First Crash of the Season for Lee

Lee goes down heavy on his second lap round Castle Combe and dislocates his right shoulder...

"We'd entered the Sound of Thunder and Superbike Grand National at Castle Combe. I've always really enjoyed racing at the circuit and was looking forward to a great weekend."

"On Saturday we awoke to a wet circuit and the Sound of Thunder qualifying was first out on circuit. With the weather looking very uncertain I was determined to get a quick lap in sooner rather than later and so started to push right from the off. Unfortunately this was my downfall, although it was not raining the circuit was very greasy and on approaching one of the chicanes (whilst still upright) I lost the front and went down heavy. Luckily both I and the bike slid down the track (what seemed like for miles). When I got to my feet I realised I'd dislocated my shoulder (again!).."

"As I walked to the side of the track with the marshals I knew I needed to get my shoulder back in as quickly as possible and after a few attempts it went back in and the gut wrenching pain went away a little."

"We got the bike back to the awning and started to assess the damage to the bike, I reached down to put the bike on the front paddock stand and my shoulder dislocated again - I can only assume I hadn't got it back in fully at the side of the track.,"

"This time it took me what seemed like forever to get it back in, all the time having to concentrate on not throwing up - the pain was unreal - anyway I got it back in and decided to sit down for a while!!"

"Dad and my new technical expert Ross (my brother) beavered away on the bike while I contemplated whether we could race the rest of the weekend - I decided to sit out the first Sound of Thunder race and analyse my fitness later on - as it turned out this was a good call as the first race was neither wet or dry and would not have been enjoyable!"

"As time wore on my should felt a bit better and the real pain I was feeling was from my right knee, which must have took a right bashing when I crashed, we decided to go out in the 2nd Sound of Thunder race and see how I faired. As I had only done 1 lap in qualifying I was 19th on the grid - so it was going to be an interesting race"

"I worked my way up to 6th spot and by the end of the race was doing lap times very similar to the top 4 (except Alistair Fagan who had destroyed the rest of the field to take the win). I was struggling quiet a bit as my right arm felt very weak and was not happy with the bike getting out of shape too much as I was uncertain I could react if it got too out of shape."

"The last session on the saturday was free practice for the Superbike Grand National, I went out and went nearly a second faster than I'd done in the Sound of Thunder race, I was 14th fastest overall, with the majority of the people ahead of me being BSB regulars - so I was quiet happy - although frustrated at the fact I was being impaired by the state of my shoulder."

"On Sunday the SuperBike Grand National timed qualifying was first out on track and the track was damp in places, I was not 100% committed and feeling a bit hesitant when reaching areas with damp spots - I qualified 16th for the two main races of the day."

"We then had the final Sound of Thunder race (back on 19th on the grid for the start again) and I was determined to finish on the podium. I had a great race, but took too long to get through the slower traffic and finished forth - again doing lap times equal to the riders ahead of me."

"We had a great Superbike Grand National race 1, I had some good battles with the riders around me and managed to finish 13th overall. But really struggled after the 7th lap as the injury's started to take it out of me"

"We decided to finish on a relative high and not try and compete in the 15 lap final of the Superbike Grand National - we have a big weekend ahead of us this coming weekend at Pembrey and decided to give my shoulder a better chance of being fit by resting it"

"Big thanks to the team - Mum, Dad, Ross, Abi, Lou and Jackie (who was stuck at home dog sitting!) - and thanks to Colin Young for his hospitality and Kevin Jones for his forever entertaining company!!!"

Bridesmaid @ Donington Park

Lee races at Donington Park with New Era and Despite setting his own personal best lap time round the circuit, has to settle for 2nd place!

"We were just racing from practice - but Saturday was a wash out," explains Lee," We had a flooded first race, which I pulled out of before I crashed out of! Then pulled out of the second race (whilst in 2nd place) as the track started to dry and my wet tyres turned into gum."

"Sunday didn't start out much better, 4 laps into qualifying it started to rain and then the session was stopped. I checked the timing screen and at the time I was on pole, with the drizzle coming down I didn't expect to better my time, so didn't bother going back out when the session restarted. However most did and the track dried and I dropped to 3rd on the grid."

"In the race I slotted into 2nd place behind Marcus Wade on a Triumph 675, as the race was over 25 minutes and was going to be around 20+ laps I was in no hurry to fight for the lead, so I followed him for about the first 6 or 7 laps, then we hit back-markers and I seemed to always get the rough end of the deal, as Marcus slowly crept away from me. By around lap 17 or so it started to rain, not heavy but enough for me to knock off the pace and I truly lost sight of Marcus."

"Despite this I still finished over 14 seconds ahead of 3rd place man, and set my own personal best time in the process. Pleased that we'd tried different gearing etc and set a good lap time despite the strong wind that must have been effecting the times, as I was really struggling in places on the track."

Another win @ Mallory Park

Lee wins the Sound of Thunder race at Mallory Park on Sunday, but it didn't all go to plan, Lee explains:

"It was really hot, must have been 30 degrees, and I was really struggling with rear end grip in qualifying. Round Gerards and the Devils elbow the bike would not go as fast as I wanted it to without sliding constantly."

"Despite this I set my fastest lap ever round Mallory at 55.9 and qualified 9th on the grid, second in the SoT, behind Francis Williamson on the KTM RC8."

"Francis is a class rider with lots of experience, so I knew in the race it would be hard to beat him (he'd qualified half a second faster than me, which was not too daunting, as I knew if we could get some grip we could do low 55's."

"The race started and I was right on Francis's tail round Gerards, on the exit I pushed hard, determined to out brake him into Edwina's, I pulled off the move and passed him and another rider. On the next lap Francis tried the same move on me (which I thought was a bit of a brave move, as I was strong into Edwina's) - he out broke himself, collided with another rider and they both went down."

"I had to take avoiding action, but stayed on. At this point the leading pack of GP1 bikes had then gapped me, but with Francis out of the race and the other SoT bikes being at least a second a lap slower than me in qualifying, I knew if I set consistent lap times the race would be mine.

"On lap 7 the Norton ridden by Lee Dickenson came past me into Gerrads gushing water from the engine, I followed him into Edwina's and then he highsided coming out right in front of me, I just missed him, then the bike, then the bike of Ricky Snell as he collided with the spinning Norton. Both Rob Elsemere (GP1) and Lee Cutts-Bland (SoT) got passed me before I got back up to pace. I lost over 4 seconds on that lap and now had a race to take back the lead in the SoT."

"I caught Lee a lap later and then passed Rob, and started to try and get into a rhythm again.With the race being so long in hot temperatures I focused on doing low consistent 56's. Every lap at the hairpin I was checking on the gap from Lee Cutts-Bland and could see I was gradually dropping him, I didn't realise Rob Elsemere had hooked on the back of me and was right on my tail. He passed me down the straight on the last lap and took 8th place on track from me. It did not effect my SoT class win, so I wasn't too bothered."

"Really trying race, totally shattered after it - the heat (temperature) and then the heat of incidents really took it out of me!."

Lee wins at Donington Park with NG Road Racing

"I love Donington Park!" says Lee, "Although we don't get to race there that often, I hadn't raced the National Circuit for about 3 years."

"I started the first Sound of Thunder race from 27th on the grid, as the club runs the first race in championship positions, and as I haven't been racing with them I was at the back of the grid."

"I stormed my way up to the front in the short 7 lap race, catching the 2 675's that were dicing for the lead and took the lead around lap 5. Unfortunately the last lap flag was not shown to be as we crossed the line for the penultimate time, which cost me the race - I'd caught the leaders so easily, I didn't expect anyone to have been in a position to make a challenge back on the last lap and left the door open into Goddards on the last corner of the race and one of the Triumphs made a pass before the chequered flag!"

"Fortunately the 2nd race grid is formed in the finishing order of the first race, and as over the day I'd set a lap time nearly a second quicker than the rest of the field, I didn't expect to be challenged in the 2nd race. I was wrong, both the Triumphs and Mark Woods on is 998 RS picked up the pace, but I was not going to be mugged this time - and took the win in the end!"

9 Wins from 9 Starts

Another 3 wins from 3 starts at Snetterton over the weekend sees points advantage now to over 130 points in the championship.

"I couldn't afford the time away from work on the Friday, so I had to miss the testing day before hand, and started the weekend on the back-foot." explained Lee,

"But I stuck in a time matching my personal best in qualifying 2 which put me first of the Sound Of Thunder bikes by nearly 2 seconds.

During the races I was never troubled by the other SoT runners (unfortunately there was only 3 of us out there!), but had some good scraps with the GP1 runners."

Off to Mallory next where I hope the Duke will be a little bit more competitive against the GP1 Bikes.

6 Wins from 6 Starts

Another 3 wins from 3 starts at Brands Hatch over the weekend sees points advantage now at 77 points in the championship.

"I'd not been to Brands Hatch for 3 years" says Lee, " and prior to that I'd not had much time are the circuit, so I wasn't expecting to be able to repeat the performance at Cadwell Park
Lee Cutts-Bland, who is chasing me in the championship, looked strong all weekend and I didn't expect it to go all my way.
Plus local boy (and my buddy) Kevin Jones was riding out of his skin on his prehistoric Suzuki TLR setting his own personal best times round his local track, I expected a fight.
Sure enough in the first race Lee Cutts-Bland (Aprilia), Harry Cole (Ducati 1098) and myself fought it out until around lap 12 where I got passed a GP1 bike and managed to make a small break before taking the flag.
In Race 2 Lee Cutts-Bland shot off like a rocket and I knew I'd have to ride hard to keep with him, but he pushed too hard on Clearways whilst tussling with a GP1 bike, lost the front and crashed out.
I knew then just to keep it steady and make sure I didn't though away the points.
For a change in Race 3 I got a good start and never felt any pressure (or the sound of any twins behind me) and rode a measured ride to take the win again
Glad to get Brands out of the way and get back to circuits I know well, Snetterton should be good for the 1098, Mallory should be awesome where I hope to be putting a bit more pressure on the GP1 boys!"

Lee Strengthens his ThunderSport GB Championship Lead

3 wins from 3 starts at Cadwell Park over the weekend sees Lee stretch out a 38 point lead advantage in the championship.

Setting his own personal best of 1m 35.5 around the Lincolnshire circuit on Saturday, Lee came 3rd on track in the GP1 race.

"Awesome!" says Lee, "Probably my best race ever, I started 5th on the grid, but I am really struggling to get the Duke of the line and I had dropped to 9th by the end of the first lap!
I had to make some pretty desperate moves to force myself past the GP1 class bikes, as all of them are quicker than my Superstock spec Ducati - some by around 30bhp!
The only disappointment of the weekend is that I tired as the weekend went on, my forearms could only take so many desperate out breaking maneuvers!.. With it looking likely we'll be mixed in with the GP1 class for the rest of the year, I'm going to have to work on my fitness if I'm going to mix it with the superbike spec bikes in the class!... Good weekend though, finally cracked one of my bogie circuits!".

Lee stays 3rd in New Era Sound of Thunder

Despite a rather average weekend Lee stays 3rd in the championship after the Cadwell meeting. Freezing cold and windy on saturday Lee struggled with the lack of confidence and rode two measured races to 5th place in both.

Missing the wet practice on the Sunday morning, Lee struggled in race 1 due to bad bike setup and a misting visor.

Despite totally messing up the start in race two, Lee battled up to 2nd place in the final race of the day.