Sorrymate.com-Hottrax Motorsport 2011 Round Four at Snetterton, Norfolk on 18th to 19th June 2011 – National and Junior Endurance, MICHELIN Power Cup, MotoGrande – Report - words by Alfonso Lygo
National and Junior Endurance Race - 40 minute Superpole
Current championship leaders Sweatshop (Hugh Brasher/Mick Godfrey) made the best tyre choice given the unpredictable weather conditions to complete 18 laps in the 42 minute encounter. On the road and pushing Sweatshop were 600 triple class winners M & M Racing (Lewis Mason/Robbie Moore) after Moore went out on wets for the first half swapping to a slick toting Mason at half time to cross the line 14s behind the larger machine just as the heavens opened again which could have been interesting a few minutes earlier. Banzai (Ben Jenkins/Rupert Thompson) were more than half a minute down on the 600 but ahead of last season’s National 600champions Pit Stop Racing (Marc/Peter Dilks) with TANC (Pete Baker/Chris Mason) taking fifth ahead of Brand Brothers (Martin/Peter). Filling out the top ten were the very quick pairing at Derek Redmond 4 (Neil Garnham/Tony Rogers), Blujets (Carl Hodgkins/Ash Rothwell), Initiatec JR Racing (John Burr/Mark Roxbrough) and In the Dog House (Arron Bird/Garry Janes).
National and Junior Endurance Race – Three Hours
Raceday was dry but cool and over forty machines left the traditional Le Mans start - just as the heavens well and truly opened. It was a tough call and with 99% of the field on dry tyres and it was Rawlings Racing (Lee & Matt Rawlings) and Half a Chance Racing (Andy Carpenter/Martin Townsend) who lost the bet and were back in pit lane for different rubber. After a few minutes a dry line was evident and M & M were leading from Simply Black and White (David Brooking/James McBride), Pit Stop, DR4, Visorvision (Paul Berryman/Keith Flint), Apex (Adam Woby/Nick Matthews), Brands, BLDS (Bill Lilly/Jon Otter) and Handbag and Shoes (Richie Cunningham/Tommy Dale) - National 1000 championship leaders Sweatshop were 15th.
James McBride had quickly snaffled the lead and was looking strong as Sweatshop fell at Oggies in the hands of Mick Godfrey; attempting to return via the infield Mick found gates locked and took a while before the bike could be made safe and effective for Hugh Brasher to get back out at the tail of the field. Major dramas for In the Doghouse who retired at around the same time as Andy Dix was back in the pit lane looked desperate with his spanker BMW which suffered from a chocolate gearbox. A rash of pit stops came and went before DR4 was leading on the road ahead of 600s M&M, Dales Racing (Richard Steadman/Freddy Pett), Pit Stop, Handbags, TANC, Brand Brothers, Banzai, Visorvision and Ridgeback Racing (Mark Clark/David Stolliday). After 60 minutes it was the Junior 1000 machine of DR4 sharing the lap with M & M, TANC, Pit Stop, Dales, Brand and Banzai; Black and White were down in 23rd and Sweatshop 9 laps down in 39th – for the championship it was imperative the ZX10 completed 75% of the finisher’s distance to earn as many points as possible.
Half distance and the status quo was being maintained apart from Handbags dipping into the top six at the expense of the Brand Brothers and Dales were on a real push towards the sharp end. BLDS’s ‘supersub’ Otter reported in his pit stop that his clutch was disintegrating and slipping coming out of the slow corners, costing valuable time, they were ninth on the road and second in class, we had lost class leaders Apex with engine gremlins and Half a Chance with a puncture. With an hour left on the clock DR4, M & M, TANC, Dales, Pit Stop were within 72 seconds on each other, Blujets (Carl Hodgkins/Ash Rothwell) and Ridgeback were in the top ten, BLDS were circulating in twelfth ahead of Black and White but behind Visorvision. The final hour was the most nail biting as Dales put their foot down and started challenging classmates M & M for the class win and second spot on the podium; at the two and a half hour mark this was achieved with the top six teams all on the same lap and M & M within touching distance of Dales as they disputed the National 600 win. The Garnham/Rogers Junior 1000 pairing at DR4 had the almost perfect race to take the flag by 34 seconds from Dales who could not relax with M & M less than two seconds adrift; fourth went to National 1000 winners TANC after a solid performance finishing ahead of Banzai and Pit Stop – all pegged at 83 laps. Finishing only a lap down on the leaders were Handbags, a recovering Black & White, Brand and Blujets. BLDS, Visorvision and Ridgeback failed to make it into the top ten and Sweatshop were magnificent in coming eighth in class to pot some points in their campaign. In a race almost totally dry and with 600s taking two of the podium places and making up half the top ten; is Snetterton 300 less of a power circuit than its predecessor?
It was a massive result for father and son team of J& B Racing (Brad and Jason Bradlaw) who sewed up a podium place in the Junior 600 race, what more appropriate way of celebrating Father’s Day – giving them both a day to remember.
Race Results
National 1000
1 TANC Racing 83 laps
2 Simply Black & White 82
3 BLDS Couriers 81
4 Ridgeback Racing 81
5 Insignia 80
6 Gosh Racing 77
7 Rawlings Racing 76
8 Sweatshop Racing 74
9 Black Flag Racing 74
Fastest Lap Simply Black & White 1m 57.679s
National 600
1 Dales Racing 83 laps
2 M & M Racing 83
3 Pit Stop Racing 83
4 Handbags and Shoes 82
5 Ducks Cross Racing 81
6 Spark Endurance 75
7 Roundall Racing 72
Fastest Lap Dales Racing 1m 59.302s
Junior 1000
1 Derek Redmond 4 83
2 Banzai Racing 83
3 Blujets Racing 81
4 Visorvision Team Traction 81
5 Extreme Wraps 81
6 Sherwood Motorcycles 79
7 Roofix Racing 79
8 JAGO Racing 79
9 Work in Progress 78
10 Old and Bold Racing 78
11 Ridgeback Racing 78
12 Seven Racing 77
13 Reluctant Racing 76
14 Derek Redmond 200 73
Derek Redmond 200 124
Fastest Lap Derek Redmond 4 1m 59.854s
Junior 600
1 Brand Brothers Racing 82 laps
2 Initiatec JR Racing 79
3 J & B Racing 78
4 Sorrymate.com 78
Fastest Lap Brand Brothers Racing 2m 05.319s
Michelin Power Cup 1000
Race One
Gaz Evans on his BMW earned pole by a stunning practice performance by over 2.5s from Tony Kielty, Shane Pearson and current points leader Mike Dickinson. The opening couple of laps took two victims; coming man Shane Pearson and John Boakye after Gaz Evans peddled his Beemer off the start line and was never troubled during the race, Tony Kielty and Toby Simpson ensured the top three retained formation until the end of the race. Dickinson was fourth for much of the race until slipping behind Greg Allsop who steered his R1 passed the getfaster man, Paul O'Connor, Steve Sarson and Steve Bentley rounded off the top 8. The next three riders could be covered by a small bed sheet; Andy Rouse, Stephen Harrison and 70.
Race Results
1 Gaz Evans
2 Tony Kielty
3 Toby Simpson
4 Greg Allsop
5 Mike Dickinson
6 Paul O’Connor
7 Steve Sarson
8 Steve Bentley
9 Andy Rouse
10 Stephen Harrison
11 Pikua
12 Gary Bransgrove
13 Rhalf Lo Turco
14 David Lance
15 Simon Bull
Fastest Lap Gaz Evans 2m 09.865s
Race Two
Undoubtedly the best race of the programme, spots of rain graced the assembling grid but evaporated by the start. Yesterdays winner Gaz Evans was a DNS after totalling his BMW in a ding at Coram whilst out on a wet front & dry rear during morning warm up - ouch! Fireblade mounted Pearson made a super start from the back of the field to grab second on lap two behind Keilty who set off from the front row. A quartet of riders circulated in close proximity for a number of laps with the lead being shared between Lo Turco, Pearson, Dickinson and Keilty. It was Dicko who took the top podium step after grabbing the lead at the half way point demoting Pearson, Rhalf & Keilty who held a huge gap over Allsop a fair bit ahead of Sarson, Bentley, Harrison, Eagling and Bransgrove. Andy Rouse could have had a better run calling into the pits with an unhealthy sounding Honda, returning but retiring a lap later with a disappearing gearbox.
Race Results
1 Mike Dickinson
2 Shane Pearson
3 Rhalf Lo Turco
4 Tony Kielty
5 Greg Allsop
6 Steve Sarson
7 Stephen Harrison
8 Steve Bentley
9 Robert Eagling
10 Gary Bransgrove
11 Pikua
12 Paul O’Connor
13 Darren Blackwell
14 John Boakye
15 Mark Footitt
16 Simon Bull
Fastest Lap Mike Dickinson 1m 57.845s
Race Three
Interesting start to his final race of the day as he started from the back of the grid after failing to get out of the pit lane in time for the sighting lap. By the second lap the amiable South African had earned his place at the head of the pack in front of Pearson, Lo Turco and Kielty with Allsop in pursuit. We lost Darren Blackwell with a couple of laps to go and Kielty was deposed by a charging Allsop and Simpson, the leader board reading Dickinson, Lo Turco, Pearson, Allsop, Simpson, Kielty with Sarson and O’Connor difficult to split on the line.
Race Results
1 Mike Dickinson
2 Rhalf Lo Turco
3 Shane Pearson
4 Greg Allsop
5 Toby Simpson
6 Tony Kielty
7 Steve Sarson
8 Paul O’Connor
9 Stephen Harrison
10 Steve Bentley
11 Gary Bransgrove
12 Pikua
13 Robert Eagling
14 John Boakye
15 Mark Footitt
16 Simon Bull
Fastest Lap Mike Dickinson 1m 56.340s
Michelin Power Cup 600
Race One
Setting the pattern for the weekend, mixed qualifying conditions produced a front row of 'back from his hols' Danny Imberg, wet weather man Ady Allsopp, Jeremy Mitchell and rookie Richard Charlton - title favourite Grant Wagstaff was on Row 2 with a whole lot of work to do. A late appearance in the pit lane causes Allsopp to start from the back of the grid. Newcomer Ketchell capitalised on his front row start and was away like a bullet until Lap 3 when he bailed out onto the grass and into the mud. Another non finisher was Allsopp who from last was up to a creditable fourth on lap one, second by lap two and missing by lap 3. Wag was a beneficiary of all this moving up from 5th to 3rd then into a comfortable second spot which was protected until the end of the ten lapper. Paul Barker was third ahead of Richard Charlton, Peter & Marc Dilks, Will White, Nick Green, Adam Woby in a handy ninth and Daniel Ward Clarke in tenth.
Race Results
1 Danny Imberg
2 Grant Wagstaff
3 Paul Barker
4 Richard Charlton
5 Peter Dilks
6 Marc Dilks
7 William White
8 Nick Green
9 Adam Woby
10 Daniel Ward-Clarke
11 Mark Affleck
12 Dominic De Leon
13 Rafael Ribeiro
14 John Porter
15 Mark Clifford
Fastest Lap Richard Charlton 3m 13.199s
Race Two
That man Imberg nailed the start never to heeded, another man on the move was Adam Woby who got a stormer and moved up from eighth on the opener to sixth at the end of the nine lapper. Allsopp made it hard work starting towards the back and unable to work his way up the field. The field included the Pit Stop Racing riders of Dilks brothers Marc and Peter as well as Mark Affleck who kept it clean to finish fifth behind leader Imberg, Charlton, Wagstaff and Green. Sean Moore was outside the top half dozen in front of a battling trio of Allsopp and the two Dilks who clashed machines in the hotly contested drama. Newbie Dan Ward-Clarke fell at Nelson, spoiling an otherwise productive entry into the Michelin Power Cup.
Race Results
1 Danny Imberg
2 Richard Charlton
3 Grant Wagstaff
4 Nick Green
5 Mark Affleck
6 Sean Moore
7 Adam Woby
8 Marc Dilks
9 Adrian Allsopp
10 Peter Dilks
11 Anthony Park
12 Paul Barker
13 Dominic De Leon
14 Damian Tierney
15 William White
16 John Porter
17 Rafael Ribeiro
18 Mark Clifford
19 Jamal Mahmood
20 Larry Frost
Fastest Lap Danny Imberg 2m 00.947s
Race Three
Imberg made it a perfect score of three out of three dominating from the opening few yards of the race which was curtailed at 3 laps following a spill by Jamal Mahmood before the start/finish straight. Charlton followed Imberg closely for the race with Wagstaff in a handy third, keeping his title hopes alive. Allsopp didn’t have enough race distance to work his way through and had to be content with fourth ahead of Affleck and the two Dilks (all three Pit Stop Racing riders finishing in formation), Woby was a creditable eighth in what was a very short duration.
Race Results
1 Danny Imberg
2 Richard Charlton
3 Grant Wagstaff
4 Adrian Allsopp
5 Mark Affleck
6 Marc Dilks
7 Peter Dilks
8 Adam Woby
9 Anthony Park
10 William White
11 Paul Barker
12 Dominic De Leon
13 Jamal Mahmood
14 Damian Tierney
15 John Porter
16 Mark Clifford
17 Larry Frost
Fastest Lap Danny Imberg 2m 01.458s
MotoGrande 1000
Race One
Triple winner at Anglesey Julian Hughes made the best start on a wet track with dry line appearing, he was quicker off the mark from Ash Daughtrey and Andrew Fenton, the top four had already opened up a gap on the rest. After a couple of laps, champ pretender Phil Brooks was back in pit lane after dramas and a lap later Kris Sanders, shortly to relocate to the Middle East also posted a DNF, Daughtrey overhauled Hughsie for P1 and at around half distance Adrian Beevor retired from fourth at the Bombhole. The top three maintained their stays quo ahead of Stephen Bridle, Jamie Loveday, Adam Reeve, Michael Elliott, Raymond Stagg, Les Linney on his smashing Ducati and Dave Williams.
1 Ash Daughtrey
2 Julian Hughes
3 Andrew Fenton R
4 Stephen Bridle
5 Jamie Loveday
6 Adam Reeve
7 Michael Elliott
8 Raymond Stagg
9 Les Linney MT
10 David Williams
11 Justin Stephenson
12 Paul Raitt
13 Dave Diboll
14 Nick Masterson
Fastest Lap Ash Daughtrey 2m 12.490s
R = Rookie, MT = Maxi Twin
Race Two
It was Hughes who made no mistake to grab the lead from the green light getting the better of yesterday’s faller Sanders who was on pole, Kris finishing in a useful 3rd sandwiching Brooks at the end. Rhalf Lo Turco was on a charge, seventh at the start gradually headed towards the sharp end to grab P4 in front of the four As - Reeve, Fenton, Beevor and Daughtrey. Bridle was ninth and Jamie Loveday whose father races in Endurance was a convincing tenth.
Results
1 Julian Hughes
2 Phil Brooks
3 Kris Sanders R
4 Rhalf Lo Turco
5 Adam Reeve
6 Andrew Fenton
7 Adrian Beevor
8 Ash Daughtrey
9 Stephen Bridle
10 Jamie Loveday
11 Patrick Jeans
12 Les Linney MT
13 Raymond Stagg
14 Justin Stephenson
15 David Williams
16 Nick Masterson
17 Paul Raitt
18 Dave Diboll
19 Gary Richards
Fastest Lap Julian Hughes 1m 59.971s
R = Rookie, MT = Maxi Twin
Race Three
Brookes made the best of starts in a big field of riders from Hughes, Reeve and Lo Turco – this trio of riders becoming a real six wheeler for the early part of the race, by lap four Brookes had given way to pressure from the Brazilian but managed to fend off the attentions of the pursuing pack for the remainder of the encounter. Such was the action that on the penultimate lap Fenton clashed with Beevor who did not make the flag, the top four had created a gap before the rest came through; Kris Sanders and earlier winner Daughtrey. Good to see Kris Sanders winning the rookie class in two races as this will be his last race for a while – shortly Kris, Alison and little Ollie will be off to Brunei on a posting with the Royal Engineers – good luck!
Results
1 Rhalf Lo Turco
2 Phil Brooks
3 Julian Hughes
4 Adam Reeve
5 Kris Sanders R
6 Ash Daughtrey
7 Andrew Fenton
8 Stephen Bridle
9 Michael Elliott
10 Patrick Jeans
11 Les Linney MT
12 Raymond Stagg
13 Justin Stephenson
14 Phillip Jeans
15 David Williams
16 Paul Raitt
17 Nick Masterson
18 Dave Diboll
19 Gary Richards
Fastest Lap Rhalf Lo Turco 1m 58.3000s
R = Rookie, MT = Maxi Twin
MotoGrande 600
Race One
In a 10 lapper that started in very wet conditions with a bit of dry coming, super rookie Shaun Champion who took the lead, building up an advantage of 5s on the opening lap from National runner Freddy Pett as Scot Adam. Lap 2 saw Champion off at Oggies as Pett took the lead from Adam, Andrew Nicholson and George Harvey. Niño Capeldo stopped on the start line after a persistent misfire; Pett was reported to be touring at Bombhole leaving Nicholson to take a win over Adam, Harvey, Warren Verwey, Jake Kay and Wayne Crossman in sixth. Completing the top ten were; Matt Smith, Nick Barnes, Nick Matthews and Richard White. Special mention of Carl Payne who pegged a fantastic 13th in virtually his first race.
Race Results
1 Andrew Nicholson
2 Scot Adam
3 George Harvey
4 Warren Verwey
5 Jake Kay
6 Wayne Crossman
7 Matt Smith
8 Nick Barnes
9 Nick Matthews
10 Richard White
11 William Bateman
12 Colin Norris
13 Carl Payne
14 Roger Slater
15 Tony Bradshaw
16 Russell Horton
17 Richard England
Fastest Lap Freddy Pett 2m 14.877s
Race Two
After running out of petrol in the opening race, Triumph mounted Freddy Pett made no mistakes in dominating the race. It was left to Champion, Smith, Adam + previous winner Nicholson to slug it out and finish in that order, Adam only 0.2s down on the third man but unable to make up the difference. Colin Norris had an interesting race going off track no less than four times on four different parts of the track, he had been 8th but going off piste dumped him in tenth behind Verwey, Crossman, Kay and Lund.
Race Results
1 Freddy Pett
2 Shaun Champion
3 Matt Smith
4 Scot Adam
5 Andrew Nicholson
6 Warren Verwey
7 Wayne Crossman
8 Jake Kay
9 Andrew Lund
10 Colin Norris
11 Roger Slater
12 George Harvey
13 Nick Matthews
14 Richard White
15 William Bateman
16 Tony Bradshaw
17 Nick Barnes
18 Damian Malony
19 Russell Horton
20 Richard England
21 Carl Payne
Fastest Lap Freddy Pett 2m 01.314s
Race Three
Freddy Pett left us in no doubt as to his talent and speed as he used the whole meeting, including a successful appearance in the 3 hour Endurance race as he made it another flag to flag victory on his Triumph 675. The best of the rest included Champion who had a solid second in front of Matt Smith + Kay who fought over the final podium position, Smith getting the better by 87 thousands of a second. A similar ding dong was going off further down the field for Roger Slater, and Colin Norris as they battled away for eighth. Nino Cataldo actually finished a race over the weekend having retired in the first MG600 bash and was then pushed off the grid after the start of Race Two with a dead Kawasaki.
Race Results
1 Freddy Pett
2 Shaun Champion
3 Matt Smith
4 Jake Kay
5 Andrew Nicholson
6 Warren Verwey
7 Scot Adam
8 Roger Slater
9 Colin Norris
10 Nino Cataldo
11 George Harvey
12 Richard White
13 Andrew Lund
14 Nick Matthews
15 William Bateman
16 Wayne Crossman
17 Nick Barnes
18 Tony Bradshaw
19 Damian Malony
20 Russell Horton
21 Richard England
22 Carl Payne
Fastest Lap Freddy Pett 1m 59.882s
Ducati Desmos
Race 1
In a race that started in torrential rain, was red flagged following a 'bike in a Unsafe position' and a restarted five lap race it was Mr Consistent Neil Appleby a mere 2.8s from Matthew Lawson with Ron Jolley in third. Paul Baleta, Andy Challis and Neal Catling completed the top six.
Same old - same old for race two after an incident and a restart for a five lap rush, this time it was Challis who took the win from a hard charging Appleby by 11 seconds with Paul Payne in a handy third. The splendidly named Dallas Hornblower was only a couple of seconds down on 3rd, a similar time up on Paul Bradbury, Hugh Simpson topped up the first six home
Allcomers
A five lap splash around the new 300 circuit saw a win for Dales Racing, Raymond Stagg, Phil Brooks back from his MotoGrande retirement, Patrick Jeans, Half a Chance Racing, Phil Jeans, Black Flag Racing and Tony Bradshaw.
Sorrymate.com-Hottrax Motorsport 2011 Round Four at Snetterton, Norfolk on 18th to 19th May 2011 – National and Junior Endurance, MICHELIN Power Cup, MotoGrande – Preview - words by Alfonso Lygo
If the 2011 Sorrymate.com-Hottrax Motorsport Championship is a game of two halves then the first visit to the new Snetterton 300 track gives teams and riders an opportunity to rack up some valuable points before the second half of the match.
National and Junior Endurance
600cc National
M&M Racing (Lewis Mason/Robbie Moore) have started 2011 in a perfect way, 3 wins from 3 starts, things were tight at Anglesey which saw rivals Pit Stop Racing (Mark Affleck/Marc Dilks) come home a handful of seconds behind M&M, if the race had been another 5 laps longer........ Pit Stop suffered dramas on the start line at Brands and had a crash at Mallory but their game plan is for a championship win this year. 1491 (Andy Pulling/Ian Cooper) will still be smarting from their Anglesey disqualification, another team not happy in North Wales were ‘locals’ Roundall Racing (Simon Allen/Al Waring) who fell but recovered to finish 5th in class behind Spark Endurance (Shelley Pike/Rob Knoyle) who put in a decent performance at Anglesey after a difficult Mallory. Ducks Cross Racing (Martin Landmann/Mike Eglington) were fellow fallers in Wales but still finished third after focussing on the sprint races in Leicestershire in April.
1000cc National
Despite TM72 (Andy McKnight/Steven Neate) winning at the previous round, their appearance was a one off prior to the departure of reigning 1000 National Endurance Champion McKnight off to a sunnier climate in Australia. As for the regulars, those with the most points to date are Sweatshop Racing who have fronted three different rider pairings in three appearances; opening their account at Brands with a couple of crashes leading to finishing 18th on the road. Mallory was an overall and class win despite the 2011 ZX10 trying to pitch it’s rider off with gremlins in the electronic management system. Similar issues in North Wales where the traction control was set to Tractor mode which meant Mick Godfrey and Mike Dickinson had to ride their socks off to finish on the same lap as winners TM72.Insignia (Einar Torlen/Rob Loveday) deserved their third place in this race ahead of Half a Chance (Andy Carpenter/Martin Townsend), BLDS (Bill Lilly/Jonty Dixon) who survived a crash at Anglesey’s Corkscrew and TANC (Chris Mason/Andy Rouse).
600cc Junior
After so nearly missing out on a win at Mallory Brand Brothers, Martin and Peter, the 2011 Rookies made no mistake of winning at Anglesey to mirror their performance at the opening round at Brands back in April. Mallory winners Sorrymate.com (Fergus Dalgarno/Richard Dilks) could only manage third spot in Wales only a lap down on second placed TDM Racing (Michael & Terry Merritt). Initiatec JR Racing (John Burr/Mark Roxbrough) could not match their previous third place so had to be content with a fourth by only 2.3 seconds, on the same lap were Apex Racing only twelve seconds down on third placed Sorrymate. Three crews scrapping over third place, so close after 3 hours of combat.
1000cc Junior
Blujets (Carl Hodgkins/Ash Rothwell) could not have been more satisfied with their class win in May, after misery at Mallory, to finish ahead of Derek Redmond 4 (Neil Garnham/Tony Rogers) by over a lap, Banzai were another lap down on second spot as were Sherwood Motorcycles. After missing Mallory, following a testing incident which wrote off his Suzuki, Visorvision Team Traction Control were back with a line up of Rob Barnes and Tom Nicolau – more drama for Paul Berryman’s team as Barnes came off along with 2010 Champion Jonty Dixon. Berryman hopes to return with his new Suzuki at Snetterton and, tour commitments allowing, his team mate should be Prodigy front man – Keith Flint. Probably the biggest team in the paddock are Derek Redmond’s equipe who front no less than 3 Junior 1000 teams and dabble with additional appearances in MotoGrande or Michelin Power Cup, showing Derek may have hung his Olympic athletic shoes up but he is still keen as mustard for competition.
Michelin Power Cup
600 cc
Top points scorer, Danny Imberg took a holiday and missed the last round at Anglesey where ‘man on a mission’ Grant Wagstaff hoped to make hay. Unfortunately Wag was unable to dial his race head in over the whole weekend and didn’t manage a single win. Main beneficiary from Imberg’s absence was the revelation to date, Rookie Richard Charlton who came away with two wins and a third. Wag was always there or there abouts but made hard work of it to reap a fifth, fourth and a second, a man who did so well last season and was drastically seeking a win was Ady Allsop who waited until the final race to take the flag ahead of the rest, also netting a third and a fifth. Other notables include; Nick Green with a brace of runner up places in North Wales, Anthony Park – an awe inspiring third and two fourths as well as the various Pit Stop Racing endurance team – Marc and Peter Dilks + Mark Affleck.
1000cc
Surprise news of the series going into Round Three was the news that top MPC riser Daz Bellworthy had retired from the sport to focus on his business expansion. This was not the main reason for top points scorer to reinforce his skill and dominance by powering his BMW to 3 out of 3, combined with runner up spot in the endurance race on a different machine. Expect to see getfaster.co.uk Mike up at the sharp end again, not happy with points but looking for wins. All three 1000 MPC podiums at Anglesey were identical; Dickinson, Shane Pearson and Rhalf Lo Turco. Other major players in this class include; Jamie Cox, Gaz Evans, Stephen Harrison, Steve Sarson and Tom Keilty – keep a special eye out for Greg Allsop on his 11 year old R1 whilst the grid is bristling with the latest BMWs, Fireblades and Suzukis. Crashing in the Superpole race in the last round meant Greg having to start at the back for the races, Greg was soon at the front in fourth and challenging the top three. The very tall Andy Rouse moved from 600s to 1000s over the winter and is gradually getting to grips with his big Honda, we have seen a trio of fourths – expect more to come from the man from Redditch.
MotoGrande
600cc
The nature of MotoGrande is to have a moving feast of competitors depending on which circuit and which weekend, to date there have been quite a few different winners, at the last round Jamie Harrison and Andrew Nicholson were 1-2 in all three encounters. Martin Stanier is handy on his Streetbike Suzuki 600 and took pole in windy conditions in Wales, endurance regulars Colin Norris and Nick Matthews are quite handy with an R6 as well – others to be aware of are; Craig Neve, Ross Ashman, Jake Kay, Nino Catalado, Wayne Crossman + Simon Keen. New Top Rookie Shaun Champion was missing from Wales; we hope he returns to the series at Snetterton.
1000cc
Big grids are the order of the day in MotoGrande 1000s and whilst Phil Brooks and Gary Beardsley stole some of the limelight in Mallory, Brooks was made to work exceptionally hard for his keep. Star of the show was Julian Hughes on a Suzuki who took all three race wins with Brooks runner up on all three occasions. Adam Beevor amassed a couple of P3s and a DNF, Lee Wilson was the other rider to stand on the podium. Much of the remainder of the field are all in with a shout for a top three place so keep an eye on Kris Sanders, Ash Daughtrey, Andrew Fenton, Stephen Bridle and Adam Reeve. One of the top Michelin PC riders, Rhalf Lo Turco came to play in MG 1000 to get more track time and I cannot fault the Brazilian’s strategy.
Ducati Desmo Due
The fantastic sounding Dukes are part of the line up for 2011 and the racing has been fast and furious, it is difficult to spot two machines which look similar as most riders have their own interpretation of how the machine should look and behave.
If you haven’t already visited the Snetterton 300 circuit, this would be a fantastic opportunity to get to know it; testing on the Friday with racing on the Saturday and Sunday: see you there