A Ride in British Superbikes!
Added on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Howie Mainwaring, now riding British Superbikes
Hello all. I’ve got some exciting news……I have got a Superbike ride now!Last weekend I was riding in the British Superbikes for the first time!
It was for Team Maxxis Yamaha, what an experience, it’s nothing like the Superstock 1000 class. I thought you could just get on the bikes and ride them, but there is so much more to it than that.
On Saturday morning we sat down with chief technician Ray Stringer, former British Superbike racer. We were going through the data on the laptop from the test, hoping we could find a set up for first qualifying. We went out and I had the wrong approach. In Superbikes you get 50 minutes a session and I am only used to 20mins in Superstock, so I went straight out and got on it quick but it was a mistake. After 6 laps I had a disaster, I crashed mid corner at Mansfield. I lost the front going to fast to soon, I needed to get some more familiarity with the bike.
Session 2 came. It went much better, we were trying to find the right gearing for the track. The new R1 1000cc is totally different to normal 1000cc, it has a big bang engine so its like a V-Twin, that was hard to get used to, but we managed to qualify in 17th place, which, for my first time on the bike was good.
In the Premiere British Superbike class we made a lot of changes for Race 1 and it payed off, we had a good race, battling with some of the top rides like Karl Harris on the Hydrex Honda and managed to finish in 16th place.
In race 2 I got a much better start as I was getting used to launch control. Now we had gotten up into 15th place and pushing. I managed to reach 12th place and on the last 3 laps trying to catch the other group. I ran wide and some riders came past me, they were the Buildbase Kawasaki and the HM plant bike, Karl Mugeridge. I hung onto them but couldn’t pass. I ended up in 14th place, a very good finish. The team were very pleased and so were Yamaha. I’d got some points in the British Superbikes.
The next one is at croft next week I hope I can improve on my places.
Speak to you all soon
Best wishes
Howie #43
