Sorrymate.com-Hottrax Motorsport 2011 Round Eight at Snetterton 200, Norfolk on 29th and 30th October 2011 – National and Junior Endurance, MICHELIN Power Cup, MotoGrande – Race Report - words by Alfonso Lygo
Superpole Race
After two rounds without Superpole it was great for the endurance teams to stretch their legs for forty minutes on Saturday afternoon. To indicate the closeness of endurance racing the top seven finishers were covered by just over a minute at the end. Welcome newcomers to Hottrax - Road & Racing Performance (Luke Stapleford/Dan Kinloch) won by six seconds from The Neate Bros (Sam & Steve) with another National 1000 outfit; Team GB Moto (Mark Smith Halvorsen/Tristan Palmer) tucked away in third. Next up were fastest National 600 crew of Seton Tuning (Phil Seton/Sam Warren) - the tuning guru was the filling in a National 1000 sandwich as this year’s champions Sweatshop Racing (Mick Godfrey/Hugh Brasher) and TANC Racing (Mike Dickinson/Chris Mason) making up the top half dozen. Top Junior 1000s Redmond Raptor (Tony Rogers/Neil Garnham) start seventh in the big race with rivals Blujets posting a rare DNF in the Superpole whilst the two National 600 title possibles were in 12th (M & M Racing - Lewis Mason/Ady Allsopp) and 16th (Pit Stop Racing - Mark Affleck/ Marc Dilks). Anything can and will happen in the final three hour race of the 2011 season.
Three Hour Race
With a dark sky and rumours of rain approaching the Le Mans grid formed and it was Sam Neate who had a blinder of a start whilst GB Moto was last after a Palmer received a push start from Fraser. Early signs were that the Neates led from TANC with DR4 and Sweatshop in close attendance; also well placed were Flex Net with Mike Dickinson coming off the back of 3 wins in the Michelin Power Cup over the weekend, by lap six GB Moto were in sixth and making an impression. In the first hour newly crowned champions Sweatshop were heard misfiring through The Esses, a symptom of petrol starvation which resulted in Godfrey having to return back to pitlane using the infield; the big ZX10 was also eating tyres and valuable time had evaporated.
With an hour spent Neates had a full lap lead over Road & Racing who in turn had TANC and GB Moto stuffed up their zorst pipes. A further lap down were fastest National 600 crew Seton, with Junior 1000 hopefuls DR4 only a few seconds in front or Visorvision a bit further back - Blujets were in 13th and needed to do more if they were to unsettle DR4. Ditto, M & M, were in 10th with rivals Pit Stop Racing last and 12 laps adrift having had clutch/crank problems leading to a mood altering retirement for the Nottingham based heroes.
Blujets had their own dramas out on the track in their chase of DR4, simultaneously Keith Flints Crescent Suzuki cried 'enough' and he was in for an early bath, for safety, the pace car was dispatched to ensure the track was oil free. Just before the two hour mark the Neate brothers held a firm two lap lead from GB Moto who had three teams a further lap away all circulating within 20 seconds; TANC, Seton and R & R. DR4 were doing well in 6th and under no real threat from Blujets five places further back and M & M were guaranteed the National 600 with Ady Allsopp replacing Robbie Moore who was carrying an injury from the Oulton round. Just after the two hour mark one of the Brand brothers stepped off almost necessitating the safety car to pop out as the R6 was centre stage on the track, around the same time Roundall were having a mare with stand in man, MPC migrant John Porter crashing at Coram, transponder recovered & fitted to Al Waring's bike before that went off into the landscape – could the crew get a running bike back out to snatch some points? Apex Racing's Andrew Lund holed his radiator and managed to borrow and fit a spare whilst loosing time, again straight back out in search of points. With only 30 minutes left on the clock the status quo remained for Neates and GB Moto whilst Seton were up to third with TANC ousting R & R into fifth ahead of DR4, Half A Chance (Andy Carpenter/Jonty Dixon) and Flex Net. Sweatshop, uncharacteristically, were outside the top ten, almost being black flagged with flapping bodywork caused by an attack from another rider. GB Moto dropped out of the top two with tyre problems promoting Seton into runners up before TANC's Mason conked out costing the talented pairing a top three finish only minutes from the end. Sam & Steven Neate had a great win on the Snett 200 circuit with a slim one lap lead over the next National 1000 home - Road & Racing, GB Moto were third in class, a lap down on R&R and a massive five laps in front of Half a Chance with Flex Net (Colin Norris/Andy Rouse) in fifth ahead of Sweatshop and TANC eventually earning seventh in class and 17th on the road.
Given the welcome presence of some very potent national teams and riders joining us at Snetterton for the autumnal bash the Hottrax regulars demonstrated just how quick and competitive they are and Hottrax Motorsport is a fervent breeding ground for talent at 600 and 1000cc level.
M & M were second in National nailing the title, six laps adrift of class winners Seton, Ducks Cross (Mike Eglington/Martin Landmann) had a ball in third spot ahead of 1491 Endurance (Andy Pulling/Ian Cooper) and Spark Endurance (Shelley Pike/Rob Knoyle) - Roundall and Pit Stop were unclassified.
DR4 won the Junior 1000 class and tied up the title, moving up to the Nationals in 2012 whilst Banzai (Ben Jenkins/Rupert Thompson) were runners up on the day in front of Blujets who did all they could but it was always going to be a massive ask! DR200 (Andy Dix/Jonathon Garnett) and Baby TANC (Paul Pickering/Graham Marks) bought up the rear.
Initiatec JR Racing (Mark Roxborough/John Burr) were top of the pops in the Junior 600 class, a brilliant achievement as Roxy was still getting over a bad smash at Cadwell back in August. Title sponsors Sorrymate.com (Fergus Dalgarno/Richard Dilks) were second in front of Apex Racing (Nick Matthews/Lund), Team RAF Witteringham (Gary Hignett/Tim McGivern) and 2011 champs Brand Brothers (Martin & Peter) who had a bad day at the office).
That wraps up what has been a mega season and the good news is that it will only be less than 20 weeks until we reconvene at Brands Hatch for Round 1 of the 2012 championship.
MotoGrande 1000
Race 1
Sam Neate was out on the family's R1 to secure pole before blitzing the rest of a quality field for the full 13 lap distance. Chasing but failing to make an impression on the Le Mans veteran, was top Brazilian Rhalf Lo Turco who had Gary Arden's Fireblade catching the BMW in the early stages. Ash Daughtrey produced a fine 4th in front of Adam Reeve, Stephen Bridle, Justin Stephenson, Cliff Tabiner and Andrew Fenton Copeland.
Race 2
It was Arden who got away first at the flag before welcome addition Peter Baker shot into the front spot on lap two and began to pull away from the pack. Arden controlled the rest of the field with a steady gap over Daughtrey, Reeve, and Anthony Park with another gap over the scrapping bunch of Bridle, Stephenson, Tabiner, a returning Raymond Stagg and Fenton. Stephenson retired the orange GSXR on lap five and the remainder stayed in formation to finish; Baker, Arden, Daughtrey, Reeve, Park, Bridle, Tabiner, Fenton, Stagg, Masterson, Dave Diboll and Angus Peace.
Race 3
It looked like a repeat of the Baker and Lo Turco show and it only took around a lap for PB to overhaul Rhalf for the lead. Arden shored up third position managing to fend off Arden, Reeve, Daughtrey and Park. The tightly packed bunch of Tabiner and Bridle lost Fenton who took to the grass in the closing stages but still managed to finish in ninth ahead of Stagg, Stephenson, Nick Masterson, Bridle and Peace.
MotoGrande 600
Race 1
With a 1m 15s qualifying lap, visitor Ollie Linsdell made it clear that only a win would do and on the opening lap he produced a 3s lead over a chasing Paul O'Connor with Nathan Dyke in third. Nick Green bad worked his way up to third around half distance and pounced on O'Connor for second. By the end Dyke was in a well earned fourth only a fifth of a second ahead of current Junior 600 endurance title holder Martin Brand and Richard Dilks, recently back from Oz. Wayne Crossman was seventh and making up the top dozen were; sage Colin Norris, Andrew Lund, Roger Slater, 2011 MG 600 champ Andrew Nicholson and Terry Merritt.
Race 2
Linsdell was on a roll and soon sorted out a dominant lead in the second encounter pulling out and maintaining a six second cushion over Green, Brand, Slater, Norris, Dilks, Lund and Crossman. We lost Dyke on the 9th lap from fourth spot after Matthews and O'Connor had headed for the pits early doors. At the end of thirteen laps Andrew Nicholson, Warren Verwey, Lee Rawlings and Nick Barnes completed the top twelve.
Race 3
No surprise when Linsdell got the hole shot to start building up a comfortable lead over Green before the second man went grass tracking on lap 3 dumping him down to the bottom quartet. Ollie established a massive gap over Dyke, Dilks, Brand with a decent distance before Norris who was just in front of the recovering Green. As young Ollie made it 3 out of 3, those inhaling his exhaust fumes were; Dyke, Crossman, Brand, a recovering Green, Norris, Dilks, Slater, Lund, Verwey and top man Andrew Nicholson.
MPC 600
Race 1
Crowned champion Danny Imberg converted pole into a fine display of dominance to speed away from MPC arch rival and championship runner up Grant Wagstaff who was forced to settle for second after coming under a bit of pressure from initially Richard Charlton then Ady Allsopp who snatched the final podium place from top rookie Charlton. Early in the race it looked as if Wag was having machine problems as he looked down at the R6's motor in disbelief on the pit straight, thankfully nothing came of it! These four built up a gap over the Pit Stop trio of Mark Dilks, brother Peter and Mark Affleck who were split by Peter Brand. Series newcomer Danny Ward-Clarke was in ninth ahead of welcome returnee Jamal Mahmood, Damien Tierney and Mark Clifford with the amiable Dominic De Leon away in thirteenth.
MPC 1000
Race 1
2011 ace man, Mike Dickinson opened his October Snetterton account
with a win of some 16 seconds over his season long shadow Shane Pearson after the Norton Motors man had dispensed with Lo Turco. Gaz Evans on another Beemer was delighted with P4 over Steve Sarson, Andy Rouse with Stephen Harrison. Good to see the younger Pearson brother gaining extra track time in preparation for 2012, Jamie managed 9th place on his Fireblade.
MPC 1000 & 600 Race 2
With the classes combined for the final two MPC races (to beat the darkness) it was Dickinson who again shot off with Pearson and Lo Turco in pursuit, Wag being the first 600 in the race. At around halfway the three 1000s had been joined by Rouse who was having a brilliant weekend. Wag was still top 600 ahead of Imberg, Charlton and Allsopp with the Pit Stoppers; Peter Dilks, Mark Affleck and Marc Dilks in close company. These positions were maintained in both classes for the rest of the race – the leading quartet of litre riders being shadowed by Harrison, Sarson, Evans, Pearson Junior and Kevin Allen. Following Marc Dilks across the line were; Brand, Paul Barker, Ward – Clarke, Damian Tierney, De – Leon and Mahmood.
MCP 1000 & 600 Race 3
This final MCP race of 2011 was less predictable as the last one, after the opening lap Wag parted company with his R6 at Bombhole, it looked worse than it was and sensibly Grant booked himself into the Medical Centre for a check up. A lap later Gaz Evans dropped his BMW at Chapman and was forced to watch from the other side of the Armco. 50% distance and it was Dickinson, Pearson and Lo Turco dominating the thousands. 2011 Champ Imberg, Charlton and Allsopp were the leading trio in the 600s. The only change at the end was that Allsopp had got the
better of sparring partner Charlton to finish in front of Peter Dilks, Mark Affleck and Marc Dilks - Jamal Mahmood was in a healthy in eighth and Rouse was again in fourth in the big bikes ahead of Harrison, Sarson. at the same time as Shane Pearson's brother Jamie had a healthy 7th after going 9th and 8th in the previous two races. Allen bought up the rear.
Allcomers 600s and 1000s
Terry Merritt's 600 sprung a leak ousting him from pole being replaced by Justin Stephenson. In a race 600s and their older brothers it was Gary Arden who hit the front forever shadowed by Imberg who held the lead on the opening laps and a dialled in Linsdell who overhauled Danny for second on the road. These three controlled a gap over the next trio of Tabiner, Hugh Brasher and Bridle with Stephenson having a ball just finishing outside the top six in front
of Andy Fenton.
At the end of the sixteen lap one-off race, Linsdell won the 600 class from fellow Bedfordian Imberg, Ward-Clark, Verwey, Les Liney and John Freeman. Arden dominated the thousands by 40 seconds over Brasher, Tabiner, Fenton-Copeland, Stephenson, Bridle and Stagg, this great race bought down the curtain on Saturday’s racing.
Sorrymate.com-Hottrax Motorsport 2011 Final Round at Snetterton 200, Norfolk on 29th and 30th October 2011 – National and Junior Endurance, MICHELIN Power Cup, MotoGrande – Preview - words by Alfonso Lygo
It has been a whilst since the last round of the Hottrax Motorsport in Cheshire and now the dust has settled we are ready for the final round of the 2011 championship where titles will be won and lost and positions to be scrapped over. In preparation we look at where the points tables are at the moment and who is likely to walk off with the silverware.
National and Junior Endurance
600cc National
Going into the penultimate round at Oulton it was title favourites M & M who were being hounded down by last year’s champions Pit Stop Racing who are quite capable of class wins although they only have one victory to their credit as opposed to three posted by M & M. To win the 2011 crown Pit Stop would need to win in Cheshire with M & M suffering a nightmare to have a serious tilt at the title. This happened as Robbie Moore fell and damaged his wrist causing Lewis Mason to be a lone rider unable to cover enough distance to add any more points to their tally. There is still a battle royale for third spot in the championship which sees 18 points covering no less than four teams, all quite capable of doing the biz; 1491, Spark Endurance, Ducks Cross Racing and Roundall Racing can all get onto the bottom step of the podium – this is despite Ducks X and Spark missing Cadwell as they were on Manx Grand Prix duty.
1000cc National
Sweatshop only needed 10 points from Oulton to ensure them the 2011 Hottrax Motorsport National 1000 championship which they did with a polished performance despite being chased by TANC Racing, BLDS Couriers and Insignia Racing. At Oulton the remaining three teams were all capable of nailing a deserved runner up spot to the very experienced Sweatshop who have had a handle on endurance racing for a great number of years and in its purest form run one bike only with two riders. TANC and BLDS can both be runner up whilst, depending on how Snetterton goes Insignia could nick third spot from BLDS and if all went belly up...second spot from TANC!
600cc Junior
Peter and Martin Brand have been almost perfect in the way they earned the title with two rounds to go, for me they stood out in the opening round at Brands back in March in their preparation, presentation and approach – good to see in a team with very little race experience under the belt. A glance at the points tables will show 6 wins from 7 starts, the only time they were overhauled was at Mallory where sorrymate.com took a much deserved win, with BBR only 12 seconds adrift. The next four teams in the championship all scored no points at Cadwell but were back to pick up the pieces at Oulton with Initiatec earning a solid second, Sorrymate.com and Apex compiling the top four behind BBR. Initiatec and Sorrymate.com are both capable of a win and will decide who is in the runner up position at Snetterton.
1000cc Junior
Current class leaders Derek Redmond 4 have simply got better and better as the season has progressed. With a fifth place at Brands, 4th at Snett then three and two seconds they come into Snetterton requiring only 7 points to secure the 2011 cup if Blujets get a much deserved win. Both Banzai and Blujets have both had a single ‘first passed the post’ moment and are both within a spit of challenging for the title. They are streets ahead of the marauding pack waiting in the wings to upset the championship table; Sherwood Motorcycles, Visorvision Team Traction Control, Derek Redmond 200, Extreme Wraps and Old and Bold are all quite capable of pulling off a top three place to consolidate their position in the standings.
Michelin Power Cup
600 cc
Danny Imberg has put together a beautifully crafted season for 2011, with scores being able to be dropped along the way he had a sabbatical at Anglesey and nearest rival Grant Wagstaff was unable to make hay with a second, fourth and fifth. When the boot was on the other foot and Wag was away at the Manx Grand Prix Danny scored a perfect trio of results to romp ahead in the points race. The then third place man Richard Charlton was also away playing in the middle of the Irish sea, and the Oulton Park races caused a bit of a shake up in the table which saw Ady Allsopp building on his three second places at Cadwell to become a threat to Wag’s second position, With Danny in an unassailable position and Wag looking safe in second, Ady will want to hang onto third sop will be looking over his shoulder to see what Charlton plus Marc and Peter Dilks are up to on the Snetterton 200 track.
1000cc
Mike Dickinson left it until Septembers penultimate round before staking his claim on this year’s Michelin Power Cup 1000 title. In the early part of the season Mike battled fellow BMW mounted rival Daz Bellworthy until the Derby man retired to focus on expanding his business. There was a bit of a lull then until the ever improving Shane Pearson got his act together and gave Mike a run for his money. As the big bike MCP riders went into Oulton Mike had just had enjoyed a purple patch of no less than 11 wins split by a fifth place in the Superpole race at an earlier visit to Snetterton. Pearson’s impressive record to date shows a stonking 10 second places and a few offs, but that first win eludes the man on the Fireblade. Race winner Tom Kielty has done enough to lie within five points of Pearson whilst Brazilian class act Rhalf Lo Turco is only 13 points adrift, Greg Allsop and Gaz Evans will all be left to slug it out for the third spot in this cup and the remaining to six places.
MotoGrande
600cc
Andrew Nicholson has taken a steady approach to racing in the MotoGrande 600 series this year with consistency being the key to his success so far, only failing to score points in two of the 20 races so far. Andrew harvested the most points over the summer with race wins at Pembrey and Snetterton and a trio of second places in North Wales at Anglesey. One time second in the table Shaun Champion came out like a lion at the start of the season but has not shown his face since the last time we visited Snetterton, whilst his MCP career might have been short. There are four or five riders champing at the leader’s heels; Colin Norris, Roger Slater, Champion Warren Verwey, Jake Kay and Andrew Lund who, entering the final show down could overhaul their neighbours if they do well in the remaining three races.
1000cc
Despite not scoring a point at Oulton Park recently, Julian Hughes has made a charge forward and is heading for the end of the season with both hands firmly on the silverware, and is 114 points ahead of his nearest neighbour; Ash Daughtrey and close rival Julian Brooks on his tidy R1, who also failed to rock up at Oulton. The only difference is that Daughtrey has been able to drag points down from all races so far, whereas Brookes has blended his season with racing elsewhere but has highlighted with three wins and four seconds in his journey along the way. Watch out for top Brazilian Rhalf Lo Turco who latterly has been combining his Michelin Power Cup adventure with MG1000, to date he has reaped the rewards with a win, four seconds and a couple of third places and will do his best to stay in front of Adam Reeve and Stephen Bridle until the close of play at Snetterton on the Sunday.
Ducati Desmo Due
It’s a shame the Dukes have been a string of individual races rather than a season long campaign towards a championship. Class A machines are the most rapid and races for them have been dominated by Neil Appleby and Andy Challis, Neil seeing the top step of the podium more than his rival. Some finishes have been close but mostly Appleby has bossed the opposition. Dallas Hornblow has been there or there abouts with three fine thirds as the Class A machines populate the top places in the results. At the Pembrey round it was double class winner Paul Bradbury and David Jenkins to show how to get the most out of a Class B device. There are the Ducati races here for you this weekend so take it easy, get over to the twisty bits of the track and just enjoy the cacophony of Italian noise on offer.
There are only two guarantees on offer here, this weekend; 1 – all championship will be wrapped up and decided by 1800 on Sunday evening and 2 – if you are attending you will see some of the closest and quickest racing there in the UK. A full programme of racing is on offer on Saturday and Sunday with testing on Friday.