Round 1 - Oulton Park weekend summary
After a cracking season in 2023, finishing 5th in the NG Road Racing Championship, the BlueMotion bike racing team worked extremely hard during the off season to add upgrades to the bike, and improve the performance ready for this 2024 season. The team have lots of exciting news and high ambitions for not just the season, but for the long term goal of the team. With brand new parts and race specs added to the bike, and an additional rider to the team, this season looks like it will be full of new and exciting opportunities.
The team touched down at Oulton Park in Little Budworth on the 22nd March, ready for a weekend of testing the new bikes and gaining valuable time on the seats. When the team arrived on the Friday, the weather was extremely windy and very overcast with lots of nearly flying gazebos! The team mechanic Rob at RP Course LTD worked on some last minute checks for Jimmy Buchanan’s Honda Fireblade, while Jack Knights on his new Aprillia RS 660 got underway with testing on track.
Testing sessions are there for a few different reasons, some of those reasons can be; for the riders to get back into the groove of riding their bikes - if they’ve got new bikes, new parts, or had no riding time during the off season. Both Jack and Jimmy spun some laps and had time on track, but they both found a few things that needed time to work on, which ultimately hindered the amount of time the riders could have on the track on the Friday, but after all, that is what testing days are there for. The team spent the remainder of the Friday working on the bike, sitting together in the sunshine and chatting about random things like usual, and of course the team taking the mick out of the team’s Social Media manager Amy, for having a broad Lancashire accent that they can’t understand.
Saturday morning graced the damp track with lots of clouds, wind and even more rain. Jack Knights was first to hit the track, and due to the hailstone, cold track, and cold tyres, he unfortunately came off at turn 1, with luckily no damage to himself or the bike. Jimmy Buchanan’s Honda had a few upgrades needed to his bike, which unfortunately caused him to not ride on Saturday. As gutting as it is, this is why testing is important.
In the afternoon, Jack had his second and final session, and it was very positive for him. He got really comfortable with his riding, and after stepping up from a Kawasaki ninja 400 to his new Aprillia RS 660, it was very impressive to see his quick timings considering it was his first weekend on the bike. Jack did extremely well and excelled in confidence learning lots of things.
Overall the weekend was positive in areas, despite the first round of the season wanting to be a race weekend, the team had the intentions to go into the weekend sussing out the bikes and getting comfortable, ready for the important rounds. After all….the Championship was never won after round 1.
We want to thank all of our amazing sponsors, for their continued support and dedication to fulfilling our vision. Our first big thank you goes to KGK and their incredible kommunity…like what we did there? We really appreciate the endless support you awesome people have given us. Our second big thank you goes out to our other brilliant sponsors;
R&G
RP Course Ltd
Zak Pugh Hospitality
BSB Barmy Army
ACR Group Ltd
Elemental GI Ltd
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