Brands Hatch | Round 1 | See PRF Racing compete & follow their results

Brands Hatch Indy

Location: Kent, England

Length:1.198 Miles

No of Corners: 7

Druids

Graham Hill Bend

Cooper Straight

Hailwood Hill

Mclaren

Surtees

Clearways

Clark Curve

Paddock Hill

Brabham Straight

Until Round 1

Results

Reece - Formula 600

Qualifying - 3rd

Race 1 - 2nd

Race 2 - 2nd

Race 3 - 2nd

Fastest Lap - 49.003

Ideal Best - 48.829

Curtis - GP1

Qualifying - 9th

Race 1 - 6th

Race 2 - DNS

Race 3 - 6th

Fastest Lap - 49.275

Ideal Best - 48.231

Brands Hatch Indy - ROUND 1 - Thundersport GB 2015

Curtis tackles the famous Druids bend during qualifying

The dreaded early march Brands Hatch race meeting is out of the way! We don’t dread it because we don’t like the circuit or because we have to take out a mortgage to afford the fuel to get down there; it’s dreaded because it is usually snowing. A weather condition formally known to motorcycle racers as dog s**t. However, to everyone’s surprise, spring arrived just in time and we couldn’t have asked for better weather conditions all weekend, not a drop of rain, or snow for that matter.

This was a big meeting for both the team and the riders. New bikes, new tyres, new leathers, new helmets; and neither the tyres, leathers or helmets had been tested during pre-season testing. As practice got under way both Reece and Curtis quickly took to the fine conditions and put in some very respectable lap times, and by the early afternoon they were both hitting their target lap times. Curtis did have one incident on circuit, pushing hard in session 4; he tucked the front wheel on the brakes going into Druids Bend. A typical Brands Hatch crash. This type of crash is inevitable when jumping from 600cc to 1000cc. All of that extra weight of a 1000cc on the same size front tyre as a 600cc means you can’t push the front tyre as hard into corners. This was a huge learning step for Curtis on his first race weekend on the PRF Racing Gibfield Garage GSXR 1000. He knew he would have to change his riding style in order to compete at the level of the Thundersport GB GP1 Championship. Reece finished his day off on the pace and feeling ready for the tough battle on track. Everything was ready for qualifying!

Reece gets ready for his first session of the day

Saturday morning brought the same fine weather conditions as Friday except with a little extra wind. Curtis was first out on circuit in the GP1 qualifying session. Whilst he was out on circuit we quickly realised that there was an issue, his lap times were more than 2 seconds a lap slower than he was doing in practice and the bike seemed to have developed a misfire. Mid-session Curtis pulled in a and explained that he was struggling to change gear and that it was very lumpy when it did. It had to be an electrical problem. He managed to qualify 20th overall, 9th in the GP1 class. Once we got the bike back to the pits we were able to source the cause of the misfire. It was the Quickshifter that had unknowingly developed a fault after the Friday practice accident. We were able to resolve this issue and thankfully get the bike up and running ready for Curtis’s first race.

Reece had very little drama in his qualifying session. He knew he had to put the bike on the front row to have any chance of a top position in the races. The nature of the Brands Hatch Indy circuit makes it very difficult to catch should you drop far behind the lead. Reece had to qualify well. After 8 very fast laps Reece stuck in a 49.1, quick enough to put him 3rd on the grid, starting from the front row. Job well done Reece!

Reece has his eye on the prize in qualifying

The time had come, Thundersport GB Round 1, Race 1 – Curtis was out first. The bike’s electrical problem was clearly fixed. After a steady start Curtis picked off his opposition lap by lap, always catching and improving on his lap times. He brought his Suzuki GSXR 1000 back home in 14th position overall, 6th in the GP1 Class with a fastest lap of 49.275. A fantastic result for his first race on-board a 1000cc.

Reece again had little drama in his first race, starting from the front row of the grid, he made a good start and held third for the majority of the race until finally finishing in 4th overall 1st in the Formula 600 class. It became clear that Reece was struggling with his exit speed onto the start/finish straight, it appeared he was losing traction and was unable to accelerate as hard as he needed to retain his third position overall. We were able to iron out this issue with minor suspension changes for the weekend’s final races.

This was a fantastic end to the team’s first race day.

Thankfully the weather remained fine for our third and final day of the meeting. Saturdays run of success quickly came to a halt for Curtis’s side of the garage. An incident in morning warm up caused by another rider took Curtis down going into Paddock Hill Bend. A 4th gear corner which no rider enjoys hitting the tarmac. The bike was a spectacular sight as it bounced end over end into the gravel trap, £ notes disappearing from the bike with every inch it spent not on the round & black things called Dunlop’s. This was a disaster for both the team and Curtis. After contemplating packing what was left of the PRF Racing Gibfield Garage Suzuki GSXR600 in the truck we decided to try and get the bike back together so Curtis could at least make the final race. Within two hours the bike which looked more like a bruised old banana was back up and running and actually didn’t look to bad! Thankfully none of the bikes structural parts such as the frame, forks & swing arm had damage. In reality it was all cosmetic and bike controls such as handlebars, levers and foot pegs. A faultless effort from the team meant Curtis would be competing after all.

Not what the team expected after a warm up session!

Reece, repeated his consistent performance from Saturday to finish 4th again, 2nd in the Formula 600 class. His race was a tale of two halves, the race was a two-parter due to a red flag after 4 laps of Sunday race 1. Prior to the restart Reece made a horrendous start and was back in 9th position and having to start from 9th in restart wasn’t going to make for an easy race. Reece this time made a flying start, eventually catching back up to his final finishing position of 4th. This was a great result considering the difficulty of catching up in the short 9 lap restart.

Curtis took to the grid for the final GP1 race of the weekend, Curtis’s final outing at Brands Hatch for 2015. Battered and bruised he nursed his bike back home in a very respectable 15th position overall and 6th in the GP1 class.

The final race of the day was going to be a flyer. It seemed like the weather was coming in quickly. It was going be a battle to get the race over with before the rain started. Reece made his best start of the weekend, 2nd into the first bend. As the race progressed it became a furious battle for the lead of the Formula 600 class. Swapping and changing the lead, it seemed like Reece eventually settled for 2nd in class and 4th overall. It wasn’t until Reece returned to parc ferme that we were informed that his visor had fogged up half way through the race making it virtually impossible for Reece to see his opposition. He did a supreme job to bring the bike back home in the position he did!

Reece on his way to claiming victory in race 1

The first round was over; whilst it had major lows it was still a huge leap forward for the team. Reece is now lying 2nd in the championship, just 1 point behind in the Formula 600 championship lead. As for Curtis; but for the unfortunate events of Sunday morning warm up, has a very positive weekend with strong results for his first time on a 1000cc superbike. Our next round is at Donnington Park GP on the 9th-12th of April 2015. See you there!

PRF Racing would like to thank all of our sponsors and supporters for the help we have recieved to become the race winning team we are today!