26/09/2022
Classic Bol D’or 2022
Ok so it’s been a while since Two weekends ago. The dust has now settled. Firstly a huge congratulations to Guzi Box and their Win in France.
Our race in Le Castellet went very different to that. There was No Deniying our speed at the event. However it just wasn’t to be for us in the Final standings.
Overall i’m Practise and Qualifiying we where within the top 3 with both riders. Eventually Alex Olsen clinching pole position for us. Which was credit to him and the Brilliant RC30. Alex was a late Replacement and he was nothing other than Class. Fast and an alround nice guy.
Race 1: Starting from pole, Alex made a fast run. To the bike first and he was away. With nearly a second lead after Lap 1 and this being his First Le Mans Start. Was a great effort. However, on Lap 2 a technical Problem with the Gear Linkage out of the final Turn put pay to that lead.
He returned to the box and the Put crew set about fixing the issue. Big thanks to ADDS Kawasaki and Dave Railton for getting us back on track all be it 4 Laps down on the Leader.
Alex completed his Stint and had got the Team back to 19th. Sam swapped with alex. Whilst trying to work out a gear pattern, he’d never used before other than on an Airfield set about chasing down the leaders. After a pretty good effort come the end of the First 2 hour race. Neate Racing Lay 4th + 1 Lap off the Leaders.
Race 2: After Alex’s fantastic start the previous Day, we all elected to let him have another go. Also he was a bit faster so thought a solid 1st stint would let him apply some pressure to the Leaders. Plan A was in full force, as Alex had pulled a big lead and was catching the leaders. Until another small technical issue with the Rear Axle caused Alex to pit. Unfortunately this list is another 3 Laps on the leader. So the target changed slightly. However wanting to get a good strong result was still at the front of the teams Mind. Once again brilliant riding by Alex got us back to 6th Place. After 3 laps behind the safety car we decided to pit as the riders would be closer together.
So a slick stop by the crew and the bike was away again. Unfortunately Sam Managed 2 corners before he slipped off. A pure rider error and cold front tyre and a bit of Over eagerness to Make a mense was the cause. Having only lost 8 Seconds from the crash, sam was back on and trying again to claw some positions back. Alas it was to no evail as 40 from the Flag, Neate Racing was shown the black and Orange Flag. Reason:
“The bike looked like it could have blown up”
No Smoke, a Dry engine was inspected, yes some small damage from the crash but absoloutely Zero Oil.
In honesty a finish would have felt like a win for Neate Racing. We’d been through so much emotion in two 2 Hour Races. We where denied that For some strange reason.
But that’s Motorbike racing.
Thanks to Our sponsors and suppliers and team for Helping us get there.
Maybe we will go back.
A
