Thundersport Magic

Last Sunday saw Leon take part in the Thundersport GB series at Mallory Park. And what a day it was! The conditions were perfect, the sun shone brightly and Leon was on top form. Not only did he claim back his third place in the Junior Powerbike series after finishing third in the first race and winning the second, he also broke the Junior Powerbike lap record with a time of 57.374. Shall we say that again?...he also broke the Junior Powerbike lap record with a time of 57.374! It was an awesome display! In fact, it was the finest 400cc ride I've ever seen round Mallory Park. And I've seen some great races round there. Well done Leon, the crowd were mesmerized!

Here's a mini-movie of race two, which I hope you enjoy:

(Leon with his two well deserved trophies)

(Look at that sky, hardly a cloud in sight!)

(Leon gets interviewed for the telly!)

(Those slicks worked a treat)

Letting the masses know!

Look at these two rather lovely looking adverts that have been put together by Myles Pemberton from Manbat, one of our main and very valued sponsors. They will be proudly shown off in a variety of local and specialist newspapers. Thank you Myles, we love them!

As you'll see, Manbat are a provider of premium motorcycle batteries...and here's a link to their website: www.manbat.co.uk

Boy Racer!

Leon's mum Tracey recently found these priceless photos of Leon, aged 13, at the RAF Wittering Moped Endurance Day. And looking very much like a proper racer back then, it's an early  glimpse of the Leon Jeacock style in development. Although I reckon he'd struggle to manage a sub one minute lap at Mallory Park on that bike!

(Errr...I think the bike will need a clean afterwards) 

(Get out of the way camouflage boy!)

(Lesson one - 'How to Pull a Wheelie')

Front page news!

Sitting proudly alongside the likes of Guy Martin, Michel Fabrizio and Casey stoner, on the cover of the latest BikeSport News, are Mike and Leon. It's a great picture of them both leading the field, in torrential conditions, at Mallory Park last time out. Brilliant!

(In very good company)


(Mike and Leon Splashing their way round Edwina's)

(A brilliantly accurate race report by Steve Gough at BSN)

On page seven there's a large version of the cover photo which shows how pristine the bikes look together, and a fantastic race report that does the team proud. It's a really good read and goes like this:

'FORMULA 400 COMPETITORS SERVE-UP SUPERB CLOSE RACE ACTION'

'On a day influenced by the constantly changing weather, the Formula 400s served-up two superb helpings of close race action in totally contrasting conditions at round four of the EMRA Club Championships at Mallory Park.

In their dry first race, Simon Hedges (Kawasaki) had moved into second place at Shaws Hairpin on the opening circuit, before he closed in on early pace-setter Leon Jeacock (BMC Honda) at the same part of the track next time around to assume the lead before that lap's conclusion.

Hunting down the leading pair, Richard Saunders then made it a three-way tussle for victory when he put his Kawasaki into second place on lap three to relegate Jeacock to third.

Getting his wheel in front on lap four, Saunders had started to pull clear of the squabbling duo behind, before Jeacock rallied in the closing stages to set-up a thrilling finale.

Announcing his presence, Jeacock dived up the inside of Saunders at Shaws Hairpin on lap nine, with the pair then inseparable on time at the start of a final circuit that saw Saunders set the fastest lap of the race to take a hard-earned victory over Jeacock with Hedges third.

Conditions could not have been worse for the second F400 race, though, after the heaviest rain of the day caused the riders to be returned to the paddock following the warm-up lap due to the amount of water lying on the track.

Still changing their tyres at the time of the original race call, the subsequent delay enabled BMC Honda team-mates Jeacock and Mike Dorey to take their places on the front row of the grid for a contest that ran minus Hedges and which Saunders started from pit lane.

Closely followed by Lloyd Smith (Aprilia 250), it was again Jeacock who led the pack off the start line, only for both riders to be passed by Dorey before they had reached Edwina's for the first time as he claimed a lead he then held virtually to the end.

Focussed on his title aspirations, Jeacock was initially content to ride shotgun to Dorey for a safe finish until Adam Hodgkinson, in only his third-ever meeting, went by at Gerard's on his Roadstock Honda to give the series leader a wake-up call.

Soon regaining second place, Jeacock then took up the pursuit of Dorey to go by at the hairpin on the final circuit, before Dorey's instant response saw the pair charge to the finish line side-by-side, with Jeacock the winner by just 0.045 of a second!'

Couldn't have put it better myself...

Leon the paperboy!

There was a good write-up of Leon in last Friday's edition of the Heartland Evening News, the Jeacock family's local paper. It talks of Leon's recent successes at EMRA, and about him being "Nuneaton's rising motorcycle racing star". And I wouldn't argue with that!

EMRA Rd4 - Wet! Dry! Wet! Dry!

The fourth round of the EMRA Championship took place at the weekend. And what a tricky day it was. One minute it was warm and sunny, the next it was raining cats and dogs!

So, what happened? Well, qualifying was wet, and Leon had the added complication of having both the Formula 400's and 600 Superstocks sharing the same qualifying session. So he rode his 600 in the main session and went out on his 400 with the Formula 600's. Not ideal conditions, but true to form, Leon stepped up to the mark and put in a blistering time to stick himself second on the grid. And as expected, Mike was right with him in third. Yet another BMC front row double. The rest of us in the team peppered the grid lower down the field. Gordon and Freddy were on row three, James (a new member) was on row four, and I was happy to head up row five.

The first race was a tyre choice nightmare. It had stopped raining and a delay in proceedings saw the track dry out by the time they called us up. A last minute choice of dry tyres was the way we went, which turned out to be bang on. Although time pressure prevented me being able change my front in time. Leon was, as usual, at the very sharp end of the pack and bringing home another terrific second place. Mike wasn't too far behind finishing just outside the podium in fourth place. Some more useful points in the bag. Freddy was back to his old best, with some great lap times in the 1:01's, and finished an excellent seventh place. Gordon claimed the final points place in tenth place. James had issues with his steering damper and pulled in on the sighting lap. I decided to save my wet front and pulled in midway through the race.

Here is the first lap of race one where we see Leon and Mike leading in to Edwinas, a familiar sight these days:

Race two was a different story altogether. A downpour after race one, followed by some sunny intervals, saw the track drying again. But was it going to stay dry? We seemed to think it was, so we changed over to dry tyres only to find the heavens open just as we were about to leave the awning. A frantic change of boots, thanks to the race being delayed, saw us all on track in the rain on the correct tyres. We all know that both Mike and Leon love these wet conditions, and they proved it! They both took off from the start and left the field for dead, with Mike leading the race until the very last lap when Leon took an opportunity to overtake at the hairpin. The gap between them over the line was 0.045 seconds. Awesome! I saw them coming round to lap me on the penultimate lap so made sure I got out of their way  when they came through. It was a treat to watch them fly past me in such tricky conditions. James had a great race too, finishing an excellent seventh place. Gordon took some points in ninth place, and Freddy was just outside the points in eleventh. I was out enjoying myself and found myself a couple of places behind Freddy in thirteenth place. 

Leon now leads the championship by 29 points, and now only needs to take two more points than Richard Saunders (in second place) next time they're out and the title is his. Mike closed the gap to Richard and has brilliantly consolidated his third place. Well done to both of them, yet another fantastic day for the BMC Racing team.

Here's a mini montage of the start of race two, and Leon and Mike bringing home the BMC one two:

Leon was also out in the 600 Superstocks again. Yet again they put the 400's and 600's right next to each other, making life extremely hard on Leon. He had to rely on Rod and the gang to have his Honda ready for a quick changeover, not to mention the fatigue that he must have been feeling. But he went well, bringing home a third and a fourth place. He really has made the move up a class seem effortless. Well done mate!

(Wet weather specialists with trophies)

(You just couldn't quite tell what would happen next!)

(New boy James picked up a trophy in the Novice Race)

(The big cheese approves of the days results)

(Yet another BIG THANKS to our sponsors!)