A short appreciation of Raph Chausee, team manager of R2CL, who died last week.

                                                                                             

We didn't know Raph well, but will remember him as a 'do-er', someone who through his good nature, pleasantness and persuasive skills got many to follow him.
And what a journey he led them on,... his team were true giant killers.
Very shortly after bursting onto the EWC scene they were achieving results far above their station and that continued to the end. The high point must have been their magical second place at the Le Mans 24 hrs. Raph's Team were always respected along the pitlane and never underestimated.
Surely one of Raphael's greatest legacies will be the sheer pleasure and satisfaction that he brought to so many team members and supporters alike.
His enthusiasm was infectious, his character was massive and his achievements considerable.

The pit lane will miss him greatly.

Our thoughts are with his family, friends and team members at this sad time.

NB; Raph with arms folded at Suzuka last year.

3rd at Spa for Lindén/Simpson

The solid third place went a long way to overcome the disappointment of a double crash on the Brasher/Dickinson entry. Peter Lindén and Ian Simpson put in a measured and restrained performance in the very difficult conditions, whilst others succumbed; some on oil and some on the greasy and wet surface. Their 3rd place was richly deserved because of this; staying out of trouble and avoiding incidents is as much a part of a skilled endurance rider as going fast. (note for Greg !)
















At the wet start, Peter Lindén cautiously pressed ahead from his fifth qualifying position to take third place at the first stop. With Simpson aboard, that was consolidated and at hour two the team were 3rd locked in a battle with Force and Taurus for 2nd position behind the on-form Neate team.


These four teams ducked and dived for the final hour and a half, eventually adopting the finishing positions after Greg Fastre took a minor 'off ' in the closing stages, dropping Force to fourth. The race was red flagged after approx 3.5 hrs, after a 15 minute pace car session, during which the oil laden track was assessed and found too dangerous to continue upon.














Mid-race Mike Dickinson lost the front and crashed quite heavily, thankfully without injury. The bike took what seemed like an age to return, but when it did the pit crew set to it quickly and turned the repair around in 14 minutes. Hugh Brasher returned to the track, pitted after one lap for planned checks and was quickly on his way, only to lose the front (whilst upright!) on oil. Although he got the machine back to the pits, with under an hour to go, and the race under pacecar, the race for them was over.














The third was solid and after the double clutch failure at Donington, it was great to find a clutch spec that appeared to be working well and giving reliability to both bikes.  Naturally that set up will be taken forward to Imola in early September.  The race there will be a Sunday 'day race' on 3rd September.

Thanks to all team members and sponsors for helping to make another Spa rostrum; the aim must be to go a couple of steps higher at Imola.!