2nd at Mettet 4 hours, Belgium 17th/18th May

Cormac Conroy and Stéphane Mertens produced another marvellous rostrum position for the Team. The race was held in glorious conditions over 2 legs of 2 hours each, both in daylight.

The main competition came from current World Endurance Superstock champion Gregory Fastre, who was partnered by ex World Endurance Champion Richard Hubin, on the Team Force GSX 1100 Suzuki.

Team Force won both legs and the race overall, 3^rd place was achieved by Peter Coppens and Christian Govaert.

Sweatshop Phase One had a trouble free first leg finishing in 2^nd position, 70 secs behind Team Force. The Team chose a strategy of Mertens-Conroy-Mertens with approx. equal stints.

The second leg produced a hard stopping dice between Fastre and Mertens, all through the firsts stint. Mertens came out on top at the end of the rota and pitted with a 1 second lead. During the battle Stéphane Mertens broke his own record with a time of 1.11.4 seconds.

This rota was definitely the highlight of the meeting, involving three or four exchanges of the lead.

By the 80^th minute the Team had slipped behind Team Force by 20 seconds, with Cormac Conroy circulating steadily in the 1.15/16 second area.

At some point during the second leg the teams development alternator failed and during the final rota a misfire set in, eventually causing Mertens to stop to have the battery changed. 
Despite Mertens putting the hammer down he could only manage third place at the end of race 2.

This race was not part of the FIM European Classic Series, but proved again that the main competition for the title is coming from Team Force on the GSX 1100 Suzuki.

Spa is next on the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th of July and the Team will have to come up with something special to beat them.

The Team wishes to thank all its sponsors for their valuable support.

Results:

1. Hubin/Fastre        Morena Suzuki       187 laps

2. Mertens/Conroy    P&M Kawasaki    182 laps

3. Coppens/Govaert  Ducati TT1            181 laps

4  Senechal/Frerad    Suzuki GSX           179 laps

5. Ruiz/Atisy             Suzuki GSX           179 lap

6. Blain/Blain            Kawasaki Z1000   176 laps

7 .Morlon/Hernandez  BMW RS            172 laps

8. Unverzagt/Unverzagt     Suzuki GSX  167 laps

9. Walschaert/de Winter  Yamaha XS     164 lap

10.Rene/Rene            Martin Kawasaki   163 laps

Fastest lap: Gregory Fastre    1min.11.1secs

Photographs by Jacco Dijkhuizen

Simon Andrews

Today we received the news that Simon Andrews succumbed to the injuries he sustained from his NorthWest 200 crash last weekend.

Simon was involved with the Phase One Shell Endurance Academy Team in the early 2000s, and in more recent years Phase One team members have rubbed shoulders with him during his Honda TT Legends races.
Simon will be remembered for doing everything at 100%.

Our sympathies are extended to Simon's family and friends.













Photograpy by Dave Martin

Mettet 4 hrs , 17/18th May

Cormac Conroy will be joined by Stéphane Mertens for next weekend's pair of Mettet scratch races. The event is split into two, two hour races. Race one is on Saturday afternoon at 15.30, followed by race two on the Sunday afternoon.
The Team have been fortunate to have won this event in both 2012 and 2013, each time with Stéphane aboard, but the task will not come easily this year!. Main opposition is expected from the Team Force pairing of Fastre and Hubin, who won the ECS first round at Paul Ricard last month.

Other opposition will undoubtedly come from the Roger Ruiz team who have featured strongly in the last two years and also the ever present Clark/Boam combination on their Suzuki.

Since Paul Ricard the team have been working hard on both development and maintenance. The biggest change for the Mettet event is the introduction of a new alternator/starter arrangement which will allow a starter motor to be used for the first time.

SBS, HEL and Beringer have been working hard to provide the very best braking set-up for the team and we are hoping to take full advantage of this, at what is quite a short tight little circuit. With the Conti tyres again at lap record pace this year, we are all set to go.........

Mettet is 3 hrs from Calais, see you there   RB

Paul Ricard on the movies

See this link:
http://www.motorlive.tv/345/events-sunday-ride-classic-2014

2nd at Paul Ricard

Peter Linden and Cormac Conroy scored a superb 2nd position to lay the foundation stones for retaining the FIM ECS Endurance Championship. After a race long battle, the race was won by  the new pairing of Richard Hubin and  Gregory Fastre on a 'Team Force' GSX 1100 Suzuki, with only 12 seconds separated the teams at the completion of this 4 hours race.
In 3rd place, was Alf's Motorcycle's Patrick Banfield, Mick Godfrey and new recruit Bob Collins, some 3 minutes in arrears on their P&M Kawasaki












The race was held in dry warm conditions at temperatures around 25 degrees C.

Spectator numbers exceeded 10.000, a number which should guarantee the long term future of this event.

As well as spectator numbers being above expectations, the grid was also full, with 44 starters and the overall standard higher than ever. Gregory Fastre, as 2013 FIM world endurance super stock champion being evidence of that!

The Team Force machine had a relatively trouble free run, save for a fuel calculation error which forced a premature second stop. Sweatshop Phase One ran a five stop race; Linden-Conroy-Linden-Conroy-Linden-Linden in an effort to keep the pressure on the Belgians right to the end , but it was to no avail. Linden closed from a 17 second deficit at stop 5, to 12 seconds at the flag, but there was always a feeling that Team Force had just that little bit in reserve. Considering Peter's duff wrist, it was a pretty good effort.










Cormac Conroy put in an extremely businesslike performance all weekend, qualifying in third position in the rider 2 group with a time of 2 mins.31.35 secs and matching that in the race.

Pole was set by Gregory Fastre with a 2 mins 25.599 secs lap with Linden 2nd with a 2 mins 26.03 sec performance. Mick Godfrey was third with 2 mins 28.6 secs, with Hubin and Langlois also in the 28s.










Steve Boam and Steve Clark finished 16th after a trouble free run and John Neate finished 32nd after mechanical trouble.

The Bolliger Team failed to recover from a warm up crash and they abandoned after 29 laps.

Fastest race lap was scored by Gregory Fastre at 2 min. 25.5 secs.

Final Results

1  Team Force,                 Hubin/Fastre,                      Suzuki                       93 laps
2  Sweatshop Phase One, Linden/Conroy,       P&M Kawasaki  93 laps - 12.68 secs
3 Alfs Kawasaki,       Banfield/Collins/Godfrey, P&M Kawasaki 93 laps - 184.8 secs
4 Team Taurus,                Cantalupo/Sardi,                 Suzuki                      92 laps
5 Hampe Racing Team,    Haquin/De Dieuleveult      Kawasaki                92 laps
6 Roadrunner                   Brand/Van de Mark             Bakker Suzuki         90 laps
7 ACR1 Wobker             Wobker/Matthies/Paulsen Rau Kawasaki         90 laps
8 Scuderia Toscan           Belluci/Qiueti/Zaccare       Segoni Special        89 laps
9 Les Melting Potes         Langlois/Frattini                 Kawasaki                 88 laps
10  Braghi Corse             Rossi/Damiani                       Ducati                       87 laps

Taking the No.1 to Paul Ricard !!,

Round 1, FIM European Classic Series, Paul Ricard, France; 4 hrs, Saturday 7th April, Peter Linden & Cormac Conroy.

The bikes are finished, the truck is loaded and we leave for Paul Ricard tomorrow. What could be better!
The entry list shows what looks like a full grid, with no less than four world champions and a host of current and past WEC teams all rising to the challenge of the 2nd FIM European Classic Series. Bolliger is there, MotoBel is there, Alf is there and even some current top names, like Kellenburger and Hubin, even Marc Fissette has joined up.!













Its been 14 years since the last motorcycle endurance race at the Le Castellet track and that was the final round of the 1999 WEC, the 24hrs Bol d'Or. We were there and it was a great race - we finished a fantastic 9th, with Stephane Mertens, Tony Rees and Dean Thomas, good old days!!

Looking at the entry for this 4 hrs, it seems that it will be only us and Bolli that will pick up where things left off; or was Alf there in 99, I will have to ask him. No matter, time for nostalgia is over, its a full grid and the racing will be serious.

Thanks to all our sponsors for getting us this far this season......the bikes are built and the testing is done.

So here we go, let the race begin.

Countdown to Paul Ricard

I just can't get out of the habit of calling it that, Le Castellet that is. For so long, (1985-1999) we travelled to Paul Ricard each September for the annual Bol d'Or 24 hrs that those experiences are totally ingrained. So for me it will always be Paul Ricard.

So, with just eight days to go before we roll up in the paddock, we are on the run down towards packing. It's the same routine before the start of the first race of each season....the chore of fairings and bodywork.!! 

Spike at Ragged Edge and our Ben Nahum have done a great job making and preparing this year's bodywork and just tonight we have finished stickering ready for lacquer tomorrow. This season the kit is just as light as last year but this time some material has been added to a few stressed areas to help longevity.

In the photos you can see a few of the new parts - Beringer calipers and discs, the development alternator, new Hel brake lines and at long last the correct green for Hugh's Sweatshop logos. Well done to the team's Layne Wilson for getting the graphics spot on.  More updated info before we go......and perhaps some pictures of the completed bikes.!!