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

-end-

back to top

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

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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

-end-

back to top

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

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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

-end-

back to top

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

-end-

back to top

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

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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!

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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.

-end-

back to top

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

-end-

back to top

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 Bennett for improving the bike set up, as the team look forward to the next event, Les' debut at the fearsomely fast North West 200 circuit in Northern Ireland.

The Les Shand Racing Team

-end-

back to top

A VISIT TO IRELAND BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN LES (SHAKEY) SHAND PROVING HE CAN MIX IT WITH THE BEST

Go to www.realroadracing.com for some more info and to see Les with his hot pit babe.

This week has been one of Les's most successful race meetings, Les visited the very challenging North West 200, and after only completing 6 laps qualified in 4th!

To summarise the events, he attained a 4th position finish in the Production class, 12th in the first Superbike race (riding a production bike) and a fantastic 9th in the second Superbike race beating well known road racer Richard Britton on the Team Rizla Suzuki.

The North West 200 is a 9 mile road race through the streets and roads between Colraine - Port Stewart and Port Rush, in Ireland. It is thought to be the fastest road circuit in the world with this year’s fastest rider Michael Rutter on the H M Plant factory Honda clocking 201.8 mph through the speed trap.

Race format - Tuesday night 6pm - 9pm roads close for qualifying practice. Thursday night 6pm - 9pm roads close for qualifying practice. Saturday roads close 10.30am - 6.30pm Race Day.

Tuesday Night - Les only got six laps practise due to accidents but instantly Les was at one with the bike and track, coming back in to the team transporter with a huge grin commenting "it was a buzz like no other", results sheets confirmed his enthusiasm showing a 4th place qualifying in the Production Class ahead of many other top riders and a top speed through the speed trap of 184mph!!!!!!!!!

Thursday Night - Raining initially and it was Superbike practice first, still managing to get 182mph in the rain crossing white chevron lines (scary) saw Les qualify in 11th position averaging 103.4mph for the Superbike Class. Again beating some top class rider’s, next was the Production Class, with a drying line Les went out on dry tyres, but a warning light on the dash knocked his concentration and due to his fast time on Tuesday night in the dry, he decided not to risk all but still finished 11th.

Saturday - RACE DAY

Brilliant sun shine, First Race Superbike Race

Les was sat on the grid feeling a little anxious, he was on an almost standard road bike, when he looked to the front, there was Michael Rutter on a factory Honda, when he looked behind there was Richard Britton on a factory Suzuki and all around him were other top riders. But despite being anxious Les was in his position on the grid through merit. With a great start he held a good 9th position, but eventually the more powerful superbikes started passing on the long straights, a few close brushes with kerbs and braking from 180mph to 60mph in the centre of town, in the end he finished an excellent 12th position.

Second Race - Production

Starting from 4th place on the grid and with some excellent "off the line" advise from North West Pro Jim Moodie, he was second into the first corner. The slip streaming effect at such high speeds is phenomenal, so much so that you can be first at the start of the straight and 4th at the end. Mid race Les was in 4th position, but fought back hard, at one point braking so late for a chicane, he misjudged the braking point and went through a hedge, however, landing back on track in disbelief he got back on the power and finished a very close 4th " a brilliant race" he said with a grin a mile wide.

Race 3 - Superbike Race

Excellent start this time from 11th on the grid to 7th at the first corner. Pirelli tyres supplied a slick tyre for this race as it was 6 laps instead of the 5 lap races where Les's treaded tyres struggled with the intense heat and the tyres were starting to disintegrate. The new tyre worked very well and Les had some very close shaves and a long battle with the Rizla Suzuki which gave some excellent TV coverage and commentary, he finished 9th in the race.

His excellent performance through the week fantastic results on Saturday gave Les the Title of " Best Newcomer 2004" and a nice cheque to help with the rest of the seasons expenses!!

Les would like thank the organisers of the meeting for their overwhelming hospitality, Jim Moodie, Ian Duffus and John McGuiness for their technical race advice and Dave, Meg and Craig for the very hard work in the pits.

-end-

back to top

Hard Earned 8 Points for Les at Thruxton

After a long tough weekend, Les finished 8th in the latest round of the British Superstock Championship, adding 8 points to his tally, and consolidating his 5th place in the Championship after 5 rounds, with 8 remianing.

Friday: After the tortuous 11.5 hour journey to Thruxton near Andover on the south coast, the team (Les, regular spannerman Dave and his wife Meg) grabbed 3 hours sleep before getting in to the circuit and setting up. The Friday practice at 4pm was spent adjusting back to frantic short circuit pace after the successful trip to the North West 200 road races last month. Les gathered info to try and improve the set up and improve tyre life on the mega abrasive surface. A lap time of 1m22.3 put him 12th fastest.

Saturday 1st Qualifying: It was hoped that changing to a 190 section tyre would improve grip, which proved a good move, and Les slashed his time by almost 3 seconds to a 1m19.6, putting him 13th as everyone improved, but only 1.03 seconds off pole sitter Andy Tinsley.

2nd Qualifying: Everyone was struggling with a lack of grip, which was attributed to a recent truck race coating the circuit with rubber. Former Grand Prix rider and multiple British Superbike Champion Niall Mackenzie offered some advice and encouragement before the final qualifying session, but despite using two new rear tyres and improving his time to a 1m19.2, Les would start the race from 11th on the grid, 0.9s off new polesitter Danny Beaumont. To put this in context, the average speed over a lap is a hair-raising 107mph!

Warm-up: A new and different set up was tried this morning in an attempt to find better grip, but it didn't improve matters, so the team reverted to the qualifying set-up for the lunch-time race, with a new rear tyre barely lasting the 10 minutes of the warm-up session!

Race: As usual, starting with a new pair of Pirelli tyres for the race, Les got a reasonable start, ending the first lap in 12th. On lap 3 Steve Allan got past but immediately grounded his engine casing on a kerb, cracking it and coating the following riders with a fine mist of oil. Les was struggling for visibility and gradually dropped behind three other riders. On lap 7 Steve Allan pulled in to retire and as Les pulled off his last reamining tear-off, he set about re-passing the group which had dropped away from the leaders due to Steve Allan holding them up. On the next lap Mark Heckles crashed, and as the group spread out in a split second to avoid him, Les was delayed threading between Heckles and his bike. However he got his head down and passed one rider on each of the next laps, to head the group in 8th place on lap 11. It was clear that the next group were out of reach, so Les aimed for a safe finish over the remainning 7 laps as the tyres detriorated, the only excitement coming on the last lap as fellow Scot Doug Cowie sneaked by, however he was re-passed on the run to the last chicane, leaving Les satisfied with his hard-fought 8th place.

The next round is at Brands Hatch on June 18-20th, returning to the full GP version of the circuit where Les set a new lap record in April.

-end-

back to top

Les set off on Thursday lunchtime for the 13 hour drive to the world famous Brands Hatch circuit, 20 miles south east of London, accompanied only by Dave Booth. The pair arrived at 1am and parked up for the night until they could get in and set up the teams awning. The bike had been updated slightly since Thruxton, having had the forks revalved (the parts that control the damping) and the rear shock absorber serviced and rebuilt. This meant that the untimed practice session was spent getting familiar with the feel of the forks, and finding a good base setting, rather than going for an out and out lap time.

Saturday morning: The duo were joined by Roger Bennett who had flown down for the weekend. Changes were made to the bike to make it steer into the corners more easily, and hold a line better round the corners, and of course it was fitted with a new pair of Pirelli tyres for the first qualifying - a medium compound front and rear, with a softer compound rear on standby to use at the end of the session.

All the changes were for the better, and les rode extremely well, getting right on the pace from the off, knocking over two seconds off his previous best, and sitting on the front row of the grid in third place. However, after a major slide, Les pitted to change for the softer rear tyre to try and go quicker. Unfortunately, he couldn't match the earlier time and slipped to 7th, but just 0.3 seconds off 3rd place on the grid.

Saturday afternoon: The weather was increasingly overcast, and right on cue it began to spit rain as the second superstock qualifying session got under way. Few riders improved their times, except for Dave Johnston who was a few hundredths of a second behind Les after the first session, but fitted some super sticky qualifying tyres from Dunlop, and went almost two seconds faster to jump to pole position! However, that performance could be considered false as he would have to run a much harder tyre in the race like everyone else. Les lined up 8th on the grid, which put him at the end of the second row, just one place behind arch rival Mark Heckles.

Sunday morning warm-up: Having found a good set up for the race, the only thing that hadn't been tried over the weekend was a 190 section rear tyre - the wider profile being considered by some riders to give better side grip when leaned right over. But Les wasn't impressed with it and chose to stick with the 180 rear for the race.

Weather conditions were deteriorating throughout the day, with showers getting heavier and more frequent, so although the team had four different rear tyres (soft wet, harder wet, intermediate and full dry) and three fronts (wet, inter, dry) all in warmers to ensure having the best one for the conditions, it was clear with half an hour to go that it would be full wets. So Les set off the half mile from the paddock to the grid while Dave and Roger set off on the scooter with the trailer piled high with wheels, stands, and tyre warmers!

After a minor flap on the sighting lap when water got on the inside of his visor, Les set off on the two warm up laps in pouring rain and set a scorching pace along with Scotsman Steve Allan and previous race winner Danny Beaumont. It looked like this trio would be in a race of their own. So it proved as the lights went green, and the pack rounded the first corner, with Les already up to third. Not for long though, as someone ne ran into the back of him going into the second corner, tipping Les off, and starting a chain reaction with two other riders falling. The cameras showed Les frantically trying to restart his bike to rejoin, but as he was doing so, a serious accident further round first lap caused the race to be stopped, and in light of the conditions, the race and rest of the meeting was abandoned. A long haul for no points, but not as bad as it could have been in terms of the championship.

The next round is our home event at Knockhill on the 3rd & 4th of July. Fingers crossed that the weather is kinder than last year, and allows Les to make full use of his track knowledge and get on the podium!

-end-

back to top

A changeable weekend at Knockhill saw Les qualify 2nd in the dry on Saturday and finish 3rd in the rain on Sunday

FRIDAY PRACTICE

This session late on Friday afternoon went reasonably well with only minor adjustments being made to the bike. The conditions were far from perfect with the corners being wet and a dry line appearing on the straights, Les was out on wet tyres and with the drying conditions only 10 laps were managed before the rear tyre was in an unusable condition, a dry was fitted to finish out the session but Les took a cautious approach for the remainder of the session and finished in 10th position, 2 seconds off the fastest time.

SATURDAY 1ST QUALIFYING

The track was dry for this session but with the threat of rain looming the decision was taken to go out on a set of already scrubbed in tyres in an attempt to get a fast lap in straight away. The session remained dry throughout and Les was pole for a long time before slipping to 4th later on, then on his last lap put in brilliant lap time of 52.494 seconds putting him into 2nd position, a front row start! and only 0.235 of a second off of fellow Scot Steve Allen.

SATURDAY 2ND QUALIFYING

By 1pm on Saturday torrential rain had hit Knockhill and all 2nd qualifying sessions had to be cancelled.

SUNDAY RACE

Another day of unsettled (what’s new for Knockhill) weather saw the pit crew doing FOUR wheel changes before the race to ensure having the correct tyre for the conditions Wet tyres were eventually the only sensible choice.

Les got a good start and held 2nd into the first corner being narrowly missed by another rider going into the gravel trap. Two laps in, Les made a mistake whilst braking at the hairpin and ran wide which cost him a couple of places, putting him back into 5th position. Getting his head down as usual, he managed to pick his way back up through the field and by lap 10 was in 2nd and putting in some great lap times, he held this for a further 4 laps before having to slow for a group of back markers at the hairpin and championship leader Andy Tinsly grabbed the opportunity to pass, purring Les back to 3rd, there were some close exchanges in the slippery conditions before the end of the race and Les finished a close 3rd only 2.842 seconds off of 1st place man Steve Allen.

Les held the fastest lap for the race at 55.971 which is a superb time in the wet. To put this in perspective, in the British Superbike race that followed only 5 riders went faster and all from the top teams.

This is Les’s first time on the podium at British Championship and he says he likes it! Let’s hope this is the first of many.

-end-

back to top

DOUBLE ROUND AT MALLORY NETS LES DOUBLE POINTS

SUMMARY
Rounds 7 and 8 were held at Mallory Park this weekend, with qualifying going well les was 4th (front row) but due to suspension problems in both races les was pushed back to having two 8th place finishes.

FRIDAY PRACTICE
Mixed weather conditions saw Les's 1st session wet with a drying line and although out for the whole session he decided not to push too hard in the tricky conditions, with a qualifying session in three hours time a crashed bike is not the best policy. One point to make here is that Les has not ridden this (newly altered) circuit for two years whilst some of the higher budget teams had tested through the week there.

1st QUALIFYING
Bright and dry with good grip, Les put in some good times and finished the session in 10th position

2nd QUALIFYING (Saturday morning)
Another warm sunny day enabled Les to better his 10th position. The plan for this session was to go out on a medium compound rear tyre, go as fast as grip would allow and once the tyre had gone off come in fit a soft compound tyre and go again, on the first tyre les had slipped to 11th but as soon as he came in and went back out on the soft tyre his lap times dropped finishing up in 4th position. FRONT ROW AGAIN !

RACE ONE
Les got a good start and had already made up a position, running in 3rd on the first lap, unfortunately by the end of the first lap the bike had developed an unnerving handling problem, and so Les began the battle to keep the bike on the track, he had constant grip problems with the front end and also the bike was not holding a line on the fast Gerrards bend, it was a battle not to hold position, but one of not crashing and Les brought the bike home in 8th position, this he considered a result as his comment was "I have never had as many near crashes in one race"

SUNDAY MORNING WARM UP
Quite a number of changes were made to the suspension on Saturday night in an attempt to prevent a re-occurrence of the previous race, initially the bike felt better but upon looking at the lap times the team realised that they were still quite a bit off where they needed to be, so for the race a safe option was taken to go back to qualifying settings with only minor adjustments

RACE TWO
Another excellent start saw Les rocket into 2nd position but on the first bend it was obvious to Les that the bike still wasn't right, Les then rode as hard as he could making some very calculated manoeuvres, he maintained a defensive line throughout the race, making it hard for other riders to pass thus preserving any points he could, this was as good a position as possible despite the suspension problems, finishing a credible 8th position under the circumstances.

Despite the major suspension problems Les has still managed to bag some valuable points this weekend and still maintains his 5th position in the championship, he has also opened the gap from 6th place man Steve Allan. A great deal of work now needs to done so solve the suspensions problems before the next meeting at Croft in three weeks time.

-end-

back to top

CROFT 15th AUGUST

ANOTHER PODIUM FOR LES AT CROFT

SUMMARY OF EVENTS

Friday’s qualifying saw Les in 7th place followed by Saturdays fantastic effort put him into 2nd place, front row start for Sunday. Sunday’s race saw him go from 1st to 3rd then to 5th and fought his way back up to finish a very close 3rd.

FRIDAY PRACTICE

After heavy rain through the night the track was still damp and Les went for a cautious session under the tricky conditions trying to get a bit of a feel for the suspension improvements after Mallory Park.

FRIDAY QUALIFYING

This session was late afternoon and by this time the track was almost dried out, Les commented that the bike felt like it was on rails after the improvements that he and Dave had made to the bike. Les was in second position for almost the whole session but came in with a shredded tyre 2 minutes from the end and slipped to 7th.

SATURDAY QUALIFYING

A very hot day with track temperatures exceeding 40 degrees, Les decided to try some different tyre compounds, mechanic Dave had THREE wheel changes to do in the 25 min session. With only 6min remaining the last tyre went in and with Les now down in 9th he stuck in a blistering 1min24.666 second lap putting him up into 2nd pipped for pole by ex Superbike rider Lee Jackson.

SUNDAY RACE DAY

A brilliant day of sunshine brought out massive crowds to the Croft circuit for it’s British Superbike Championship debut. What an occasion for Les to produce out one of his best performances.

Les got off to a flying start leading the pack only to be passed early on pushing him back into 3rd,still feeling confident he was very close to championship leader Andy Tinsley and an over anxious overtaking manoeuvre saw him almost highside but luckily caught it before crashing, in the process loosing two places. Now the head was down and the “red mist” was on for a gutsy for another podium, he fought his way back to 3rd and very close to 2nd place man. With only three laps left of the 18 lap race, Les gave it everything for second but finished only 3 tenths of a second 2nd place man in 3rd. Winner was French Supersport champion Julien DA Costa 2 seconds in front.

A fantastic weekend for the team with another podium and more points. The bike also feels a lot better and things look promising for Cadwell Park in two weeks time.

-end-

back to top

DISAPPOINTING WEEKEND FOR LES AT CADWELL PARK

SUMMARY
Les seemed to struggle with lap times the whole weekend and although he didn’t think that he was riding badly the faster lap times he needed did not come and he qualified in 15th place.

Disappointed with his qualifying he focused on getting a good start but after getting off the line well initially, he the collided with another rider and ended the race at the back of the field in 18th place he hopes this is to be his worst result for the season!

SATURDAY PRACTICE

This session went reasonably well with various alterations being made to the bike and although finishing out the session with many riders going faster, Les felt that there was still a lot to come.

SUNDAY 1st QUALIFYING

Although this was a qualifying session Les was still making adjustments to the bike, mainly gearing, but by the end of the session he was still not settled and felt he had not achieved the optimum out of his machine, thus finishing in15th position

SUNDAY 2nd QUALIFYING

By the afternoon there had been some showers of rain and despite it not raining for Les's session it was still very slippy in places, making it almost impossible to better his lap time in the morning in the dry, but all the same Les desperate to get up the front for the start of the race he went out with new gearing on to give it his all. The new gearing felt really good and with only 6 minutes left on the clock he pitted for a new rear tyre and fuel (1min 43seconds) he went back out and managed to knock another half second off of his time, unfortunately this was not enough to change his qualifying position of 15th

MONDAY WARM UP

Morning warm up went well with no dramas and Les being 10th fastest

MONDAY RACE

Starting from the 4th row Les knew he had it all to do and was focused on getting a good start. Despite there having been some light showers the track was virtually dry for the race.

Les got off the line well for a start but before the first corner he had collided with another rider, both staying on he then went for the brake at the first corner to find that the lever was bent almost out of reach and with another accident unfolding in front of him he backed off slightly to take a moment to access his bikes damage loosing him vital places putting him into 17th position, he maintained this until nearing the end of the race another rider out braked himself and forced Les off the track thus he finished in 18th.

After the race Les said that he had tried as hard as he could but never settled into the race with a view to gaining positions, unsettled throughout he said it was the worst race he has had all year

Les is still in 5th position in the championship and is hoping for better results at his favourite circuit Oulton Park, the next round in 2 weeks time.

-end-

back to top

Friday free practice was a wet session but was wasted due to a slipping clutch, Friday night was spent sourcing new parts and fitting them.

First session Saturday and Les had to push as hard as he could because final qualifying looked as though it may be wet, Les finished in 14th position, he had encountered the same handling problems as Cadwell Park. For the second and final session the team made adjustments to the forks and rear shock aiming to get the bike steering the way Les prefers. The session was actually dry but resulted in an 18th position as the suspension changes made little difference.

Saturday night was spent investigating the bikes steering geometry, every aspect was checked and re-checked. After some much appreciated advice from Nail McKenzie the team arrived at some radical setting changes to help the bike steer better, this was a big gamble as the Superstock race was not till 5.30pm on Sunday with no warm up.

Race day dawned overcast with showers. Les got a good start but was always going to struggle to get through to the front of the pack from the 5th row of the grid. The R1 Yamaha was handling much better and Les began to move up the order to 14th until the race was stopped on lap 7 due to rain.

The team opted for the softest wet weather tyres front and rear for the restart due to the threatening weather, initially Les moved quickly through the field, but the expected weather never happened and the tyres turned out to be the wrong choice as the track dried very quickly during the 6 lap re-run, the heat build up was too much and destroyed the rear tyre after 2 laps. Les struggled to control the bike for the remainder of the race but took the bike home in 17th position.

Les is very disappointed with his results over the last two rounds after so many good results during the first three quarters of the 2004 season.

The team head for Donnington Park on Wednesday for a two day test session prior to the final BSB round held there this weekend. During the test session the team will be putting every effort into improving the R1’s handling further still. Les also hopes to be able to test one of the BSB teams full Superbikes during the sessions to further his experience and compare it to his own production based Superstock bike.

-end-

back to top

ACTION PACKED WEEKEND AT DONINGTON

SUMMARY
The last round of the British Superbikes at Donington was an “all action” weekend for the Les Shand Racing team, after qualifying 3rd only squeezed off pole in the last 30 seconds of qualifying it was easy to see that Les and his Yamaha R1 were back on form for some close and exciting racing action.
The first race was on Saturday and after nearly crashing out on the first lap which put him back in 10th position, true to his character he fought his way back up to 6th position and with still 4 potential championship winners it was all very close and very entertaining.
The last race was on Sunday and Les bettered his last result with a 5th place, a nail biting end and only 0.3 of a second separating the 3 riders surrounding him. This secured his 5th place in the Superstock Championship and a great end to a brilliant season.

FRIDAY PRACTICE
After securing get some track time the day before through Naill Makenzie (thanks Naill) most of the bike set up had been done, so despite the rain the session went really well and Les felt quietly confident.

FRIDAY 1st QUALIFYING
Still raining but Les had a good bike set up, he stayed in the top handful throughout and with no real dramas he ended up in 4th position, front row again!!

SATURDAY 2nd QUALIFYING
A dry day but windy meant that it was all to play for again and the pace was very hot, Les put in some excellent lap times and in the 24th minute of his 25 minute session he put in a blistering lap and took POLE only for it to be taken from him in the last 30 seconds, he was pipped to 2nd and then 3rd but still front row!

SATURDAY 1st RACE (DRY)
Les got a good start but three corners in going down the very fast crainar curves he was hit by another rider, almost losing control, but using all his skill and the full width of the track he regained the bike and rejoined in 10th position, the “red mist” was on now and as the race progressed he made some very positive and outstandingly skilful racing moves and eventually got back up to 6th he crossed the line only half a second behind 5th place man.

SUNDAY 2nd RACE (DRY)
This was definitely “THE” all action race of the weekend with places being swapped lap after lap, Les had got a good start with the front group and was in a constant battle throughout the race with so much battling for positions it was always going to be close and it ended with him in 5th position, he said he had really enjoyed this fantastic race but he had worked very hard for the result.

Les has finished 5th in the British Superstock championship and says he is pleased with the way the season has gone, he only has one more meeting this year with his own bike where he has been asked to represent Scotland at the Celtic match races at Knockhill in two weeks time.

-end-

back to top

Celtic Match Races & Scottish Championship - Knockhill

Saturday qualifying

Les went to Knockhill with a deposit for the sale of his race bike in his pocket; therefore he had to bear this in mind when racing. Les qualified 2nd on the grid for the Scottish Championship race but was using it as practise and didn’t want to get too involved or interfere with the points situation of the two championship leaders. Les finished 5th in the race.

Sunday

It was damp in the morning for warm up & dry for racing, Les had a nice steady race in the final leg of the Scottish Production Championship and with the 2 championship leaders in 1st & 2nd les stayed out of the action to allow them to battle it out, when the leader crashed on the last lap it left Les in second.

The main aim of the weekend was to win the Celtic match races for Scotland and to win the Manx Sword, Les was team captain and had a team game plan. There are 32 riders in each race with points being awarded from 32 to 1 dependant on your position. The team tactics were to start the fastest riders from the back of the grid and the slowest from the front this would maximise the overall team points scoring possibilities. The tactics would prove to be successful over the 2 legs. Despite being down two riders (due to crashes in previous races) they finished the first leg in 2nd lagging by only 12 points. In principle the theory was working with Les working his way through the field finishing 7th after starting from the back of the grid. For the 2nd leg the team were back to full strength, 7 laps in Les was in 7th with only Scottish riders and two unpassable Irish riders in front. Les sat in 7th and took blocking lines to protect the Scottish riders lead. On the last lap Les passed the next rider in a sprint over the finish line finally finishing 6th. This brought the Scottish team home with sufficient points to win the solos racing by 16 points and take home the Manx Sword.

Les was very happy that Scotland had won and would like to thank all his team mates for the massive effort in winning. Les finished the weekend with the race bike undamaged and delivered it to the proud new owner on the return journey home, leaving Les ready to make fresh plans for next season.

Despite being told by many top riders and people in the sport that he has the potential to succeed at even higher levels, Les entered this season knowing that he had to convince himself he could produce a winning package, he had to decide on a personal basis whether he thought he was good enough to succeed given a winning package. Following a very successful season with achievements such as, holding the lap record at Brands Hatch, best newcomer at the Northwest 200 and finishing 5th in the Superstock Championship against arguably some of the best riders in the country, Les has convinced himself that he has the capability to progress to higher levels. With past success in mind the Team will be making every effort during the winter months to put together a winning package to take to the Championship next year. Should we succeed in putting together this package we will enter next year with the sole aim of winning the Championship.

Les will not be totally rested during the winter months. Iain Duffus & Brian Morrison (both retired but highly successful Macau Grand Prix racers in the past) have put together a new team to race in the Macau (Hong Kong) Grand Prix (November 15th – 21st). They have invited Les to race for them on a Suzuki GSXR 1000, alongside team mate Dean Ellison who earlier in the season was racing on a Ducati Superbike in the British Superbike Championship. With many factory teams entering this prestigious race, Les is looking forward to the opportunity of racing in such a high profile event.

Needless to say we will bring you more news of this on Les’ return.

Les once again would like to thank his sponsors for their overwhelming support this year, he will do his best to thank as many people as possible in person on his return.

-end-

back to top

Look out for les at the 38th Macau GP, use some of the links on this page to view other sites with info about the race.

Les is racing alongside Dean Ellison in the 38th Macau GP for Iain Duffus and last year’s third place finisher Brian Morrison in the the DMR Racing Team, Les will be riding the GSXR1000 Suzuki that was ridden by Kevin Schwantz at this year's Bol d'Or, the one that's got the TECH2000 suspension.

Results will be posted here as soon as we have them.

-end-

back to top

The 38th Macau Motorcycle GP – Hotel Fortuna

Some of the best motorcycle riders in the world descended on Macau for the 38th Macau Motorcycle GP. 40 riders all wanting to do well and show the world how exciting motorcycle racing is. Les was one of these riders, he had been invited to race for DMR Racing run by Iain Duffus and Brian Morrison both highly experienced racers themselves.

The bike Les was racing (Suzuki GSXR 1000) in comparison with many of the other bikes was basically a production bike with suspension modifications (Tech 2000) and although still a very quick bike, the skill of the team and rider would be paramount in the finishing position.

Prior to the race Les had to rely on video footage, 3 laps in a hire car and four laps in a taxi for track familiarisation, not the ideal preparation but for his first time at the track Les had to do everything he could to learn each part before practice.

Day 1 – Thursday – Practice

First free practice – finished day with a 2.43 fastest lap and in 24th place.

Les’s experience made him ride well within his limits getting used to the unfamiliar track. Iain Duffus & Brian Morrison also gave him invaluable help based on their extensive experience. Les has proved in the past that he is able to correlate all this information into a competitive formula this occasion was to be no exception.

The afternoon should have been qualifying, however, the Porsche Carrera Cup had a crash which resulted in oil being trailed round the circuit, the stewards took the decision to make the qualifying session another practice and warning the riders of the oil hazard. At end of this session Les was in 27th with slower lap times due to the track conditions and nothing to be gained by pushing harder.

The marshals worked hard throughout the night to clean the track and by the next day it was far improved. Many thanks go to the hard working Marshals.

Day 2 - Friday qualifying 0730 start

Les was now comfortable with track layout and after a an hour session where the team worked really hard to improve the bike setup and Les took full advantage of the experience of the team, taking their advice on all aspects and combining it with his experience of the track on the day, he finished the day in a superb 12th position with a 2.33 lap time.

Day3 – Saturday - Race Day – Warm up at 0730-0800

Warm up went well with Les staying out for the full half hour but riding carefully due to oil left from the previous days car qualifying. He Finished the warm up in 10th with a 2.40 lap time.

The Race - 1515

Les was lined up on the grid complete with Macau Brolly Girls (photos & TV coverage to follow)

He got a good start moving through to 7th off the line, but at the end of the two first longest straights, he was passed by two riders, putting him back to 9th where he stayed until lap 4 when number 57 Jeremy Toye (USA superbike rider) passed him. Les continued to hold onto 10th until lap 6 when number 6 (Markus Bath) made a mistake and Les and other riders passed him, because Les was immediately behind Markus he had to back off, this allowed number 22 (James McBride) to pass Les. Les was now still holding 10th until lap 12 when he was passed by 23 (Stephen Thomspon) leaving les in 11th which he held to the end of the race.

Some very important statistics from the race.

There were two speed traps during the race, one at the finish line and one at Lisboa bend. The finish line gives an indication of bike power and the Lisboa bend tells how late a rider is braking.

Les was 17th fastest through the finish line 11kph slower than Michael Rutter the eventual winner, however, Les was faster than anyone else into the Lisboa bend, showing how hard Les was pushing.

Social time.

On Saturday night the Mayor of Macau invited the racers to his house and gave them a