BSB Round 1 - Brands Hatch GP circuit 4/5/6th Apr

Rider - Alastair Seeley #34 Class - Superstock 1000

Hello everyone,

at last the first round has arrived and the weather was nice for Fri free practice. I had been to Oulton Park the previous Wed testing the Rea Estates Yamaha R1 and got a good few runs when the circuit had dried, the bike was feeling good as we set it up exactly like the bike i rode for NCT/Vanfit so i felt comfortable from the start. Out of all the BSB rounds i had done last season Brands Hatch GP was the circuit i had done the least amount of miles on as i didn’t qualify for the race due to a holed radiator in 1st qualifying and a hole in the engine casing in 2nd qualifying. I had been doing 1min 34sec laps last year and felt like i was riding really hard to get to those times so when i came in from free practice on Fri and seen my quickest time was a 1min 32.814sec which put me 9th quickest i was pleased. We had 1st qualifying later that day and we made a gearing change, a couple of suspension adjustments and fitted new rubber, i done a lap of 1min 31.741sec towards the end of the session to go 10th quickest but felt i could improve as at a few places the bike was touching the rev limiter. The weather for Sat’s 2nd qualifying was dry and we made some more suspension adjustments, a geometry change, fitted a new front tyre and after looking at the datalogging i was going to change up earlier where the bike was hitting the rev limiter to carry more speed into the corner. The reason for no new rear tyre at this stage is that i like to put a new one in during the qualifying as it offers more grip in it’s early stages so i get used to sliding the used rear and then bang in a new one and find more grip and hopefully the time set is better than the previous qualifying time. I managed to get down to a 1min 31.431sec to finish the session 9th quickest and when both qualifying sessions are combined i was 10th quickest overall so i would start the race from row 3. The suspension changes we had made helped the bike turn but it was getting a bit out of shape in a few places so it would have to be altered again. I had heard people say in the paddock during Thur and Fri that there was a possibility of snow for race day Sun but with the lovely warm weather we had on Thur and Fri and it dry on Sat nobody would have believed a word they were saying but when i woke on race day morning there it was 3 inches deep. I walked over to the see the circuit and it was just pure white so i knew they would struggle to run some races if any at all so with our race being the last one i told our team to pack up so we could get the earlier boat home.

Overall i was pleased to get my times down and in qualifying i had good race pace, now we just have to get the suspension dialled in and roll on Thruxton 18/19/20th Apr. I’d just like to thank all my sponsors who have came on board this year, without them i wouldn’t be across the water doing what i do best.

Before then i’ll be racing at Mondello Park 12/13th Apr on the JMF Millsport superstock bike. I will be riding in the Irish Superbike races and the Mondello Masters race.

See you at the races!

Alastair “The Wee Wizard” Seeley