stopping the Virgin Mobile Cup after counting 13 raindrops

Cadwell is awsome to watch these superbikes

sad news. Chris Jones died from his injuries that he sustained.

http://www.britishsuperbike.com/vsit...s-item,00.html

RIP

That is horrible... Very sad indeed RIP Chris

Only fourteen, what else can you say

As mentioned in a post elsewhere, I was marshalling there and it was indeed an excellent, if not uneventful, weekend. RIP Chris Jones.

Originally Posted by wheelnut

Tommy Hill stuffing Haslam and Lavillia in Race 1 Well done Tommy :P

I was Marshalling at The Gooseneck and was watching them head for Park corner when Lavilla went in reeeeally hot! I said to my fellow Marshal "You can't overtake there!!" Only for her to turn round a second later and say "Clearly not - LOOK!" Cue the pair of us jumping up & down shouting at the top of our voices like school kids!

Originally Posted by wheelnut

The most scary bit was watching the 250 Honda Six leaving the track over the gooseneck and back on track, not the done thing with a £250.000 bike

Yup! I was on the flag post entering The Gooseneck when he came round and I nearly browned my Tango overalls!!

Got it on video on my camera phone too... Will transfer it to my PC when I can... I'm sure I can then find somewhere to host it fr everyone's enjoyment!

Originally Posted by wheelnut

And finally WTF was wrong with RobMcelnea stopping the Virgin Mobile Cup after counting 13 raindrops

Err...

Rob doesn't hae anything to do with stopping races! That's entirely down to the Race Director, Stuart Higgs and he had decided that, after the already difficult morning, it was the best course of action. Cadwell is a dangerous track and to lt the R6s carry on unnecessarily seemed a bit silly... Especially when the TV companies are hounding to bring things withing schedule! (And, I'm sure Rob's getting fed up with the repair bills and is making this well known to Stuart!! )

I'd also like to mention Dennis Hobbs... He's another one of the guys who, like me, seems to get no luck! (The man who broke his neck last season then his wrist earlier this year, just as he was back to full fitness)
He fell at the chicane in qualifying on Sunday. He was initially thought to have minor cuts and bruising but his condition deteriorated. A red flag was called so an Ambulance & Medical car could attend and he was transferred to hospital.
Differing reports are aroumd, as to his injuries but one is broken ribs causing a punctured lung... I'm sure more information will be released soon.

Originally Posted by coombest

Cadwell is a dangerous track

my first track day there on Friday.... after 4 laps in torrential rain on the 22nd August...

having done the track Im wondering what makes it so dangerous. I know people refer to it as a technical circuit and say others are better for doing your first track days on...

Was this the same Chris Jones as featured in Bike magazine recently?

Originally Posted by coombest

Err...

Rob doesn't hae anything to do with stopping races! That's entirely down to the Race Director, Stuart Higgs and he had decided that, after the already difficult morning, it was the best course of action. Cadwell is a dangerous track and to lt the R6s carry on unnecessarily seemed a bit silly... Especially when the TV companies are hounding to bring things withing schedule! (And, I'm sure Rob's getting fed up with the repair bills and is making this well known to Stuart!! )

Rob McElnea was stood under race control, pointing up at the weather, this was witnessed by several people. He was jumping up and down panicking about the repair bills. The R6 Cup is run on R208 road tyres, not slicks, what does that say about an R6 running on Dunlops. Certainly not recommended if it looks like rain

Mcelnea wanted the race stopped and so it was, these lads are paying a lot of money to ride these bikes, they want to ride them at all costs.

A little bit from the local newspaper about Chris Jones (RIP)

http://www.horncastlenews.co.uk/View...icleID=1131026

Originally Posted by wheelnut

Rob McElnea was stood under race control, pointing up at the weather, this was witnessed by several people. He was jumping up and down panicking about the repair bills. The R6 Cup is run on R208 road tyres, not slicks, what does that say about an R6 running on Dunlops. Certainly not recommended if it looks like rain

Mcelnea wanted the race stopped and so it was, these lads are paying a lot of money to ride these bikes, they want to ride them at all costs.

A little bit from the local newspaper about Chris Jones (RIP)

http://www.horncastlenews.co.uk/View...icleID=1131026

Trust me... Stuart Hicks (Race Director) pays absolutely no attention to Rob Mac!!
At Donington there was supposed to be a Virgin Mobile Cup support race after the MotoGP race, right at the end of the day.
There was a massive track invasion and at Esses where I was marshalling, there was a thick line of mud & litter all over the track.
The weather also worsened.
Stuart went as far as instructing the track's sweeper out onto track to clear the mess!
He was also heard on the radio saying "Tell Rob Mac to stop whining about a bit of rain and to accept any repair bills"... Or something to that effect!
Suffice to say none of the Marshals wanted the race to go ahead - we were all soaked, cold & miserable by now (especially as the track invasion had gone on so long! ) and didn't want to have to pick up a load of R6s!
The riders & support crews were all assembled and the riders were sent out for 20 minutes (iirc) wet practice, as they hadn't been out in the rain all weekend.
The riders all decided they couldn't race in the conditions, so did a few laps and went back into the pits or their paddock.
It was only then that Stuart relented and cancelled the race.
Rob Mac even pinched radio from someone and asked Stuart to "come & have a word with him" before they went on track - he went to see him in his car on the track at Esses (Rob was soaking wet!) and you could see Rob not looking at all happy. The car then pulled away leaving Rob rather annoyed!

Stuart Hicks can be a very stubborn mule of a man at times but he is an extremely good race director who always does things by the book and makes every attempt to keep to the program & television schedules... Team managers moaning about how much it'll cost them ar usually responded to by him pointing out that if they were worried about that, they shouldn't be racing!

As for the Dunlops not being any good in the wet - they're D208RRs - not standard D208s, and are designed specifically as a track tyre (for supersport racing) in the dry. Dunlop make no quarms about this. The RRs will wear out rather quiclky on the road and probably wouldn't ever get up to a sensible operating temperature. They cope with rain pretty well but they weren't really designed to be used in the wet and certainly not to the extremes these young guys are pushing them to!

I accept what you say about Donington, I was even wetter than you, :P that was the correct decision to cancel that race, it was a non point scoring round anyway, it was only there to fill the racecard!

The 208RR are a road based tyre, the RR means Race Replica and at cadwell the rain didnt happen, I admit, I did look up at the clouds and thought sod it, because I was on my bike.

The Yamahas cannot use tyre warmers in the regulations so they get 2 sighting laps to warm up the rubber, I spoke to the 2 lads at the side of the motorhome where I was, they were of the same opinion as me, they were riding in that stopped race!

The Virgin Yamaha Cup should have been allowed to continue at Cadwell