Two Wheel Warehouse Blog

Round 5 of the Red Baron FX Nationals and YMF Loan Australian FX Superbike Championship held at Wakefield Park, October 2011.

The fifth round of the Australian FX championship headed back down to Goulburn’s Wakefield Park last weekend, and I was keen to maintain or extend my lead in the series.
Fridays practise went well, and I was happy to get within half a second of my previous best times.

Saturdays qualifying was in slightly damp and cold conditions, and Wakefield park is very sensitive to track conditions. I came in half way though the session, thinking something wasn’t right on the bike, it just felt horrible! To my surprise, I was on pole position, so lucky for me, everyone else struggled to set fast times in the conditions. I was really happy to secure my first Pole for the year!

Race one turned out to be almost perfect! I got a good start, and moved up to 2nd on lap two. My main rival for the series, Angus Reekie was leading on his KTM RC8R, but by lap 4 I had closed the gap. I got close on a few occasions, but couldn’t quite get close enough to get past, but to my great surprise I had set the fastest lap of the race of a 1min01.8, just half a second of the outright Pro Thunder lap record, and less than a second off the 600 lap record!

Race two I finished second again, and Race three I really wanted to get ahead of Angus by the first corner. Unfortunately I was a little too quick at the start, and got a 10 second penalty.

I left the track Saturday with a huge smile on my face, and take a 53 point lead into Eastern Creeks final round for the Saturday series.

For Sunday’s qualifying, I took a risk on tyre selection, and decided to save my new rear for the races, and leave yesterdays on for qualifying. I basically wanted to get on the front row, so again to get pole position was a great result!

Race one went well, I moved up from 4th into 2nd, but couldn’t close up on Angus.

Race two started raining, so we swapped wheels, and out we went. The track was like an ice rink…and unfortunately I slid off at turn 2. I got the bike going again and finished the race, as points are very important at this stage in the series!
Race 3 was all about gaining points. I wasn’t sure how the bike would perform, as we were very rushed to get the bike going again. After moving up to 4th during the race, a handle bar came loose, so I had to back off, and settle for 6th.

I was very happy with my weekend, and I now head into the final round if the FX Pro Thunder champs at Eastern Creek in a months time with a slender 6 point lead.
I had one of the TV camera’s on my bike, so keep an eye out for me on SBS speedweek in 3 weekends time!

Thanks again to Dad for his help getting the bike back out on track after the trip to mud in race 2, fellow competitor Paul Dutton for his loan of some parts and also my sponsors, Two Wheel Warehouse, Kaneg products and Southside Runners.

Points after round 5

1 Brad GLENNAN Triumph 675 298
2 Angus REEKIE KTM RC8R 292
3 Richard LIMINTON Ducati 1198 275
4 Mick Johnson Ducati 848 211
5 Sophie Lovett Ducati 1198 158

Cheers

Brad Glennan #39

Round 4 of the Red Baron FX Nationals and YMF Loan Australian FX Superbike Championship held at Winton Raceway, Victoria September 2011.

After a lengthy break in the Australian FX championships the series headed down to Winton Raceway, in northern Victoria. After completing a practise session two weeks prior at the circuit, I was really looking forward to heading back down to a circuit that suits my Two Wheel Warehouse Triumph 675.

During fridays practise day, my times consistently got better, and I really was starting to feel more comfortable on the bike, and headed into Saturdays Red Baron Nationals keen to maintain my lead in the Pro Thunder series.

The day started well with a front row qualifying position, unfortunately for the series star rider, Angus Reekie crashed his KTM RC8R, ruling him out for the weekend.
The three races produced some great close races with Phil Lovett, Simon Galloway, Lauchie Thomas and myself pulling well clear of the rest of the combined Naked Bike/ Pro Thunder field, and I was able to clearly come home first Pro Thunder bike in all races, and increase my lead in the championship.

Sunday is the big pressure day, with the TV camera’s out, and a wet qualifying meant I could only manage a 2nd row start. The track dried for the races, and the same riders were up front again. A new rear tyre for Sundays races helped drive out of the corners, and I again dropped my lap times a little further. I again was the leading Pro Thunder bike in all races, and had my first experience leading a race in a long time. The strong results for the weekend mean I now lead the Australian Formula Xtreme Pro Thunder Championships, with two rounds remaining!

Points after round 4

1 Brad GLENNAN Triumph 675 240
2 Angus REEKIE KTM RC8R 217
3 Richard LIMINTON Ducati 1198 213
4 Sophie Lovett Ducati 1198 158
5 Mick Johnson Ducati 848 153
6 Darren Lewis Ducati 848 151
7 Nathan Mahboub Aprilia RSV4 136

Once again a big thanks to my Dad who kept the bike running all weekend and my sponsors Two Wheel Warehouse, Southside runners, and Kaneg Products. Also a big thanks to Sean from Bikebiz Granville for his help organising my tyres, oil and Triumph Spares!

Next weekend I head back out to Eastern Creek for a St George club day, where I will be contesting both the 600 class as well as the National Bears series. The main goal of the weekend will be to test a new rear tyre, in a different size and profile, but also a different compound that should suit the hotter conditions of the next few rounds!

Cheers

Brad Glennan #39

After dipping my toe in the water at Round 4 of the Formula Xtreme series at Wakefield Park in September, it was time for a full scale “comeback” to racing after a 10 year hiatus.

By choosing the BEARS class (British American European Racing Series – called Pro Twins in the Formula Xtreme series) to compete in, it takes away the high pressure intense atmosphere the 600 or 1000 classes provide. The Pro Twins class is basically aimed at providing a class of racing for exotic machines such as Ducati’s, Aprilia’s, KTM’s, as well as my weapon of choice, the Triumph Daytona 675, by virtue of it being ‘non Japanese”.

Whilst the race is for overall line honours, there are also sub classes involved, which places the 675 in the F3 category.

Brad Glennan Eastern Creek Oct 2010

The weekend started with the Friday practice session, giving me time to get re-acquainted to the bike and track again. The conditions were ideal, allowing a few different suspension settings to try and combat the problem of the bike running wide on the exit of corners, and getting the bike settled entering corners.

We ended up with a pretty good setting on the front end, but were chasing our tails with the rear. After throwing on a new set of Pirelli’s for the final session, the bike was transformed, allowing me to finally get my times down!

Qualifying Saturday morning, resulted in a 42.9, my best time so far on the triumph, but a little worrying that the same problems were reappearing with the rear. 10th on the grid, first of the triumphs, ahead of the two usual combatants at the front of the battle for triumph honours, all good!

Race one, I got of the line well, but got punted wide at turn one by an Aprilia RSV4, but some great dices with some of the Ducati’s and Triumph’s, I crossed the line 11th, but also first Triumph! Happy Days!

Race two, again, good jump, but I held a better position for the first few turns before the power of the bigger bikes got past, but again managed to hold of the other Triumphs for another class win, 10th overall.

The final race for the day, again another good start, only to have a Bennelli blow up whilst entering the very fast turn 8, oil all over my visor, heart in mouth expecting the front end to fold at any moment! Having survived that, a great race long battle with an RSV4, a 1098 along with Alex Pickett on his 675, saw me again take the class win and 9th overall.

Reflecting on the days events, I soon realised this was my first win since my one and only other win way back in 1995 as a 19 year old in my very first ever road race! It has certainly been a long time between drinks!

Day 2 was predicted rain. I had managed to borrow a spare set of wheels from Glen Kelleher, and purchased a set of wet tyres. Fortunately the rain never came! Qualifying first thing in the morning, I couldn’t quite find a clear lap. My last lap of the day, finally I didn’t have to pass anyone, but I just tried too hard, too rushed, and it didn’t quite happen for me, my time was half a second slower than yesterdays best.
I was still on row 3 in 11th, but there were now two Triumphs ahead of me.

Race 1, the TV crews were out, the pressure rises….I again got a good start, , got ahead of Alex to be 2nd in F3, but he came past down the straight. I chased hard, but both Garry Peake and Alex Pickett were just a little too fast for me in race 1. I still got 9th overall, and set my fastest time of the weekend of a 42.6, but the deteriorating grip was again worrying me.

Race 2 great jump again off the line, and a great dice with Adrian Pierpoint on his 848 and Alex again on his Triumph. I was having to make up for my lack of exit speed by running in really hot into the corners, and was again able to just hold of Alex, to take the win in F3 and place 9th overall.

Final race of the day, and my best start of the day. I was 6th over the hill between turns 3 and 4, but that was about as good as it got. With the rear causing real problems, I did the best I could with what I had, but happy enough to end up 9th overall, 1st in F3 to take the overall victory in class.

In all it ended up a great weekends return to racing, it was great to be out there “racing” not just riding around at a ride day. With a bit more input into the problems coming from the rear of the bike, I believe we have the potential to achieve even better results overall against the bigger bikes, and hopefully keep continuing to win the f3 class!

Thanks to all who helped make the weekend possible!

Brad Glennan

Brad Glennan 1st on the F3 Podium