Today Mark Buckley died at the NorthWest 200.

Mark rode with Phase One Endurance at the 2008 TT races as a late replacement for another rider and immediately proved popular with the Team and able on track. He was enthusiastic and dedicated to his sport and his all inclusive family approach fitted well in the Team.

The Team were in the workshop today when the news of Mark’s accident arrived. The shocked silence said more than any words ever could.

The Team extends it’s sympathy to Mark’s family and friends.

Top result for Linden and Richmond   
               
In the absence of Team Sponsor and Sweatshop owner, Hugh Brasher, the Team were pleased to recruit Brett Richmond as a last minute replacement.
Hugh was missed but Brett’s fastest lap of the race certainly helped to fill the void.

The race was extremely competitive with 32 teams lining up to contest the day and night six hour race. Any one of ten teams could have taken the honours. Bob Collins of Team Glam achieved pole position, Sweatshop Phase One were second, and the Motobox Guzzi of Segarra/Segarra were third.

The race started wet and ended dry and was one of the best endurance battles for quite a while.
Collins led, pursued by Linden, who for the first 30 minutes hauled him in by up to 1.5 seconds per lap, after a cautious start. Linden’s charge was halted abruptly due to an electrical problem that took three stops to rectify. – Ultimately it was found to be a breaking down coil.

The Sweatshop pairing fought back hard and by the five hour point were holding a secure third. In the last hour the team were gifted second place by Team Glam’s engine failure, but hopes of the podium were soon dashed. With 50 minutes remaining Brett Richmond crashed fairly heavily, necessitating a brake and fuel tank change. The Team fought back to finish sixth, a hard fought result, with fastest lap to it’s credit.

Congratulations to Motobox for another great win.

Two hard fights and two well deserved finishes.!

Ultimately, finishing must be the primary objective of any endurance race. A top spot on the leaderboard is a bonus. For us, at this one, there was no bonus. Our combined result from the two legs, each of two hours duration, was 36th position from a field of 55.

The weekend started well with newcomer to the bike, Steve Boam (substituting for Hugh Brasher on this occasion)settling in and posting some good times. Peter Linden also performed up to expectation hoisting the team to sixth fastest at the end of qualifying on the new Continental race rubber supplied especially for this race.

The whole weekend was fine and bright and Steve Boam’s start and progress through his first hour was workmanlike and without trouble. He pitted after 26 laps in a fine 12th position having posted a fastest lap of 2mins 5.00secs. Linden took over with 1 hr and 8 mins remaining and quickly got up to 6th position, before the first of two problems hit. Firstly, a rear wheel puncture, requiring an unplanned stop
(tackled very competently by the pit crew in 1min 22 secs) and then a double exhaust stud fracture on no.2 cylinder, a problem which was to take a little longer to fix!

As the stud failures were both on the same cylinder the exhaust system downpipe was completely unsupported. It took the team 13mins 58 secs to put a repair in place and return Linden to the track. Once back, Linden made swift progress, lapping in the 2mins 01 secs region, to try to overcome some of the lost time. 26th at the first leg flag was his just reward.

An overnight cylinder head change, which over-ran worryingly close to the beginning of manche 2, was completed. Steve Boam was again the elected starter. Expectations were high and everything was in place for a great race, but it was not to be. After such a fine effort by all concerned it was cruel luck indeed that Steve Boam fell on the warm up lap on an oil slick laid around a quarter of the circuit by another competitor. Boam pushed in but missed the start whilst repairs were being undertaken. The crash damage(to the ignition side cover and casing) required several stops to get right. By that stage, time had ebbed away and the team could not achieve better than 42nd at the end of leg two, despite Linden cracking the 2 minute barrier with a 1min 59.23 sec lap min session.

Thanks to all concerned, sponsors and team alike.

A hard old slog…. but that’s endurance.!

With Hugh Brasher unable to get time off for the 9th edition of the Classic Bol d’Or this weekend, Hugh’s place is filled by ICGP star Steve Boam. The meeting format will be the same as last year, with the first 2 hour leg being held in darkness on Saturday evening (starting at 19.30) and the second 2 hour leg starting at 14.15 on Sunday the 11th of September.

Hot news from Continental tyres is that the latest version of the race rear has now been tested and is available. The Team will test this new rubber on Friday the 9th prior to the race.

The Sweatshop Phase One team will welcome any supporters and will be selling Phase One clothing in the paddock over the weekend. Full update on the results next week.

See you at Magny Cours! RB