National and Junior Endurance Race – Three Hours
A smaller than usual entry traveled to Pembrey, a track where a well steered 600 could out pace a litre machine, despite that it was the very strong pairing at BLDS Couriers of Jonty Dixon and BSB exponent Craig Fitzpatrick who stopped the clocks in P1 over the R6 of Ducks Cross Racing (Mike Eglington/Grant Wagstaff) - great to see Wag back in Endurance racing after spending most of 2011 focussing on his Michelin 600 campaign and the Manx Grand Prix in early September, he was drafted in to replace an injured Martin Landmann. Another 600 crew; Marc & Peter Dilks were third quickest ahead of the two Junior 1000 outfits of Banzai (Ben Jenkins/Thompson) and Snetterton winners Redmond Racing 4 (Neil Garnham/Tony Rogers). TANC Racing (Chris Mason/James McBride) were in sixth ahead of Visorvision (Paul Berryman/Keith Flint). Struggling in damp conditions were National 600 leaders M & M Racing (Lewis Mason/Robbie Moore) and 2009 Champs Sweatshop (Hugh Brasher/Mick Godfrey) who struggled to find a sensible tyre set up in the conditions.

In cloudy but dry conditions on Saturday afternoon Sweatshop were affected from a timely pace car appearance to win, completing 37 laps in 40 minutes of racing - the only team to dip below the minute mark over the whole day.

This performance pushed Nat 1000 classmates BLDS and TANC Racing into second and third. 600 honors were upheld by Pit Stop Racing and title hopefuls M&M. Redmond 4 were top Junior 1000s and top Junior 600 honors went to Rookies Brand Brothers (Mark and Peter).

All the sub minute men took the 3pm start - Mick Godfrey. Craig Fitzpatrick & James McBride - for the opening twenty of so laps it was short circuit stuff, at the other end of the spectrum Peter Brand could not coax the R6 into life and was last off the grid. The rain made its first appearance of the day bringing out the lack of adhesion flags as Spark Endurance fell but rejoined with Rob Knoyle at the controls.

Normal pit stops occurred after 30 minutes and the running order was then established as; Sweatshop, BLDS, TANC, first 600 DucksX, DR4, 1491 (Ian Cooper/Andy Pulling), Pit Stop and Insignia (Rob + Jamie Loveday). After three quarters of an hour earlier faller Adam Woby binned at Honda causing a pace car appearance for twenty odd minutes.

Once cleared to go the top six were Sweatshop, DucksX, TANC Racing, BLDS and DR4 - don't speak too soon as BSB refugee Craig Fitzpatrick fell on the exit of Honda bring out the pace car again for another twenty minutes whilst everything was made safe. Transponder was recovered and Jonty Dixon deployed to gain points despite being down to one rider and machine, a feat not achieved as the well run team went on to complete less that the required 75% of the winners distance and were not classified. Within a couple of minutes of the race getting up to pace again Initiatec's Mark Roxbrough was down (yes at exit to Honda) before sprinting over the track with transponder on board, all to no avail as the team were not allowed to continue. 

At half way point Sweatshop led on the road from TANC Racing by a single lap, DucksX were a strong third ahead of DR4, Pit Stop, 1491, Blujets (Carl Hodgkins/Ash Rothwell), Banzai and Visorvision, uncharacteristically outside the top ten were Brand Bros and multi race winners M & M. All change as the DucksX R6 petered out at Spitfire due to a dud switch causing Wag to walk back and retire the singleton machine causing M & M to break into the top ten.

Pit stops were taken with 60 minutes to go shuffles the pack which confirmed Sweatshop leading the race and National 1000 class by 2 laps from Class rivals TANC racing. Pit Stop were third on the road and top National 600 over Junior 1000 crew DR4 with four machines sharing the same lap and separated by seconds; Pit Stop’s class rivals M & M had rocketed up to 5th on the road, confirming 'never say never' whilst J1000 Blujets were second in class. Other notables were Visorvision in seventh pursued by Banzai, J600 leaders Brands, TDM Racing, and Insignia whilst BLDS were in 20th and 20 laps down on the leaders. 



With the race settling into a bit of a pattern in the final hour, heavy rain re appeared causing speeds to tumble and riders to display a little caution, if anything the rain became heavier and riders mote conservative in their race pace. The RAF team from Wittering ( Gary Hignett/Tim McGivern) stopped on the track and had to push the stricken machine into pit lane to allow the team mate out, costing time as Sorrymate.com (Richard Dilks/Fergus Dalgarno) were reported to have a smoking machine, around the same time as Banzai had a spill out on the track. Rookies, J & B Racing (Brad + Jase Bradlaw) had had a consistent ride to climb up the results The final round of pit stops meant Sweatshop were sorted with a lap cushion over fellow National 1000 crew TANC racing, who were able to un lap themselves in the dying moments of what had been a fantastic race setting things up nicely for Cadwell in August, third placed class mates were Insignia, down in 11th on the road. Pit Stop was delighted to be third finishes overall and top National 600 team from class leaders M & M with 1491 in a handy third spot. Things are getting really tight in the Junior 1000 division; Redmond Racing 4 were top of the podium by a lap from the Eric Chitty run Blujets Racing who finished only a handful of seconds ahead of Visorvision Team Traction Control, these two being part of a posse of four riders crossing the line covered by less than four seconds. Last off the grid; Brand Brothers showed their class with a Junior 600 win from TDM Racing (Michael and Terry Merritt) by a lap from J & B, Sorrymate and RAF Wittering who were not that far away from the action.

Michelin Power Cup 1000 
Race 1
Will anything stop the getfaster express? Going into Pembrey Mike Dickinson held a massive handful of points over a chasing Rhalf Lo Turco, Dicko took pole from the emerging duo of Gaz Evans and Mallory specialist Shane Pearson, the fastest seven riders separated by two seconds or there about. Dickinson made light work of getting ahead and staying in front of Pearson's Fireblade and fellow BMW mounted Evans, still in with a shout Allsop crossed the line in fourth from Toby Simpsom with Rhalf in a solid sixth from Tony Kielty, Steve Sarson and James Osbourn with Rousey in tenth. The winner posted the fastest lap failing to break the minute mark by 0.11 second.



Race 2


Unsurprisingly Dickinson capitalises on the left hand side of the track pole position to make solid the front of the pack position, which was never surrendered. Behind the IQ Communications Beemer, Pearson was safe in second ahead of Evans, back from a difficult round at Snetterton last month. With Lo Turco on the right tyres this time held onto his fourth to bank some valuable points towards his tally, on lap 10 the leader posted the fastest lap of the race at 60.036s, although the rider's telemetry was telling him he had already cracked the minute mark earlier. Allsop and Kielty made up the top six only two seconds apart and the rest of the top ten included: Simpsom, Harrison, Rouse and Osbourn.



Race 3


No variation on a theme as getfaster Dicko made a perfect start being hounded by Allsop on his R1, in front of Pearson, Lo Turco, Simpson, Evans and Kielty. Dickinson posted an emphatic 59.441s on the second lap of the race and was never troubled on the way to the flag. After 15 laps the leader board read; Dickinson with a 7 second lead over Pearson, Evans, Lo Turco, Allsop, Kielty, Simpsom, Sarson, Harrison and Rouse.


Michelin Power Cup 600 
Race 1
The three way tussle involving Grant Wagstaff, Richard Charlton and Danny Imberg looks set to continue into the second half of this season as these three were covered by a third of a second in qualifying. After 15 laps of battling, Imberg and Wagstaff crossed the line together separated by less than a tenth of a second - giving 25 points to Danny. Ady Allsopp added to his points tally with fourth by half a second over Peter Dilks, shadowed by brother Marc. Nick Green, Paul Barker, Anthony Park and Richard Dilks completed the top ten with Wag posting fastest lap.



Race 2


With Wagstaff on the hunt for points, only wins will do despite Imberg possessing pole, Wag was on the money in the early stages of the race and as they started lap 5 they were side by side going into Hatchets. Wag was forced to yield on the following tour and a lap later started coming under pressure from Marc Dilks who passed Wag on the final lap - a penalty for starting on a full wet set up, others had plumped for a wet front/dry rear arrangement and most were weaving around on the Tarmac to find damp patches to preserve their rubber until the end of the 15 laps. Peter Dilks was in fourth behind Wag from fellow Nottingham man Allsopp and Park ahead of Barker, Charlton in an uncharacteristic eighth over Daniel Ward-Clarke and Adam Woby making up the top ten. 



Race 3


With the right rubber on Wagstaff made no mistake, he was emphatic and after shadowing Charlton for a single lap before he took the lead. Unfortunately the race was red flagged at Woby ditched his R6. At the restart over twelve laps Imberg led prior to being overhauled by Wag - this formation was maintained for the rest of the race, Charlton did enough to hang onto third, 17 seconds down on P2. Behind Charlton was Allsopp, Marc Dilks only an eighth of a second in front of brother Peter who was half a second ahead of Green, Barker and Ward-Clarke finished ahead of Richard Dilks and Rafael Ribeiro.



MotoGrande 1000 Race 1


Multiple race winner Julian Hughes needed only 7 laps in qualifying to own pole from Michelin Power Cup contender Greg Allsop gaining valuable track time, Adam Reeve was third fastest. Hughes translated pole into a fantastic win with a margin of twenty seconds plus from similarly Suzuki mounted Stephen Bridle. Brazilian Rhalf Lo Turco who is also using MG to sharpen his MPC performance took a worthy third spot a fag paper ahead of Ash Daughtrey who was in close company with Reeve, Andrew Fenton Copeland, Allsop, Rouse, Ross Bates and Nathan Starnes.



Race 2


Steamroller Julian Hughes made a blinding start from the flag getting away from Lo Turco, Daughtrey, Reeve and Rouse. The Brazilian started going backwards as he struggled with set up. At half distance the SBKCity BMW rider dropped four places in one lap as Hughes continued to trounce the opposition building up a gap of 30 seconds by the end. This left Reeve, Daughtrey and Bates to dispute runner up spot, Reeve stealing runner up spot on the final lap. Fenton-Copeland was a solid fourth from Bridle and Rouse with Lo Turco just outside the top six but ahead of Danny Williams and Paul Burbage.



Race 3


Was Hughes going to make it 3 out of 3? The black Suzuki was first on the road shadowing Reeve, Fenton-Copeland, Draughtrey, Bridle and Lo Turco. Rhalf was on the move to the front and was into fifth by lap 3 just as Reeve fell bringing a yellow to the corner for the remainder of the race. Rhalf was up to second by half way point in front of a real ding dong for the final podium place with four places covered by a humble four seconds. Our leader enjoyed a safety margin of the start/finish straight until the chequer came out after 10 laps; Hughes, Lo Turco, Daughtrey, Bridle, Fenton-Copeland, Bates, Rouse, Williams, Starnes and Burbage completed the top ten.



MotoGrande 600 Race 1


New to Hottrax Darryl Jones stole pole by a quarter of a second from fellow newcomer Gary Lucitt with Andrew Nicholson third fastest in dry conditions. The top two places were reversed later in the day after some unseasonal rainfall. Colin Norris was half a minute down on the fast flowing front trio less than a second from Roger Slater with top ranking Rookie Murray McConnachie, Andrew Lund and Apex man Nick Matthews swelling the top 8 places with Richard White and Ray Bowden making the top ten cut.



Race 2


Jones shot off from to slip behind McConnachie and Nicholson on the opening lap. These three quickly opened up a gap of the rest of the pack, in an early eighth was Matt Joyce who to date has dorm two days, the ACU course and this weekend, lack of race craft showed as he dropped back to eleventh by the end, a great start to his racing career. Nicholson got the better of McConnachie as did Jones by around half distance and the leading two fought to the flag finishing in that order and separated by just 0.188s. Fourth was the preserve of Warren Verwey from vet Colin Norris, Lund and Adrian Peters, putting on a fine show on his return to the Hottrax paddock after ten months in mothballs. Richard White Matthews was in a healthy eighth getting the better of and Ray Bowden.



Race 3


Jones looked good again leading the 600s from the lights and he was flying on the rapidly drying track, leading from Nicholson and Murray McC. A couple of laps to sort things out and it was still Jones at the sharp end from Slater, Nicholson and Lund. At the drop of the chequered flag Jones was still at the helm from Nicholson, the hard charging Norris in a fantastic third, Lund, McConnachie, Verwey and the pack of White, Slater, Peters and Matthews. 



Desmo Ducatis


Neil Appleby and Andy Challis looked a cut above over the weekend in Wales but it was Challis who took the win by less than a second on the road just a few bike lengths up the road from Matthew Lawson. Half a minute adrift were Hugh Simpson with Neal Catling almost on the pillion seat, Paul Payne made up the top half dozen and the next four finishers were all covered by 1.5 seconds: Ron Jolley, Alan Parkes, Kevin Palmer and Phil Wilcock.
Appleby made no mistake on the Sunday to nail the win by a barely distinguishable less than four hundredths of a second from Saturday man Challis. Lawson took another third from Catling, Dallas Hornblower, Palmer, Simpson and Wilcock – these three covered by a single sheet as they crossed the line. 



Allcomers 


A bit of flex in the timetable enabled a 10 lap thrash to take place, Gixer Thou man Julian Hughes beat Hugh Brasher, using track time to try some alternative rubber ready for Sunday’s big race - from Ross Bates, Rob Loveday ahead of first 600 - Terry Merritt and the other Loveday son, Jamie. James McBride posted fastest lap just before retiring on lap seven on his ZX10.

Sorrymate.com-Hottrax Motorsport 2011 Round Five at Pembrey, South Wales on 16th to 17th July 2011 – National and Junior Endurance, MICHELIN Power Cup, MotoGrande – Preview - words by Alfonso Lygo