Team HWW Racing were raring to go following their success at the previous round at Snetterton 300 and arrived at Brands Hatch on Wednesday night, ready to setup on Thursday.
Grant went out into free practise feeling confident as he was happy with how his bike had been working at the previous round. The free practise session was on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, the following day Grant would be riding on the GP circuit for the rest of the weekend. Grant wanted to try numerous things with the HWW Racing Yamaha R6. During this time he found a couple of things to change which would enable him to hit the ground running once he went into qualifying. Grant finished the session in 9th position.
It was Saturday morning and the weather didn’t look too good compared to the days leading up to Brands Hatch. Grant had a 30 minute long session which would see him attack the GP circuit for the first time this year. Grant loves the GP circuit compared to the Indy circuit as he feels you can spread your wings a little bit out on the back of the circuit, plus it adds a little character and time to a lap. Grant got his head down straight from the word go as he feels he needs to work on this during qualifying a lot more in order to improve his time throughout the session. Grant found himself in 3rd position after a number of laps, he felt comfortable but the weather took a turn for the worse and started to rain. This brought everyone into the pits whilst the clock was still counting down. Everyone knew that the session later on in the day (qualifying 2) would be dry so Grant did not go out again as he was happy with his 3rd position and he or anybody else for that matter would not go any faster.
Qualifying 2 was early evening and a lot brighter. Grant approached the session in the same way, he went out on track and gradually started to build up speed and get faster and faster each lap.
Grant put in a good ‘banker’ time which put him 10th but chose to stay out on track to keep his rhythm going. He kept an eye on his pit signals and moved up to 8th position which would put him on the end of row 2. The first 2 rows are the goal for Grant to aim for but he knew people would go quicker on their last laps. He found himself behind a fellow rider but he was getting held up slightly. He quickly realised this and got in front of him and such enough, he had timed it right as his last lap of qualifying was his fastest ever lap he had done round Brands Hatch GP Circuit. This moved Grant up to 7th position. This gave Grant loads of confidence as he felt he had achieved a lot but most importantly, he had qualified on the front 2 rows of the grid for the race. This would make Grant life a whole lot easier come the start of the race.
The 12 lap race was here. Grant got off to a great start as always. He leaped off the starting grid and entered the first corner in 3rd position. After the 1st lap Grant found himself back in 6th position. He didn’t have the confidence to push on in the early stages of the race. Come mid-race distance Grant was in a little battle for 6th position. He got past by a fellow rider and then realised he was getting held up so he got back in front and lead the chasing pack. 3 laps from the end Grant dropped a position and found himself in 7th, he watched the lines or the rider in front and made sure he knew where he was strong or not so he could challenge for the position, come the last lap. Approaching the last corner on the last lap he got great drive and went for a pass, got past as he knew the rider in front had great drive onto the start finish line. He made the pass but ran a little wide in the final turn which left the door open for the rider to come back underneath him which he did therefore leaving Grant in 7th position once they crossed the finish line.
Overall it was an excellent result for both Grant & the team. The bike was working good but still needed a few suspension modifications and we would have been further towards the leading pack.
Grant would like to thank the following for all their support:
J&S Accessories
HWW Racing
Economy Spares Ltd
Ferris Racing
Bond-A-Band Transmissions Ltd
Barnes DAF
KneedownUK.com
Stavros-Sports.com
HWW Tyre warmers
General Banner Company
All the 79 club members & all the people who attended over the weekend Laura Standen, My Dad, Sam Black, Mark Standen, Jeremy & Ann, Steve Jeanes, Alan Matthews, Roy, Povey, Tony, Jim, Abi & Katie Higgs, Tiff, Jo, Simon & Mick.