RCD-FPW Racing 125gp Silverstone report

After a disappointing end to round 10 of the Sunoco British 125 championship at Donington, both of the RCD Motorsport / FPW Racing riders arrived at Silverstone looking to right the wrongs of that weekend.

Tom Carne suffered from a poor grid position at Donington and this led to him getting duffed up into the first corner after the start lights went out. Callan just didn’t seem to get to grips with the pace of the other riders at Donington and was struggling from the start but he arrived at Silverstone in a fresh frame of mind and with both riders participating in a test day at Silverstone they arrived at the circuit ready to give it their very best effort.

Free Practice (FP) 1 saw Tom and Cal take to the track looking to start where they left off at the test. The very long lap of Silverstone limits the number of laps the riders can perform so it’s difficult to try new lines and settings without jeopardising the session. In the 20 minute session Tom completed 6 laps while Cal crossed the line 7 times. Toms best lap of 2:29.014 was the fourth fastest lap of the session and a real boost for the Rossendale youngster. Callan didn’t quite get the first session nailed like he’d want to and posted a time of 2:34.714 to finish 22nd. Obviously buoyed by the result Tom and his mechanics wanted to maintain this advantage throughout the weekend which would be a challenge considering the field of riders.

For FP 2 the track temperatures had risen slightly from the misty start of the morning. Cal really was looking to improve in this session and that’s just what he did as he completed 9 laps in the 20 minute session. On his 7th lap he set a time of 2:27.828, almost 7 seconds quicker than the morning session to finish 15th.

As the pace began to hot up, Tom also responded and put in a time of 2:25.740 on his fourth lap. As he tried to push further his Honda started to move around a little bit too much than his liking as the part worn tyres went past their best. Unfortunately this is the reality of a limited budget new tyres are a bonus! Toms lap though was enough to secure 6th place in the session and talking with him after the session he was happy with what he had achieved. Adrian Mason was more than happy with Toms progress and believed Tom could possibly achieve a 2:24 in qualifying.

Qualifying 1 was the second session on track on Saturday morning and it was inevitable that the lap times would once again decrease as all the front runners would look to get down into the low 2 minute 20s before the end of the session.

As the session progress Tom returned to his Tom 6 slot with laps in the 2:25.1 region. As the session drew to a close the riders out on track looked to put together their best laps an gain those extra grid positions.Tom was no different as he dropped into the 2:24.9s and eventually registering a 2:24.804 on his final lap to finish 6th.

Callan also upped his effort during the Saturday morning qualifying session, dropping his lap time by 1 second 2:26.732. Importantly for Callan this helped him maintain his position on the timesheet from where he left off and a much needed confidence boost for the 15 yr old Manxman.

The 2nd and final qualifying session was going to be a real test of both riders as they would want to get away with the front pack on this fast “Euro” style circuit. Tom’s side of the garage though was in struggling though with a lack of speed. Since arriving at the circuit the team had struggled to reproduce the top speeds they had registered 12 months before. Several adjustments had been made over the weekend but the team reverted to a “safe” setting for the final session. The settings, although “safe” seemed to worked with the newly transformed chassis. Tom looked like a man on a mission during the session as he posted times in the 24s then 23s and eventually went 6th fastest over the two sessions with a 2:22.892. A second row start and a massive boost to a teenager who hasn’t had everything his own way in 2011.

Callan, not to be outdone by his team mate also gave it his best and improved his time to a 2:24.902 some 1.8 seconds faster than during the morning. The lap, which averaged over 91 mph, was enough to secure 14th on the grid for the race.

With nothing to loose the Tom’s mechanics looked to the morning warm-up session to try some “oddball” settings in an attempt to get the bike to rev-out like it should. The adjustments did not give the results the mechanics had hoped for as he ended the 8 minute session in 2:25.847. Callan stayed in the safe zone during the session, as did many others, and ended the session in 11th with a lap of 2:26.387.

The Sunoco British Championship race was the final race of the day and as the crowds subsided the grand prix machines took to the Northamptonshire circuit. As the lights went out all 34 machines darted towards Copse for the first time, notorious as a wide sweeping bend where many a riders race easily comes to an end. Both Cal and Tom maintained position during the 1st lap with Tom crossing in 8th and Cal 12th. On the second lap the two yellow and green machines changed position, for Tom he moved up to 6th while Callan

lost a position to 13th.

During the mid section of the race both riders were embroiled in there separate battles. Tom was moving between 5th, and challenging to 4th but each lap he crossed the line in 6th. For Callan he was moving forward to his eventual finishing place of 11th.

Tom, continuing to suffer with the lack of top speed did his very best to hang onto 6th, but the hard charging Luke Hedger passed him on the final lap to push Tom back to 7th as he crossed the line. With all the front runners finishing the race for once this was easily Toms best performance of the year. For Callan this marked a change in his fortunes with a points haul and plenty of positives to go forward to Brands Hatch with.

Tom, wishes to thank Richard at Harris Öhlins Race Support for completely transforming his Honda’s handling.“The chatter I have suffered with all year has gone and I am matching the fast guys through the corners which has been where I lost time before”, said Tom. The final round of the British Championship takes place at Brands Hatch 7th-9th October.