Team Bike post 5th in Spa Endurance
Added on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Team Bike post 5th in Spa Endurance
After a 23 year gap, Team Bike came back to Endurance racing at Spa’s Four Hour race last weekend and posted an emotional 5th place overall.
Team media man Tom Stewart, part of the original squad who went racing with the late Howard Lees in the 70s and 80s, told insidebikes that he was `delighted’ that Team Bike finished as top Brits in the two day event, held at the historic Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.
Team Bike/MCN raced at Spa many times in the past, with famous names in road racing like Mat Oxley, Brian Morrison, Steve Hislop and Paul Lewis all posting fantastic results for the privateer outfit, which was legendary for its `never give up’ attitude. It was an emotional return, as several former Team Bike riders have sadly died over the years, but as many of the old Team Bike crew as possible were reunited for the Spa weekend.
“We had a job to refurbish the CB1100R Honda after a 23 year lay-up,” said Stewart, and the organisers made us change the front discs from modern fully-floating type stoppers, to more old-fashioned items, but apart from that, the bike was pretty much as it was when it posted 12th at Mugello in 1986. We originally had Ian Martin and Herwig Lemmens to ride at Spa this weekend, but Herwig crashed at the track on Thursday so at the last moment Stephane Mertyens came in as our rider. Amazing piece of luck getting a world champ at short notice.”
Mertens is twice World Endurance champion, and renowned for his GP and WSB exploits - he also raced production BMWs at one point - but even the famously versatile Belgian racer could not catch the Moto Guzzi 1050 of Team Moto Bel, who won the 4 hour race. Team Bike were 5th and fellow Brits, Team Glam Racing on a Kawasaki were in 7th place.
“I was nervous riding with Stephane,” admitted Team Bike rider Ian Martin, who originally joined the crew back in the 80s as mechanic to Roland Brown, the freelance journalist who was then a competitive endurance racer, “but what a top bloke and happy to race for the fun of it all really. ”
Ian added; “He started in 21st place and was leading at the end of lap one, yet despite his world class ability he was really proud to be part of the team, and said some nice things about our professionalism after the event. I am very chuffed to be part of it all, and considering I was wearing a novice racing jacket a couple of seasons ago, I am still stunned to have ridden with a champion in the last few days.”
Meanwhile Team Rosbif on the Offenstadt Kawasaki had a tough time at Spa. Maria Costello MBE, was sharing the riding with Mike Edwards from the Wirral, and although the team got the experimental 70s Kawasaki up to 12th at one point, a combination of mechanical gremlins and a slippy, oily track put them well down the finishing order.
“It was slippery out there,” said Mike Edwards, ” and sometimes I was just hanging on hoping the bike would get back on line, after some scary slides. Spa is a long, fast, seven kilometre track in the Ardennes, and not the place to have a crash, but the atmosphere is incredible. There’s nothing quite like gunning a bike down the dip and through Eau Rouge.”
Classic collector and team backer Chris Wilson, who brought the Offenstadt bike to Spa, alongside some very rare machinery like a Suzuki XR14 500 GP bike, and a TR750 triple F750 class Suzi from the 70s, to the Spa Bikers Classics 2009, was all fired up to bring a full-on, restored Honda RCB1000 for 2010.
The Bikers Classics organisers told insidebikes yesterday that the event was a success, with attendance steady despite the heavy rain on Sunday. No serious injuries were reported from those who fell off during the weekend and the salute to Luigi Taveri, the GP parade and F750 machines from the 70s, were among the highlights of this celebration of classic road racing, backed by Arai Helmets, Yamaha Europe, alongside Classic Racer and many other European magazines.
The main theme for 2010 will be the early years of Superbikes, so anyone with a passion for the legendary Honda RC30, Yamaha OW01 750 or Kawasaki ZXR750RR should get their ferry tickets booked for July 2010.
