Lap record pace, front row start, and heartbreak for Bathams AJN Racing

While the term “A game of two halves” is normally used for football, it has never been more appropriate to describe our race weekend at Snetterton race circuit.

Complete with a factory Ducati Corse engine in his race bike, Storm and the team made really big steps with the chassis set up of the bike throughout practice and qualifying to improve from 1.5 seconds off fastest to just 0.2 seconds away from pole position in final qualifying. 

His laptime was good enough to secure a front row start in third position for Race 1, and was one of just three riders to lap underneath the 10-year old lap record, not to mention also becoming the fastest ever lap set by a Ducati at the Norfolk circuit.

Then over the course of the three races, the weekend unravelled in gut-wrenching fashion with a DNF in all three due to component failures - each beyond the teams control. Two of the failures occurred while Storm was in contention for a podium position, the other occurred while coming through the pack after starting from the back row of the grid and reaching the points positions within just 3 laps.

The team will now prepare for Brands Hatch by focusing on the positives from the weekend, which are that despite the technical failures and DNF results, the team did make a very significant step with the Ducati’s chassis set up which will benefit Storm for the rest of the season.

Storm Stacey
“Obviously I’m gutted about the three DNFs, that goes without saying, but we’re all working flat out to get up there on the podium, and for sure this weekend it does feel that we made a breakthrough with the bike. As well as finding more laptime, it also started to feel a lot more comfortable to maintain that pace.

Anyway, it’s in the past now, my aches and pains will fade, and the bike will be put back together ready to go again complete with the new chassis setting that we discovered. Obviously, a massive shout out to the team for getting the bike ready in the first place with the Corse engine, then working so hard all weekend to get all the repairs done, especially for the third race.”

Michael Rutter
“There are no words, but I’ve been here plenty of times before during my racing career. Just when you think you’ve turned a corner, lady luck steps in…..

Building this bike from scratch was never going to be easy, and every step of the journey has been a steep learning curve for us. Hopefully it won’t be long before this weekend is a distant memory and we do eventually get onto that podium. Storm is riding beautifully and the team are putting in very long hours, so I’m sure we’ll get there soon.”