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Ben Scranage
Thunder Sport GB Oulton Park 25th 26th June
BMC Filters Formula 600 class


Friday Practice:
  A beautiful sunny oulton park. Testing went really well bike felt good first session out no problems, really happy considering we were running the spare engine and we hadn't used it before. We managed to get some real good lap times in, an achievement in its self considering they mixed us in with the Nitro 450 class so there was a lot of traffic!

Friday Qualifying:
  15 minute session for qualifying today, 40 bikes made it very hard to get a clean fast lap in. Lap 5 was my fastest lap setting a time of 1.45.5 which put me on the front row in P3 really really happy with that even better news is that I knew I could go faster as I got held up a little on that lap!

Saturday Formula 600 Race 1:
  From grid 3 made a bad start down to 6th place through the first turn, I settled down and starting making my way through the pack. By lap 3 I was back up to 3rd place. Then on the start of the fourth lap on the first turn my clutch went, really gutted! Obviously couldn't carry on so it was a DNF, really disappointed! My first ever race with thundersport GB, should have been a podium!

Saturday Formula 600 Race 2:
  From grid 3 again, bad start again! (need to practice these starts). 9th through the first turn, had a good scrap with four or five riders for 6th place. Every time I lined some one up for a pass the rider behind me would pass me so it got real frustrating. I finally managed to get to 6th place by lap 6 and then gap them but by then it was too late to catch the riders in front. On lap seven I set my fastest time of the weekend and the second fastest formula 600 time of the weekend so really disappointed I wasn't fighting for a podium in race two. Finished in 6th place!

  Big thank you to smallboy track bikes for all there help! And also a big thank you to hammer and tongs performance for the use of there hospitality! It was a real team effort all round! Thanks again Ben Scranage

 

Ben Scranage
Mallory Park 31/5/2010 - New Era - Rounds 5


  Nearly a perfect weekend for the team well deserved after the disappointment of missing round 4 at Silverstone. A very sunny Mallory Park for both test day and race day.

Test Day:
  Friday testing was going fine, plenty of track time and some good solid lap times. Bike felt real good, didn't really play with any settings it was just one of those rare days where everything felt good. Then second to last session the bike started to overheat so I came in and we found a small hole in the radiator. Luckily race day wasn't until bank holiday Monday so we managed to get it repaired!

Race Day:
  A beautiful day at Mallory Park, first session out for me today was a sound of thunder qualifying. I don't usually race in sound of thunder class but thought it would be a good practice for my main race the formula Xtream class. I did 8 laps and qualified P2! Qualifying for formula Xstream class did 8 laps and managed P3!
Front row for both races I was happy with that.

Race 1 Sound of Thunder:
  Made a reasonable start second through the first bend. Ended up in real fight for second and third with Andy Blackman and he managed to pass me on the last lap. So ended up with 3rd place in my first ever sound of thunder race! A bit disappointed with that as I knew I could go much quicker than that as I had just done in formula Xstream qualifying!

Race 1 Formula Xstream:
  From P3 made a bad start 5th through the first bend, fought my way through to second place and then on lap 8 the leader Gary Arden had a bad off at the bus stop, so the race was red flagged and the race was awarded as they crossed the line on lap 7 with Gary excluded for cause of red flag. Race win for me a bit lucky!
(We wish Gary a speedy recovery)

Race 2 Formula Xsteam:
  From P3 again better start this time, me and Dan lane had a very good scrap for the lead then on lap 5 I managed to put a very clean fast lap in and race away for the win! Great weekend for me and the team big thanks to everyone who helps me out couldn't do it without your help!

 

Ben Scranage
Cadwell Park 16-17-17/04/10 - New Era - Rounds 2 & 3


  The weekend had highs and lows straight from the off. Thursday night I get the bike out of the garage and it doesn't start. I striped it down to have a look couldn't find the problem! So I had 2 options miss the test day on the Friday and try to get it to JT tuning to see if he could fix the problem, or my sponsor (smallboy track bikes) would lend me one of his standard Suzuki GSXR K7 hire bikes to race. So we decided on the Suzuki, not ideal but it would get me out there and hopefully get me some points.

Friday Testing:
  It was a gorgeous day at Cadwell Park. It took all morning to get use to the standard Suzuki, so different to my race bike the triumph 675. The Suzuki had a lot less power, no race suspension, and no quick shifter. After dinner I got my head round it and started gradually getting a little bit faster each session. By the end of the day we managed to get a mediocre lap time that I thought would put us mid pack for the race!

Saturday Round 1 Qualifying:
  Another gorgeous day, put in nine laps for qualifying and managed to qualify 5th out of 21 riders, really happy with that considering we were on standard machinery.

Formula Xtreme Race 1:
  A 10 lap race from the second row, didn't get a great start down to 10th off the start line. Settled down and made my way through to finish 4th really happy again with that!

Formula Xtreme Race 2:
  Again from the second row bit of a better start, 8th into the first turn this time, made my way through to finish 5th!

Sunday Round 2 Qualifying:
  A new set of rubber on for today, qualified 4th, 0.9 off pole!

Formula Xtreme Race 1:
  10 lap race, getting a bit of a better feeling from the bike with the new rubber on, felt I could push that little bit harder, best time of the weekend for me in this race, just less than a second down on the leading pace. 4th place finish for this race!

Formula Xtreme Race 2:
  Last race of weekend, 4th off the grid, made a reasonable start 6th into the first corner; I felt that I was getting held up a little by the rider in front. On lap 7 I finally managed to pass him into barn and then I got my head down. The leading pack were a second ahead, I caught them up within one lap setting the fastest lap of the race and the fastest f600 lap time of the weekend. Then on lap 8 disaster struck…… I was right behind the leading pack of four and the rider in front missed a gear going through coppice which is a very very fast left hander and I ran right into the back of him. Some how he stayed on (thank god) but I wasn't so lucky I was rolling around in the grass at around 130mph, luckily I was ok! A bit battered and bruised but otherwise ok no broken bones the bike wasn't so lucky though a lot of damage!


I want to say a big big thank you again to smallboy track bikes for everything they are doing for me and for the loan of the bike, it never missed a beat all weekend! (AM SORRY ABOUT THE BIKE!)