Misano 4hours 11th October

Peter Linden and Hugh Brasher line up against totally unknown opposition at Italy's final 4 hrs race (part of the Italian classic endurance championship) at Misano in two weeks time. For Hugh Brasher it will be a new circuit and for Peter Linden a return to Misano after a 20 years absence.

The Italian federation have been extremely positive about welcoming Sweatshop Phase One to the event which is held on Saturday evening and encompasses day and night sections. After the race there is a gala dinner for all, which is something that we are all looking forward to.

Core team members travel to Italy via Ainsa in the Pyrenees for  the annual green laning jaunt which runs this year from 1st -7th October. Peter Linden reports that his ribs are almost 100% healed, so we are urging him to be careful in Spain, some hope ! The event evolves each year and with a line up of six bikes it's sure to provide the usual set of spills and thrills.

Aragon is the final race for the team, and for the championship this year, and preparations are well under way. In fact,  for Misano the team will ride only the Kawasakis, opting to keep the Suzuki fresh for Aragon, after some extensive engine and rolling chassis work following the Nurburgring weekend.

As well as some serious engine refreshing, the team is very pleased to have secured the services of Ian Simpson in an effort to extract every ounce out of the rider line up at this crucial event. The team first worked with Ian at Donington, where he kindly stood in for the injured Peter Linden for the first Suzuki test. It should be great to listen to the pair swopping set up comments !! We very much welcome Ian to the 2014 team.

Although Cormac will not be riding at this event, he has made a significant contribution to the team's success this year and we are very pleased to have secured his agreement to give support and advice during the race, from the pit box.

Anyway, Misano is next...see you there?

Nurburgring win puts P1 back at the top.!

Sweatshop Phase One now tie in the lead going into the final round of the 2014 FIM European Classic Series at Aragon next month. After a faultless performance by riders Linden, Brasher and Conroy on the Team's new 1981 P&M Suzuki 1230, they hold 61 points, equal with Belgium's Team Force Moreno Suzuki of 2013 World Superstock Endurance champion Greg Fastre and ex-world champ Richard Hubin.















After a damp qualifying which saw a frantic battle for pole, Taurus came out on top with Team Force, Alf's, Sweatshop, TT Black Forest and Kaiser all within 2.5 secs.

Pole setters Taurus provided the first excitement of the race by crashing on the second corner of the sighting lap. The start of the 4hrs race followed, slightly early, at 11.55. TT Black Forest (Arzner/Merkens) stormed away, together with Kaiser (Kaiser/Steinmacher), closely pursued by Team Force with Sweatshop completing lap 1 in 5th. By lap 10 Team Force with Fastre aboard was leading followed by Kaiser with a rapidly closing Linden for Sweatshop Phase One in 3rd. On lap 13, Linden made his move and passed Kaiser and Fastre on the same lap to take the lead before pitting on lap 17.

During the second and third rotas, Sweatshop Phase One consolidated second position, never more than about 100 secs adrift from Team Force who retook and held the lead in this period. In rota two Hugh Brasher put in a sterling performance after a spectacular, if painless practice crash. By mid race Sweatshop Phase One were back at the top after Team Force lost two laps with a blown fuse ( followed by further delays replacing a missing belly pan) with Alf's Endurance (Godfrey/Collins) fighting for second with Kaiser Kawasaki. That particular battle ended with the Kaiser engine expiring around the third hour mark. Sweatshop Phase One's rota four was competently handled by Cormac Conroy.










By the fifth and the final rota the race was set - Linden back in control at the front (double stinting the Sweatshop bike), followed by Alf's Endurance P&M Kawasaki and the very consistent pairing of 1984 Le Mans 24hrs winners, Dirk Brand and Henk van der Mark on the Nico Bakker Roadrunner entry in third. Team Force finished the race in 5th position.

At 15.55, the team celebrated its win, amazed that with an injured Linden (4 broken ribs and a bruised lung from a previous crash in Sweden) and an untested Suzuki, that it was possible.

Thanks to all who made this marvellous win possible, notably Hugh Brasher, Peter Linden, Lee and Ray Marchant and all at Continental Tyres.

Race Results;

1.  Sweatshop Phase 1, P&M Suzuki, Brasher-Linden-Conroy105 laps
2.  Alf's Classic Endurance, P&M Kawasaki, Godfrey-Collins 104 laps
3.  Roadrunner Suzuki, Bakker Suzuki, Brand-van der Mark 102 laps
4.  ACR Team Wobker, Kawasaki, Wobker-Matthies 102 laps
5.  Team Force, Moreno Suzuki, Fastre-Hubin 101 laps
6.  Braghi Corse, Ducati, Rossi-Damiani  101 laps

Photographs by Jacco Dijkhuizen and Jonathan Godin

Nürburgring 4 hrs, 7th September

Following the successful Nürburgring
tests, heavy lobbying from the rider line-up and Hugh Brashers generosity in providing a Nova gearbox, has
resulted in the team debuting its new P&M Suzuki this weekend.

The final decision will be made after more tests on Friday 5th Sept at the circuit where the team hope to get another two hours of tracktime in order to optimise some of the settings.














There were three area of work following the test; gear selection, ground clearance and clutch slip. All have been addressed by the team in the last week, after a big effort. .Much other work has also taken place to give a least a basic minimum of spares and improve the probability of finishing ....this race will be the bikes first 4 hrs continuous run.!

Peter continues to recover from his Swedish crash in July and his broken ribs and bruised lung remain sore. Cormac is regaining form after a lean spell and Hugh continues to benefit (as always) from more track time.

Nürburgring really is only 4 hrs by car or bike from Calais, so there are no excuses for not being there....and this is the heart of Bitburger country.!

RB

The provisional standings are:
1. Team Force                    50
2. Sweatshop Phase One    36
3. Hampe  Racing Team      22
4. Motobel                          20
5. Roadrunner                     19
6. Alf's Motorcycles            16
7. Les Melting Pots             15
8. Neate Racing                  13

Nurburgring test 20/21st August

The team track test the P&M Suzuki again this week at Nurburgring with Hugh Brasher, Cormac Conroy and the recovering Peter Linden. The new Suzuki proved fast at Donington but the team are aiming to improve performance further with some different carburettors and shock absorbers. The new bike weighed in 3 kgs heavier than the Kawasaki last week, but there is a long way to go with weight reduction as well as power improvement.

The Nurburgring race is over the weekend of 6/7th September, we hope you can make it.

Be part of the Phase One action!

Sweatshop Phase One at Donington.

The Team have just completed 3 days testing at Donington Park on the new P&M Suzuki. Peter Linden was originally planned for the test but crashed heavily in Sweden two weeks ago, breaking two ribs and bruising a lung.

Ian Simpson kindly agreed at short notice to stand in for Peter and proved the ideal replacement. Despite the relatively small amount of track time , the vast majority of the team's objectives were achieved before the weather turned this morning and the final day was abandoned.

The new bike proved powerful and controllable, although a steering damper was necessary to calm the front end lightness over uneven surfaces etc. With 140 BHP on tap, the bike was always going to have different characteristics to the Kawasaki, but none proved detrimental and a base setting was found to take on to the Nurburgring tests next week. Good settings were found for carburation and  ignition curves.
Ian gave great feedback and was a pleasure to work with.

Meeting of minds. Steve Bones of FTR and Richard Peckett of  P&M

Thanks to all involved and sorry to those ( Lee) that came to watch today and went away with nothing more than pitlane chat.!!


Peter, Hugh and Cormac will all be back for the German test on 20/21st August.

Lancaster fly by

It's well worth getting this month's Classic Racer, nice article on Spa Francorchamps.

3rd at Spa Francorchamps

The Team Force entry of Greg Fastre and Richard Hubin dominated the race with a text book performance from start to finish, winning the race from the MotoBel Guzzi and Sweatshop Phase One, all finishing on the same lap. John Neate and family's plucky performance gave them a well deserved and popular 4th place.

Peter Linden, Hugh Brasher and Cormac Conroy's measured performance in extremely difficult conditions gave the team a well deserved 3rd place in the race and solidified the team's 2nd position in the 2014 ECS championship. Despite sunny warm conditions during Friday qualifying, the race day weather was appalling; the race started damp, went wet and got wetter!

The conditions were not improved by a pretty thorough layer of oil being deposited in the classic races and parades that proceeded the main event. An early casualty of the conditions was Alf's Bob Collins who fell after about 40 mins, taking the Alf's P&M Kawasaki that he shared with Mick Godfrey, out of the race. Another of the 64 starters, Team Bolliger also went out after just 5 laps. Steve Boam and Steve Clark retired the SCERT Suzuki after alternator failure. It really was one of those very tricky races which rewarded those that took a steady and measured approach; the oil, the wet and the dark, all presenting separate challenges.

Sweatshop Phase One's rider line up and pit crew did exactly what was necessary, without error, to secure second in the championship, pulling on third but losing out to the Team Force Bakker Suzuki which increased its leading margin.

The Sweatshop Phase One team will work hard in the next month to get its new P&M GSX1100 Suzuki ready for testing at Donington Park over the weekend classic festival of 10th August, with a view to taking the fight to Team Force at Nurburgring on the 5th September.

Thanks to all our sponsors, team members and supporters for your continued backing.


Pictures by Jacco Dijkhuizen and ECS