2010 Ducati Bears – Phill Gray writes

There are plenty of racing championships that may go unnoticed and Ducati Bears racing may quite possible be one of them. Contrary to the name it is not a bunch of koalas riding mini motos, rather BEARS is the acronym for British, European, American Racing and Supporters and we get to witness some luscious machinery punted around the country. Phill ‘Goose’ Gray is an ex-champion and checks in with Dailybike to give his recount of the last round in the Ducati Bears racing series aboard his Bimota…

Round 3, Morgan Park, Warwick, Queensland, 8/9 May

A new track beckoned for all but a scant few of the F3 field, Mike Coates was out before we’d turned a wheel with a practice injury. Leaving the title a three way fight between, myself, Glen and Deano. We were also joined by a bunch of very fast F3 locals aboard Supermotards. Friday practice was a bit of a strange one, with timing being provided for each session. Makes a change from NSW, were they bin you for having a lap timer on. The track is a total hoot, its tight, complex, and challenging. Half way through the day I had to replace the battery as the existing one was buggered. The DB-EVo was pinging on several parts of the track where I was getting the throttle open wide at high speed. If it was load or speed related I could not tell for sure. I dialed in 5 percent fuel to counter the detonation. The DB-EVo was also exhibiting the same rear suspension problems I’d had at Wakefield in high load corners. I dialed in another 6mm of pre-load on the rear spring, this stopped me bottoming out the shock.

Saturday was two qualifying sessions, followed by two races. Thankfully they had split the grid into F1/F2, and F3/F4/F5, otherwise the traffic would have been terrible. It was still bad enough, but I made the most of it post a 1:10.7 in Q1 for 5th, and a 1:09.7 for 3rd in Q2. Putting me 3rd on the grid, and best of the guys competing in the BEARS National Challenge. Just behind me was Deano, Glen was struggling a bit further back in the pack.

Race one was perfect, I got away well with three Motards and Deano ahead of me. Deano did what I thought he would and race the Motards, this made him run wide on turn four and I slipped by him with ease. For the remainder of the race I chased the motards and set a new PB lap of 1:09.697 to come home fourth. Glen got Deano for fifth, the pair some ten seconds back.

Race two was not so perfect. My start was not the best, but I used every ounce of cunning to get back past Glen and Deano before I crossed the line for the first time at pace in fourth. Unfortunately for me, an unnecessary yellow flag on turn three had me shutting the gas for the drive down to turn four. Turn three is a blind fourth gear sweeper so I was extremely slow under a caution, only to find no accident around the corner. In my haste to get away from the chasing pack I arrived to hot at the next bend and lost the front end. Data loggers do not lie, and I’d hit the apex 8km faster than ever before. Thankfully the DB-EVo crashes good, I picked her up, straighten the left bar and take off after the field. I cross the line in 19th! Lap three and I peg back two riders. Lap four according to my mates in the grandstand I overtake 5 people from the final corner to turn three. On the final two laps I muscle my way by two F3 competitors for some valuable points to come home outright 11th or 9th in F3. We throw a new handle bar on the bike and replace the brake pads as a precaution.

Sundays dawned foggy and cold. In warm up I post a time four tenths of my best for the weekend and I was more than happy with the machine and me. Race three saw me start from 11th place on the grid due to my fall. Thankfully the guys ahead of me did as I expected, all crowding themselves on the apex of turn one so I could barrel past them all on the outside. 11th to 5th on two corners. Ahead of me Deano had broken clear with the leading three Motards. I spent two laps tracking him down, posting a 1:09.121 in the process. However once on Deano’s tail the Triumph became extremely wide. We finished that way, Deano, Goose, Glen.

The final race of the weekend had the same conclusion as race three, with me unable to get past Deano. Both of us circulated in mid 1:09’s for the first half to the race but spent the second half tripping over each other. Once more both me and Deano scored points back against Glen who finished just behind us.

Points after round 3

1. Glen Bauder 240
2. Phill Gray 219
3. Dean Holmes 212
4. John Price 182
5. Ben Gilbert 173

To do list.

Suspension: softer front springs will be needed for the final two rounds of the nationals, as will a firmer rear spring. Currently I am using 8.5kg front and 10.5 rear, I think 8 fronts and 12 rear are probably the go.

Engine: The shopping list is not massively long here. Some sportier camshafts if we can acquire some, correct cam timing also. We will probably port the heads a touch more to clean up the port shapes. Finally we will build a new exhaust system, with 51mm headers (up from 45mm), individual headers and reverse cone megaphones to help elongate the power curve.

Chassis: The airbox will be remade in Carbon fibre. A lot of attention will be paid to the wiring loom, as there is probably 2kg of extra wire to be eliminated. The frame will at long last get some paint. We will make a new carbon clutch cover up to prevent the cover being ground through in a crash.

Bodywork: Given we are visiting the two fastest tracks on the calender next, we will fit the front fairing and screen from a 916 Ducati to the DB-EVo to improve the aerodynamics.

All images © Osella Photographics www.osella.com.au

Tags: 2010, Australia, Bimota, Ducati Bears, Phill Gray

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