DANGEROUS BRUCE

The reckoning..

The flag has dropped and Brucie Boy now faces the realisation so common among club racers that the bike might look pretty good, but now he’s got to start going fast.

Words: Bruce Wilson
Pictures: www.trackphoto.co.uk
/ John Wilkinson

Well, I’ve made it for a second successive month which, if nothing else, tells me that we have not received sufficient angry letters or death threats to persuade our esteemed Editor to bring the axe down on me just yet.
What with writing these words and all the prepping for the first big test of the season, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends, pretty much like the rest of the racing world as we romp towards the first UK races of the year.
Naturally, we all have our faults, but this month it’s been a case of me finding out that I seem to have more faults than most. Mostly to do with timekeeping, but we’ll get to that later on in the season and most likely after I’ve had to rush to make the start of the race. It must be my dodgy in-built clock thing.
I’ve pushed the deadlines a bit because of this and needless to say, both Larry and Tony haven’t been too impressed with me, so to keep them sweet I’ve been giving them another biscuit with their cups of tea when they come down, but don’t hold me responsible for their cholesterol though, and so far, it’s working.

Although I haven’t been racing yet, I’ve been doing just about everything but. We had our team launch at the Spalding Motorcycle Show in the heart of Lincolnshire, not quite the height of glamour, but a good chance to get out there and meet people with a real passion for riding bikes. Jamie Whitham was a guest at the show, along with Ben Wilson and Peter Hickman. Jamie’s got to be the funniest racer in the history of the sport. He is a real straight talking, no-bull, if-you-don’t-like-it-you-can-piss-off kind of guy. He had the show-goers in stitches, and it was a real honour to be on stage with him. We had a few models drop by for promo photos too. Who said it was tough, this racing game?

One particular stunning young blonde was accompanied by her very big boyfriend. I can honestly say it was the first time I didn’t enjoy putting my hand on a girl’s bum. We stood there for the pictures, everyone looking good and trying to be natural and cool and there I was just counting the seconds in my head until her fella jumped over the stand and punched me. Thankfully he didn’t, but the look of displeasure on his face was enough to make me plan an escape route, just in case. I’m not a coward but I am allergic to my own blood, especially when it’s pouring out of me.
Oulton Park was the venue for my first outing of the year. Focused Events had a track day late on in January and amazingly it was dry and not ridiculously cold, so I made the most of it. Even a sleepless overnight stay, parked up outside the circuit gates, wasn’t enough to hold me back and by the time I’d had my racer’s breakfast (a Muller rice with broken up Hobnobs, ticking all the food group boxes there), I was raring to go! It felt great to be back on a bike again and more importantly it felt natural.

Surprisingly, the times I put in were very good considering the conditions, and that I was coming out of the hibernation period. For the first time ever I enlisted the use of an on-board bike camera. It’s been a fear of mine for years; camera on, ego on full blast, big crash. Thankfully though, both wheels stayed the right way up, and the footage from the test can be seen on the Motorcycle Racer website www.motorcycleracer.com (thanks to John from Procam by the way, top bit of kit).

The Beowulf Racing team were also out and having fun on their very impressive looking Yamaha R6s. Gino Rea, Dan Linfoot and Pat McDougal are no doubt going to be a force to be reckoned with this year, under the keen eye of team manager Andy Stones. They’re a great bunch of lads, very enthusiastic and very talented. It makes me laugh though that every time I’ve seen them ride, they’ve been busted for wheelying or something similar, it must be all that power that Andy gets from the engines I guess...

My trip to Cartagena couldn’t have come soon enough and despite the promise of a week of rain, we were blessed with a dry track with temperatures in excess of 25 degrees, and only had a few specks of rain midweek. Five days of living like a superstar, courtesy of Focused Events, was amazing. Simply turning up at the track, and finding your bike and equipment ready and waiting for you some 2000 miles from home, really makes the job easy. Flights, hire cars and five star accommodation were all part of the package meaning the tea boy done good! After a briefing each morning, we were on track with an open pit lane from 10am. The only controlling factor for track time was sheer physical fitness, it was awesome!

The Cartagena circuit really is something special, unlike anything I’ve ridden before. Fast, sweeping, blind and late apex corners were all in the mix. The nature of the 2.1 mile rollercoaster suits 250GP bikes especially well. A guy we met over there was Ben Miller, from the British 250cc Championship. He was really on the ball, and we had a great time mixing it up together. Gary Johnson was also in attendance on his Uel Duncan Superstock Fireblade, and he really pushed me to my limit. Keeping up with him was amazing and I learnt so much from his lines. Every corner, my bike would be spinning up from apex to exit, and it was something I’d just come to accept.

My chief technician, Neil Windsor, had been trying to dial out this problem all week, and although we’d improved on the issue, it hasn’t been eradicated. Gary had a knack of literally chucking it on its side, then forcing it up and cracking the power on at the exit. The black lines didn’t go away, but the near high side every corner became less common. To really hone out the correct lines, Steve Plater and Simon Crafar were also at hand offering their knowledge and skills to those that required them.
The atmosphere at night was also great. Most people ate at the same restaurant at the nearby La Manga resort and with very attractive waitresses around, it was only natural that every evening we had competitions to see who could chat them up the best. The truth of it was we were all hopeless, and not even a cheeky smile was rewarded for our efforts.
Next up is our BSB test day at the end of March, so please do drop in and say hello over a Muller rice and Hobnob...

Dangerous Bruce

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