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Eazi Grip

Army Motorcycle Road Race Team Report: Round 5 Final – Cadwell Park 16 – 17 Oct 21

Summary
Sgt Spencer-Fleet is the GBRacing Interservice Champion! Congratulations to the RAF who were fast all season and retain the Interservice overall championship. The Team is already looking forward to 2022 and would like to thank all those who have supported us.

#29 Lt Col James Alder
Bike problems during testing threatened to overshadow Lt Col Alder’s weekend, but a spot of late-night fettling ensured that all of the engine gremlins had been removed before qualifying on Saturday morning. The track time lost as a result unfortunately put Lt Col Alder behind the curve on qualifying and he ended up a disappointing P20 on the grid in class and P22 in the Inter Service race. This gave him a lot to do in his races, but he rose to the challenge, moving up to P11 (6th in class) in his races before the inter-service and P15 in the military race. As the final results of the season this left Lt Col Alder 14th in the overall Inter Service Championship and 6th in the Army.

#78 Maj John Miller
Maj Miller started the weekend off the pace compared to earlier in the year and the bike did not feel right. A change to the bike’s set up at the previous round at Oulton Bike did not work at the Cadwell circuit. After changing the front suspension settings Maj Miller was much happier and had found a set up which allowed him to push. A steady qualifying saw him start on the fourth row of the grid in P9. The Inter Service race was last thing on Saturday and Maj Miller was feeling confident. He got a good start but caught up with other riders on the first corner and was forced wide onto the grass. He managed to grass track his bike over a hundred metres along the side of the track but just as he was about to re-join he opened the throttle which caused the rear to lose traction and he crashed. A very frustrating end to a solid season which saw him finish 6th in the Inter-Service championship and 3rd placed army rider.

#62 Sgt Sam Cartwright
Cartwright qualified P15 out of 23 riders for the Interservice race. After successful races in his individual class Sgt Cartwright felt confidence for the Interservice race which was the last race of the day on Saturday. He made a good start from P15 to P13. He was trying his best to stick with the pack in front, but they just managed to get away from him. Sgt Cartwright finished the race in P13. Sunday morning the rain had started, Sgt Cartwright had not been in wet conditions on his bike and needed the practice. He started P22 for both races but worked his way through the pack to finish in P10 and P13. Overall, a good weekend and a great end of season racing.

#18 Sgt Spencer Fleet
Sgt Spencer- Fleet was very cautious at Cadwell park this weekend due to having broken a leg, just 7 weeks previous at a British Superbike round. Going into qualifying he saw a what time he had to do to be in front row and achieved that. Sitting in P2 on the grid he knew he had to pull the pin straight away to keep 1000cc weapon of a bike of LCpl Heaver behind. With a wheelie of a start he went out blazing and took the holeshot into turn 1. That didn’t last long as soon as they got on the back straight the outright speed of the Kawasaki ZX10R of LCpl Heaver put bike lengths into him. Every lap he pushed on and gained the time lost on straight into the tight and twistys. With the final lap coming and back markers coming into play, he knew it was now or never. With the back markers being caught in wrong places and LCpl Heaver riding defensive, Sgt Spencer-Fleet crossed the line just 0.19 behind first place.

Sgt Spencer-Fleet takes the GBRacing Interservice Individual Championship title and hopes to come back next year to try and retain it.

#55 Sgt Leon Wilton
Qualification, after fitting some different brake pads to the bike Sgt Wilton was back up and around his usual pace, not beating his PB but still a lot better than the test day. Sgt Wilton managed to Qualify P4 on the grid. With a very good get away at the start Sgt Wilton was battling for P3 from the off, this was the story for the rest of the race. Swapping places from P4 to P3, it was an eventful race, very much enjoying the battles. Sgt Wilton had the better lap times than the rider in P3 but after a few mistakes due to his visor misting up in the colder weather and nearly an off going into Barn corner on the second to last lap. Sgt Wilton had to settle for 4th in the race by 0.3 of a second. With the P4 in this race and the combined points from the rest of the season, as well as a DNF at Mallory, Sgt Wilton ended up 3rd in the Inter-services Championship overall for 2021.

#33 LCpl Heaver
LCpl Heaver’s first ever Pole Position start saw him drop into P2 by turn 1 with Sgt Spencer-Fleet taking the lead. Knowing the ability Sgt Spencer-Fleet has, he knew he had to take him soon and regain the lead! Coming onto Park straight the power of the ZX10R came into play, pipping Sgt Spencer-Fleet and regaining the lead as he tipped into Park Corner. The plan of action now was to simply hold him off and race defensively! About 4 laps in Sgt Spencer-Fleet made a move going into Barn and took the lead again, however with this corner leading onto the start/finish straight the Ducati simply couldn’t outrun the Kawasaki putting LCpl Heaver back into the lead as he entered Coppice. LCpl Heaver took the chequered flag to win the race with Sgt Spence-Fleet coming in a close 2nd, just 0.1 seconds behind.

#159 LCpl Tyler Viveiros
Cadwell Park has always been a troublesome circuit for LCpl Viveiros and with it being the only track to feature twice in the Thundersport calendar, pace here is vital for a good season in both class and inter-service races. Excited for the inter-service race with a new found pace on a track that suits his machine, Viveiros was able to beat several higher capacity machines and take first CB500 over the line; ending the season on a high – placing 20th out of 40 riders and 7th in the Army despite a capacity handicap. LCpl Viveiros has had a thoroughly enjoyable and competitive season onboard the Honda, finishing 4th overall in a championship of 34 riders and 5 podiums spread over 4 circuits. Next year, Viveiros looks to move up into the Stocktwin class for a new challenge, with eyes set firmly upon a top 10 in the inter-service championship onboard a slightly faster machine.

#93 LCpl Liam Palmer
LCpl Palmer arrived at Cadwell Park with a slim chance of 3rd place in the Stocktwin championship. He decided to put his all into it and whatever the outcome he could walk away with his head held high. Race 1 for LCpl Palmer didn’t quite go to plan he made a good start but got hit into the first corner causing him to lose about 6 places and just as he was starting to get them back the race was red flagged, this allowed him to try a different tactic into turn 1, this worked and he finished well and improved on his lap times. Race 2 once again didn’t quite go to plan LCpl Palmer was fighting hard knocking off 3 seconds a lap but pushing a bit too hard to make a pass caused him to lose the front end at Mansfield and crash. Both rider and bike came out a bit bruised and battered but he was determined to get out in the Interservice race just 20 minutes later. When something like this happens, you see just how much of a team the Army Road Race Team really are. With just 20 minutes to go the whole team got involved to fixed LCpl Palmer’s bike to have it ready but unfortunately this was just too much of an ask and he missed the race.

Posted on Thursday, October 21st, 2021 in News

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