GARY Birtwistle claims another chequered flag in the 2021 DTRA UK Flat Track season at Greenfields Dirt Track, as Royal Enfield continue dominating in their inaugural season together.
Coming off a win at Round 1 at the Norfolk Arena in Kings Lynn, Birtwistle finished top in both the ‘Twins’ category and ‘Thunderbike’ category to continue a perfect start to the 2021 season. Royal Enfield factory test rider Paul Young secured 2nd spot, making it a 1-2 finish for the Twins FT motorcycles.
This continues a top start for the Royal Enfield riders, who will be no doubt confident of their chances in the remaining 3 DTRA rounds on the calendar:
- Jul 17th/18th - Amman Valley, Wales (1/2 mile)
- Aug 14th/15th - Redcar Speedway, Redcar
- Sept 11th/12th - Greenfield Dirt Track, Lincs (TT)
Royal Enfield continue winning on the Flat Track
Gary Birtwistle had this to say after his round 2 win:
“After the fantastic result of Race 1 we were quietly confident that we had all the ingredients to make this into another successful weekend. However, to once again claim the top 2 spots on the podium is something that exceeded all expectations. The on-track conditions became more challenging as the weekend progressed, with the heat and dryness really playing its part, so as a team we really couldn’t have hoped for more.
In the second heat it was great to have a real scrap and be pushed to the limit by Paul on the other Royal Enfield. There was definitely one scary moment when I overcooked a corner on an attempt to get by him, but that is what happens sometimes when you’re fighting for track position and really pushing the machine to the limit. Luckily I was able to make amends when it mattered in the final!
Overall I’m super happy with the incremental improvements that we managed to make to the bike’s set-up after Race 1 and during each round of the weekend. As a team we continue to learn together, improve together and hopefully continue to win together. There’s still many more challenges ahead in the season - but we’re all determined to build on this momentum and fully prepare for the next round.”
Adrian Sellers, head of Royal Enfield’s custom programme:
“Securing back-to-back wins is a fantastic outcome and gives a boost of confidence to Royal Enfield’s Racing Programme. We’re delighted to keep the momentum going from the first race and continue to build upon the great platform we’ve established for our first season of competitive racing on European soil.
The weekend certainly wasn’t without its nervous moments for the team. Putting Gary and Paul, two very talented and competitive riders, wheel-to-wheel on two very quick machines and giving them the freedom to race does result in some hairy moments. Seeing Gary almost slam the bike into the side of the track as he attempted a pass of Paul in one of the heats certainly added to the spectators excitement - but that’s just the nature of racing and a dynamic that we embrace.
As both Gary and Paul get more time on track in both competitive and practice environments, we can continue to squeeze even more pace from the bikes. With every lap completed we’re fine tuning the individual setups being developed for each Twin FT, looking to constantly improve and tweak any possible variable in order to maximise how much performance we can get out of these machines.
The progress we’re seeing with the performance of these bikes is really encouraging and a testament to the amount of hard work being put in behind the scenes from the teams based at both the UK Technical Centre and Harris Performance.
While we’re still fully in development year mode with the Royal Enfield flat track racing programme, this back-to-back winning result certainly gives us the confidence that we’re on a very positive track.”
If you want more flat track, check out our report of the Royal Enfield Slide School!
