On the Friday test the bike felt so different to Thruxton. As soon as I left the pits on Friday it felt hard to ride so we made more changes to the JX Fuelcard Kawasaki and it got no better so the first qualifying was very hard. I hit a point where I couldn’t go any faster and it was the same on the Saturday qualifying so I sat up with the crew chef Axle Berstrom and we had tried the setting from Kawasaki and it was time to go back to mine and I’m glad we did - the bike felt mega!

I went 2 seconds faster and was in the top six in the morning warm up. I knew I had good pace for the race but what a disaster! I had a lot of work to do due to the bad qualifying.

I was in 15th position on the grid and when the lights changed I went like mad going into 11th on the first bend and then got up to ninth going into Russell’s. I went in to hot anyway but on the way in the chain come off I lost all engine braking.

I tried to stop it with the brakes, missed everyone on the first part but was just too fast for the second part of the corner and ended up in the grass on my bum.

I tried to get back on but the chain was on. I was gutted but that’s racing so onwards and upwards. I just hope that at the next round at Knockhill in Scotland it’s not raining.

All the best,
Howie #43

It’s my favourite track and it helps when you know you can go fast on parts of it. The first session was ok but we had to change a lot for the qualifying session, including the gearing and suspension.

When qualifying came the bike was better, but still needed some more changes. I made these by the time the race came around and thankfully they paid off. I knew I had a good race pace and as it turned out I had set the second fastest lap of the race. I was in 3rd place and the brakes started to fade with 3 laps to the end. I tried to ignore the problem but it caught me out and I ran straight over the big curbs at the last corner and lost a couple of places, I was down into 5^th and the brakes was getting worse.  Once the race finished and I heard a clunking noise, the brake calliper had come loose. It was lucky that the race was over or it could have been a disaster.

We have three weeks off now until Snetterton because of the Isle of Man TT so I will speak to you all soon.

Best wishes
Howie #43

The weekend started badly with the bike leaking oil in the first session and after three laps it was flagged off track and sent back to the pits. We had to strip it for the afternoon qualifying. The mechanics thought it was an oil filter problem so they changed the filters, we went out into the qualifying and the same thing happened again! It was back to the drawing board, the team worked very late to solve the problem and in qualifying 2 we managed to scrape 7th place, which was a great result and it meant a second row on the grid.

Unfortunately there were still some problems. When I tried some practice starts it was hard to get off line, which came to haunt me at the race start. It was difficult to come off line and a bike hit me! I managed to stay on but dropped back to 14th place, so I really had my work cut out.

Eventually I pulled through to 6th place but the clutch started to go wrong and I ended up finishing in 8^th place, it was a great battle to the end and I was lucky to finish the race! There was oil all over bike, the team have a lot of work to do as we are at Thruxton in 2 days. I hope it will be all sorted as Thruxton is my favourite track.

Speak to you all very soon

Best wishes

Howie #43

We are one of the few running gas internals in the front forks and the feel for me is completely different to what I am use too. So the more time on the bike and with the team really helps, as I get to understand the bike and the team, plus mechanic Axel Bergstrom (ex Japan Motocross GP champion and World Motocross rider),

We picked a nice day so we could make steady progress, the sun shinning but it was very windy. In fact when I was going down craner curves in 5th gear flat-out I could feel the wind was pushing me right out to the edge of the track.

It was hard to get the bike spot on but we now feel we are more in the ball park with the bike than if we hadn’t gone on Tuesday, Kenny Guilbertson (my team mate) was there too but he was riding in the Superbikes, so I got to see how much quicker the superbike was to mine, (not much difference) we went round together all-day passing and out, braking each other - it was fun!

Next it’s Donington Park race weekend on the May 25^th. I’m so excited; hope we can improve on the 6th place at Oulton Park, only 2 weeks to go.

Speak to you all soon!

BEST WISHES
HOWIE#43

Hello All

I’m back this season and it’s been a while since my last blog, so much has happened. I am now riding for the JX fuel card Kawasaki Team in Superstock 1000, (they also have a Superbike).

I missed the first round at Brand Hatch, so our first round this weekend was at Oulton Park, (I had only ridden the bike once before in a test, in the wet)! The weekend went quite well though, starting with the first session in free practice and luckily it was dry for this. The bike felt fast although the handling needed a lot of work but my mechanic had a good understanding of the bike and K-Tech suspension this helped a lot throughout the whole weekend.

The first qualifying went ok but I still had some problems with the front-end set-up. We had a bad start to the race and by this time it was wet but after three laps I started to make a move, the track was still slippery but not as bad as the test, we had to ride with caution, which paid off in the end as we ended up in sixth place. The whole team was pleased, as this was the good start to the season we wanted!

Next stop Donnington Park Round 3 on the 23rd, 24th and 25th May. Between now and then I have a test at Donnington, I just hope it stays dry and it all goes well.

As it is my first blog, I would just like to say a big thank you to all my sponsors for all there support being – Carole Nash Insurance, The Team at Axel, Walker Signs & Street furniture, Lenzkes GB Derek and Janet & Rob, lets hope it all goes well this season!

Best Wishes
HOWIE #43

National Superstock Championships - Calendar

Brands Hatch (Indy) - April 10/11/12
Oulton Park - May 2/3/4
Donington Park - May 23/24/25
Thruxton - May 29/30/31
Snetterton - June 19/20/21
Knockhill - July 3/4/5
Brands Hatch - (GP) August 7/8/9
Cadwell Park - August 29/30/31
Croft September - 11/12/13
Silverstone - September 25/26/27
Oulton Park - October 9/10/11  

In the practice it went well. We were up with the top 10 again and very happy - we just needed to make a couple of adjustments.

I put the forks through 3mm instead of 5mm to steady the back up a bit because it was stepping out too much on the way into corners so this would help put wait on the back.

In qualifying it went quite good we got a promising place on the grid. I always struggle in qualifying more than the race - I don’t know why,  so for morning warm up I made more changes.

The other changes that I made worked well so I put the forks through flush with the yokes and it felt mint! I was so confident with the front end again for the first time in ages since and I knew we were in for a good race.

As the times in qualifying were so close, we knew that it would be like a train of bikes all race but that’s when it went wrong.

The lights went red, I was getting ready and I let the clutch out. Suddenly, the bike went forward and then stopped - I s**t myself and then, it happened.

The bikes behind me did well really but one hit me flat in the side of me. I felt instant pain and the bike fell on me. Luckily I managed to kick the bike off me with the other leg and tried to crawl to the side of the track but I couldn’t move because of the pain.

They stopped the race and after that I can’t remember much. I passed out then woke up in hospital, they said I had broken my leg and had bad swelling.

It was certainly a bad end to the season but now I have time to rest and hopefully come back stronger with a good team.

I would also like to thank all of the people that have helped me this year.

A big thank-you must go to Carole Nash, Automovative Darel and Jayne, GP Moto, Lenzkes GB Derek, One Stop Shop Gary and Kim, Sym and Kath, KBC Helmets, Revit Leathers & Wayne, Daytona Boots, Crescent Suzuki and Mark Rooney, Kais Performance, Andy White and Family, NGK Spark Plugs, Pump Hire Services, B&C Express, Direct Assets and finally, Mum, Dad, Girlfriend Lisa, Grandma and Grandad for putting up with me!

At Silverstone this weekend and it went well at the Friday practice, it looked good placing me in the top 7 place in the British Championship, the weather was also nice for a change.

After the practice I had some bad news my mate Kenny Gilberson that rides the Astro Kawasaki was very ill he had a hole in his arm from the last round and had to have it stitched. On Thursday (setup day) he had his stitches removed and his arm swelled right up, he was rushed straight back to hospital were they said he had septicaemia. Get well soon mate!

The day seemed to get worse, in qualifying on my 2nd lap going into the hairpin at the end of the straight, another rider came flat-out in to me and wrote my bike off, so I never got to qualify for the team.

We worked hard most of the night to get my bike ready for qualifying 2^nd. Finally got the bike ready and went out on it, it felt different so we made some changes but before you know it, the session was over. So not a good qualifying all in all, we had alot of work to do in the race. I made some big changes to get some more feel in the bike and it eventually paid-off, I finished in the top 10 and knocked a second off my qualifying time.

I am looking forward to Brands Hatch now, its the last race of the season and I’m hoping it is going to be a good one speak to you all soon.

Best wishes
HOWIE #43

Hiya all

What a bad weekend at Croft this weekend, Friday wasn’t looking good the bike just would not turn, so I knew we would have to make a lot of changes to it.

I have been dreading this weekend all year as I smashed my hand at the second chicane after the gearbox locked up on me last time.

I was hoping to have a better weekend here but that wasn’t the way it went after the first session the bike was bad, so we made the changes and it felt better but then the rain came just three laps in, I would have to wait until Saturday.

Saturday - session two qualifying, it was looking better but we couldn’t make the time we needed, the bike just wasn’t handling how we wanted it too. It could just not pull it into corners.

Sunday - race day, we changed the bike again but back to standard setting and it felt better but still not quite right. So we made more changes for the race.

It seemed to be going well but with just a couple of laps to go the backend stepped out and I ran straight on the grass, because it was wet I came straight off and had to retire from the race, all-in-all a bad weekend again.

Next round is at Silverstone and I like it there so I am looking forward to it!

Speak to you all soon

BEST WISHES
HOWIE #43

Its not been long since I last spoke to you but lots has happened. It was the World Superbikes at Donnington last weekend and I was there. I was also riding in the World Suzuki 750 Cup.

On the Thursday when we got there I couldn’t believe how laid back everyone is compared to the British scene and how the hospitalities looked. They were amazing, so much different to our paddock, everything is made to look like it is there all the time. To think it was a truck on Saturday morning is unreal.

Anyway, back to the racing. On the Friday we had lots of time to learn about the new bike, we were able to change the suspension setting to suit me. It was wet as well, so we needed to change the rear spring for a softer one making it easier to ride in the wet. The Adreani ohlins were really helpful and knew the bike well. The Suzuki crew were really good as well. They made us feel very welcome and we were well looked after.

At the end of the day it was our time to ride and it was wet, not just wet but flooded! I had new wets on, not the same as we use in our championship, so they took a little bit of getting used to, but after seven laps it was fine. The wets didn’t grip as well as our ones but were ok after lots of laps. The track was mega slippy and everyone was coming off.  My mechanic, Twiggy, told me to take it steady and if I get giddy to pull in and have a re-think instead of going too quick and coming off like everyone else. It paid off as I got up to second on the grid.

With five minutes to go they pulled me in and I sat in the pits for the remainder of the session. I ended up in fifth place. It was a very safe ride and we learned a little bit about the bike without any heroics.

The bike was geared for the Nürburgring, where Jeremy McWilliams rides the bike, so the gearing was way off. We made some changes to the bike for Saturday, but overnight it still hadn’t stopped raining and it carried on through the day. It got to our session at the end of the day and the rain had finally stopped and it was drying out, but still very wet, too wet for dry tyres.

I went out and did 3 to 5 laps at a time and had to keep coming in for a setup change. It was getting near the end of the session and they were still working on my bike, I had seven minutes to go to put a good time in, we kept going faster and faster but just not enough for the front row. The session ended and I was on the third row, but I wasn’t worried because I knew I had good pace.

Sunday arrived and the sun was out, hurray! We were suppose to be having our race at 2:30pm, but the Superbikes got delayed so we were the last race of the day again, and guess what…it rained again! It stopped just in time for our race and was drying slowly. It was going to be a greasy track.

The race got underway and I started well. Straight into the 1st corner in 3rd place, then down through Craner Curves into 1st. I just kept going for it and then 2 laps, in the Austrian rider came past, he was riding well and had a good pace. I tagged onto him and was hanging on. It got to 4 laps in and my team said I had a ride through penalty because I jumped the start. I know I didn’t but the officials said I did, so I had to do a ride through the pits at 60kmh which is slow after 150mph around a track. It put me in 14th place so I had to do all that hard work again in the space of 5 laps, and we did it, I finished in 6th place which was still a good ride in The World Championship. We knew it could have been a 2nd place easily as we were 3 seconds in front of 3rd place before pulling in for the ride through. Everyone thought I had done well.

To top the weekend off we had met loads of people and made some new friends including Hollyoaks star Stuart Manning. He is one cool geezer and loves bikes, so we had a real good chat. He came over to congratulate me at the end of the race. Thanks for your support mate! All in all what a good weekend.

Now I am looking forward to this weekend at Croft. We had some bad luck there last time, the gear box seized up in the bike at the 2nd corner and I smashed my hand, so I’m a little bit nervous going back there, but should be ok.

Speak to you all soon.

Best wishes

HOWIE #43

Hiya all

been to Cadwell this weekend what a hard weekend it’s been! At the test on Monday the bike felt good but when we got to the race weekend and we were trying to go 1.5 seconds faster than the test that’s when it began to get hard.

Every time we tried to go faster, the bike just wouldn’t let me. We changed almost everything on the bike, this wasn’t all we had a few other problems, the bike kept cutting out we found out that was just a switch gear on the bike, it was like it just wasn’t meant to be.

In the end we found a setting that we felt was the best one to go with but it still wasn’t quite like I wanted it to be. It made my job harder in the race because we had a bad qualifying, we had to come from quite far back in the race, I was going well in a good position until halfway into the race the rear shock over heated, luckily I managed to finish the race.

I was a little disappointed for the fact that I still haven’t mounted the podium yet but there is more to come, its only a matter of time before we get the right set. Now I have the world Superbike round to look forward to, I have been invited to ride in the world Suzuki 750 cup, I’m really looking forward to it, so speak to you all soon!

HOWIE #43