Due to an administration error the site was down for a few days the problem has now been resolved and the old news items will shortly be re-instated.

Thank you for your patience.

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There is now a 2002 gallery with some new photos of Les in action, just click on the galleries link.

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At last the season is underway. The team is off to Brands Hatch for the first round of the MRO Championship. The new team truck will get a good try out as it’s a 1,400 mile round trip.
Results of this and following rounds will be posted next week.
This round will enable us to gather vital set up information for the British Championship rounds later in the season.

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Hello There
Les has just completed a marathon testing session on the new bike in preparation for the first round of the British Championship at Silverstone on 31 March.

As many miles as possible were put in on the bike at Silverstone on Thursday 21 March.

The decision to test here has proved invaluable as some handling problems were identified with the bike. Changes to the set up were made and the team moved onto Oulton Park for another shakedown session on Saturday. Further changes were made to the bike at Oulton and Les felt the handling had improved.

The team then moved on to the Mallory Park Race of the Year meeting on Sunday.

In 600 race the handling problems surfaced and Les pulled in and retired from the race.

Help was enlisted from one of the Superbike mechanics who made some fairly radical suspension changes to the CBR600. This proved to be a major step in the right direction and from the back of the grid Les pulled through the field to finish 16th in the Powerbike race, not as good a result as he had hoped for but Les feels there is much more to come yet.

Both bikes have returned with Les to the team base in Mosstodloch where some further fine tuning of them will be carried out this week by the team to suite Les's riding style in preparation for the long trip south to Silverstone this weekend for the first televised British Championship round of 2002.

Pictures of the new bikes and team colours will be available on the web site shortly.

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Les and the team have just completed the second British Supersport 600 Championship round of the 2002 season at the Brands Hatch short circuit.

Following the Silverstone round most of the work on the bike has been concentrated on changes to the suspension.

Due to the distances involved Les simply has not had the time to test the modifications made to the bike prior to Saturdays only qualifying session. Initially the bike felt good but as Les upped his pace a different set of handling problems manifested themselves resulting in his 36th qualifying position.

The bikes suspension was completely stripped and reset on Saturday night.

The only opportunity to test was Sunday morning 10 minute warm up. The handling still did not offer Les enough feedback to give him the confidence required at this level of competition. The team was therefore forced to take some gambles with the bikes settings for the actual race.

The settings proved a major step in the right direction, Les finished the race in 26th position.

Les is confident that all that is now required is more track time on the bike, and is trying to book some time at Knockhill this week before this weekends Scottish Championship meeting.

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As Les needed more track time he booked a practice day at Donnington Park on the Monday after Brands Hatch.

Everything went well and he has found a good set up. Les now feels comfortable on the bike at race speed.

This weekend’s Scottish Championship meeting at Knockhill was cancelled due to a mix of wet weather conditions and oil on the track. The weekend was not a complete disaster however as Les managed to practice at the circuit on Saturday.

Les will be off to the Donnington Park British round this weekend armed with settings from last Monday and is looking forward to it.

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Les and the team are heading back from the Donnington Park British Championship round after having a good weekend.

In qualifying the bike had a strange vibration which the suspension experts could not cure. As a cure could not be found before the end of the session Les rode through the problem to qualify in 30th position. Far from happy he qualified never the less.

Les and Davie set about getting to the route of the vibration problem pre qualifying and discovered that the tool used to balance the bikes wheels had been faulty. This had resulted in both wheels being well out of balance, hence the vibration. Pirelli balanced the wheels and the bike was transformed.

The race started in light drizzle, which caught, out some riders on the first lap. Donnington is notoriously slippy in these conditions and a rider went down directly in front of Les going down the incredibly fast Craner Curves, the bike took out the rider next to him and both bikes bust into flames. Needless to say Les had to take evasive action and dropped a few places.

At the end of lap one Les was in 37th position, but he put the damp track to the back of his mind as the suspension modifications and the wheel balancing had transformed the bike and Les now felt really comfortable at race speed.

Les finished the race in 24th position and was initially far from happy as he felt that another two laps would have seen him pass the group in front and attain a higher finishing position.

The team trackside have reported that Les was visibly quicker than the group in front and lap times backed this up.

With the bike now set to his liking Les hopes to qualify in a much higher position for the next round at Oulton park and enable him to finish the race further up the field.

Roll On Oulton Park

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Saturday - Qualifying - Track slightly damp
Due to the increased track time and testing Les now feels at one with the bike and this reflected in his performance, he qualified in a brilliant 11th place. However, towards the end of the session the head gasket blew, so Les and his team spent Saturday night and Sunday morning replacing it.

Sunday - 2nd Qualifying session
Competition for places was hotting up and at one point Les had been pushed back to 18th place on the grid. But true to form Les wasn't finished, he put in a blistering lap and regained his 11th position, knocking over a second off his previous lap time!

Monday - Race Day
Les was feeling good about his performance in practise and the team knew he could do better in the race. Les missed a gear at the start, as anyone knows who rides a bike it's almost like stopping for a second. Les lost a lot of places due to this and to add to this there was a serious accident on the 3rd bend, taking avoiding action for this lost him some more places. The pace car was out for 5 laps, effectively reducing the race to 10 laps, this left Les very little time to regain any places. Anyone who knows or has followed Les will know he does not give up easily, the "Red Mist" was on and Les started to make his way through the field. By the end of the race Les had ridden brilliantly and had made his way up to 13th, at first glance this may not seem brilliant, however, 5 of the riders ahead of Les were lapping slower and had the race been full length, who knows, it could have been a top ten finish!

Les' comment
The whole team are pleased with my performance but I think I should have gone faster. This is a good result against the best in the country and I'm happy to have pleased the team and to be travelling up the road in one piece. I feel good on the bike now and I'd like to thank my pit crew for the outstanding effort over the weekend.

PR Comment
I think this race is an indicator of what Les can do on his new equipment, the team are giving him the backing and he is producing the goods, I'm sure Les will go from strength to strength now. I can't wait for the next race.

Mark Dunscombe

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Below you will find a copy of a statement from British Motorsport Promoters (BMP) with regards to TV coverage following the switch off of ITV Digital.

Hope this will help you continue to follow Les on the TV.

Regards

Mark Dunscombe (PR Manager)

British Motorsport Promoters' (BMP) statement regarding the ITV Digital position in respect of the 2002 MCIM British Superbike Championship:

Following yesterday's announcement that the pay TV platform, ITV Digital, has been switched off, BMP today clarified the immediate position with regards to the LIVE/as LIVE broadcasts of the British Superbike Championship.

ITV Sport channel is not in administration. The digital platform is and as a consequence it will continue to show the British Superbike Championship as free-to-air offerings.

This offering will continue through until at least 11 May. BMP is continuing to monitor the position on a day-to-day basis and is in constant dialogue with ITV regarding the broadcast of future rounds of the championship after 11 May.

The decision to switch off the ITV Digital platform has not affected the British Superbike Championship coverage. In fact, the latest development now means that the Championship will be available to a wider audience of approximately two million homes via NTL and free-to-air digital terrestrial television.

British Superbike Championship Series Director Jos Foulston commented: "We are obviously pleased that this will allow fans to watch forthcoming events, at least for the immediate future. We are monitoring the situation closely as we fully appreciate that all! parties concerned need to be kept informed of any developments. As and when any changes occur we will issue the relevant information. Until which time the LIVE/as LIVE broadcasts remain in place. The situation, however, does not in any way affect the BBC's broadcasts of the championship".
Hope this will help you continue to follow Les on the TV.

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Les’s weekend did not get off to a good start. In qualifying he only managed to complete one lap before falling on a slippy section of newly laid circuit. The one timed lap was still good enough however to qualify, even though it was on the fifth row.

Race day conditions were mixed and Les had his work cut out to finish in a reasonable position after qualifying.

Race one was the Scottish Championship event and was run in dry conditions. Les got a good start and by lap eight had come through the field to second position, three seconds behind the leader. As there were only two laps to go Les settled for second but set the fastest lap in doing so.

Race two was the Regal Championship and was run in the wet. Les again managed to get second place and felt very comfortable on the bike setting times very close to his best ever wet weather lap times.

Race three, the second leg of the Regal Championship for the day, was again run in wet conditions but began to dry toward the end. Les secured another excellent second place.

All in the team has had a very successful weekend, with only one minor hiccup. Knockhill claimed a high number of crashers due to the weather conditions and the new surface.

The team has gathered valuable data for the British Championship round in July having the varied conditions has been very usefull.

Special thanks to John Campbell of Victoria Garage Lockerbie for the loan of the paddock bike and trailer and also to Alan Bennie for the loan of tyre warmers.

Les and the team are in confident mood and head to Snetterton in Norfolk for the next British round on June 3.

Les

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Hello there
Following his excellent performance at Oulton Park Les was looking forward to this weekend British round at Snetterton.

In Sundays qualifying session the bike felt very sluggish pulling out corners. Les pushed very hard and qualified in 28th position.

The team decided to put the bike on the dyno on Sunday evening, this revealed that the bike was well down its normal horsepower figure. Following some investigation into the engine internals the compression ratio was found to be well down, resulting in the lack of horsepower.

With no spare bike for this weekend, as it is being raced at the Isle of Man TT by another M & S rider, Les prayed for rain to level the playing field.

Monday race day was sunny but Les only managed half of a lap in warm up when the engine failed completely ruling Les out of the day’s proceedings. The engine is already out of the bike and will be rebuilt before the next round at Brands Hatch on June 16th.

Cheers Les

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After not being able to compete at last weeks Snetterton Round of the British Championship due to the engine failure, Les wanted to keep team spirits up and managed to secure a last minute entry for the Ken Redfern Trophy meeting at Croft Circuit, Darlington.

As Les’s own bike was out of action and the spare at the Isle of Man TT, good friend and fellow competitor Angus Mearns offered his number two bike to Les for the Croft meeting.

Although the bike was totally strange to Les and only picking it up on the way to the meeting the 600 race saw Les finish in third place. In the open race against many 1,000 c.c. machines on slicks Les finished in a fine second position. Two excellent results and great moral boost for the team.

Big thanks to Angus for his generosity and team spirit.

As the number one bike will not be ready till later in the week and will require running in, the team will struggle to be ready for this weekends Brands Hatch British round. Les has therefore decided to contest this weekends 3rd round of the Scottish Championship at Knockhill.

Hopefully we will have some good weather, continue with some more good results and see you there.

Cheers Les

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Knockhill, June 16 2,002

At the teams home circuit of Knockhill and with the bikes engine rebuilt, Les intended to use the weekend to get some good results in the Scottish and Regal Championship races but the main aim however was to set consistent fast laps and record vital set up information in preparation for Julys British round at the circuit.

Les and Davie fitted the engine on Saturday morning and the afternoon sessions were used to run the engine in. On Sunday morning qualifying Les felt the engine was not quite making the power it should but managed to qualify in an excellent second position.

In race one, the Scottish Championship event, Les was confident of a good result from his second place on the grid. In the early laps Les felt that the engine was losing power and just as he was planning a move into the lead on lap six the engine failed completely.

As the spare bike was still set up for road racing at the TT the team made the decision to fit its engine into the number one machine.

The engine set up on the number two bike is approximately 10 horse power down on the number one bike and required Les to alter his riding technique to suite but in both Regal races Les managed two fine second places.

Even with the deficit in horsepower Les’s quickest lap of the day was only 100th of a second off the race winners pace. Had the number one bike been in action the team could well have been looking at three wins for the day.

Les and the team have a hard week ahead of them to have the bike in action for next week’s British round at Rockingham.

Regards Les

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After the teams recent engine problems Les managed to pull out all the stops and sourced a brand new engine. Tuner Nicky Kennedy did an excellent job turning the engine from road spec to full British Championship in record time to have it ready for Knockhill. Big thanks to Nicky.

After fitting and running in the new engine on Thursday, Les set about qualifying for the main event. The bike was running perfectly and although the first session was run in mixed conditions Les finished an excellent 6th fastest.

The afternoon session was very wet but our man, not deterred, and after disrobing his wet suite to stop sliding about on the bikes seat, managed to set a faster time than in the morning session and qualified in an excellent 4th position, the teams best to date and no mean feat given the very wet weather.

Sundays race day was mixed but the Supersport 600 race was run in dry conditions. The race was hard but fairly uneventful, Les put in a sterling performance to finish in 7th position, his best to date.

The Knockhill British round also hosted a Scottish Regal Championship race, with an opportunity to score double points. Les had another brilliant race to finish in second position, with the double points Les is now leading the championship by a massive 20 points.

All in the team has had a very successful weekend and has left the mechanical gremlins behind them and is looking forward to bettering this weekend performance at the next round on 11 August at Thruxton.

Cheers Les

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Hello There
After the mid season break Les has been back in action at the ultra fast Thruxton circuit After some minor changes to the suspension Les qualified in 20th position, a good performance considering it was only his second visit to the circuit. The team managed to find some good settings and Les was very happy with the bikes handling and engine power.

Sunday’s race was held patchy damp conditions. Les put in consistent fast laps around a second quicker than his qualifying lap time and finished in an excellent 18th position. The lap times from 10th to 24th positions were all within a few tenths of a second of Les’s times showing just how competitive the 600 class is, and how important qualifying is to the race result.

Les’s main aim for the rest of this season is to concentrate on putting in some good qualifying times.

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Hello There

With the 26 August being an English Bank Holiday weekend race was held on the Monday.

Qualifying went well without any major drama and Les finished the session in a very respectable 18th position.

Les got a terrible start to the race when the back tyre hooked up, lifting the front away from the line and saw him running in 28th position. As the race progressed it started to drizzle with rain, resulting in the race being red flagged due to a serious incident.

Les had to restart the race from his 28th position from the first leg and the second would be run over five laps. The team had fitted a full wet front tyre and an intermediate rear. At the restart of leg two our man got an excellent start and felt immediately comfortable with the bike set up, noticing that other riders were struggling with the conditions he pushed on, passing everyone up to 8th position finishing three hundredths of a second behind the seventh placed rider.

Les needless to say very happy with his performance which was excellent at this level of competition, however due to the result being aggregated his final position was 14th.

The team now have dilemma to resolve before the next British round held at Oulton Park on September 1st as this clashes with the next Knockhill Scottish and Regal Championship round. Les finds himself leading the Regal Championship by 20 points but also feels he could go very well at Oulton.

Lets hope for a little drizzle where ever the team decides to run !!

Cheers Les T

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Les and the team have just had the best meeting of the 2002 season so far.

Les scored three convincing wins from three starts, one Scottish Championship and two Regal. Race day was dry but cool not the damp conditions Les had initially hoped for following his excellent British Championship performance at Cadwell Park.

The team managed to squeeze a few extra tenths of a second from the bike by reverting to some of last years settings, even though the settings were for last years bike they obviously worked well enabling Les to push harder and return him to winning form.

Due to the engine failure at the last Scottish round Les only has a very remote chance of regaining his title, as the point difference is to much to make up in the one remaining round, however he now leads the Regal Championship by 30 points. With 50 points still up for grabs at the last Regal round in October, two good finishes should retain this title, but this should be an exciting finish to the season.

The team was disappointed to miss the Oulton Park British Round, which clashed with Knockhill, Les was confident of a decent result but the decision was made to compete at the Scottish Round to help regain the prestigious Regal Championship winners title. Does anyone know of any capable stunt doubles!!

Les would like to give a special thanks to Davie, Bob and Allan who made this weekend run so smoothly.

Now we are into September the 2002 season is entering the final rounds. The team have the following rounds to contest 8th Sep, Mallory Park MRO, 14th & 15th Sep, Mallory Park British Championship, 28th & 29th Sep, Donington British Championship, 6th October Knockhill Scottish & Regal Champoinship.

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Both free practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday were exceptionally busy times for the team, with engine problems occurring in both sessions. The number one bike cylinder head gasket blew on Friday and on Saturday Les noted the engine temperature on the number two bikes was running at 107 degrees and felt down on power. Les had no option but to push on due to the limited qualifying time available on investigation another blown cylinder head gasket was diagnosed. Needless to say the team spent until the wee small hours on Friday and Saturday repairing both engines in preparation for Sundays race. Les however managed to finish the session in a very respectable 21st position.

In the race Les got a good start and managed to improve his rear wheel drive out of the famous bus stop chicane, his lap times fell and he pushed through the field to finish a fantastic 12th position. This result is even more impressive as Les has been suffering from a throat virus for the last two weeks, this gave him some concentration and stamina problems during the race.

Next weekend the team will be competing at the MRO Championship round at Oulton Park as Les is still disappointed at having to miss the British round held at the circuit in September and is looking for some good results.

Les would like to thank the team for the special effort they put in this weekend to achieve this great result.

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After the disappointment of missing the British Championship round at Oulton Park, as the team decided to defend Les’s Scottish Regal title, Les was determined to put in a good performance at this weekend MRO Championship round at Oulton.

Les put in some excellent times in qualifying for both the 600 and the Powerbike races qualifying in an amazing 14th position for the Powerbike race, which is open to any race bike, many of the machines competing in this class are full World Superbike spec machines, Les qualified 14th on his 600.

On race day the first race was the 600, Les got a good start and was running with the leaders when he noticed the engine temperature rising and felt the power begin to drop off. Undeterred Les managed to stay with the leaders to finish in an excellent 4th position.

Due to last weeks engine problems the Team had no spare engine for this weekend and could therefore not compete in the Powerbike race. The team did not have sufficient time to repair the engine of the number two bike Les was running in the 600 race.

On the journey home Les received a phone call with the news that he had been excluded from the results for not brining the bike straight to Parc Ferme. As Les has not been competing in all MRO rounds this season he was completely unaware of this rule change, but had asked a race official immediately after the race if he should go their, the official replied “no”. The team is understandably unhappy with this decision.

The team will have another very busy week ahead to get both bikes competitive before this weekend’s British round at Donnington Park.

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The team had an excellent finish to this year's British Championship Supersport 600 season at this weekends event, held at Donnington Park, on the full Grand Prix Circuit.

During the practice and qualifying sessions, minor tweaks to the suspension were made and Les got faster each session resulting in a 10th position on the grid which put him on the third row.

On Race day morning warm up it was decided to try one further change in an effort to get more traction from the rear tyre. The track temperature was much cooler than in qualifying and made it very difficult for Les to assess whether the bike was any better. Rather than gamble with an unknown set-up in the race the settings were returned to the qualifying set up.

Les got an excellent start and diced throughout the race with four other riders getting the better of them on the last couple of laps to finish a brilliant 10th position.

This has been a real boost to the teams moral going into the final Scottish and Regal rounds this weekend. Les is looking good to retain his Regal title and has an outside chance of regaining his Scottish crown despite missing a round due to the teams mid season engine problems.

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The team went to Knockhill this weekend with a slim chance of retaining the Scottish Championship title but this would have meant a non finish from Les's nearest rival and Les would still have to win the race. In the Regal 600 championship however Les had a 30-point lead and just needed two steady finishes to retain the crown.

The weekend started off well with Les qualifying in third place for the Scottish and Regal rounds. No real problems were encountered and our man concentrated on setting fast consistent lap times.

Race day was run in beautiful Scottish autumn sunshine. First race of the day was the Scottish Championship title, Les got a good start and came through from third to win the race. By winning Les had done what he had set out to do by beating his nearest rival into second but as the results stood Les finished second in the Scottish Championship.

In the first round of the Regal 600 championship Les was unwilling to take any chances, as there were still 50 points up for grabs, a crash could have ruined his chances of regaining the title. Les got another excellent start and had a very hard fought race to finish an incredible second, given what was at stake.

In round two of the Regal 600 championship Les only needed one point to win overall but a DNF would still have meant disaster. The race was run over two nail biting legs due to serious crashes and the resulting red flag stoppages. When the race was stopped Les was in second position. On the restart Les got a terrible start, coming out of the first corner in seventh, but by the end of the race he has worked his way up to fourth position. As the race had been stopped an aggregate result was awarded this resulted in Les ending up 3rd overall, more than enough to clinch the 2002 Scottish Regal 600 Champion title.

Les is very happy with this weekends results especially as the teams main aim for 2002 was to get some good results in British Championship, the Regal 600 Championship and second in the Scottish Championship are much welcomed added bonuses.

The team’s last outing for the 2002 season will be next weekend at Croft where Les will also be riding a GSXR1000 kindly loaned from John Campbell of Victoria Garage Lockerbie.

I hope all LSR fans who came to Knockhill this weekend enjoyed the day as much as we did.

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The team had an absolutely brilliant end to the 2002 season at the prestigious Laird of Croft Meeting, Les taking three wins from his five starts.

The weather for race day was atrocious with torrential rain to the point that the organizers considered canceling the meeting. The team decided that the quicker and safer bike to ride for all races would be the M&S Honda 600 as it was lighter and less powerful giving more traction in the terrible conditions.

Les was disappointed as he had looked forward to riding the ultra competitive Suzuki 1000 in a dry race. Thanks to John for the loan of the bike which Les was sure would one of the fastest bikes entered in the meeting.

Although Les was second in two of the races he set the fastest lap in every race he entered.

Given the conditions the team are over the moon with such a positive end to the 2002 season, this only proves that the early season mediocre results were down to the bike set up and engine problems encountered with the new bike.

The team will now start to build on these latest results to take them through the winter months and the long hard preparation for the 2003 season.

Les would like to thank you all for your valued support during what has turned out to be another successful season if a little difficult in the outset.

Look out for the 2002 year end newsletter which should be with you soon. Thanks again.

Les

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Les has completed successful testing at Nagaro South West France, more news to follow shortly.

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Hello again and welcome to the 2003 Les Shand Racing British Championship Supersport 600 season.

This year Les will be riding one of the new Honda CBR 600RR’s. The team has only just received delivery of the new bike and due to the lack of time and availability of tuning parts Les has had to use last years bike in pre season testing and the first British Championship race at Silverstone.

The team spent a week at the Nogaro circuit in Southern France at the beginning of March with the main objective being to get Les back to race speed after the winter break. The week went very well and Les feels he is ready for the challenges the 2003 season will bring. One challenge our man could not tackle however was Frogs Legs !

This Supersport 600 class has been upgraded from National status to full British Championship status for this season. This has attracted factory teams from most manufacturers with one notable addition being the new Triumph works team headed by Jim Moodie.

Each race can also be seen live on Sky Sports, you may well have the days results before I can get it to you this year.

Les and the team have just completed the first British Supersport 600 Championship round of the 2003 season at Silverstone.

During qualifying last years engine problems returned, this resulted in a frantic engine change and very little actual time on the track, Les however qualified 26th.

In the race itself Les did not get off the start line very well but fought through the field to finished the race in 19th position, his consistent lap times were 1.5 seconds of the fastest lap of the race.

Les and the team will be working very hard preparing the new bike for Snetterton on 13th April.

Watch this space.

Cheers Les

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For those of you who missed today’s racing on Sky Sports 2, the team has had an excellent weekend. Les has got a taste for being in front of the camera this weekend and wants to keep it that way! After running in 7th position in the latter stages of the race Les made a mistake braking into the final chicane losing 4 places to finish in 11th position, an excellent result for Les and the team and first 2002 spec Honda home.

The pace in qualifying was extremely hot with the top 13 riders all lapping quicker than last years lap record. The new factory Honda bike ridden by Karl Harris qualified in 4th position, Les’s time was only 7/10 second slower but put him in 18th position, proving this is the most competitive class in the British Championship.

In the race Les managed to avoid a first corner accident involving 5 bikes resulting in a full restart. Les was running in 11th position and managed to up the pace in the last few laps overhauling both works Triumph's to gain 7th position only to out brake himself losing his hard earned places. Les’s fastest lap was the 6th quickest of the race.

To achieve today’s result the team has used 3 front and 4 rear tyres again demonstrating the pace of the class.

Les and the team are over the moon with his performance today especially as he has been ill all day with a sickness bug.

The team is frantically preparing the 2003 bike but it is unlikely it will be ready for next weeks Thruxton round as sourcing ignition parts from Honda is proving difficult. The new bike should be ready for the Oulton Park round on May Day,

The new bike should reduce the top speed deficit the team is up against with the 2002 bike and close the gap between our team and the works bikes.

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Hello There
Les and the team have been back in action this weekend at the ultra fast Thruxton circuit, the weekend has proved very hard work to remain competitive in what is turning out to be the hardest class in the British Championship.

Davie struggled throughout qualifying to find a set up which would allow Les to push as hard as he wanted to. Highlighting how competitive the class is, Les’s qualifying time was within a couple of tenths off the standing lap record, this however was only good enough for 23rd on the grid. Pole position in the 600 class was fast enough for 5th place on the BSB grid !

Today, Sunday was warm and sunny Les and Davie had an another frantic morning getting the bike ready for the race as the number one bike developed a serious oil leak in morning warm up.

From 23rd on the grid Les became boxed in at the rear of a group of 6 riders, the bikes set up was good but not good enough as Les took 5 laps to get into a rhythm which allowed him to start picking of the group one by one. Using his riding skill to pass the group, all on faster bikes, took another ten laps. In the latter laps Les lined up the rider in front aiming for 16th position but the pace was so frantic he missed his pit board and a works Triumph rider passed Les resulting in an 18th position.

Les and the team are happy to have finished the race with a result and in one piece from the ultra fast 170mph circuit and can not wait to get the new 2003 Honda 600RR out onto the track.

The 2003 team colours will be applied to the bike this week and all being well with parts it will be out in anger at the next round at Oulton Park on May 5th the May Day Bank holiday weekend

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Hello There

After some very late nights over the last couple of weeks the new Honda CBR 600RR made its track debut in practice at Oulton Park this weekend. The bike looks awesome in its new colours and Les reports the handling to be superior to the 2002 bike. The motor on the RR however is still 2 horsepower down on the older machine, the team therefore made the decision to stick with the more powerful bike for the remainder of the weekend. Further work on the new bikes fuel injection system should have the power where we want it for the Knockhill British round in a couple of weeks time.

Saturday’s first qualifying session was run in wet conditions, Les was the fastest rider through the wooded Clay Hill section and finished the session in 14th overall. The 2002 CBR was running really well in this session at an ideal temperature of 70 degrees, due to the cooler conditions. Les reports he felt very smooth but felt could have gone quicker.

Sunday’s second qualifying session was run in dry sunny conditions. The overheating problems re-occurred knocking Les down to 22nd on the grid. Sunday evening was spent making fairing modifications in an effort to lower the 2002 bikes running temperature and thus increase power for the race.

The previous evenings efforts had been in vain as the bike temperature in Mondays race was still high, Les had made a good start but after 4 to 5 laps the engine overheating raised its head again. Les carried on relentlessly to finish 18th. Although Les is disappointed with 18th this position is still 3rd privateer in the championship, every other rider bar two are full time, team backed riders and Les is only 2 seconds of fastest lap on one of the longest lap tracks of the season.

In hindsight the team should have used the new bike, as although it is down on power when both bikes are at optimum temperature the new bike would have had more power during the race, as its temperature would have been constant

The next round will the teams home round at Knockhill on 18th May. The new bike will definitely be sorted and be in action.

Check out this web site for photos of the new bike at Oulton Park Web site in next couple of days.

Cheers Les T

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The Team were at Knockhill for the latest round of the BSB Championship. The long range weather forecast was overcast with showers, but with Knockhill you can never be sure, it appears to have its own weather system which defies prediction. A wet race would have suited the team as it evens out the power advantage of some of the works teams and Les is very comfortable with wet racing.

Friday -Practise

The scene was set for a fantastic battle to gain some points with Les on home territory. The weekend began with practise on Friday, we took the laptop to the pit lane to try some alternative settings for the bike with differing power curves, Les came into the pits and out again several times to report his feelings on the improvements before the final race settings would be decided upon at the team meeting following practise.

Following practise Les was very confident in the setup of the bike after the changes made in the session, he knows the track well and the bike felt great.

Saturday - Qualifying

Qualifying was wet and saw Les in second place for most of the session only one tenth of a second off the works Honda, nearing the end of the session the track started to dry seeing Les fall back to ninth position. Due to the amount of riders on track when it dried Les could do little to improve on this. He was very pleased with the position considering it’s the first weekend on the new bike and he was only 100th of a second off the Monstermob Ducati.

Les also qualified for the Regal in second.

Sunday - Race Day

Regal – Wet Race

Les got a good start and maintained second, he pushed Craig McLelland for the whole race and tried several overtaking manoeuvres until the final corner when while in the latter stages of a superb outside passing manoeuvre whilst negotiating some back markers, Les was forced into the gravel trap by one of the backmarkers picking up an injury in the process, fortunately, Les managed to keep it upright and rode the bike out of the gravel to finish in 2nd. Many people commented that Les and Craig had produced the most entertaining race at Knockhill for a while.

British – Wet track, drying but threatening rain

The BSB race had started in similar conditions and the good old Knockhill clouds had produced a downpour, therefore, Les made the decision to go with wet tyres anticipating some rain during the race from the huge black cloud looming overhead. Les got a good start only losing one grid position. He soon regained this on the 1st lap, continuing to gain places with some skilful riding moving from 10th through to 7th by the 3rd lap, he maintained this until the 8th when despite the loyal supporters praying for rain and the black cloud still looming, none had materialised, so Les was left in the position of having a rear wet tyre that was rapidly degrading. He started losing places and despite some valiant efforts to maintain speed in the bends the tyre was giving less grip each lap, to the point where it was almost unrideable, however, Les persevered to the end and finished in 17th. Closer inspection of the tyre following the race revealed it was completely shredded. Les was in good company as several of the top teams had similar problems.

Although not the result Les wanted and with him knowing he was capable of a much better result in the British, the team nevertheless gained valuable telemetry from the meeting and despite being disappointed himself, Les’ supporters were all full of praise for his superb efforts.

Les has reported that although his arm is very painful from the collision in the Regal it appears to be mainly bruising. Les has asked me to pass on his sincere thanks to his supporters.

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This weekend Les was invited to take part in an Endurance race at Snetterton due to the unavailability of the usual team rider.

KRC Endurance Race at Snetterton

To set the scene, an endurance race is basically a race in which rider and machine are pushed to the limits for an extended period of time (6 hours in this case). It involves three riders taking 1 hour sessions, the changing of tyres and refuelling, it also involves the old grand prix start, where the riders line up on one side of the grid and the bikes are on the other, they run across the track, climb on their bike start up and go, very entertaining for the crowd.

This was the first endurance Les had ever been involved in, therefore, he was looking forward to the new challenge.

The team he would be riding for was “Team Twilight” owned by Vic & Robbie Allen.

The riders were: Les Shand, Donald McFadzean and Vic Allen. They would be racing a Yamaha R6 (600cc) road bike with some modifications for racing regulations but power wise it’s a road bike. They would be racing against similar bikes and also up to 1000cc machines, therefore they knew it would be hard.

They qualified 15th out of 42, a brilliant result considering the power difference between the bikes.

Donald had to have his running shoes on for the start as he had the first stint (it must be quite difficult running across the track in motorcycle boots!) It was very difficult most of the time to tell what position everyone was in due to the different teams pitting at different times, Donald handed over to Les after 1 hour, then Vic did the 3rd, Donald the 4th, Les the 5th and Vic did the home leg of the 6th.

At one point during the race, the team was two laps ahead of everyone but eventually the power advantage had to tell and the team finished 2nd in their class and 5th overall which was a fantastic result.

The pit stops were really interesting, to explain in more detail, the team had to come in to the pit, engine off, put the bike on the stand and refuel, once refuelling was done the tyres could be changed, then the new rider could take it off the stand and go, amazingly the team did all this in, wait for it………2 minutes 13 seconds!!!!!!
The tyres used were the normal race tyres which even after a 28 lap race are pretty much useless for racing, the wheels & tyres were changed twice during the race so you can imagine what they looked like after 3 hours of racing. The brake pads also took a bit of a bashing, by the end of the race they were almost down to the metal!

The main comment from Les was that it was very hard on rider and machine especially towards the end of the race when the brakes and tyres would have been suffering, you had to push hard enough to be competitive but also remember that the tyres and engine had to last a whole race, so you couldn’t ride it like a normal 28 lap race. That said, all the riders pushed the bike to it’s limits during the race and it is amazing that a basically standard road bike can put up with this degree of punishment and survive!

Well done to Vic, Les and Donald, and special thanks to “Team Twilight” for giving Les the opportunity to race.

I think judging by Les’ comments on how much he enjoyed it, maybe Les is hoping he gets another chance at something like this.

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The team travelled down on Thursday in preparation for the race meeting. We knew this would be a difficult meeting for Les because the track uses a combination of the Indy and GP circuits, Les has not raced this before so he would have to learn the track, therefore, he was at a disadvantage immediately. Qualifying on Saturday was in dry conditions and Les managed to qualify in 30th with times 2 seconds off the lap record set by a works team ducati. The circuit is very fast with approach speeds on one right hand bend at approx 150MPH. The bike was handling well but the team had many adjustments to make because this is the first dry race proper on the new bike. During warm up on Sunday it was wet and Les was 11th fastest, however, this doesn’t count towards grid position. Wishing for rain to even out the power advantages didn’t come off and the race was dry. Les did well in the race managing to get some places back with some excellent pace and skills on the bends finishing in 23rd. Les commented that he was reasonably pleased with the performance on a new track, especially with more performance to come from the bike yet and much data gained. He passes on his thanks to the pit crew again and says he’s looking forward to the next race at Rockingham where he has raced before and he knows he must improve his performances from the last visit. A newsletter will be out shortly.

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This weekend has been very difficult for all teams and riders at the Rockingham banked oval circuit. Restraining lines painted on the circuit by the BSB organisers to keep riders away from the dangerous outer circuit concrete wall caused problems on Friday morning practice. Four Supersport riders crashed as a direct result of the lines, thankfully not Les.

Circuit staff spent from 9.45 a.m. on Friday morning to 3 p.m. on Saturday removing the lines, this resulted in no qualifying sessions for any classes. The decision was made to form the starting grids for each class in their respective championship positions, Les therefore being 19th for the Supersport 600 class.

The team however made good use of the lack of track time to further modify the new bike. The modifications have been a success as Les was the 6th quickest top speed through the timing lights.

The race was always going to be difficult for all riders with the lack of track time to set the bike up especially if it was the first time at the circuit with a new bike as we were.

Sunday’s race was run in dry sunny conditions, Les got a good start and was running in 19th position. On lap four Les ran of the circuit whilst trying to out brake the rider in front. The run of area at Rockingham is surfaced allowing him to stay upright and re-join the race, but in last position.

Les got his head down and put in a string of consistent laps to finish in a credible 18th position

The next round will be at Oulton Park on 10th August 2003 as the team will miss the Mondelo Park round in Ireland due to long term commitments. Oulton Park is one of Les’s favourite circuits, watch this space.

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THREE PODIUMS FOR LES AT KNOCKHILL

Les and the team have just returned from an unscheduled but very successful Scottish Championship round at Knockhill. After Les was offered a Suzuki GSXR 1000 from injured rider Simon Glennie to do the next British round at Oulton Park he though that this would be an ideal opportunity to get the bike set up for him and some extra track time on his 600 Honda.

Saturday afternoon was practice, with Les putting in some excellent lap times, commenting that his 600, although very fast felt much easier to ride after coming off the more powerful 1000cc machine. Sunday Race Day, perfect dry conditions. Sunday morning was qualifying, first on the 1000cc bike and qualified 2nd despite the bike developing a miss-fire near the end of the session only 0.4 of a second behind the leader. Next was the 600cc and with fantastic time of 53.1 seconds this put him on pole.

The afternoon was very busy with Les in three 600cc races and two 1000cc races.

Race 1 600cc: - Les had a good start and battled the whole way through finishing a creditable 2nd only a tenth of a second behind the leader.

Race 2 1000cc: - Another good start saw Les in second position but the miss-fire returned on the bike and saw him drop to third. Because of his strong position he decided to keep going, on lap seven the miss-fire was so bad that by the end of the straight he had only got up to fifth gear instead of the usual sixth, not realising this he counted down the usual three gears for Duffus Dip and locked up the back wheel sending him sideways and into the gravel, he managed to keep the bike upright and rejoined in fouth place (not bad considering) Les finished the race in 4th place and with the bike in one piece.

Race 3 600cc: - Les lead the race from the start and went on to pull a three second lead from the pack finishing a comfortable 1st and setting a 53.03 second lap only a tenth of a second off the lap record.

Race 4 1000cc: - After much work on the bike between race’s to find what seemed to be fuel injection problem he went out to race with his fingers crossed, confident of a podium finish. But this was not be be as on the first lap the miss-fire returned, Les finally brought the bike home in 4th slightly disappointed but only half a second slower than the race winner (who incidentally holds the lap record on a 1000cc).

Race 5 600cc: - Another hard fought race from Les who just could not find a road round the leader, still finishing a close 2nd

Les finished the day with the fastest lap in every 600cc race and a lot of vital suspension set up for the 1000cc for next week when he is at Oulton Park. The team will be working very hard to rectify the Suzuki’s miss-fire before leaving on Wednesday.

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The team is currently on its way back from this Bank Holiday weekend’s British Championship meeting at Cadwell Park.

As well as his regular M&S Motorcycles Honda CBR 600RR Les once again had the use of Simon Glennies Superstock GSXR 1000.

Sunday qualifying went well on both bikes with Les on the pace with both, only minor suspension set-up changes were required.

On the 600 Les put in some excellent lap times only 4/10ths of a second off lap record. As usual the Supersport class times are so close this equated to 16th position, 4th row of the grid.

The Suzuki GSXR 1000 once again was going well and Les pushed hard on a bike shod with his used 600 tyres to qualify initially in 6th position until the tyres went off and he slipped to a magnificent 8th position on the second row of the grid. Les pushed so hard in qualifying that after a heart stopping moment at old hall bend when he lost traction of the front tyre, he wore away part of the engine casings! Sorry Simon.

Monday – Race day - dry and sunny
Race 1 – Supersport 600

Les got a good start and settled into the race feeling he had a good rhythm he was pushing the works Triumph for 13th place when he lost the front end and crashed out of the race.

Les suffered minor injuries to his right shoulder and neck the bike suffered little damage.

Race 2 – Superstock 1000

Les got another good start and being a little more used to the 1000cc bike power characteristics was confident of a good result. On the 2nd lap the effects of the 600 crash began to show with Les losing sensation in his right hand, this being his throttle and brake hand this was not good. Lesser mortals would have pulled into the pits as he was losing 2 seconds a lap to the leaders but our man persevered giving his all to finish the race. Les’s determination paid off as he finished in an incredible 10th position which he was less than happy with as he felt he could have finished in a much stronger position without the injury.

Les would like to say a huge thank you to the four Scottish Race Marshals who after chatting to Les and hearing he was running used tyres on Simons GSXR 1000 clubbed together to buy Les a new set of tyres for the race, so once again guys much appreciated.

Les would also like to wish team mechanic Dave a get well soon as he missed the first meeting in 3 years following an injury.

The team now face a busy week ahead in order to get the CBR repaired to compete at the Scottish Championship Regal Series at Knockhill this weekend. Following the Scottish meetings Les has entered so far this year to test the new 600 he now finds himself in a position where he could finish the regal series in a dominant position.

See you all their

Regards, Les T
Les Shand Racing

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The team is currently on its way back from this weekend’s British Championship meeting at Brands Hatch.

As well as his regular M&S Motorcycles Honda CBR 600RR Les once again had the use of Simon Glennies Superstock GSXR 1000.

Qualifying – dry and sunny
Throughout all qualifying sessions the team struggled to get the Honda 600 suspension set up to get enough tyre grip. Les struggled to better his Friday session times. Normally the team uses Friday’s first session time as a benchmark to build on and drop a couple of seconds for final qualifying. The problems centred on tyres, if Les found a setting to get rear tyre grip he would then have problems with the front. The team worked very hard but could not improve Les’s lap times.

As the Supersport 600 is the Les’s main class for 2003 the team felt they should dedicate as much time as possible to the Honda as Brands Hatch is a circuit which exaggerates poor bike set up, this Had a detrimental effect with the qualifying efforts on Simons Suzuki 1,000

In final qualifying Les put the 600 in 21st position and the 1,000 in 15th.

Les was disappointed with both qualification positions as he knew he could go quicker given the correct set up on the 600 and more time with the 1,000.

Sunday – Race day - dry and sunny again
Race 1 – Supersport 600

On race day warm up the team tried further changes to the 600 but still could not improve the set-up. Les was becoming a little disheartened and felt something radical had to be done. The decision was made the to change from his normally reliable Pirelli tyres to Dunlop. Changing tyres just prior to the race was a major gamble, as it required major steering geometry changes to the bike. The team therefore had a major challenge between warm up the start of the race. To their credit they achieved it with time to spare.

In the race itself Les got a great start and immediately noticed more grip from the Dunlop tyres but took it steady for the first few laps just get used to the different characteristics of the new Dunlop’s. Les then went for it and carved his way through the field to finish a magnificent 13th place, one of the teams best finishing positions in the class this year.

Race 2 – Superstock 1000
The Superstock 1,000 class is every bit as competitive as the 600, given the lack of set-up time Les had he could have been forgiven for not competing in the event but Les gave it his all as usual and finished in a credible 15th position, given the circumstances.

Les would like to say a huge thank you to Dave and Meg for the work and effort they put in this weekend especially as Dave is still injured.

Les would also like to say a huge thank you to Sophie from Sweden, who was working with Penthouse Magazine at Brands, for posing for some photos with Les and bike and taking a spin on the Honda round the paddock, watch the web site for some pictures soon.

The next round is Donnington Park British Championship, we are hoping for a great result here as Les loves the circuit and is over the moon with this weekends results. The team has shown a newfound maturity this weekend by overcoming such a major problem with the 600. We will take this to Donnington and finish the season on a high.

Regards, Les T

Les Shand Racing

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The team is currently on its way back from this weekend’s British Championship meeting at Donnington Park near Derby.
As well as his regular M&S Motorcycles Honda CBR 600RR Les once again had the use of Simon Glennies Superstock GSXR 1000.

Friday Practice – dry and sunny but cool
As Donnington Park is a very popular track entries for all classes were high. Practice on both bikes went well with no mechanical or set up problems but Les started to notice a bit of pain and numbness from his right wrist area.

Saturday Qualifying – dry and sunny but cold
First session on the M&S Motorcycles Honda CBR600RR again went well with a provisional 19th position. In the second session Les knocked one second of his previous lap time but was still pushed back to 21st on the grid.
On the Suzuki GSXR1000 Les was having problems with his wrist again, as the bike is much more physically demanding due to its extra power and weight.
In the first session he was in 17th position but was in real pain and frustrated as he knew he could lap much quicker without the wrist pain.
In the second session on the 1000 the team decided Les should do some steady laps on used tyres and then come in for new tyres and a gearing change a try to put in 4 quick laps. This strategy worked perfectly as Les qualified the three year old GSXR in an excellent 9th position.

On Saturday night Les saw the circuit medical staff who diagnosed a trapped nerve in his wrist following his Cadwell park crash, an Osteopath gave some treatment but Les did not feel any immediate relief.

Sunday – Race day – Damp patches on track but drying
Race 1 – Superstock 1000
Halfway through race the pins and needles / numbness returned and Les dropped from 9th to 16th, he was having great difficulty in controlling the front brake and throttle. Les made the decision to pull in, as it was too dangerous to carry on. This is the first race Les has ever pulled in from and was understandably unhappy, as he was sure of another good finishing position.

Les took some pain killing Ibuprofen and rested his wrist before Supersport 600 race.

Race 2 – Supersport 600 – Dry but cool
Les got a good start but as he out-braked another rider he was pushed wide into the gravel trap, he stayed on board, recovered his composure and set some excellent lap times to finish an excellent 15th.

Race 3 – Superstock 1000 – Dry but cool
Les again got away with the leading pack but began to struggle with wrist pain he fought hard to keep 12th which considering the circumstances is an another excellent result, again showing Les’s grit and determination.

Les would like to say a huge thank you to the team this weekend for their extra special effort at this weekends final 2003 British Championship round, they were Bob, Allan, Paul, Barry, Dave, Meg, Coni and Andy.

The next round the team will compete at will be at Knockhill in October for the Scottish 600 Championship

Regards, Les T
Les Shand Racing

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The team are just back from a fantastic weekends racing at Knockhill, a good crowd attended on a very cold day to watch some outstanding races in both wet and dry conditions.

The 15 minute practice session on Saturday went well despite some sleet threatening to spoil it. Les qualified on pole with both bikes.

Race 1 - 600cc Supersport – Les knew he had a good chance from pole position but knew he would have a battle on his hands to retain this throughout the race. Les was first into the first bend but lost a place towards the middle of the lap. He fought the whole race eventually finishing in 3rd.

Race 2 – 1000cc Production – Les got a great start and retained first position into the first corner, he battled throughout the race with the second placed rider keeping up the pressure on him and finished a superb 1st.

Race 3 – 600cc Supersport – Again Les was first into the first corner, the lead changed hands several times during the race and with the rain threatening towards the end, Les came through in the to finish in 1st.

Race 4 – 1000cc Production - The threatening rain had now materialised and Les chose wet tyres, this was the right decision as the track remained wet, from his pole position start Les lead the race and proceeded to pull out a 3 second a lap gap on the second placed rider, he lead the race from start to finish, finishing 1st, some 20 seconds ahead of the next rider (which equates to approximately the length of the pit straight). After the race Les was asked why he didn’t ease off when he had opened out a gap? Les explained that if you ease off that’s generally when you make a mistake and leave the track, so he just kept pushing to the end….plus he was enjoying the conditions.

Race 5 - 600cc Supersport – Another wet race which Les lead from the start and never appeared to be under threat, he rode a controlled race keeping his pace constant throughout, comfortably finishing 1st, some 2 seconds ahead of the next rider.

This was a clear demonstration of Les’ dominance on home territory on any bike in any weather conditions and was a great end to the season. It’s clear to see that the competitiveness of the British Championship has improved Les’ skills and speed and we are sure this improvement will continue into next season.

Les has the Celtic match races coming up on 11th & 12th October at Pembray in Wales, where Les will be representing Scotland and after that it’s a quick break then back into his winter fitness training programme in preparation for next season.

Some interesting stats from the weekend

1st into the 1st corner on every race

Four 1st places out of Five races

1 set of dry & 1 set of wet tyres used on each bike

Many thanks go from the whole team to the pit crew, Davie, Bob & Alan, Thanks also to Simon Glennie who was due to ride the 1000cc but unforeseen circumstances prevented this, all the best for next season Simon.

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The team is currently on its way back from this weekend’s Celtic match races at Pembrey Circuit in South Wales.

The Celtic match races are an annual end of season competition held between Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Isle of Man and West England. The Celtic Trophy is scored over two legs with each rider’s finishing position scoring towards the team score. This is a slight departure from Les’s usual weekend of going all out to score points for his own championship, scoring points for the team is the major objective. It is also as rare occurrence for any sportsman in their chosen sport to be asked to represent their country.

The weather over the weekend was dry and sunny over both days with an autumn cool air.

Race 1 Supersport 600 support race
Les had an excellent start to the weekend with a second position in the first Supersport 600 race of the day an excellent result as the riders only had a fifteen minute practice session that morning to set the bike up, Les was also unfamiliar with the circuit.

Race 2 Celtic Match Races Leg 1
The Celtic races are also open 1,000 cc machines and was going too much harder to achieve a good result. The race was full of action with a lot of hard racing, national pride was at stake. Les was hit from behind on lap three and forced of the track, he managed to stay upright however and rejoined in fifth. As usual Les got his head down and finished in another excellent third position.

Race 3 Supersport 600 support race
In the second Supersport 600 race disaster struck when Les high-sided out of a leader board position in spectacular fashion at high speed. Les was bruised but unhurt, the bike however was two badly damaged to repair for Sunday’s races.

Last years race bike had to be used which was going to difficult as it is a totally different machine requiring a change of riding style and Les had not ridden it for half a season.

Sunday Race 1 Supersport 600 support race
Les was using this race to get used to the number two machine and found adapting to the older machine came naturally scoring another excellent second place.

Race 2 Celtic Match Race Leg 2
The Scottish team manager gathered the riders prior to the second leg to strictly instruct that the whole team must finish this leg as there had been a high attrition rate in leg one and Scotland also needed points. The number two bike did not have the power or the good handling of the RR and Les struggled to stay with the 1,000cc bikes. He also did not want to let the team down by trying to hard and crashing out. Les finished in an incredible tenth position. This with his third from leg one assisted Scotland in scoring enough points to finish second overall rounding of an excellent and enjoyable end of season weekend for the team

The final team results were:
Ireland First
Scotland Second
South West England Third
Isle of Man Fourth
Wales Fifth

Les will be in touch personally in the very near future to thank everyone for their help this season.

Regards, Les T
Les Shand Racing

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Just a quick note to let all those followers know that preparations are all in hand for the new season. Les will be racing in the production class this year. More details will follow soon.

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The Les Shand Racing Team has made the decision to return to locally controlled independent status. This decision was made due to a variety of factors, one of which was the requests from sponsors to return the team to a locally run team also regaining more control over management of the team and resources.

Due to the excessive budgets required of teams in the Supersport class and the inability to compete financially with the larger teams, the team will compete in the British Superstock Championship this year which concentrates on what is in essence racing on road legal motorcycles. This removes a great deal of the advantage given to larger high budget teams for expensive modifications to equipment as little modification is allowed in this class.

The team have already purchased a 2004 Yamaha R1 which is currently being prepared at the teams workshop for 14th March preview day at Donington.

The first competition race will be at Silverstone on 28th March. The full schedule can be found on the website.

Here we go for another season of thrills and excitement, stay with us it’s going to be an exciting season!

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20/21 March 2004 - The team travelled to Croft this weekend to take part in a North east club meeting. The weekend was used mainly as a test and setup weekend.

Saturday - During qualifying Les quickly got into the groove with the new R1 and despite the horrendous weather conditions he qualified in pole position.

Sunday - Race Day - Les continued to feel good with the bike and won 3 out of 3 races, winning the prestigious Laird of Croft Trophy to cap a brilliant weekend.

The team gathered much needed race setup information in preparation for next weekends British Championship Silverstone race.

Les is very pleased with the power and handling of the bike and considers he has made the right choice of bike for this seasons racing. There should be pictures on the website within the next week or two.

Ian Myers and Bob Henderson of M&S Motorcycles kindly let Les race last years CBR 600 once more at Croft before handing it back, Les qualified on pole and won the race. Les would like to sincerely thank them both for all their support during the 2003 season.

See you at Silverstone - P R Manager.

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Silverstone 2004

The weekend started with practice on Friday, everything went well with Les geting important setup information for qualifying.

Saturday came quickly but weather conditions were not ideal, track temperature was low and this affected the setup of the bike, it was difficult keeping the tyres warm and maintain grip in the bends. At the end of the first qualifying session, Les had managed to get to 8th fastest, but he felt there was more to come and was confident he could improve his position and hopefully move up to the front row in th 2nd qualifying. Little did Les know the weather would prevent this. Rain in the aternoon dictated the final grid positions, the track was too wet to improve on the previous qualifying positions for any of the riders, so Les used the session to obtain valuable setup information for a wet race.

Raced day came and Les was ready, the bike was performing well, but there was to be another twist, Les had the 8th fastest qualifying time, this should have placed him on the 2nd row, however, some "unusual" application of the fastest times along with the slowest groups qualifying times meant despite protests Les was put to 11th on the grid which was onthe 3rd row.

The Race
Les actually lined up at 9th on the grid due to others dropping out. He got a great start and took two places before the first bend but couldn,t maintain this and was 10th after the first lap, on the 2nd he gained another two to move up into 8th maintaining this until the 4th lap gaining all the time on the seventh placed rider, on lap five Les made his move and grabbed 7th place, he then concentrated on the next position and on lap 9 took 6th, he started immediately closing the gap to 5th and took this on lap 15. Unfortunately due to Les having to make his way through the field by the time he got clear track between him and the leaders there was too much time to make up and despite taking some time out of them he couldn't improve on his 5th place.

Some points of encouragement from the race.

Finished 5th from 9th on the grid.
Les put in the 3rd fastest lap of the race
Les put in the fastest sector 1 and 3 times of the race.
Les put in the 2nd fastest sector 2 time of the race.
Had les done his two fastest sector times in the same lap he would have held the fastest lap for the race.

Les is really pleased with the result and feels this has been a very succesful team weekend.

For anyone who wants to pop along les is going to knockhill next weekend to run in the first scottish race and gain valuable race info for future races.

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Les was at Knockhill this weekend for a Scottish Championship race, the main aim of this weekend was to gain valuable setup data in preparation for the British Championship meeting later on in the season.

Qualifying took place this morning on a damp and cold track (nothing new for Knockhill then), Les wasn’t prepared to risk too much as he didn’t want to crash the bike but he still qualified in pole position.

The first race was dry before the start, but just as they were sitting in the holding area a light drizzle came on. Les got a good start and due to the damp track took a cautious approach in the first few laps, he still maintained his lead and once the track started to dry he pulled out a 6 second lead. Once he had this lead he eased off and maintained it to come home in 1st place.

The second race was wet and les lost a position at the start, again with the slippery track conditions Les was careful not to dump the bike and waited till the second lap for his opportunity to pass. Once past Les pulled away and increased the gap to 6 seconds then eased off and maintained position again, the 5th lap saw Knockhill throw another weather condition at the riders…hailstones! Needless to say Les has seen this all before at Knockhill and he maintained his pace to come home in 1st place.

Although Les now leads the Scottish Championship he will not be competing in any more rounds, this weekend was used to gain valuable race data for the bike setup as Knockhill is completely different to the sweeping bends of Silverstone.

Next meeting is Brands Hatch.

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The team are on their way back from Brands Hatch with mixed emotions; whilst les has come away from the track as the Superstock Lap Record Holder he finished the race in 7th position. Les was disappointed with his qualifying performance and felt he did not make the best of the track time.

Saturday Practise was wet and Les was 3rd fastest due to his usual smooth riding in the wet.

Sunday morning qualifying saw Les 3rd fastest in his group and 6th fastest overall, he was reasonably pleased as he thought there would be more speed to come from suspension alterations.

Sunday afternoon qualifying – Les went out on part worn rear tyre and pitted half way through the session for a softer compound for fast lap qualifying, unfortunately the tyre was wasted because in the first 5 laps when the tyre is at it’s best he couldn’t get clear a lap due to slower riders, although faster than morning it wasn’t enough, Les felt he should have gone faster, he ended up 8th quickest at end of qualifying, this put him 9th on the grid (1st on third row) due to the two group qualifying process being used again.

Monday race day – Les got flying start up to 6th place off the line, 2 falling riders on the 1st lap brought the safety car out, so Les was cruising in a queue of bikes for two laps, as the race progressed les was in a train of 6 bikes with only a couple of seconds splitting the top 6, the places were changing all the time. On lap 17 of 26 the 5th placed rider high sided just as Les was making a passing manoeuvre for position on him, this caused Les to take to the grass to avoid running over the crashed rider, he rejoined still in 6th due to rider falling off but had effectively lost a place. Due to this excursion on the grass Les lost touch with the front pack and it was impossible to catch up due to the pace of racing and the laps remaining, the seventh placed rider was right behind Les for the remainder of the race, on the last lap they came on a back marker and were both slowed down, it was then a power race for the line and Les was pipped at the post by one thousandth of a second.

After a hard fought race, Les had put in the fastest lap of the race on lap 16 and is now the Lap Record holder on a Superstock bike at Brands Hatch.

Next race is Snetterton where the long straights make it a fast track.

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Another good result from Snetterton keeps Les in contention for the championship.

In Friday’s practise Les was 6th quickest, Saturday morning qualifying wasn’t going so well with Les 19th fastest until he went out with 3 minutes to go and claimed 6th quickest. Saturday afternoon was more of the same with Les maintaining 6th quickest until very last lap when he slipstreamed another rider on the straight which gave him more speed and improved his lap time into 5th fastest, to give you an idea how close it was there were only 2 tenths of a second splitting the top 5 fastest riders (see how fast you can blink twice).

For the race Les got a good start and went into 3rd on the first corner, but lost a place on second, during the 4th lap whilst passing up inside of another rider they were so close that Les had to go off line to take off some speed and lost 4 seconds on the leading pack, eventually finishing in 5th

Les is currently 5th in the championship only 6 points behind 4th place and 27 points from 1st place, which may sound a long way but there are 25 points for a win and ten rounds to go so anything could happen.

Good points from the meeting

Finished within his goal of finishing in top 5, got the fastest first sector time 2 tenths of a second off winning time and there was literally nothing in it.

See you at Oulton Park

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Best Ever Result: Les Just 1 Place From Podium!

A bank holiday weekend of frantic action saw Les finish 4th in the British Championship Superstock race, just 5 seconds behind the winner and reigning Champion, Andy Tinsley.

Saturday’s free practice was held in hot and sunny conditions, with Les trying a different combination of front and rear tyres and suspension settings, to try and find a set up with which to qualify and race well, making the most of the Pirelli tyres. The bike was running well, second fastest through both speed traps, and Les finished 5th, just a few 10ths of a second behind winner of the last round Danny Beaumont.

Both qualifying sessions were held on Sunday afternoon. In the first, Les stayed out for the whole session on a soft rear tyre to see whether it would last the distance in the hot conditions, which it did, and he finished the session 4th, just 0.6s off pole, the first time he has had a front row position, albeit provisional. A small problem with the lap timing transponder was quickly found and the chief mechanic Dave Booth made some small changes for the second session at 5.45pm. That went well, with Les improving his time going to 2nd fastest with only 6 minutes remaining, however, traffic prevented a further clear lap, while other leading riders squeezed in quicker times. As the chequered flag went out Les was still 4th on the front row, but Snetterton pole-sitter Tristan Palmer snatched 4th with his very last lap, demoting les to 5th and a second row start, despite his time being a full half second below the lap record set just 8 months ago.

Race day dawned wet and overcast and the morning warm up was spent trying a wet front/intermediate rear tyre combination, but this was felt not to be as good as either full wets or soft dry tyres. In any case the weather was improving and sunny spells made tyre choice easier as the track became fully dry. After the usual tension on the grid, Les made a great start passing Dave Johnston to go 4th, but after exchanging places a couple of times, Les ran 5th for the first half of the race becoming involved in a battle with Danny Beaumont (Yamaha), Steve Allan (Kawasaki) and former Superbike rider Howie Mainwaring (Yamaha). Gradually Les broke clear and hunted down the leading pack, setting his own fastest lap on lap 11 of the 15 as he caught Danny Beaumont. A decisive passing manoeuvre on the 130mph approach to Cascades on the penultimate lap allowed Les to break clear and bag his best ever result in a British Championship race.

In summary: a great weekend, with thanks to Dave Booth and Roger