Andy had a very eventful race weekend during round four of the series.
As with previous rounds he improved with every session, something not even the top Superbike riders achieve every weekend.
The races still seem very strange without spectators and we really hope to see you all at a track sometime soon. The show goes on but it's not quite the same.
Here's how the weekend went...................
Qualifying :-
After having the wrong gearing and a few niggles with the bike in free practice yesterday, the gearing was changed and some little issues sorted, including fitting new tyres.
ARB Racing BSB Tri-Options Oulton Park 2020
Andy was able to go five seconds quicker than in free practice and a second quicker than he'd ever been round Oulton Park, so he was very pleased with himself.
Warm Up:-
For this mornings warm up, we changed the gearing again and the bike felt even better with Andy improving his times once more.
Andy was feeling confident and ready for race one.
ARB Racing BSB Tri-Options Oulton Park 2020
Race One
The race nearly ended at the first turn when a few bikes ran wide and one ran in to the side of Andy, putting him at the tail end of the field. Andy as always remained positive and dug deep, regaining his starting position after a few laps. A few more laps later and Andy had caught up with a couple more riders, eventually passing them and closing in on the next rider until the red flag came out due to an incident. Once again, Andy managed to go slightly faster and kept the biggest smile of all the riders.
ARB Racing BSB Tri-Options Oulton Park 2020
Race Two:
A local law means action doesn't start at Oulton until Midday, which led to a very busy afternoon of racing. It also meant Andy didn't get a warm up, going straight in to race two mid afternoon. We fitted a new rear tyre in the bike for this race, as a result of Andy going quicker in every session, meaning tyre wear was increased.
He lined up on the grid in P27, ahead of Andrew Howe and Matt Flower.
As the flagged dropped, Andy raced away and made up 2 more places after lap 1. By half race distance, Andy was pulling away from his nearest rival Andrew Howe, setting his fastest lap of the weekend in the process. As the laps ticked off, Andy clawed his way uo to 24th place before he was unfortunately involved in a collision with Josh Day who was challenging for the lead with Levi Day.
That left Andy on the floor with broken ribs and a badly damaged arm and shoulder.
It was a worrying time for all the team waiting for Andy to be released from the medical centre, proving how good the medical staff at BSB really are, making sure he was thoroughly checked over.
The bike suffered damage to the brake lever and handlebar and brake lines, which will need fixing before the final round at Brands Hatch in a few weeks time.
Damaged to Andy's gear included his trademark Buzz Lightyear leathers, LS2 Carbon helmet and DRC leather gloves.
Hopefully Andy will have time to recover and replace all damaged items as he wants to fit in a club race before Brands to make sure the bike is ok.
Being part of the team, I find it very hard to put in to words the emotions you feel when your rider is involved in a crash on track and you have to wait for any snippet of news. Thankfully Andy left the weekend relatively in one piece but with plenty of work to do on both himself and the bike.
Andy wanted to thank a few people after Race two:-
"Massive thanks to the team for the worry while I was in the medical centre and for packing everything up in the van.
Also the brilliant boys and girls in orange for looking after the riders in all conditions, and the wonderful Medical team, from getting me up and off track, to sorting me out in med centre, The Best!
Also thanks to LS2 helmets for doing its job and sorting me out with a new helmet. Thank you to R&G for their awesome protection keeping the bike safe, and HEL for sending new brake lines to help with the bike repairs.
Finally a big thanks to all the lovely people who took the time to message and send best wishes. I feel humbled.... time to get myself fit and ready for the next race weekend"
Andy will be back on Ducati Tri-Option Cup duty for the final round of the season at Brands Hatch 16th-18th October.
ARB Racing BSB Tri-Options Oulton Park 2020