Sorrymate.com-Hottrax Motorsport 2011 Round Three at Anglesey, North Wales on 27th to 29th May 2011 – National and Junior Endurance, MICHELIN Power Cup, MotoGrande – words by Alfonso Lygo
Tyre choice was crucial for Superpole on Saturday, after mixed weather over the preceding week. It was a rapid start from top 600 runners and winners M & M (Lewis Mason/Robbie Moore) but it was the much fancied Sweatshop Racing who took an early lead with their third rider line up of the season, the current Michelin Power Cup points leader Mike Dickinson joining Mick Godfrey with regular man Hugh Brasher away on 2012 Olympic planning commitments. For TM72 (Andy McKnight/Steve Neate) Anglesey was their swansong race and they took the front spot after five laps, only to be overhauled by Sweatshop. After mid race rider changes TM72 maintained a slender lead over Sweatshop, the winning margin less than three seconds, in 3rd spot were M & M looking for a third win on the trot after a testing crash for Lewis on Friday ahead of Half a Chance Racing (Andy Carpenter/Martin Townsend) with BLDS Couriers (Bill Lilly/Jonty Dixon) and Pit Stop Racing (Mark Affleck/Peter Dilks) filling up the top six and second 600 crew home in blustery but dry track conditions - setting the grid up nicely for the Le Mans start for the three hour. Race on Sunday afternoon. With 28 starters and Jonty Dixon posting fastest lap - expectations were high for an entertaining Round Three of the series.
Raceday was a combination of wind, wind and more wind. Sweatshop got the flyer from the start chased by BLDS, Derek Redmond 4 (Neil Garnham/Tony Rogers), M & M, Half a Chance , Blujets (Carl Hodgkins/Ash Rothwell) and Sherwood (Carl Dodwell/Paul Whiteman). First casualty was John ‘Yogi’ Burr who dropped the Initiatec 600 before continuing back to the pits, Martin Landmann parted company with the DucksX R6 entering the pit straight after which RAF Man Al Waring spilt the Roundall Racing bike running the transponder back to team mate Si Allen before recovering + fixing the R6 for later.
At third distance Sweatshop and TM72 were separated by 17s a lap up on M & M, DR4, Insignia (Einar Torlen/Rob Loveday), Half a Chance, TANC (Chris Mason/Andy Rouse), BLDS, Blujets, Visorvision (Tom Nicolau/Rob Barnes) and Banzai (Ben Jenkins/Rupert Thompson). Early signs of trouble for our leader was when Mick Godfrey stopped briefly at Rocket to fiddle with the Traction Control which sounded as if it were in ‘tractor mode‘. Chasing 600 team Pit Stop Racing (Mark Affleck/Peter Dilks) had lost a load of time in their early stint with naff tyre choice and were now paying the price. Thirty minutes into the middle hour and Steve Neate pushed the TM72 R1 into the lead with Sweatshop struggling for any form of consistent race pace. More dramas for 1491 Endurance who were leading their class before a fuel capacity gamble dumping the R6 motionless out on the circuit which led to disqualification from the race. DR4 were leading their class before Neil Garnham tried to exit pitlane without the obligatory arm band costing them a detour back to his team gifting an advantage to Blujets who leap frogged into the class lead. Just before two hours were up Roofix Racing's Dean Smith high sided coming
onto the pit straight dumping a substantial oil slick on the racing line
- safety car was deployed for the best part of twenty minutes causing a rash of planned pit stops on the 2 hour mark which saw TM72 leading from the relentless Sweatshop, Insignia, top 600 team (just for a change) M & M, Half a Chance, DR4, BLDS, Pit Stop, TANC, Visorvision and Blujets.
The pace car re entered pitlane with 45 minutes to go and Dickinson was miraculously leading on the road with a single lap over TM72, this changed when a planned pit stop occurred. At the same time Jonty Dixon and Rob Barnes were down exiting the Corkscrew, Jonty continued whilst Rob returned his transponder to the pitlane for his team mate to continue. As the race entered the final thirty minutes TM72 luxuriated in a one lap lead over the ‘difficult to ride’ Sweatshop ZX10, DR4 were enjoying being back in third in front of Blujets and top 600 crew M & M. DR4 were in for challenging times, they picked up a penalty and that resulted in two visits to the pitlane thus dumping them down on Blujets who also incurred the wrath of the pit lane police, at the same time Ian Charles (Racing Snakes) made his way back to the paddock on foot having retired at the other side of the track. TM72 comfortably maintained their safety margin over Sweatshop - the real drama was the battle for National 600 honours, double winners M & M were top dogs throughout the Anglesey race whilst Pit Stop Racing had been ten places down on the road after an hour but only five after 120 minutes, suddenly Pit Stop were within a sniff of their class leaders, 12 seconds down with 12 minutes to go so it was nail biting stuff for both teams.
M & M played a sensible finish to their race happy with a six second gap and a class win to join the two already nailed this season, the team dedicating their fantastic win to the memory of Lewis Mason Grandfather. Other heroes of the dying moments were Sweatshop who, despite their problems managed to un lap themselves from worthy winners TM72, a fitting end to the UK racing career of 2010 Endurance Champ Andy McKnight before he rocks off to Oz with partner Alex, in North Wales ‘Yoda’ was ably assisted by young Le Mans veteran Steve Neate who rode an immaculate race on his R1. Insignia had worked hard to finish third on the road and third in the National 1000 class. National 600 winners and runners up M & M and Pit Stop were the blunt end of the top five ahead of top Junior 1000 winners Blujets. Two more National 1000s in the form of Half a Chance and BLDS ahead of the dumped DR4 -Junior 1000 runners up ahead of sixth Nat 1000 TANC Racing who fought an honest race ahead of final podium place for Junior litre teams - Banzai Racing. On the road in twelfth place were leading Junior 600 crew; Martin + Peter Brand on a pair of Brand Brothers Racing R6s grabbing a large handful of points towards their endurance debut season. Runners up to BBR were TDM Racing (Michael & Terry Merritt) only a lap down with the next three crews all on the same lap and separated by 11 seconds; Sorrymate.com (Richard Dilks/Fergus Dalgarno) and the ever enthusiastic Apex Racing (Nick Matthews/Adam Woby).
Race Results
National 1000
1 TM72 Racing 136 laps
2 Sweatshop Racing 136
3 Insignia 133
4 Half a Chance Racing 132
5 BLDS Couriers 132
6 TANC Racing 131
7 Rawlings Racing 129
Fastest Lap TM72 Racing 70.693s
National 600
1 M & M Racing 133 laps
2 Pit Stop Racing 133
3 Ducks Cross Racing 124
4 Spark Endurance 122
5 Roundall Racing 104
Fastest Lap M & M Racing 73.750s
Junior 1000
1 Bluejets Racing 133
2 Derek Redmond 4 132
3 Banzai Racing 131
4 Sherwood Motorcycles 130
5 Racing Snakes 127
6 Derek Redmond 200 124
7 Derek Redmond 400 120
8 Visorvision Team Traction 118
9 Roofix Racing 109
Fastest Lap Derek Redmond 4 72.629s
Junior 600
1 Brand Brothers Racing 131 laps
2 TDM Racing 130
3 Sorrymate.com 129
4 Initiatec JR Racing 129
5 Apex Racing 129
6 J & B Racing 125
Fastest Lap Sorrymate.com 74.320s
Michelin Power Cup 1000
Superpole
Following Daz Bellworthy's shock retirement from racing it was Shane Pearson who started on pole for the Superpole race on his Fireblade over 2s quicker than SBK City's Rhalf Lo Turco. Mike Dickinson’s first win in this series has been long overdue and whilst Pearson set off in a hurry, Mike shadowed the Blade until pouncing to take the lead captive. Greg Allsop was looking good in third and manger to fend off the attentions of Lo Turco until falling off the corkscrew at the thirds distance allowing the Brazilian into third ahead of ZX10 mounted Tony Kielty. James Osbourn and Andy Rouse came home in front of Matt Bishop and Steve Sarson - separated by an eye’s blink of 0.6s
Race Results
1 Mike Dickinson
2 Shane Pearson
3 Rhalf Lo Turco
4 Tony Kielty
5 James Osborn
6 Andy Rouse
7 Matt Bishop
8 Steve Sarson
9 Darren Blackwell
10 Ben Cope
11 Claudinei Barbosa
12 John Boakye
DNF Greg Allsop
Fastest Lap Mike Dickinson 70.651s
Race 2
It took Mike Dickinson 3 laps only before he pushed the quick starting Pearson out of the way for the lead, Lo Turco was always there abouts but could only hold onto a points reaping third spot. It was Greg Allsop and Kielty who had a race long battle over fourth after Allsop started from the back of the grid, Greg nailing it on the last lap to take fourth spot prisoner - Osborne and Rouse were the next two on the road, finishing ahead of Steve Sarson.
Race Results
1 Mike Dickinson
2 Shane Pearson
3 Rhalf Lo Turco
4 Greg Allsop
5 Tony Kielty
6 James Osborn
7 Andy Rouse
8 Steve Sarson
9 Darren Blackwell
10 Ben Cope
11 Claudinei Barbosa
12 John Boakye
Fastest Lap Mike Dickinson 70.931s
Race Three
Mike Dickinson left nothing to chance when he maxed out with points, he grabbed the lead and hung onto it keeping Pearson at bay with a finishing margin of 8 seconds. Allsop, again starting from the back of the grid made great progress in the early stages but didn’t make it beyond a quarter distance. Rhalf nailed his third podium finish of the weekend from Kielty, Sarson , endurance man Rouse and Matt Bishop on his BMW.
Race Results
1 Mike Dickinson
2 Shane Pearson
3 Rhalf Lo Turco
4 Tony Kielty
5 Steve Sarson
6 Andy Rouse
7 Matt Bishop
8 Darren Blackwell
9 Claudinei Barbosa
10 John Boakye
Fastest Lap Mike Dickinson 70.480s
Michelin Power Cup 600
Superpole Race
A notable absentee from Anglesey was Danny Imberg, who was away on vacation, leaving top Nottingham racer Ady Allsopp to steal pole from Mark Affleck with Mark Dilks in third squeezing top rookie Richard Charlton into fourth and final spot on the front row. Allsopp was unable to hang onto his advantage and it was up to Charlton to fight out the lead from Nick Green with 'find of the season' Charlton taking the win by over 8 seconds. Allsopp bagged valuable points with his third place just in front of a chasing Anthony Park. Grant Wagstaff hoped to make hay in Imberg’s absence but felt his head wasn’t in the zone at Anglesey, he still had a decent run from dead last up to sixth after three laps to make a worthy fifth at the end displacing a charging Adam Woby who scythed his way through the pack and Marc Dilks. We lost brother Peter at half distance when he was up for a top six finish.
Race Results
1 Richard Charlton
2 Nick Green
3 Adrian Allsopp
4 Anthony Park
5 Grant Wagstaff
6 Adam Woby
7 Marc Dilks
8 George Harvey
9 Mark Clifford
10 Dominic De Leon
11 Jamal Mahmood
12 Jeremy Ketchell
13 Damian Tierney
14 Simon Baseley
15 Paul Barker
Fastest Lap Nick Green 72.969s
Race 2
This race was all about Scottish Newbie Richard Charlton who took the lead on lap one and built up a 5 second gap over runner up Nick Green, third man Park was always under real threat from Wagstaff and the top four were never going to be troubled by fifth place Allsopp, a light shower meant riders had to have a bit more respect for conditions. Marc Dilks and Mark Affleck were safe in 6th & 7th, spare a thought for the improving De Leon who was sixth on the opening lap but slipped down to twelfth after vision problems, a shame after such a promising start.
Race Results
1 Richard Charlton
2 Nick Green
3 Anthony Park
4 Grant Wagstaff
5 Adrian Allsopp
6 Marc Dilks
7 Mark Affleck
8 Jeremy Ketchell
9 Peter Dilks
10 Adam Woby
11 George Harvey
12 Dominic De Leon
13 Damian Tierney
14 Jamal Mahmood
15 Mark Clifford
16 Paul Barker
17 Simon Baseley
18 Rafael Ribeiro
Fastest Lap Richard Charlton 72.875s
Race 3
It was inevitable that Grant Wagstaff would get his head in gear for the final 600 MPC race and that Adrian Allsopp, so strong in the 2010 series, was overdue a race win - it wasn't easy for either. Charlton got a flyer from Allsopp with Green and Wag in tow, until Green went off exiting Church, Allsopp took the lead on the penultimate tour putting Charlton into second before Wag passed the Scotsman on the uphill run to Rocket. Park was a handy fourth ahead of the Pit Stop trio - Affleck, Marc Dilks and brother Peter, with Ketchell, Clifford and George Harvey rounding out the top ten.
Race Results
1 Adrian Allsopp
2 Grant Wagstaff
3 Richard Charlton
4 Anthony Park
5 Mark Affleck
6 Marc Dilks
7 Peter Dilks
8 Jeremy Ketchell
9 Mark Clifford
10 George Harvey
11 Damian Tierney
12 Jamal Mahmood
13 Dominic De Leon
14 Adam Woby
15 Simon Baseley
16 Paul Barker
17 Rafael Ribeiro
Fastest Lap Ady Allsopp 72.240s
MotoGrande 1000
Race 1
Julian Hughes on his Suzuki made pole his own from a chasing Phil Brooks with Adrian Beevor and Andre Fenton making up the top four. JH converted pole into a convincing win with a 20 Second lead over R1 pilot Phil Brooks who displaced Adam Beevor from second place which he made his
Own for the first half of the race. Lee Wilson was fourth half a second in front of Kris Saunders with Ash Daughtrey making the first half dozen, a sliver in front of Andrew Fenton - the next three riders were covered by just over a second; Stephen Bridle, Rhalf Lo Turco (handy practice for the later Michelin Cup races) and Adam Reeve.
1 Julian Hughes
2 Phil Brooks
3 Adrian Beevor R
4 Lee Wilson
5 Kris Sanders
6 Ash Daughtrey
7 Adam Reeve
8 Stephen Bridle
9 Rhalf Lo Turco
10 Adam Reeve
11 Lee Murphy
12 Pavels Steska
13 Bryan Gunn
14 Justin Stephenson
15 Paul Burbage
16 Keeling Hutton
17 Terry Gunn MT
18 Nick Masterson
19 Andrew Duncan
20 Grant Hurley
Fastest Lap Julian Hughes 70.850s
R = Rookie, MT = Maxi Twin
Race 2
Julian Hughes captured the lead from the word go and never headed over the 12 laps. Brooks was second and sealed this on the opening lap despite the attentions of Lee Wilson who came third with a gap of just over a second. The ever improving Lo Turco hung onto his solid fourth ahead of Kris Sanders, Andrew Fenton and Stephen Bridle who slipped down from a stonking start.
Race Results
1 Julian Hughes
2 Phil Brooks
3 Lee Wilson R
4 Rhalf Lo Turco
5 Kris Sanders
6 Andrew Fenton
7 Stephen Bridle
8 Adam Reeve
9 Ash Daughtrey
10 Lee Murphy
11 Bryan Gunn
12 Pavels Steska
13 Justin Stephenson
14 Terry Gunn MT
15 Keeling Hutton
16 Paul Burbage
17 Nick Masterson
18 Andrew Duncan
19 Grant Hurley
20
Fastest Lap Julian Hughes 71.588s
R = Rookie, MT = Maxi Twin
Race Three
Replicating the results of the opening race on Saturday we saw Julian Hughes make it three on the trot ahead of Brooks and Rookie Beevor who finished just over a second from Kris Saunders, with Ash Daughtrey, Stephen Bridle and Andy Fenton the next to cross the line and wrap up the whole Hottrax weekend.
Race Results
1 Julian Hughes
2 Phil Brooks
3 Adrian Beevor R
4 Kris Sanders
5 Ash Daughtrey
6 Stephen Bridle
7 Andrew Fenton
8 Adam Reeve
9 Lee Murphy
10 Paul Burbage
11 Pavels Steska
12 Justin Stephenson
13 Bryan Gunn
14 Keeling Hutton
15 Nick Masterson
16 Andrew Duncan
17 Terry Gunn MT
18 Grant Hurley
Fastest Lap Julian Hughes 70.414s
R = Rookie, MT = Maxi Twin
MotoGrande 600
Race One
A smaller than normal grid was headed up by the naked Suzuki 600 Streetbike of Mark Stanier from Andrew Nicholson and Kieran Rowe - all covered by less than half a second. Stanier was unable to hold onto the lead and it was left up to Jamie Harrison and Andrew Nicholson to scrap over P1, Nicholson was able to fend Harrison off until half distance when Jamie started building up a 10 second lead. Stanier hung onto bronze with a generous lead over Jake Kay, Colin Norris, Warren Verwey and the Hornet of Martin Crabb.
Race Results
1 Jamie Harrison
2 Andrew Nicholson
3 Mark Stanier
4 Jake Kay
5 Colin Norris
6 Warren Verwey
7 Martin Crabb
8 Roger Slater
9 Wayne Crossman
10 Nick Matthews
11 Tony Bradshaw
12 Gary Hignett
13 Russell Horton
Fastest Lap Jamie Harrison 72.984s
Race Two
With the wind still a bit of an issue it was Nicholson who got the holeshot from Harrison, Hornet man Crabb was down the field but on a bit of a charge.
Colin Norris managed to hang onto a string 3rd at the start before loosing a couple of places at the end to Verwey behind Jake Kay in third and Harrison finishing 8 seconds ahead of Roger Slater. 600 pilots reported that lap times were generally a second down on the previous days due to the wind and finishing outside the top six were Crabb, Apex Racing man Nick Matthews, Tony Bradshaw and Derek Redmond runner Wayne Crossman.
Race Results
1 Jamie Harrison
2 Andrew Nicholson
3 Jake Kay
4 Warren Verwey
5 Colin Norris
6 Roger Slater
7 Martin Crabb
8 Nick Matthews
9 Tony Bradshaw
10 Wayne Crossman
11 John McDonald
12 Gary Hignett
13 Andrew Lund
14 Richard England
15 Russell Horton
Fastest Lap Jamie Harrison 73.559s
Race 3
The status quo was maintained for Harrison, Nicholson and Kay as they replicated the finishing position from the earlier race, naked Suzuki man Stanier was a handy fourth ahead of elder statesman Norris with Verwey in sixth ahead of Crossman, Lund and Slater with Nick Matthews topping out the top ten.
Race Results
1 Jamie Harrison
2 Andrew Nicholson
3 Jake Kay
4 Mark Stanier
5 Colin Norris
6 Warren Verwey
7 Wayne Crossman
8 Andrew Lund
9 Roger Slater
10 Nick Matthews
11 Tony Bradshaw
12 John McDonald
13 Martin Crabb
14 Richard England
15 Gary Hignett
16 Russell Horton
Fastest Lap Jamie Harrison 72.663s
Ducati Desmo Due
Double Brands winner Neil Appleby spent some time following eventual runner up Matthew Lawson before coasting to his first win of the weekend to win by a slender margin. Steve Mason held onto third ahead of Andy Challis and leading Class B runner Ronald Jolley, Phil Wilcock, Alan Parkes and West Bridgford’s Steve Hands made up the Top Ten.
Appleby stole the show in Race 2 with a 5 second advantage over Steve Mason with Andy Challis in third. Lawson couldn't make a podium place and came on fourth ahead of Pike and Wilcock, Parkes and Hands this time in a handy eighth spot.
The Desmos had a run out on Sunday as well with a depleted field given some new faces a chance to shine; Steve Mason, Andy Pike and Paul Beadbury occupied the podium with Wilson, Tesseyman and Jenkins making up the top half dozen.
Allcomers Race: Saturday ran like clockwork and we had time for a 10 lap thrash which saw lanky Fireblade wrestler Andy Rouse, also competing in the 3 hour endurance and the Michelin Power Cup, take a win from Jake Kay (less than a second away), Steve Bridle, Paul Barker and Kieran Rowe.
Desmo Allcomers: Steve Mason won the five lap thrash comfortably from Pike, Jenkins, Wilson, Ellis, Darravalla and Andy Turner - great fun!
Sorrymate.com-Hottrax Motorsport 2011 Round Three at Anglesey, North Wales on 27th to 29th May 2011 – National and Junior Endurance, MICHELIN Power Cup, MotoGrande – words by Alfonso Lygo
For the opening two rounds of the 2011 campaign we have visited the short sprint circuits of Brands Indy and Mallory Park – it is now time for the riders to stretch their legs against the flowing background of the Welsh landscape over the late Spring Bank Holiday at Anglesey.
National and Junior Endurance
600cc National
M&M Racing (Lewis Mason/Robbie Moore) must be delighted with two wins from two starts, including an overall win at Brands; at Mallory they were unstoppable and held a six lap margin over their main opposition 1491 Racing. Pit Stop Racing who lost two laps at the very start of the Brands race also had their fair share of woes at Mallory after Mark Affleck crashed at the hairpin on cold tyres causing Peter Dilks to sit and wait a while before returning to the track to secure some points with a sixth place behind Handbags and Shoes (Emmett Burke/Richie Cunningham), Spark Endurance (Shelley Pike/Rob Knoyle) and Roundall Racing (Simon Allen/Al Waring) who were dead last off the grid at Mallory after Simon failed to get his engine going.
1000cc National
Splitlath Racing took a win at Brands in the capable hands of Jenny Tinmouth and Hudson Kennaugh to finish miles ahead of nearest class rivals Rawlings Racing (Lee and Matt). For Mallory previous champions Sweatshop were back on top despite Mark Smith-Halvorsen having to nurse a fuel starved Kawasaki to the flag to hold a winning gap of only 12 seconds partnering the Silver Fox – Mick Godfrey as regular rider Hugh Brasher was on London Marathon duty; Race Directing, not participating! TANC were the ones chasing Sweatshop with a rider line up of Michelin Tyre Tester Chris Mason and 2010 Michelin Power Cup Champ, Jon Otter. Serious title chasers BLDS Couriers were third at Mallory after some inspirational riding from last year’s endurance champion Jonty Dixon who shares BLDS riding duties with Bill Lilly. Insignia (Rob
Loveday/Einar Torlen) are consistent finishers, as are Rawlings Racing who ran an R6 and an R1 at Mallory.
Anglesey will be the swan song for 2010 Champions TM72, which will carry the #1 plate for their only outing of 2011, just before Andy ‘Yoda’ McKnight moves to Australia with partner Alex. His 2010 team mate, Jonty Dixon, is now part of the BLDS set up, so Andy will be drafting in a rider, yet to be named, for the weekend. We wish Andy all the best for the future away from UK endurance racing where for the past few years he has been a cornerstone of the sport.
600cc Junior
At the last round Sorryumate.com principal Fergus Dalgarno was ill and drafted in the speedy West Midlander Colin Norris as sub to join Richard Dilks, the combination won with a slender margin of 13 seconds over new for 2011 Brand Brothers (Martin/Peter) who did so well in Kent where Sorrymate..... Police bike replica specialists Initiatec JR Racing (John Burr/Mark Roxbrough) were a solid third last month, only a lap down on P1 whilst father & son effort J & B Racing (Brad + Jason Bradshaw) played themselves in well starting their 2011 campaign at Brands.
1000cc Junior
It’s very early stages in the day but it is crystal that this class is very much the focus of Banzai (Ben Jenkins/Rupert Thompson), Sherwood Motorcycles (Carl Dodwell/Mark Hornett), Blujets (Carl Hodgkins/Ash Rothwell) and the various Redmond Raptor teams. Third at Brands; Visorvision Team Traction (Paul Berryman/Keith Flint) aborted Mallory after Paul destroyed his trick Suzuki 1000 – we look forward to their return soon as Paul has acquired another special Suzuki. Going into Anglesey Banzai and Sherwood are even Stevens in the points with a win and a second each. Blujets were unfortunate at Mallory when Ash Rothwell lost his bike at the Devil’s Elbow – the team continued and posted an eighth to add to their fourth at Brands. After a disqualification for a technical infringement at Round One In the Dog House Racing (Arron Bird/Garry Janes) the brace of Ducatis posted a third at Mallory despite leaving the starting grid after a painful amount of time which them having to scythe their way through the field.
Michelin Power Cup
600 cc
2011 could all be about Danny Imberg and Grant Wagstaff in a battle royal which could last until the end of the season. In terms of wins, Imberg is a class act with no less than five wins from six starts but expect Wag to work hard at overhauling Danny as they go for the championship. Points are being gathered consistently by Sean Moore in his second year of Michelin Power Cup 600s, his copybook approach was spoilt at Mallory but he will be back aiming to collect some more third places behind the leading duo. Out to spoil these plans are the brothers Dilks – Marc and Peter, Ady Allsop who has progressed up though MotoGrande and is now in his second year of MPC, Richard Charlton is another rookie rider to catch the eye and old hand Dominik De Leon is rapidly improving on his SBK City Honda.
1000cc
You can almost smell the competition between BMW mounted Darren Bellworthy and Mike Dickinson, Daz’ record to date is a single win at Brands but a staggering triple at Mallory where he was hounded by Dickinson who is yet to see gold. Throw in other very capable riders including Jamie Cox, Gaz Evans, Stephen Harrison, Andy Rouse and Greg Allsop, Steve Sarson, Tom Keilty and Rhalf Lo Turco – all quite capable of posting top three finishers and the racing is guaranteed to be close and exciting. Mallory was without reigning champion Jon Otter who has migrated over to endurance racing and Dave Stewardson who was unfit for Leics but hopes to be back with vengeance in North Wales.
MotoGrande
600cc
Three riders who impressed at the opening round at Brands but did not enter Mallory were Jonathon Lodge, brother Jamie, Craig Neve, Ross Ashman + Simon Keen. New kids on the block and heroes of Round Two included top Rookie Shaun Champion who followed up his Brands win with two more wins and a second at the short circuit, Les Weston was looking good with one victory as well as having an ‘off’ in the opening race of the Mallory weekend – more to come from him then! Others with the potential to shine will be; Andrew Nicholson, Jake Kay, Nino Catalado, Martins Stanier & Landmann and Wayne Crossman.
1000cc
Mallory saw big grids again for the 1000cc MotoGrande races and whilst Phil Brooks and Gary Beardsley stole some of the limelight, they may not be reappearing in the series as they focus on their National careers, so watch out for gifted regulars; Julian Hughes, Paul Green, Chris Matthews and emerging rookies Adrian Beevor and Adam Reeve. Ash Daughtrey, Adam Sherriff look handy when they want to and Robin Hooker is a solid performer and took points of others at Mallory in his comeback race following a pre season testing crash in Spain. Andy Carpenter who was 2010 Junior Endurance champion will shine and there is more to come so keep an eye on the red and yellow machine.
Ducati Desmo Due
To date we have enjoyed four races in this charismatic series with wins going to Neil Appleby and Steve Mason - Anglesey will give the Ducatiists an opportunity to stretch their legs on a longer circuit than Brands and Mallory.
Come and join in North Wales at the fantastic coastal circuit over the late Spring Bank Holiday 27th – 29th May with two days of racing following a test day.