More good press!

Leon's been in the paper again! This time it was the Heartland Evening News, Leon's local paper. They ran another article on his current progress. This time it was about Leon's terrific racing at round 5 of the EMRA championship. Not only does it talk about the 400's, it also talks about his success on the R6. It's great to see that people are noticing the smooth transition Leon is making in to a higher, and very competitive, class. To jump between a 400 and a 600 machine, and run at the very sharp end of both classes, cannot be underestimated. Congratulations Leon, you deserve the publicity!



Here's what the article says:

'Leon Jeacock is a regular EMRA championship contender, and he also had a good day on his BMC 600 Yamaha and 400 Honda.
He was up against BSB Superstock 600 competitor Matt Woolridge in his two 600 Superstock races.
He gave Woolridge a pretty good run for his money in the first race until he got baulked by some back markers on the final lap, but he then put in an extra effort to be on Woolridge's tail at the hairpin and finish a very close second to him. In the second race he didn't fair so well and finished in a slightly distant sixth place and in a battle with two other riders.
He did much better in his two Formula 400 races, starting from the front row of the grid he made an excellent start to the first ten-lap race, pulling out a good lead until the race was stopped after four laps.
In the six-lap re-run he went off into the lead again and won by 1.7 seconds. In the second race he was leading until he was caught and passed by Richard Saunders (ZXRL), and then got caught up amongst back markers to finish 2.9 seconds down in second place.
He said: "I enjoyed the battle with Matt in the first Superstock race, and then straight after I had to jump on my 400 Honda, but being still fresh I was able to go out and win that race. In the second Superstock race I managed to lead the race for quite a while, then I braked for a yellow flag incident and Richard came by me, which usually incurs a ten second penalty for an illegal move, but non of the marshals seemed to have noticed what happened."

Nice!
(however, it should have said 'the second Formula 400 race', not 'Superstock'. But we'll let them off for that!)

Leon at Anglesey

On the weekend of September 13th and 14th, Leon made his maiden voyage at the Anglesey coastal circuit. This was the penultimate round of the Thundersport GB championship. Day one saw Leon qualify in 9th position, then going on to convert that in to 6th and 5th place finishes. And with a fastest lap time of 1:15:381 it was truly a fantastic ride, particularly as he'd never ridden the track before.

Day two, however, was a different matter! Race one saw Leon taken out whilst running in an excellent fourth place. Will Hodgson abruptly ended Leon's race with an unfortunate T-Boning incident on lap one - oh well, that's racing! Anyway, Mike, Brian from AMS Motorsport and the team set about rebuilding the bike for race two. And rebuild it they did, with Leon going out and taking another fantastic 6th place, and improving on his lap time from day one. A great showing for his first time at Anglesey, and consolidating his 3rd place position in the Junior Powerbike championship. Well done Leon!

Here's a very brief clip of day one, filmed mainly by Tracey:

Van-tastic!

It's not just the R6 that's had a face-lift. The new 'big enough to hold five bikes' Iveco has recently been 'stickered-up' too. It can be seen proudly standing in the paddock with full BMC Racing branding - and was beautifully put together by the clever people at Signs of The Times. Thank you guys, it looks great!

(Lovely job!)

EMRA Rd5 - Does it ever stop raining?

Round five of the EMRA Championships took place on Sunday. It was mainly wet! But that didn't deter the BMC Racing team from getting stuck in and making the most of the situation.

The start of the day saw thick fog. But that soon lifted to leave us with qualifying that was, in fact, a dry session. Again they stuck the Formula 400s and 600 Superstocks out on track together, which gave Leon his usual headache. He opted to go out in the 400s on the 400, and then going out in Formula 600s on his R6 (which was making its maiden voyage in the new colours). So how did we all do? Well, Leon was predictably on the front row in the 400s and rode a blinder on the R6 to stick it on pole for the Superstocks. Amazing! Mike headed up the second row, Gordon headed up row three and James headed up row four. I also made row four along with James. So not a bad session all round really! Oh, and Freddy wasn't out to play this time but hopefully will be there for the race of the year.

After a lot of rainfall, and a change of tyres, race one got under way. The very wet conditions were always going to be tough, but we all seemed to get away well. Leon did the usual trick of disappearing off out front, with Mike in second place (it was wet after all). The rest of us were well placed mid-pack, with James pulling in after a couple of laps with a suspected problem. We hadn't been in to the race that long when there was a faller (Simon Hedges) at Edwinas. It seemed pretty serious so a red flag was called and we all lined up for a restart. The restart was a similar scene to the first. Leon leading right from the off to take victory (and the Paul Vincent Trophy). Mike again moved up to second for a while, before being edged out to an excellent third place. Gordon rode well to eighth place and some more points, and I managed to sneak my first championship point with a tenth place finish. Didn't we do well!

Race two was also a wet one. The rain hadn't stopped all day, but at least we didn't have the last minute panic of changing tyres again. We lined up on the grid in our race one finishing positions. Which put Leon and Mike on the front row, Gordon on the second row, and yours truly on the row three. James' DNF meant he had to start at the back of the grid. Again we all got off to good starts. Leon out front again, with Mike settling in closely behind in third, which he held for the entire race. I had the start of my life and somehow found myself up to seventh for half of the race, but fell away slightly towards the end (which I'm blaming on the quickshifter!) I still managed another championship point for a tenth place finish though. Gordon again took a well deserved eigth place and yet more points in the bag. Leon could have taken the championship if he'd won race two. But a contentious overtaking maneuver during yellow flags relegated him to second place. These things happen, and he gets to enter the race of the year with his huge championship lead in tact. One more solid ride needed to bring the championship home, which would be nothing less than he deserves. Good luck for the final round!

Here's a fun little taster of the 400 action:

Mike is now guaranteed a third place in the championship after Simon Hedges' misfortune (who we all hope has recovered from his race one spill). This is great for Mike who has ridden consistently all season, no matter what the weather decides to do. He now goes in to the race of the year with an outside chance of going one better and claiming the second spot...we'll just have to wait and see.

So how did Leon get on in the 600s then? Well an excellent second place in race one followed by a sixth in race two was great. Both races had their challenges but Leon rode well and has now moved up to second place in the 600 Superstock championship. Awesome! He now has the chance to take this title too if all goes to plan. This will be tough, considering Leon's missed two rounds this year, but to find himself in such close contention for the title (now only 3 points behind the leader) is just brilliant! Well done mate!

(Mike was the cover boy on the programme)

(Leon and Mike with their usual barrow-load of silverware)

(The R6 looked amazing)

(Leon breathes heavily down Matt Woolridge's neck)

(James got another second place in the novice race)

(It was great to see Myles, from Manbat, with his wife Louise and son Monty joining in all the fun)

(Monty looked very comfortable on one of the 400s)

(Thank you for all the support we get from everyone)