
Ryan opened his account with a hard fought win in the 125cc race where, riding his KX450F, he managed to get the better of William Dunlop on the final lap for his first win of the day. Next up was the Open race where, with a brilliant start, Ryan was never headed and with a lead of 8 seconds at half race distance, he was able to ease off in the closing stages for a comfortbale victory. The Supersport 600cc race was another close encounter with Ryan and Michael Dunlop never more than half a second apart during the entire race but, when it mattered most, Ryan was in front and he duly completed his hat trick with another fine win.![]()
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Team RLR has announced that they will enter the 2010 Le Mans Series at the start of a multi year commitment to top class sportscar racing. The team is targeting the hugely competitive LMP2 class with a proven package already confirmed for their inaugural season: "We have the car, engine and tyre choices already in place with our first driver confirmed. A large proportion of our full season budget is already in place and we are now fielding calls from a number of interested parties with budget in place to complete the package," said a team spokesman. The team will be using a Lola chassis, AER engine and Dunlop tyres in 2010 and is fixing its aim in the long term on providing a route into international endurance racing for drivers and personnel moving onwards and upwards from a variety of other national and regional formulae including Caterham, Elise and Radical one make racing and the increasingly popular Speed CN cars. |
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Congratulations to the Anthony Dunn, Barry Gates and all the RLR Msport team for winning the European SPEED Series Championship. The team also secured 2nd position in the UK SPEED Series Championship. Barry Gates podium finish secured him the highest scoring non-professional driver award which gave him a test in an LMP2 car! |
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We continued our good form in the very competitive SPEED series by taking our first victory at Spa with Barry Gates & Anthony Dunn driving. Barry did a fantastic job in qualifying to put the Ligier in 3rd place - ahead of many professional drivers. Anthony took the start and dived inside Simon Dolan to take the lead and didn't look back. Managing his tyres well, he pulled out a gap, gradually at first and then by big chunks once the field started going through backmarkers. By the end of his 1 hour 45 min stint, he had pulled over a 50 second gap to our nearest challenger - Richard Bernans Juno. A quick pitstop gave us an extended lead of over a minute as Barry took the reigns. Barry drove a consistent stint - showing his growing driving maturity. Having taken over from Bernans, Rob Garofall initially fought into Barry's lead, but Barry had things in hand & produced times that were good enough to stem the tide despite still suffering from a shoulder problem due to a skiing accident over winter. Garofall unexpectedly ran out of fuel & spluttered into the pitlane, giving us an even healthier lead and we eventually finished nearly 1 lap ahead - to take a long overdue win. Phil Bennett & Rachid Bouzouba again performed well in our 2nd Ligier, despite limited testing with the car. Phil lined up 5th on the grid and Rachid took the opening stint, doing an outstanding job by running in 4th position at a track he'd never been to before. However, an engine glitch caused him to lose some laps in the pitlane. Despite this they fought their way back up through the field. Phil once again showed his calibre, setting the pace in the race for much of his stint and climbing back up the order to finally finish in 8th place. |
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At Maxton we have been involved with car racing from our beginning. Ron was originally a chassis designer at Chevron Race cars in the 1960's. Since 1980's we have been supplying Maxton dampers for various race cars from vintage Chevrons, Single seater Race cars, TVR Tuscans and Lexus Touring cars. We are pleased to announce that Maxton will be supplying GP7 shock absorbers to RLR Msport Team for both its Ligier JS49. After a successful testing programme the team are looking forward to the trying to win there first championship in 2009. They are contesting the very competitive Sports Prototype Endurance Event Driving (SPEED) series. Driving for them will be Anthony Dunn and Barry Gates. For more information on the SPEED series click on the following link www.msvracing.co.uk/speed.aspx |
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Thruxton has never been my favourite track but by the time I'd got up to speed i was enjoying it. Its one of those circuits where you're bike has to be set up different to other tracks because it is very fast and bumpy but with some help from Richard at Maxton we got things sorted a lot better by the race.
Our race wasn't till later in the day so by the time it came around I couldn't wait to get it out of the way.
On the start I was starting next to Guy Martin which I thought was quite funny, but I was just concentrating on getting a jump of the start and looking to pass the row in front by the first corner as the leading cup rider was starting there. As it happens I did get the start I needed and on the run up to the first chicane ran round the outside of a few more and just dived for the inside in front of another bunch its always worth making up places at the start as some are usually a bit more careful than others, so on the first lap I was following the front ten with Hutchy just in front I couldn't believe it I never expected to be that far up so I just tagged on to them. I don't know why but my race pace is always faster than my qualifying which is when it counts I suppose so I hung on to them as long as i could and Jason O'Halloran and Lee Johnston came past I passed them a few times but in the end decided to knock it off and just stay in front of the cup riders.
Always a strong starter, Conor served up his usual flying getaway when the lights turned green for Monday's race and he completed the first lap of the Indy circuit in fifth place. Briefly relegated to sixth on lap 4, Conor was back up to fifth two laps later and part of a terrific 5-rider battle for second. When Sam Warren crashed out on lap 15, there was enough confusion in the pack for Conor to move up to 3rd and a lap later he was up to 2nd and looking very good for a rostrum position. However, the cool temperatures were causing a few anxious moments for all the riders and when the rear tyre let go exiting Graham Hill Bend on lap 19, it was enough for both Jon Kirkham and Howie Mainwaring to move past and push Conor back to 4th. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't find a way past around the tight, twisty 1.198-mile circuit in the final few laps and he crossed the line in 4th, albeit just two tenths of a second off second, for 13 extremely valuable and hard earned points.
With the Hampshire circuit bathed in glorious sunshine, a great start by the Manxman saw him slot in to second place at the end of the first 2.35-miles and here he remained for the next four laps as he closely shadowed the race leader and fellow Kawasaki rider Howie Mainwaring. There were no less than eight riders fighting it out for the lead and on the seventh lap, Conor got shuffled back to third place by Championship leader Steve Plater and third became fourth a lap later when Ian Hutchinson relegated him back another spot to fourth. However, the race was wide open as Mainwaring, Plater, Hutchinson and Conor broke away and decided the race amongst themselves. With little to choose between any of the four riders, and with riders defending their lines on the run in to the final chicane, overtaking chances were few and far between. Any chance of getting on to the podium disappeared on the final lap when yellow flags were being displayed and Conor had to settle for fourth once more but the results have already earmarked him down as a Championship contender and he heads in to the next round in confident mood.
Using Maxton's GP10 rear shock Tim Reeves and new passenger Gregory Cluze got their 2010 season underway in perfect fashion at the weekend when they won all three races at the opening round of the 'Battle of Britain' F1 Sidecar Championship at Pembrey. The Welsh venue saw the former World Champion in imperious form and together with Cluze and his new LCR Honda outfit, the Kent driver swept to victory in each of Saturday and Sunday's races.
Speaking afterwards, a delighted Tim said: "I couldn't have asked for a better weekend, it's been perfect. It didn't get off to a great start though when the van broke down on the way to the circuit and we missed free practice but we were soon in our stride and after taking pole position, I felt very confident going in to the races. We played around a bit with the engine, trying out different specifications but it was flying all weekend and the handling is absolutely mega so I was able to drive just how I wanted and the three races all went to plan. Gregory was brilliant and the whole combination this season is already looking fantastic so I'm really excited about the rest of the F1 season. It's been the perfect start and I can head to the opening round of the World Championship in a great frame of mind."
Using Maxton's GP30 fork cartridges and GP10 rear shock Ryan Farquhar got his 2010 road racing season underway in scintillating fashion at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough on Sunday when he won all 8 of the races he started! The KMR Kawasaki rider dominated proceedings winning both legs of the Ian Watson Trophy (retaining the trophy he won in 2009), both legs of the Supersport 600cc, both legs of the Mini Twins and both legs of the the Singles. The victories also saw him move on to 52 race wins around the 2.43-mile woodland circuit, making him the third most successful rider ever.
Using Maxton's GP30 fork cartridges and GP10 rear shock Dungannon's Ryan Farquhar will again spearhead Kawasaki's assault on the International and National road races in 2010, with the 33-year old joining forces with MSS Colchester Kawasaki for his Superbike campaign. Ryan will use a specially prepared Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R Superbike to race in the Isle of Man TT, North West 200 and Ulster GP road races whilst he will also continue with his own KMR Kawasaki's in the Supersport and Superstock divisions. The Superbike will run in identical colours to the MSS Colchester Kawasaki British Superbike team whilst the 600cc and Superstock machines will again be in Ryan's familiar black and orange livery.
Using Maxton's GP30 fork cartridges and GP10 rear shock Ryan Farquhar created history at Killalane on Sunday when he took three more road race wins to break the all-time Irish record, previously held by the legendary Joey Dunlop. Farquhar's hat-trick saw him move on to 121 Irish National road race wins, three more than the total set by Dunlop whilst it also moved him on to a staggering 60 for the season. It's been a truly remarkable year for the KMR Kawasaki rider and one that will go down in the record books as one of the best ever years, in any discipline, by a rider.

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Maxton have just returned from a successful test in Spain at Cartagena. We have been testing the new GP10 rear shock absorbers and GP30 fork internals. Riders testing the new suspension were: |