Good result improves confidence for Whitaker
Team HWW Racing arrived in good time to the Snetterton 300 circuit, Norfolk. Everything was ready for the following days practise and qualifying.
Free Practise:
Grant went out into free practise off the back of a crash in the race at Knockhill. This was the first time Grant had been able to test the bike to make sure everything was straight and working as it should with the bike. Straight away Grant found a problem with the bike. This caused Grant to unfortunately not ride the bike so the 30 minute session was wasted.
Qualifying 1:
Having believed we had found the problem, we replaced the yokes on the front end of the HWW Racing Yamaha R6 which we kindly borrowed off another competitor. This therefore meant Grant was basically a session behind. When he went out it was qualifying and he was trying to get up to speed as quickly as he could. He finished the session fairly happy considering the time Grant had on track. Grant finished 15th but he had already done a Personal Best lap time around Snetterton 300.
Qualifying 2:
Qualifying 2 was the following day and with more time and new tyres, Grant went out ready to improve his time. He didn’t change anything to do with the suspension as he felt it was just him who had to improve. He managed to improve his time by half a second but this unfortunately pushed him back to 17th. Grant would start the race from row 5 and 17th on the grid.
Race:
The race was here and with temperatures boiling again then it was going to be a really tough race ahead. Grant got an average start but soon made his way up to 12th position. Grant began to feel comfortable but unfortunately got passed but Grant could see he was getting held up so he made a pass and held the position. He got to the front of a group but by this stage there was a 4 – 5 second gap in front of him. Grant had been struggling with arm pump over the weekend but knew he had to keep chipping away and do constant lap times. This is what Grant did, throughout the whole race Grant was getting faster every lap and being to catch the rider in front. Once entering the last lap Grant had got the gap down to less than a second. He could sense a pass on the cards. Going onto the back straight for the final time Grant exited the turn with a little more speed, this propelled him past the rider in front and up into 7th position. Grant knew he had to make this move as he was getting pressure from another rider behind him. Grant crossed the line in 7th position from a massive 17th on the grid.
This was a massive result for Grant and the whole team, not only had he surprised himself but he had managed to control his arm pump during the race which allowed him to continue pushing in the race.
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, Dad, Sam Black, Tiff, Tony & Tracy, Steve Jeanes, Andy Standen, Jim & Katie Higgs, Mark Standen, Georgina Whitaker, Ben Potter, Simon & Mick.
The winner of the 79 club who will win 2 VIP tickets to the next round at Brands Hatch is:
No. 2 Sam Black