Global Motorsports Team NewsletterEvent

Global Motorsports Team NewsletterNZSBK round one

Contents 01

The first round of the New Zealand Superbike Championship has kicked off at Ruapuna and we’ve got all the details for you here.

P2

P7

P11

P3

P9

P13

P5

Team manager report

Meet the team

Track info

Ken’s race report

Sponsor profile

Season calendar

Capture

02 Team manager report

This first round of the Championship marks the halfway point of our season with 5 down and 5 to go, and we’re feeling good about our progress to date.

The Global Motorsports team rolled into Christchurch early on Thursday afternoon and spent the rest of the day setting up our pit area for the first round of the New Zealand Championship at Ruapuna Park.

The weather forecast had threatened heavy rain all week, but thankfully Friday morning dawned with only a few light showers. I picked up Paul from the airport and we began our frist practice session Ruapuna has been a bogey circuit for Ken in the past, so we hoped to come away from the weekend with some consistent finishes and valuable points.

After Ken’s first practice (1:40 second laps), we made a huge number of changes to the bike: we re-valved the front forks, made gearing changes, shortened the bike’s wheelbase, and removed a faulty Power Commander that was causing a huge flat spot.

By the end of day one Ken had dropped his lap times to the low 1.38’s, running on an old set of race tyres.

We fitted a new set of tyres for qualifying on Saturday afternoon which saw Ken drop his lap times by a further second and claim 11th spot on the grid for Sunday’s two races.

Race one on Sunday morning saw Ken get a terrible start, exiting turn one in third-to-last position, but over the fifteen lap race he made his way through the pack, setting a new personal best time of 1:36.2, and and putting together a string of mid 1.36 second laps to finish tenth overall in the 20+ bike field.

Race two again saw Ken get an awful start and with the air temperature touching the 30’s (increasing lap times by a full second for the entire field), Kenagain had to claw his way through the field and finished in a creditable ninth position.

Overall, Ken and the team had a very good weekend. Ken is over four seconds faster than he was on Friday, and we continue to gain important improvements from setting changes to the Suzuki GSX-R.

Round two next weekend at Timaru sees Ken’s favourite circuit and hopefully some higher finishing positions.

Cheers,

Andrew Forward

Suzuki’s new GSX-R600 has long been regarded as the weapon of choice in the 600cc classes, making it the perfect choice for our debut season.

TitleMeet the team 03

Fresh from the showroom at Bay Motorcycles, the GSX-R600 is awesomely fast. But we’ve made the bike even better, with help from some of the best names in the business.

Brian Bernard of Bernard Racing has fitted our engine with race cams to give us more punch out of corners and a higher top speed. And with the increased power, we’ll need the stickiest and longest-lasting tyres available; Bridgestone’s highly regarded BTR-10 racing slicks.

To complement the increased grunt and grip, Kerry Dukic from Dukic Performance has upgraded our suspension with a K-Tech rear shock absorber and front fork kit that will see our already potent Suzuki handling beautifully and lapping at record pace this summer!

After a season in SuperLight, Ken Jones is back to tackle 600 Supersport with support from Andrew Forward of Global Motorsport.

Having raced in various classes over the last six years, Ken Jones is a familiar face in the paddock. He began in buckets at the age of fourteen, before making the move to 125GP in 2007 under the guidance of Maarty van Booma.

After missing the 2009/10 season, Ken moved up to the SuperLight class for 2011. Riding the No Hair Racing YZF-R450. Ken placed fifth overall, scoring a best race result of third at Hampton Downs.

Having seen Ken’s potential, Global Motorsport’s Andrew Forward has come onboard as title sponsor for the 2011/12 season. With a solid programme of pre-season testing behind them, the team are race fit and gunning for a top five finish in the 2012 New Zealand 600 Supersport Championship.

Title

Christchurch’s offering to the Championship calendar has a mix of long straights, tight and sweeping corners, all set under a typically warm Canterbury sky.

Track info 05

Set a short distance outside Christchurch, and in the surrounds of Ruapuna Park, Powerbuilt International Raceway is one of a couple of ‘main event’ racing circuits in New Zealand. Long and complex (the track can be run in up to seven different layouts), a good lap at Ruapuna requires some serious investment in testing to learn the circuit and find a setup to cope with all the challenges it presents.

As you’d expect, Christchurch has a long history of motorsport and the Ruapuna round of the New Zealand Superbike Championship honours this each year with the running of ‘Grand Prix’ title races for all Championship classes on Sunday afternoon.

The original New Zealand Grand Prix was held on a road circuit near Christchurch in 1936, and was contested regularly until 1963.

The track might have changed, but the trophy races still attract a quality field of riders keen to add their names to the list of winners. And at 15 laps (or about 23 minutes) of high inensity racing, a win in the Grand Prix is a mammoth achievement for any rider, and throughly deserving of a place in history.

Turn six (Carousel): 55 km/hAnother long one, this corner has been nicknamed ‘Nana’s’ as you feel like you’re going too slow even when you get it right.

Turn one (Flexoplas): 80 km/hHold your breath as you slow by nearly 170km/h, taking care not to outbrake yourself and shoot off the track and into the gravel trap.

06 Ruapuna

Lap record: 600 Sport Production - 1:32.457 (James Smith, January 2009)

Turn five: 95 km/hA long bumpy left hander that needs good setup and feel from the front end.

Top speed: 250 km/h Turn ten: (The Dipper): 55 km/hAwesome banking through here, however it flattens out on the exit and can result in a highside crash if you’re not careful.

Turn twelve (The sweeper): 75 km/hThis has to be one of my favourite corners! The 180˚ turn has minimal camber and seems to go on forever!

Turn three (The hairpin): 45 km/hBrake as late and as hard as you dare. An excellent place for passing.

Ken’s race report 07

Early Friday morning we were raring to go. During our first practice session I found that we had a problem with the way the engine was running. We quickly narrowed it down to a faulty Power Commander and went back to the standard computer. Even with the electronics drama I still managed to set myself a new personal best lap time of 1.37.7.

For my first session on Saturday, we encountered light showers as we made our way on to the track, which cut our session short. The weather turned sunny again for our second session, but the track grip had changed and I only managed to get down to a 1.38.5.

With several adjustments to the front forks I made my way out for qualifying, and by my third lap I had set myself a new personal best of 1.36.6 and then settled into consistent high 1.36’s for the remainder of the session. This was enough to qualify in 11th place in the Supersport field.

Sunday morning dawned dry and warm, perfect for racing. In both race one and two I got terrible starts, and had to fight my way back through the field, finishing in tenth spot after race one.

By race two the track was quite hot (normally a good thing) however this made the surface greasy and slowed us all down by about a second a lap. I had a good fight with Josh McGrath and finished ninth.

We’re not on the podium yet, but are counting these as succesful weekends nonetheless. I gathered some valuable notes on an unfamiliar circuit, and we’re getting closer to a really fast bike setup with the help of Dukic Performance. I’m definitely looking forward to this weekend in Timaru.

A huge thanks to all of our sponsors for their support as without you this season wouldn’t be possible.

Ken.

N.Z. Supersport Championship round one results

Qualifying 11th

Race one 10th

Race two 9th

Overall 10th

No-one’s giving an inch as the title hunt gets underway in the South Island!

From team-mates to sparring partners: Ken leads Josh McGrath around ‘Carousel’

08 NZSBK round one

Sponsor profile 09

Justin Power (AKA ‘The Chinaman’) is the Director of Comac Industrial Services based in Napier. Justin runs a fleet of waste suction trucks, industrial cool store scrubbing machines, sand blasting and industrial spray painting for clients that include the Port of Napier, the Whirinaki pulp and paper mill, Enza foods and Goodman Fielder. Justin has a long history of motorcycle and speedway car racing over the past 40 years, which include racing as a swinger in the world Sidecar Championship in Europe during the early 1980’s.

Despite a serious crash which almost resulted in the loss of his left leg, Justin then helped bring speedway sidecar racing to California in the mid-1980’s where he also lived and ran his spraypainting business for several years.

Justin has been heavily involved in midget speedway car racing for the past ten years, and more recently returned to motorcycle racing on a SuperMotard. Comac insutries have come onboard as a major sponsor of the team and have very kindly supplied his Race Transporter so that we can move our bikes and gear around New Zealand. At over 50 feet long and bright red, it’s pretty hard to miss and will become a prominent feature in the paddock this season.

With a special contribution from Justin Power and Comac Industries, the Global Motorsports team is making a big impression this season!

Our team transporter (seen here at the Cemetery Circuit) is certainly turning some heads in the paddock!

10 Comac Industries

Calendar 11

We’ll be competing at 10 meetings over the summer, and would love to have you at the track to cheer us on!

Burt Munro Festival Wyndham township and Teretonga, Invercargill

26th and 27th November 2011

Suzuki International Tri Series round one

Hampton Downs, Waikato 10th December 2011

Suzuki International Tri Series round two

Manfeild Park, Fielding 17th December 2011

Suzuki International Tri Series round three

Cemetery Circuit, Wanganui 26th December 2011

New Zealand Superbike Championship round one

Ruapuna Park, Christchurch 7th and 8th January 2012

New Zealand Superbike Championship round two

Levels Raceway, Timaru 14th and 15th January 2012

New Zealand Superbike Championship round three

Teretonga Park, Invercargill 21st and 22nd January 2012

Battle of the Streets Hacksaw circuit, Paeroa 19th February 2012

New Zealand Superbike Championship round four

Hampton Downs, Waikato 17th and 18th March 2012

New Zealand Superbike Championship round five

Taupo Motorsport Park, Taupo 24th and 25th March 2012

12 Track locations

Teretonga Park, Invercargill Wyndham street circuit, Invercargill

Levels Raceway, Timaru

Cemetery Circuit, Wanganui

Hampton Downs, Waikato Hacksaw circuit, Paeroa

Manfeild Park, Fielding

Ruapuna Park, Christchurch

Taupo Motorsport Park

Capture 13

Ken fends off Jamie Galway (515) and Cam Jones (26) during the Supersport Grand Prix trophy race on Sunday

Thankyou again to our support partners, whose generous contributions are very much appreciated. Please click their logo to visit their website and learn more.

Next meeting: New Zealand Superbike Championship round two, Levels Raceway, Timaru, Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th January 2012

Thanks

©2012 Championship Digital. All rights reservedPublished by Championship Digital for Team Global Motorsports. Photography and design by Championship Digital, text by Team Global Motorsports.