This weekend's motorcycle racing at Cadwell was the usual fair of club sports bikes trying to get the better of each other round a ribbon of tarmac. Nothing special. If you want to watch bike racing it can be seen most weekends at tracks around the UK but what caught my eye was the endurance race.

There were a number of reasons I wanted to go and see the this race. First and most important, it was the last race of the day, starting at just after 3 in the afternoon. A cheeky lye-in on a Saturday is a luxury that is pretty rare these days. 

The weather had been poor in the morning but as I approached the Mini Nürburgring ring the sun broke through the clouds and the wind died away. There were no parking restrictions for the No Limits Race meeting so abandoning my car next to the mountain, I was soon watching the action before the event that I had travelled to see. 

No Limits is one of the few, if not the only, organization that runs an endurance bike race series in the UK. 

So, not being up to speed on bike endurance racing I did a bit of research. There are two classes 400-749cc machines for Novice, Intermediate Novice and Clubman riders. The second class is 750-1300cc open to Intermediate Novice & Clubman license holders only.

The teams can be 2 - 4 riders with one bike per team known as Solo, or one bike per rider know as TAG. Each race will last a pre determined time, usually three hours and each rider must ride for a minimum of 30 minutes. 

The other advantages are you can set the bike up to the individual rider and his style. It could also be her style as there were a few all woman teams. The Iron Maidens had two teams out and there were a few mixed teams. 

When they do come together the decision process on the team names has definitely got a whiff of humour going on. Team Dumb, Dumb & Dumber and the Mutts Nuts stood out, but it was team KT Motorsport that took the win on the day. 

KT Motorsport comprised of David Hall, Jonathan Lodge and International Road racer Gary Johnson the two times Isle of Man TT winner. It appears to the casual observer we at PistonClick have been stalking Johnson this year. He has appeared in a few of our reports. The last one was the Monteblanco British Super Bike Testing in Spain which was a bit warmer than Cadwell.

As with all races there is a practice and qualifying stage to determine the grid order for the main event. Endurance racing is no different, except the bikes are lined up somewhat differently for the start of the race. 

The machines are lined up fastest first along the pit wall at 45deg to the track with the first rider standing on the other side of the track behind a white line. When the flag drops or the lights go out the riders sprint to their bikes which are being held by a team member, the rider has to start the bike and off they go.

We caught up with KT Motorsport team members Jonathan Lodge and Craig Robertson and got them to pen a few words.

We rocked up to a bright, but typically chilly Cadwell Park on Thursday, which, ironically, turned out to be the warmest we would be all weekend. The team prepped the JL Graphics GSXR1000 again and come Friday morning, it was testing time. Unsurprisingly the whole paddock seemed a bit uneasy as the track temp was barely registering, and unsurprisingly, it turned out to be a crash fest. 

Out goes Jonathan for his first session of the day, and after 4 laps, well, we didn’t see him reappear for the rest of the session. Turned out the gooseneck had claimed another few victims, Jonathan being one. 

Rest of the day we put in lap after lap to make sure both bike & rider were ok, Jonathan reported all was good apart from a pattering from the forks at low speed, something we couldn’t get to the bottom of at the time.... more to come on that... 

The track was that cold we elected not to go out in free practice, and it proved to be a good choice as the skip at the Gooseneck was getting filled at an alarming rate. Qualifying for sprints up first, and a sore but functioning JL bangs it firmly in the top ten, not bad considering neither bike nor rider were at 100%! 

The team got to it and brimmed the GSXR, changed the tyres and pads and sent JL out for the start... waiting for another one where he leads into turn one.... no pressure! Flag drops, the sprint across the track and ‘twinkle toes’ as he’s now known is in P1 into turn one and the race begins.

Jonathan pits after 44 minutes and we’re in P2, less than 6 seconds behind Luke Hedger and the Cunnington team.

Then shock around us as some of the other fast teams realise JL was on the new Metzeler Racetec RR Comp K Soft Slicks.... not SC1’s like most!... slick pit stop by the lads and we’re down to 2 seconds after the first stops, as Gaz Johnson is sent out to chase down Cunnington's club rider..... it was only ending one way! 

After two more slick stops and a mega stint at the end by Dave Hall, the chequered flag appears and it’s P1, a win by nearly two laps and Jonathan is now a National Endurance 600 AND 1000 Race Winner. 

That concludes our report on the No Limits race meeting at Cadwell Park. Thanks to Jonathan Lodge Racing and the KT Motorsport Team helping out with this report.