NCT Racing

News Archive

NCT Racing News Archive

Season 2007

News Item: Rider Update

Date: 13 August 2007

Release: General

NCT Racing and Rider Hayden Fitzgerald part company

NCT Racing and Hayden Fitzgerald, the 22 year old from New Zealand, have parted company after a disappointing season in the Metzeler National Superstock Championship. Neil Haslam, Team Manager, said that they have parted on good terms and that Hayden has moved to the Isle of Man for the time being.

Everyone in the team liked working with him and wished him all the success for the future.

Now we are just going to concentrate on looking after Alastair Seeley for the remainder of the season in the Metzeler series while we make our plans for next year.

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Brands Hatch – 13th 14th October 2007

15th October 07

Meeting: BSB Metzeler Superstock Championship Final Round

Venue: Brands Hatch

Date: 13th/14th Otober 2007

Intro

The end of the season has arrived. As we arrived at Brands Hatch for the final round of the championship the weather was bright, sunny and looking more like July (should be) than October.

As the weekend progressed the weather got warmer. The Brands Indy circuit is one of the shortest circuits that we compete on with a lap time of just under 50secs for the 1.9 miles. Because of this it attracts local track specialists that do not compete in any other rounds of the championship. After two trouble free qualifying sessions Alastair was only 0.8secs off the pole position time but so close was that grid that this only placed him in 21st position for the race start!! As you may remember Brands was to be a double header following the appalling weather conditions at Oulton Park and Knockhill, with a race on Saturday and the final race on Sunday.

Race 1 – Alastair got off to a flying start from row 5 and by lap 12 had moved up to 14th position before the race was red flagged following a multi-bike crash. For the restart he lined up in 14th position and picked his way through finishing in 12th place and another point on the board.

Race 2 – Another good start saw Alastair up to 12th by mid race and with some inspired riding managed to get through to 10th position by the finish of the race. This ensured a well deserved 10th place in the Superstock championship for both Alastair and the team in its first year in what is seen as one the most competitive motorcycle championships.

Year end summary – Well that is the first season for the NCT VanFit Yamaha team over. Cynthia and I would like to thank everyone who made this possible especially VanFit, LDV, LloydsTSB Cardnet, Richard from Maxton, Tony from Micron and most of all to Alastair for always giving 100%, Derek and Ann for their expertise and guidance and last but by no means least Mark Crofts for being Mark. Mark (truckie) has driven the truck to and from the circuits, is our head mechanic, (he is an excellent truck mechanic as well), he can turn his hand to any task that is asked of him and is always there to make you laugh or smile. A real star. 2008 – Planning is now under way for the 2008 season and we hope to have some very exciting news in the next few weeks. Press releases will be issued as soon as we are able to.

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Donington Park - 22nd 23rd September 2007

24th September 07

Meeting: BSB Double Header One

Venue: Donington Park

Date: 22nd/23rd September 2007

Playing Catch-Up

Donington Park was to be the first of 2 double header rounds to compensate for being rained out at both Oulton Park and Knockhill meetings.

Practice – The VanFit Yamaha team went testing at Donington 2 weeks prior to the race meeting in order to prepare and provide Alastair with the best opportunity for the 2 races to come. This paid off handsomely when Alastair qualified on 2nd row of the grid equalling his best qualifying performance.

Race Day – In the first race Alastair slipped easily into 3rd position at the first corner and came round in 5th at the end of the first lap. A few laps later he was pushed wide which dropped him back into 10th position but in a close knit bunch of top riders he fought his way back to take 8th place and another 8pts. Overnight chief technician Derek made some minor alterations to the set up of the bike which Alastair tried on the Sunday morning warm-up session.

The second race was closer fought with Alastair battling throughout with championship contender Steve Brogan and ex Superbike rider Pete Hickman which saw Alastair as high as 6th place. He eventually finished a solid 9th again coming away with good points and in the top 10 of the championship table. It has been a solid performance from Alastair this weekend and in the NCT VanFit Yamaha teams first year in the Superstock championship this represents a solid achievement to date.

Alastair should finish at least 8th in the championship by the end of the season. The teams focus now moves to the final round at Brands Hatch on 13th/14th September which again is a double header. The NCT VanFit team will be out testing on the Brands Indy circuit prior to race day.

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NCT Racing Rider Update 7th September 07

News Item: Rider Update

Date: 13 August 2007

Release: General NCT Racing and Rider Hayden Fitzgerald part company

Everyone in the team liked working with him and wished him all the success for the future. Now we are just going to concentrate on looking after Alastair Seeley for the remainder of the season in the Metzeler series while we make our plans for next year.

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Croft Race Report - Sunday 12th August 2007

7th September 07

Meeting: BSB 10th Round

Venue: Croft Nr Darlington

Date: 11 August 2007

Practice - It seems a long time since our last meeting as we arrived at Croft nr Darlington for what was originally round 10 of the championship. We still have 5 rounds to go. During the July break we took the opportunity to strip all the bikes, giving them a thorough refurbishment, before moving on to the workshop itself and the truck.If it didn´t move it had a good spring clean.

We had tested at Croft on the Monday prior to the weekends race to provide Alastair with the opportunity to become familiar with the circuit and to give him the best possible chance of a result. Qualifying didn´t go exactly to plan, and although Alastair knocked 2 seconds off of his lap times, and was only 1.5 seconds off the pole time, we ended up in 22nd place. Once again showing how competitive this class is.

Race Day – As we made our way to the grid for our race, the rain started, "deja vous" springs to mind. Looking skywards it was difficult to determine what was going to happen. Ally had gone to the grid on his dry bike with Mark taking his wet bike to the pit lane just in case we needed to swap bike after the sighting lap. As the bikes returned to the grid, the race officials´ declared a wet race. Nearly all the teams swapped their tyres quickly over to wets but with Neil and chief technician Derek looking skywards we decided to stay with the dry tyres.

This in fact turned out to be an inspired decision. On the first lap Alastair moved up to 15th position and as the race progressed he sliced through the field almost unnoticed to the race commentators. The riders who had changed to wets were now struggling with their wet tyres leaving chunks of rubber everywhere. We stood on the pit wall cheering Alastair through the field each time he came round having passed more riders eventually finishing in 3rd place providing both himself and the team with their first BSB podium finish. The elation felt afterwards by both me, Neil and the team members after a disappointing qualifying day was unbelievable and shows the volatility of racing. Alastair showed fantastic potential for the future and real class.

We now look forward to Cadwell Park on August Bank holiday weekend

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OULTON PARK 13th-15th July 200720th July 07

What looked like a promising weekend with the weather turned out the exact opposite. The Superstock race was to be the last of the day on Sunday but once again, as at Knockhill, the race was red flagged after four laps due to heavy rain and once again the decision not to race again that day was made.

The race will be carried over to the Donington round in September, so we now have two double headers to look forward to.

KNOCKHILL SUNDAY 1ST JUNE 20th July 07

Knockhill must have seen Scotland at its wettest, I don't think any of us had ever been so wet before. Both guys had been doing well in the practice and qualifying sessions with Alastair well up to the forefront once more. It was not to be however as the race was red flagged after four laps due to the heavy down pour and concerns of delays to the televising of the Superbike race if it ever stopped racing. The superbikes did race but we went home empty handed and a double header to look forward to at Brands Hatch in October.

THRUXTON RACE REPORT Sunday 15th April 24th June 07

Meeting: BSB 2nd round

Venue: Thruxton

Date: 14/15th April 2007

Another tough weekend for the NCT-VanFit Yamaha Superstock team.

Practice Thruxton was to be the second circuit which neither of the teams´ riders had ridden previously. We were therefore pleased with the outcome of qualifying which saw Alastair Seeley in 18th position. Hayden Fitzgerald suffered with wheel spin throughout qualifying on a circuit which didn´t suit his rider style, eventually qualifying in 37th position.

Race Day lovely hot sunny day; this brought in the crowds to the circuit very early. Morning warm up went extremely well without any problems with both riders posting good times. In the race Alastair Seeley moved through the riders to 14th position and the points on the first lap having made an extremely quick start.

Unfortunately, having completed around a third of the race he lost the front end at "Church" which is a 140mph left hand bend. Fortunately Alastair walked away with only a slight knee injury but the bike looked decidedly second hand! Hayden made a fantastic start from the 10th row passing 5 other riders into the first bend, eventually finishing the race in 25th position.

Team principal Neil Haslam says "We now have the 2 circuits out of the way that neither rider had ridden before and we are now looking for a strong result at Silverstone in 2 weeks time, a circuit at which Hayden has performed very well at last year having come 2nd in the ACU Star Supersport Championship"

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SILVERSTONE RACE REPORT 29TH APRIL 200724th June 07

Meeting: BSB 3rd Round

Venue: Silverstone

Date: 29 April 2007

Practice – We arrived at Silverstone having the spent the previous week getting the fuel mapping done on the Dyno in order that the bikes were in the best shape so far. Both riders qualified a lot easier than the previous 2 meetings with Alastair on row 6 and Hayden on row 8.

Race Day – The race itself was a bit of an anti-climax because the pace car was out for 2 laps and then the race was cut short when a rider fell in a dangerous spot of the circuit. Alastair was in a strong 16th position and would definitely have been well in the points had the race gone its full distance. Hayden made his usual superb start passing 5 on the first lap to finish in the twenties.

The weekend saw the team and riders improve significantly on the previous meetings and both are looking forward to Oulton Park next week – the first circuit that both riders have ridden before.

NORTH WEST 200.

Race Day Saturday12th May 2007 24th June 07

MONDELLO PARK

Sunday 17th June 2007 24th June 07

www.nctracing.co.uk web site is up and running and during this week we will be adding news, pictures, dates for the diary etc. We look forward to comments from racing enthusiasts and followers of the NCT VanFit Yamaha team.