Phil Bevan Racing, Mallory Park, Sunday 27th April

Rider: Phil Bevan, Bike: Ducati 996, Club: New Era Superclub

A busy weekend for the team as we had a two day track day at Pembrey to organise as well as getting Phil to Mallory Park for the first round of the Superclub Championship. We were reasonably confident of getting a good result but were concerned with the weather as we had to buy another 17” front wheel for the RS.

Following on from Thruxton BSB (two 2nd places) and a full grid for the Sound of Thunder races, we knew Phil had to be on the pace in Qualifying to get a decent start position.

There was also the electrics on the caravan to sort as they’ve been on and off for a while, it’s all part of Club Racing!

The Qualifying session began with all of us concentrating not on the bike but watching the unpredictable weather and trying to forecast what would happen in the next half hour. 3 sets of wheels (including a borrowed 17”) on warmers meant ‘eany, meany miny, mow’ but we gambled on slicks and kept everything crossed. A steady session got Phil on Pole (58.540 ) but he felt slow and couldn’t get decent lines with all the traffic. Ducati RS’s fill the next 2 places with Paul Newton and the consistent Julian Stock followed by Gary Watts and Dean Skipper. A few spots of rain on Phil’s visor at the end of the session didn’t bother him.

The first race was again going to be a close call with tyres and it was raining before we were set to go out, but again we gambled on slicks as there was a dryish line. The lights go green and he was P1 into Gerrards and then it nearly went pear shaped as he’s too hot on the brakes at Edwenas. The back end stepped out and tried to overtake the front so it’s off with the brakes and back on the throttle. The Dunlop tyres still grip so with a cool head consistent lap times of 56.46 were achieved. Phil was working well with the pit board and slowed up as he had a 5 second lead coming home in first place.

For Race 2 we decide to run a softer rear – the weather was better and we hoped the soft compound would give Phil more drive out of Gerrards. Phil was first off again but Paul Newton followed close behind, but with the tyres giving loads more grip Phil managed to put some space between him and the following pack .

The red flags went out after an oil slick at the bus stop and the race was brought to a premature end, with Phil gaining the second win of the day.

The results were phoned back to us at Pembrey as the track day guys were keen to hear how Phil got on (the track days help to fund the racing) so it’s smiles all round. The track day is a success as it’s also been dry all day, and the guys have learnt loads from our team of instructors.

After 8 weeks of running all over the country we’ve got next weekend off, but not for John Hackett Performance as the RS is due an engine service and will be tweaked for the forthcoming Donnington rounds .

Many thanks to JHP ‘s Rick, Kevin and friends for helping out at Mallory, Pembrey Circuit for the trackday, and Dunlop for the great tyres.