FP1:
Saturday morning saw a welcome return to Donington Park and what looked like the start of summer. Still buoyant after the fantastic “Back to Front” ride at Oulton Park, Edward made a steady start to session 1. The team were trying some revisions to a cylinder and rear suspension settings. Edward pushed hard throughout the 20 minute session which saw him finish a in a strong 9th place.
FP2:
A gearing revision was the outcome of the de-brief from FP1. This was made by Bryan and the team during the break. The 3.30 start of session 2 brought increased track temperatures and increased performance from the whole field. The changes made helped push the Aztec machine through the sector one speed trap in P2. However a change in wind direction was to have an effect on the overall lap with Edward finishing the session in a slightly disappointed P16. “The bike felt great, I think we can make some further changes to the gearbox which should put us in good shape for qualifying” commented Ed.
Q1:
The Aztec machine made its way to pit lane at 8.58 am, with Ed up for the challenge. Halfway into the session all was well with Ed running in the top10. A visit back to pit lane for refreshment and final brief would see Ed refocus and try to pick his moment. Some say that qualifying is an art, unfortunately for the “Aztec pilot” the picture was a little blurred. Ed was putting some fantastic sector times together, but was suffering from not being able to pick up the quicker riders when it really counted. As the session continued to its conclusion a frustrated Rendell saw his final position recorded as P17.
Q2:
A fresh approach was needed in order to get the most out of the last qualifying session. The team knew the bike was capable and Edward was certainly confident in his ability to string together that elusive lap. The pit board ticked off the laps and Tom & Dave called Ed to pit lane with the Aztec machine still hovering around mid pack. After a drink and the right words Ed resumed and was now looking for his moment. With 3 minutes to go the Aztec machine dropped into a small pack of riders who were on their own mission. As Rendell crossed the line for what was his last lap, the strategy had worked, the timing screens showed P12. This meant an opportunity to run with the leading pack for the race.
Morning Warm up:
After a weekend of beautiful weather, Monday arrived with a mixed forecast. There was great debate about what conditions would be like for the race. The most important thing to see in warm up is the “chequered flag”. A final gearing and a carburettor change was made to evaluate for the race. Safe passage through warm up was ensured by Ed’s confident riding and the team now had a 6 hour wait for the action to begin.
Race:
The long gap between warm up and race gave an opportunity to catch up with visitors both in the paddock and pit lane (see separate news story). After what seemed like an eternity the wait was over. The sound of the Superbikes fading into the distance Tom, Bryan and Dave prepared the bike for departure. A confident Rendell pushed off on the formation lap and subsequently took up his place on the grid.
As the lights changed Ed spotted a gap and passed 3 riders into Redgate, he then held the line into Hollywood and Craner, then as the pack reached Coppice Ed had moved to P6. A tussle through the Esses saw the Aztec machine demoted to P8 at the end of lap 1. Ed was looking comfortable mixing it with the front runners and a battle with Conner Behan started to develop with the pair swapping places through the second lap. The leading pack had settled into rhythm now with Ed looking good in P8.
Exiting Coppice on lap 3 the Aztec machine was building speed for another challenge to Conor. As Edward powered out of the Melbourne hairpin, the demons struck again. A “highside” flipped the rider out of the seat and the race. With no injury sustained, Ed reflected on what might have been. “The bike was spot on, I was very comfortable running with those guys at the front. Everyone has worked so hard this weekend and we were so close, I was sure I could have put us in the top six”.
We move to Thruxton next weekend for round Four, hopefully with some luck. Many thanks to everyone for your continued support, we hope to see you there.