Dean Thomas

Dean Thomas aboard his Samsung Suzuki had a torrid time during the solitary qualifying session at Silverstone ahead of round three of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship. He crashed early in the session and had to get back to pick up his number two machine, once he was ready to go on that bike the red flag came out and held him up. However he still managed to pull it back to a fifteenth place qualification.

“I was just a bit unlucky really. We had been putting some decent race times all weekend. I went out and strung together a load of 27s and mid 27s laps together in the last practice session. With the new tyre rules you can only run three tyres, it meant we had one race tyre and two qualifiers. I went out and pushed hard on it straight away to make sure I got a good lap in early and I just tucked the front,” he explained.

He had to abandon his number one machine as the handle bars broke in the crash, “We ran the second bike which isn’t as good as the first and then rolled out on the qualifier when the session got red flagged! It was just a bad run and we are fifteenth but at least we have a decent race setting for a change, it is normally the other way round. I’m looking forward to racing tomorrow.”

Apart from his difficult day, Thomas is upbeat about racing at Sivlerstone, “The Samsung Suzuki is brilliant round here, it has been really good and it was good at Thruxton but I was just unlucky. It is a good bike round here, we should be ok I’m looking forward to seeing the Samsung Superbike up there, hopefully in the top ten and giving the boys a hard time,” he grinned.

 

Dean Thomas and his Samsung Suzuki had mixed results at the picturesque Oulton Park circuit during round four of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship. Race one resulted in a DNF due to a problem with the rear shock absorber but race two saw Thomas come home tenth.

“Race one was not so good,” he said, “I got off to a decent start not running right at the front but in the middle of the pack but I moved up to about tenth or eleventh, somewhere like that. I was on the back of Tommy Hill and I was just moving my way through. It was only about six or seven laps into the race and all of a sudden I had a massive vibration from the back of the bike.”

Thomas stayed calm and had a good look at his machine to determine what the problem was, “At the time it felt like the wheel was falling off it was that bad, so I pulled over and had a look round and I could see oil all over my back wheel and I had actually burst a seal in the shock absorber. I’ve never had anything like that happen before and it just sprayed oil all over the place and the bad vibration was the shock just going crazy. So that was my race cut short.”

The weather for race two was a bit on the damp side and quite a few riders took it easy so Thomas took full advantage of this, “We’ve been working hard on the Samsung Suzuki to get it to where we need it to be and it was a bit hit and miss with the weather at the beginning of the race and I think so of the guys were a bit tentative on the warm up lap as they could see it was a bit misty in the back ground. The way I looked at it was it was dry, simple as that. So I took off and went for it and so did Tommy Hill and we both just pushed out way to the front.”

He was surprised at how gently the others took it off the line, “I was a bit surprised at how tentative the guys were with it and it took them six or seven laps before they found their feet and that was it, they were back on again. I spent most of the race fighting with Chris Walker and we have a few little things we need to work on with the bike and it was obvious Chris does as well. It was good to have a battle with him so tenth place I can’t complain.”

The team are progressing well and he is confident that they will be running up front soon, “The Samsung Superbike will move forward and I’m confident we can get to where we want to be. We are not going to run up with Lavilla, Haslam and Kiyo at the moment because we don’t have the package to do so. It is the next bracket we need to try and get to and we will just keep working hard until we get there,” he finished.

The next round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship is at Snetterton on the 18th – 20th May.

 

 

Dean Thomas and his Samsung Suzuki had a tough time on track at high speed Thruxton in Hampshire.

The Australian rider’s problems all started in qualifying when the mechanical gremlins decided to come out in force. Thomas suffered an engine failure and then an electrical problem, although he still qualified in fourteenth place. “I couldn’t believe it, my engine blew in qualifying and then my spare bike developed an electrical fault so I only managed five laps! I just had time to put in one qualifier and set my time,” he said.

Thomas finished race one in sixteenth position but it was a struggle due to tyre choice, “I picked the wrong tyre and ended up sixteenth. There were two options and I chose the one that I tested and felt most consistent on but it just wasn’t fast enough, I was comfy on it but not fast.”

Race two turned out to be a non starter and this time it was due to the clutch, “My clutch went, the bike just started to spin up on the second lap.

We now know that each clutch only does two starts, but to be honest it has been a tough weekend on all the Suzukis. Chris Walker on the Rizla machine had similar problems.”

The team are hoping to test before the next round at Silverstone as Thomas explains, “We are hoping to make some progress before Silverstone. The plan is to test at Oulton Park but the guys need to rebuild the bikes, so we will see where we are at and take it from there,” he concluded.

The next round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship and the Metzeler National Superstock will take place on the 27th - 29th April at Silverstone in Northants.

It’s been a long time off and planning the 2007 season has taken some time, but I’m pleased to announce that I have signed a deal to compete in the British Superbike Championship for the Dienza Performance Team. I will be competing on two ex Rizla Suzuki’s and I’m confident that we have a competitive package to run with the factory bikes. Testing will start in Spain on the 16th March and I can’t wait to get started. The team will be releasing a press release soon announcing the sponsors so keep an eye out.

Deano