GETTING READY FOR THE SHOWDOWN.
After the Oulton Park round, we had an oil sample checked and it was telling us that the lead content was unusually high. Not dangerously so, but we thought it was worth whipping the engine out again and having another look at the bearing shells.
We'd put new ones in before Oulton Park after the big end failure at Anglesey. We didn’t want to go to the final round with any doubts in the back of our mind about the bike.
It was just as well we did
When we examined them, we could see they’d been wearing quite quickly. One of the big end shells actually showed early signs of failure. Sheeeesh! We couldn’t understand it.
We were mystified, but when we took out the sump oil filter, we could see tiny remnants from the previous problem; tiny bits of tissue paper! They hadn’t totally blocked the oil way but had obviously cause a restricted flow to the main bearings.
This was a complete surprise as we had diligently cleaned everything inside the engine previously before we reassembled it for Oulton Park, where the bike was running great. There must have been a tiny piece of paper towel lurking in a spot that we couldn’t see.
Well, rather than take any chances, Ritchie decided on the spot that we would replace every one of them. Without hesitation, he contacted his sponsor, Cradley Kawasaki and they were in the post quicker than he could get around Brands Hatch…only just. J
So, we’ve had another few weekends of work to do on the bike to get it ready. It never seems to stop. We checked all the shims again for good measure and now the Kwacka is ready to go.
Ritchie is still sore – slowly getting over his knee injury – after his high side at Oulton but should be OK by the start of the weekend. So, we’ll have a fit bike and we should have a fit rider for our final scrap at Donington Park.
Ritchie’s last performance there was a good one on Drew’s 750 Suzuki SRAD, where he won 3 out of 4 races on the GP circuit. This time out he’s looking forward to putting his own ZX-7R through its paces on the shorter National circuit, which he prefers, for the first time this year.
We all wish him the very best of luck, we’ll see you there.
TEAM 71
