On Saturday 25th July CV Racing long with 100’s of other teams returned to racing at Donington Park with Thundersport GB.
This was the long awaiting first round of the season and the first formal race meeting of 2020 in the UK. All eyes were on them to see how things would work out. The weekend ran smoothly with the Thundersport team ensuring everyone was safe before, during and after the races.
Carl Vickers and Chris Spooner of CV Racing are both competing in the Blackbird Corporate Golden Era Supersport/Steelsport class for the 2020 season. With one big change, there is now also Veteran Class imbedded into the group class as well.
They knew it was going to be challenging weekend with not being out on the bikes very much due to Covid-19 but both riders were looking forward to taking to the track. This was going to be Chris’s first year on the Yamaha R6 after joining the team at the end of 2019 season following a good year on the CB500. He gelled well with the bike immediately and was keen to see where he could qualify for the weekend in such a competitive class. Saturday qualifying saw Carl qualified 10th overall and Chris qualified 19th.
Race one was not exactly how they had planned to start the season with torrential rain and then a fast drying track it was a tough call on which tyres to go out on. With both riders opting for wets as the race had been declared wet they took to the grid. After the first lap it became apparent that the track was dry but they had to keep going. Following the race Chris said: “I can’t deny that I wasn’t nervous about the first race and more so about my first race start on the R6. A good start and I made a couple of places up into Redgate, turn 1 and felt confident in the bike in these conditions. 2 laps in and the track had a dry line all the way. Pulling places back every lap, I was up to 10th after 4 laps when I ran into Redgate a little too hot, felt the front start to tuck and in an effort to correct it and ride it out, maybe a bit too eager on the throttle, lost traction and high sided me out of the race. Rider all good – bike not so much! BUT, let’s look at the positive here… I was in 10th place in my first race on the R6.”
Carl finished the race 4th in the Veteran Class and 14th in the Supersport Class.
Thankfully the weather changed for the better and the rest of the weekend was dry racing. The second race on Saturday Carl achieved a 1st in the Veteran Class and 11th in the Supersport Class. Chris finished 19th in class.
Sunday racing was looking promising with a dry track and fresh Continental Tyres on both bikes they were all set for the final two races of the weekend. Carl achieved great results on Sunday with two further 1st place Veteran Class finishes and Chris set a new PB on the R6 and had his best result of the weekend finishing P14 in the Supersport Class.
Speaking to Carl following the weekend he said “I have had some mechanical issues with both bikes over the weekend, but a solid first round with some top 10 finishes overall and 3 solid wins out of 4 in the Veteran class, which sees me in number 1 position and 10th overall going into the next round at Mallory in September.
The focus now is to make sure all the bikes are ready for Mallory so that both Chris and I have a good chance of gaining points for the championship.”
As with all riders CV Racing are proud to have the support of their sponsors – Fuchs UK, Blackbird Corporate Ltd, EBC Brakes, Delkevic UK, Jem Race Composites, Race FX, Hel Performance, Continental Tyres (ContiMoto), Helmet City Race Support, Jacksons Bikes, Bake A Moment and Pops. The next round will be the 5th & 6th September at Mallory P
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