2012 RIDER BLOG: Wayne Hall

[Admin]

Hi everyone,

Most of you wont have heard of me before so I'd better introduce myself! My name is Wayne Hall, better known as Scoops. I'm a 23 year old apprentice electrician from Balbriggan, Co Dublin. I first caught the racing bug when I went to the Dundalk road races in 2002 with my Dad who was always an avid road race fan. The whole thing just sucked me in. Darran Lindsay won his first 3 races of the day, but he crashed out whilst pulling a wheelie across the start finish line as he won the 3rd. He skidded down the road and was completely unhurt except for his pride!! The whole days racing was brilliant and I was hooked. After a few years of spectating I decided I would give it a go myself.



At 18 I saved up and bought a CBR400 from Steven Grier, and took to the 2008 Irish SS400 championship. I hadn't ever done track days, and in hindsight I must have been mad to just arrive and start racing, but I learned a lot in my first year. I ended up in the gravel a few more times than I would have liked though!!

2009 was a bad year, I suffered a knee injury in a pre season crash which put me out for most of the season, but I plugged away and got the bike rebuilt to a decent spec for 2010, where I worked with Austin in Specials and Danny in DLM. This was to be my first full season of short circuits. I was more than pleased with the season; I started and finished all 21 races that year and ended up 4th in the Irish Championship, scoring a few podiums along the way.

On the basis of a decent year in 2010, I was awarded a Junior support road race licence for 2011. This was a dream come true for me! In addition to the road racing, I also did a deal to ride an R6 on the short circuits for Willie Wilson's Gas Safety Systems. I enjoyed my races on the 600, and I finished the year on a high, with my best result in the last meeting of the year: a solid 2nd place in a wet race in Mondello.



I took part in 8 road races during the year on the RVF400: Cookstown, Tandragee, Skerries, Walderstown, Kells, Dundrod, Munster, and Killalane. My favourite of the lot was definitely Dundrod. The high speed and flowing bends were just awesome! My best result of the year was 11th at Walderstown, but I would say my best performance was at Munster, where I qualified 5th fastest in practice. I didn't get to race in the end up, due to a mechanical issue on the warm up lap, but it was a great weekend none the less. It was a very enjoyable year all in all. My only aims were to learn the tracks and come back safe so it was job done!

Looking forward to 2012, I am very well set up in terms of machinery. I will be riding the Specials RVF400 in the National 400 races. I will ride Willie Wilson's GSS R6 in the Senior support championship, with the biggest focus for me being the Junior support class. I'll be riding a Suzuki Sv650 that we got with the help of Eamonn Corcoran. It is my aim and goal to compete in a full season, but that will obviously depend on finances. Hopefully I might attract some sponsors between now and the start of the season.

That's the story up until now, but I'm hoping to keep you all posted on my second year's road racing in a regular blog here after every race. Hopefully it'll make for some interesting reading, or a laugh at least!

Thanks for reading
Scoops #40

[Admin]

Hi everyone
Here is a rundown of my season to date it certainly hasn’t gone to plan!

I decided I would start the season with a couple of races before Cookstown, just to get the hang of riding the bikes again. I raced the R6 in Mondello Park where I scored an 8th and a 5th place finish on the Gas Safety Systems R6. Next stop was to Kirkistown on Easter Monday for the ISB round on the Ipass.ie Sv650. I had a DNF in race 1 due to a puncture and I finished 12th in race 2 which I was happy enough with, I enjoyed the race. The week before Cookstown I went to a track day in Kirkistown on the 400 and the 650 for last minute track time. We put a slipper clutch into the 650 for this and the difference it made was huge, I was really happy with how well the bike was going and I was delighted with how I was riding. So I was quite confident as I headed for Cookstown.



We arrived in Cookstown on the Thursday night and got the awning set up and bikes ready. Fridays practice came and I went out for my qualifying in the Junior Support race on the 650, this is the class I felt I had my best chance in. It begun well and before long I was first on the road, as I headed onto my last qualifying lap I was lying 2nd on the timing sheet. I had my head down and was on a quick lap when I suddenly lost the front end as I came back on the throttle through the right hander after Mackney. I hit the road and I slid into the ditch with the bike sliding behind me. The bike got flipped into the air and landed on my left hip crushing me into the ground. After I got dragged up the road by the bike, I pushed it off myself and managed to get off the track before I hit the deck and waited for the medics to come.



I was brought to Craigavon Hospital where I still am as I write this. I have broken my pelvis in 2 places as a result of the bike landing on me. It has been confirmed that I do not need surgery thankfully and the breaks should knit themselves. I have been on strict bed rest and haven’t been out of the bed since the crash over 3 weeks ago. But hopefully I will be able to get up soon. So at this point it is very hard to judge how long the road to recovery will be but I will work hard at the physio and make sure I get back to full fitness to return to racing as soon as I can.







Thanks to all my family, friends and everyone who wished me well for keeping me going through this. And a huge thanks to my girlfriend Tara who has been amazing!

I will keep you updated on my recovery and hopefully my return to racing in 2012.

Thanks for reading!
Wayne #40