Snetterton: series launch

Snetterton: Well we went to Snetterton for the official test / launch / Pirelli test weekend. Sadly it was more like the Ducati GP7 Desmosedici launch of 2007 (you know the one at the ski resort), with the amount of snow that fell. 

 

 

Most teams headed off to sunnier climes to continue testing before the series proper kicks off at Brands Hatch April 4th - 6th. We met the rest of the Medical team, and they met us !

 

 Roll on Brands and the start of the season "proper"

  

Round 1: Brands Hatch

More Snow!

 

 

 Round 2 : Thruxton

The first round proper after the blizzard conditions of Brands. There was definately no snow, but a bit of everything else ! At least race day was dry if not a tad blustery.

Obviously the weekend was dominated by the Tom sykes - Karl Harris bike in face crash, and almost simultaneously Adam Jenkinson's 140+mph highside.  Neither too badly hurt. Dennis Hobbs was also very unlucky to be the innocent victim of another incident, and suffered a fractured dislocated shoulder for his trouble !

James Edmeades of the KTM SuperDuke-R battle was lucky to get away with this near miss, and still get on the podium.With regard to work we saw lots of armpump, which seems to have a myriad of causes and presentations across all classes. There was a photo opportunity too good to miss - cheers Murray !

 

  Oulton Park: Round 3

Just sam and Noel in attendance this weekend. The weather was variable to say the least. We saw lots of arm pump as expected as there is very little rest during a lap of Oulton. Marco Melandri popped in after his better showing at the GP of  China,  yep he really is that small !!

 

Sam stayed on for a few days and did a track day at Oulton (she's an instructor for focused events). The sun shone and she had a great day. The Tena for men team were so impressed with her pace that they had a late night rendevouz to discuss her running in a Tena for women team!

 

Finally a big thanks to David Laundon in the press office for his hospitality and kindness over the course of the weekend.

 

Brands Hatch: Round 1 (rescheduled)

Again just Sam and Noel present this weekend. A strange weekend at that as the grid positions stood from the cancelled round and the BSB boys were shoehorned into a Bemsee race meeting. As required a small select group of the medical team paid their respects at The Kentagon.

 

Amazingly Cal Crutchlow was fit to ride 1 week after his dislocated ankle, Karl Harris sat this round out after consulting with Toby Branfoot, to allow his injuries to heal. The weather was good , yet there were still a great many fallers.  

NorthWest200

A sad day indeed for motorcycling; with the untimely death of Robert Dunlop during the 250cc practice. At times this really is a very unfair sport. Obviously there was the Hollywood moment when Michael Dunlop won the 250cc race in fine style.

 On a more postive note congratulations to Michael Wilcox (below)who at last added a North West win to his illustrious triumphs. Even more amazing is that all 3 of us have been caught on film.

 

 

Round 4: Donnington Park

We were all in attendance, the KTM boys were back in action and the 125 race got cancelled because it was so windy!  There were numerous fallers on the Sat afternoon session in the wet, even the renowned wet riders were down. Michael Howarth (below) was unlucky enough to see his bike detonate itself against the pit wall.

 

On a more positive note Tommy Hill popped in for a check up, he's doing well and working hard to be back on a bike asap . We did see a lot of injuries carried over from other rounds

 

2008 IOM TT

Fortunately no one lost their life whilst competing at the IOM this year. Congratulations to John McGuiness on his 14th TT win. Commiserations to Guy Martin who should have won the superbike race, and the Senior if it were not for his mechanical gremlins. Maybe he needs to be nicer to the fairies !!

James Mcbride on the other hand must have had all the Island fairies on his side after his high speed off at Gorse Lea.  

 

Round 5: Snetterton

Again just Noel and Sam at this round, once again with variable weather !

Leon Camier claimed his maiden BSB victory, 

Stuart Easton suffered brake failure and had to bail out, suffering a nasty wrist fracture in the process. Aprilia Supermoto rider Christian Iddon also managed a rather nasty wrist fracture, which places him in doubt for the remainder of the season.

 Round 6 : Mallory Park

 Mallory saw the return of the KTM boys, a few of them rolled up with arm pump. We came to the conclusion that because they are not present at all of the BSB rounds they a lose a bit of condition. The weather played an important part, especially during race 2 (more later). All three of us were in attendance, which spreads the work out nicely. Pictured below is the deep sanctuary that is the med centre at Mallory Park, with Sam & Noel treating a couple of the usual suspects.

 

 

Injury wise Leon Morris (below) broke his collarbone, when he highsided his Ducati , ironically at the start of that session we had watched him exit the pits with his bike sporting a shiny new fairing ! 

 

The Chris Jones Riders Fund also provided us with an ice machine, so in addition to having ice cold drinks (joke!) we can now provide the riders with a plentiful supply of ice as dictated by their injuries.

 

Round 7: Oulton Park

Second visit of the year to Oulton.  Karl Harris was looking very strong in first practice and continued that with 4th on the grid. Leon Camier had a very fast off at Island bend and sufferred from concussion.

Thanks to Pam Jones of the Chris Jones riders fund we now have some back-on-track team gear.  So if you see us in the paddock don't be afraid to say hello !

 

Brands Hatch WSB

It was with great sadness that we learnt about the serious injuries and subsequent untimely death of Craig Jones. Although we never met or treated him, It was obvious he was held in high esteem by most, if not all of the BSB paddock.

 Round 8: Knockhill

We all made the long trip to Knockhill, which was another weekend dominated by the on off nature of the weather, and Saturday evenings monsoon. It was enough to keep us safely tucked up in the medical centre most of the weekend.

It was a very sombre weekend coming so soon after the loss of Craig Jones. There was a fitting tribute, with Jim Moodie completing a lap aboard the No18 Valmoto Triumph that Craig campaigned in the 2004 British Supersport Championship.

 

Our time in the med centre was busy as usual, though we were inundated by recovering wrist fractures. Stuart Easton spent a lot of time with us, sadly after completing a few laps it was obvious that his wrist was not yet strong enough. We also saw quite a few people with the dreaded arm pump, down to nothing more than Knockhill being a very short track with very little opportunity to rest.

 

Round 9: Cadwell Park

Still a bit of a trek to Cadwell Park, a place that has a unique feel to it.

This is the track where Chris Jones was fatally injured, and hence the presence of the  Chris Jones Riders Fund and their staff has special meaning. Due to Cadwell's remote location the fund paid for an Air Ambulance for the entire weekend.

Sadly it had to be used 3 times : once for James Dye, once for Stu Wilson and finally for Yaron Salinger. All 3 casualties are doing well.

There was the annual Chris Jones Riders Fund charity bike race, held over 4 laps of the mountain circuit. It was won by a serious looking Cal Crutchlow, just ahead of former Olympian James Cracknell. For the rest of us it was chance to get dressed up (or down) and raise some money for the fund £8000 or so at the last count - so well done everyone.

It was our busiest weekend to date, with many riders carrying injuries including: recovering wrist fractures, recovering shoulder dislocations, recovering post surgery, sore necks, sore backs, twisted ankles, twisted knees. Our presence in the paddock is now pretty much general  knowledge, with riders from all classes rolling up with various tales of woe.

When we did manage to finally get out for a bit of fresh air, who should we bump into but no less than JT himself, it was too good a photo opportunity to miss.

The prize for the most spectacular effort over the mountain went to Supersport 600 cup rider Andy Weymouth - Yamaha Linxcel / Seton Tuning. Even more impressive when you realize this photo was taken about 40 mins after visiting us to sort out his painful shoulder. Sadly his race was cut short with a broken chain!

 

 

Round 10 : Croft

Just Sam and Rich in attendance this weekend.

Shakey Byrne also had a mathematical chance of securing the title this weekend, sadly in 2nd practice he had a huge highside and not only hurt his shoulder, but managed to knock a crown off one of his front teeth. Imagine his surprise when one of the paramedics actually found said tooth in the gravel trap, delivered it back to the med centre where it was reattached in good time before the press interviews. Sadly it rattled loose in the next session.

From a work perspective we had a fairly usual weekend of broken wrists, feet, collarbones. Aaron Zanotti was airlifted to Hospital after a nasty off, Back-on-Track wish him a speedy recovery.

 

Round 11 : Silverstone

At last, a weekend with decent weather (aside from the morning fog), all of us present. The facilities were particularly impressive, the med centre was vast, our room had enough space for 4 treatment couches, twas a shame we only had 2 !!

The walking wounded were well represented this weekend with Aaron Zanotti (not racing) after his big off at Croft, quite a serious spinal fracture, R1 cup rider Stu Wilson after having surgery to the  arm he broke badly at Cadwell, Michael Howarth and his Croft collarbone and James Mcbride with the arm he broke at the TT.

For those with long memories the evocative sound of a 500cc two stroke GP bike is magical, So when Michael Rutter had the opportunity to ride a Cagiva 500 Gp bike he didn't waste any time. Niall Mckenzie managed to squeeze into the leathers that matched his 500 V4 Yamaha from the eighties for a few laps as well.

Superbike rider Simon Andrews feeling the benefit of Noel's healing hands!

 

Rich with Julie the Radiographer, and the Dragon Digital xray machine (yes its that small )

 

A picture of "The Team" with 2008 BSB "Cup" Championship winner John Laverty. Picture courtesy of DoubleRed photography.

 

Back-On-Track would like to congratulate Shane Byrne on winning the 2008 Bennetts British Superbike Championship, with further congratulations to Glen Richards who secured the Supersport title for Triumph, and Steve Brogan who clinched the Superstock 1000 championship.

 

 

Round 12 : Brands Hatch Indy

Would you believe it, the last round of the Championship in mid October and not a drop of rain ! It seems like such a long time ago that we were here for Round 1 in the snow!

Sam hit the jackpot with 3 pillion laps with James Ellison, only Guy Martin would have been better !!

 

   

 

 

We dutifully paid our respects in the Kentagon

 

The medical team felt they should pay their respects to the 2 people who kindly organize us, fortunately only one of them was present

 

On a serious note here are the team who attended Brands

 

The weekend saw Matthew Hoyle Crowned 125 champion, as his only challenger Tim Hutchings crashed out at Paddock hill bend whilst in the lead.

Lee Johnston claimed the Superstock 600 title.

Back to the racing Michael Rutter racked up his 300th BSB start ! Shakey Byrne claimed pole ahead of Leon Haslem and Cal Crutchlow. This result despite Haslems (below) best effort not get to the final stint of the roll for pole, with a highside at clearways. He did hurt his shoulder for which we treated him in his garage between qualifying stints

that meant that the HM Plant team had 2 bikes to repair following Crutchlows best effort to destroy one in practice

 

And that's that the end of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship 2008.......!!

well not quite because there was obviously some socializing to be done, so here are a few pics of the pleasantries that followed

 

 

Lee Johnston Superstock 600 champion- a giant amongst men !!

 

Macau Grand Prix

Congratulations to Stuart Easton on winning the Macau Grand Prix ahead of Michael Rutter in second and John Mcguiness in third. A very good way to end the year for Stuart after breaking his wrist badly at Snetterton after having his brakes fail on the back straight.

Back-On-Track would like to wish Stuart all the best for 2009

 

 

And finally the Chris Jones Fund dinner / awards evening:

A fun evening had by all. Lots of money raised for such a good cause. 

Some of the esteemed medical personnel who dont scrub up too badly now do they ?

 

And Finally with Marco Melandri