oldboyonrgv

Anyone?

Hows this?

A pic of Rowan exiting clearways at Brands what do you think as regards body position etc?

Clutches are consumables how many times have you heard about Superbike riders not having enough clutch left for a second start, or burning it at the start. Expensive this race game eh!

The three weeks between Donny and Anglesey were spent having a bit of R&R and repairing the truck which decided to break its exhaust manifold and ehaust on the journey to Donnington. A somewhat noisy journey home ensued, strangley it didn't seem to affect the old girl too much although hills became a bit more of an issue with no manifold pressure to charge the turbo!! Big thanks to Jim Archer at Cobra engineering for sorting out the maifold. The bike had a bit of a birthday with a good clean and new piston so we were already to go. Its a bit of a hike to get over to Anglesey, some 7hrs were spent enroute during Thursday but we got there fine with the truck back to its old self. Then it was on to the test day on friday. Row completed 4 sessions during which time he got used to this new track and we worked on the front suspension which was adjusted to suite his weight more. Rowan had started to mention that he was experiencing front end chatter at Donny at the last meeting. Row loved the track and gradually brought his lap times down to whaty we thought would be competitive for the meeting. By Friday evening it was getting very windy and rain was forcast so we wimped out and booked into a B&B for Fri/Sat night. So back to the track on Saturday morning for a round of the NGRRC GP125 championship. When we arrived at the track the weather was still somewhat inclement whith heavy rain and high winds and so the club postponed activities until about 11:00. Row managed to get on track at about 12 for his practice, he ran around on wets for 10 laps then brought it in as a dry line was appearing and he didn't want to destroy the wets. Then it was the big wait for RACE1 because of the earlier hold ups the club had restricted todays racing to one race so it was straight into the championship round. With Row now in 6th place in the championship he was not seeded to the front two row's and so had to start from 8th on the grid. GO! Row gets a run up the inside but has his nose chopped of in both the first and second corners ruining his drive onto the uphill back straight, he manages to fight through the crowed but is isolated in 7th place, Row gets his head down and manages to close up on the group in front then as he gets within striking distance a back marker causes Row to run wide out of the hairpin once again spoiling his drive onto the back straight with just two laps left Row has no chance of improving and runs out in 7th. Its a not very happy boy who arrives back in the paddock "that was awful, I know I can run with them if I can get to them" I ask him if he feels that the bike needs anything "nope its me" well at least he's honest! We sit down and have a little think and decide the only course is to fit some new rubber, change the gearing slightly and jet down a little as the bike is slightly rich. So Sunday dawns and it looks like a better day! wind is still up though. Row goes out and does his practice, thumbs up. Race 1 Go - they zoom past Row in 7th place, he needs to get going quickly as this is a 5 lap sprint. It takes a couple of laps for Row to get through but by lap 3 he has manged to get to 5th place with a slight gap to 4th. Row gets his head down and tags onto the top 4 - good lad, its a major scrap as the leader is away (local lad done loads of laps reound here) positions changing every corner with Row poking his nose in where ist not wanted!, thsy come around for the final time into the last corner adn one of them has a huge wobble, Row and the guy next to him go for the gap but Row is just beaten to the line for 3rd place. "He got me by this (holds up thumb and finger with an inch gap between) I just hesitated when Sam had her wobble - blast, took a second off of my lap time though," Row is much happier and has improved his lap times by over 1 second (wether due to our adjustments or his riding - who knows) Race 2 So Row has managed to move himself up to 4th on the grid so He is in with a shout with this one. they belt off the line and Row is right in the mix with what turns out to be a titanic battle for 2nd place, four riders are disputing the postition with Row working his way through them, each lap the order is different. Last lap Row has managed to get 2nd place after taking two into the banked hairpin, as they go up the long right handed straight two manage to draw level with Row, they are spread across the track as they go into the left hand hairpin at the top of the hill then one goes down and skittle another we can't see who.... we watch the race finish --- No Row -- A frantic 5 minutes ensue until we get it confirmed that both riders are O.K, then we have to wait until Row and Sam get back to the pits. "nothing I could do Dad, I was on the outside and knew had the right line for the following right hander, when Sam lost the front, she was too fast and too tight, I ended up surfing her bike across the track! she did apologise in the van on the way back" Row managed to get another second off of his lap times during this race to a very competitive time. So thats the end of the weekend, the bike hasn't suffered too much, fairing seat, footrest and handlebars all need replacing. well no prizes for guessing where I have been since the weekend! Big thanks to Turn1racing for the bike, I promise it will be better than new!! Now its on to Brands Hatch for a two day meeting on Sunday and Monday - nice Cheers Gary and Row

SO straight back from Pembrey two days fettling then back on the road to Donington for a round of the Tsport championship as support to MOTOGP. Row has never been around the GP circuit and never ridden a GP125 around here plus the track was soaked for qualifying he qualified in an excellent 8th place on Thursday afternoon. However it was not without drama as Row went for a qualifying lap at the end and high sided himslef at Redgate! "I just overtook Sam (Burman) and tried to tap on the power, the bike snapped around then caught and chucked me off!! (Sam Burman went on to take pole) at least I know me arms's strong anough to take a knock!" The bike is fine with just the normal stuff knocked off of it. Row has a bruised bum! I refuse to take a look at it! We then had a day off on Friday. thanks to Rog and Rob of FAB-Racing for taking us over to the Blu Sens pit for the guided tour and intro to the crew the evening meal in the Red Bull hospitality was good too! Danny and Scott were in good spirits. Saturday was the best day weather wise so the bike was set up for the dry and with brand new unscrubbed slicks 17:50 and Row took his place on the second row of the grid aboard the http://www.turn1sliders.co.uk/ rs125 Honda, please support us by using their sliders (plug plug) No pit for us so we were stationed on the Dunlop straight just before foggy's, who knows what sort of start Row got but 1st lap see's him pile past in 10th place. 2nd lap and Row goes past in about 11th, then Row seems to get the supercharger on and starts to make ground, 9th then 8th then 7th, he's gradually catching the next rider the laps tick by and I lose count of where he is. Last lap and Row is now battling, I see him go past on the back wheel of another racer, they dissapear around foggy's my eyes turn to goddards to see Row just slide up the inside to gain another position. The race is over and Row toddles back to the collecting area, he's quite happy with the ride "I took it quite easy the first few laps, getting my braking markers and lines sorted out then I could see I was faster than a few in front once I got them I could see another one a little way in front, he gradually came back to me so I thought I would have a go, it was a little sketchy into goddards but I managed to make it stick. I only really pushed in the last lap because I wanted to make sure of a finish" we get the results to find that Row actually finished in 5th place, we are well pleased! attrition gave Row a couple of places but hey you've got to finish. So after all that excitement it was back to chill out mode for the rest of the weekend. Cheers Gary and Row

After a 9 week recovery after breaking his arm it was back to the scene of the accident for the 13 year old Rowan Miller at Pembrey for a round of the NGRRC GP125 championship this weekend. After a somewhat frustrating Friday Rowan was only able to complete 7 laps due to inclement weather. This meant it was in at the deep end on Saturday on board the Turn1Racing RS125 Honda. The first time Rowan had raced this machine and with the limited running on Friday a base set up was still being found. In race 1 from 5th on the grid Rowan gradually reeled in the leaders and managed to grab the lead on lap 4, however the lack of race fitness and set up began to tell and Rowan had to settle for 2nd place. The final saw Rowan struggling with bike set up and so he had to settle for 6th place. Sunday morning was awash and although the sun was making some strong but brief appearances as the 125's went to the line another heavy shower drenched the riders. Rowan staring from 5th place once again took the lead in lap 1 and was never headed running out 6 seconds clear of the chasing pack. Sundays final saw Rowan on pole position which he made the most of leading the pack for the first 3 laps until a couple of small mistakes saw him drop back to 4th place. Not deterred Rowan put his head down and within a lap was back into the top three setting the fastest lap in the process a titanic battle the ensued between Rowan and his two protagonists Row however had to settle for 3rd place at the end of the battle in what must have been the race of the weekend. SOTP PRESS Rowan also competed at the British MOTOGP round Donington in the support GP125 race, against strong opposition from British championship riders Rowan aduited himself well with a strong 5th place finish. I think we can safely say that Row felt no ill effects from his injury and the subsequent recuperation period Big Thanks to TURN1RACING Gary and Row

If its tearing up the tyre, you have a set up problem, sounds like its squatting under power.

Just to let you all know Rowan had a crash during the first race Saturday breaking his upper arm and fracturing his thumb. A somewhat fraught evening was spent at Carmarthen A&E, Rowan was discharged at 21:00, back at the tack by 22:00. Row is in good spirits and is already working on his recovery. Prognosis is 6-8 weeks. there goes the NG GP125 championship! Thanks for the email from Andy I aprreciate it... Gary and Row

Hi Guys Just to let you know that Row Miller won his first GP125 outright two weeks ago at Pemberey excert from BSN 13 year old Rowan Miller was in well in the running after taking a fine win on his 125TZ Yamaha in the Refined Recruitment 125 GP final on Saturday. 4.5 seconds off the leaders early on he passed Alistair Ray, Philip Stiles, George Martindale, Sam Burman and Josh Henry Eversfield in the last two laps to take the win out of the final corner setting the fastest lap and crossing the line just 0.08 second ahead on his immaculate TZ. Rowan and reigning champion Corey Lewis held centre stage for the 9 lap final on Sunday with three or four changes of position each and every lap. Corey just had the advantage at the line although Rowan once more set the fastest lap. Row now leads the NGRRC GP125 championship on the 1994 TZ125 Yam by a scant 3 points going into Round 3 at Snetterton in two weeks time.

Looks like a quick kiddie!!

aebobby can you post a link to that page/site I have exchanged PM,s with Andy. Bear in mind that the post came as a result of a discussion with Rowan, and were his thoughts of the day and the follow up, they were not major critisms regarding the school. Gary

Hi Guys you may have read elsewhere, my son (now 13) races over here in England, he has done the Level1 course with CSS and found it informative and educational, well worth the cost. With the amount of under 16's coming into the sport over here there may be an opportunity for CSS to get involved with teaching the youngsters and perhaps giving support during their formative years. The idea would be to nuture good habits/ technique from an early age. Think of the positive publicity available to CSS if they educated a youngster who was successful in the world stage. I advised the parents of other young guns to take the time to spend a day with CSS and sighted the success that both Rowan and Sam had after their day spent at Rockingham, but the attitude seems to be that CSS is aimed at road riders with little of true racing education available (I have explained that the techniques hold true if you are road or race oriented) with money being tight for all us parents they would rather spend £100 on a test day than £300 for a schoolday circulating slowly. I am sure that the attitude could be changed if CSS got more involved with the younger riders. After Rowans day at CSS last summer both the boys had some press photographs done with Andy and we sported a CSS sticker on the bike (we have never seen these phtographs since, we did say that they would be used for publicity for the boys and CSS) Andy (Donna) Ibbot were added to Rowans mailing list to keep the school up to date on his efforts as they seemed very interested in the boys progress .We have had little feedback from the school which was dissapointing from the boys point of view(I explained to him that the schoool is a business and as such Andy and Donna are very busy during the year running it) Now 2009 dawns and we are pretty set up for this years racing, Rowan wants to do the next level with the school which we will set up for the spring (once he has acclimatised to the GP125 we will be running). I just wish that the school showed more interest in the younger riders, perhaps teaching the old uns is too lucrative.

If the rider is 5yrs old - get a peewee 50 find some scrap ground and let him/her ride!!, you will pretty soon know if you have some talent on your hands. If all is good then cast around for a local Motocross club (dirt is best for the littleuns) also look at Minimoto to get started on the pavement. I think its worth learning dirt first as it teaches the kids bike controll, my son did 3 years dirt first despite only ever wanting to get on the pavement, he proved pretty good on the dirt so we knew he could handle it. He has now won his first roadrace championship in his first year of racing.

Big thanks to Andy and the gang, after 1 days tuition they identified two riding aspects for Rowan to work on. It really paid dividends as Rowan ran out winner in the above series with 5 race wins! beating the F125's on an 80cc Metrakit!! and was 2nd in the EMRA 80cc series depite only competing at 3 rounds!! Rowan also got through to the final round of Red Bull Rookies but was dissapointed not to be selected. Some photos Cadwell - the mountain The left hander at the bottom of the mountain Druids hairpibn - Brands Hatch And finally at hatchets hairpin - Pembrey- on the standard 2008 GP80 loaned by FAB-Racing for the weekend On the back of the 2008 season Rowan has now become the TIGCRAFT Works Rider for 2009 and will be campaigning a brand new prototype GPmono in the Thundersport GP3 series he has also been loaned a Yamaha TZ125 to campaign at NGRRC meeting's during the year. He plans to have another crack at RBR and will also compete at BSB GP125 once he has rweached the minimum age in September. We also plan to get Row back to school with Andy and the gang early in the season...