After the long break since the last round at Donington, July brings us to Snetterton for rounds 7 and 8 of the F250 championship.
With its long straights a fast machine is essential at Snetterton. Though speed isn’t everything; to get a good lap time the long curves at Corams and Richies plus the exit from Sear’s, which is important for speed down Revetts straight, do require a bike to handle well.
The battle at the front is expected to between championship leader Alan Armour (#4) on his Suzuki RGV VJ23 and, fresh from his win at Donington, a rejuvenated Mark Jordan (#96) on his Kawasaki KR-1S. We know Mark’s Kawasaki is fast - having come top in Performance Bike’s 250 shoot out in 2004 – but will its speed make up for the better handling of Alan’s more modern VJ23.
An unknown quantity will be Steve Saint (#44) and his Aprilia RS250. Steve’s machine is known to be very fast, it came 3rd in the Performance Bike competition even though it had seized a piston earlier in the day and its combination of speed and good handling should be ideally suited to Snetterton. However, a question mark remains as to its reliability. Steve has been plagued with machine problems this season – missing the Croft rounds and the last race at Donington.
Aprilia’s are well represented with James Booth (#62) on his beautifully prepared Dave Cooper tuned machine, Iain McDonald (#137) having made the long trek down from East Kilbride (Scotland), the ever young Andy Slinn (#22) and young Michael Booth (#89) on his RS125 Aprilia.
With Jody Lovatt (RS250) not defending his lead in Division II of the F250, second placed John Hawkes (#47) on his Kawasaki KR-1S will be looking to take the lead. John who until this round had been running a standard KR-1 engine, will be using a new KR-1S race engine and will certainly appreciate the extra speed this gives; especially here at Snetterton. If you see him on circuit give him a wave as John has just celebrated his 60th birthday. The old Kawasaki’s are also well represented with Lee White (#70), Kevin Tiernan (#7
and Dan Bateman (#147) back on a KR after a very good ride on a friend’s Yamaha R6 at Donington – first time on the bike and only his second race meeting.
With Chris Smith (RGV VJ22) changing to a ZXR400, Alan Armour is the only man left flying the Suzuki flag.
Championship Points http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/teamsparrow/results/f250_2006.xls