Mike Dickinson has a new job

MICHELIN Power Cup – 2010 Resume

1000 MICHELIN Power Cup - Jonathan Otter

There was a sense of excitement and anticipation as the first ever MICHELIN Power Cup grid in the UK assembled at Snetterton, some of the riders were known to HOTTRAX MOTORSPORT whilst others were a known quantity with a decent reputation preceding them and others were real ‘newbies’. Scott Shand came down from Scotland bringing with him a solid CV which in 2009 had seen Scottish Championship places and podiums and he stamped his authority on the opening round by posting three wins from three races, no more could be asked. This momentum was not continued as Scott gathered no more points in the Wet of Cadwell Park on his Jim Allan Motorcycles Firebalde, allowing Greg Allsop to grab his first MPC win on his trusty and rocket like nine year old R1. Frustratingly at Mallory Shand was unable to extend his shallow championship lead in the first race but came back to gather some more points in the next two races in Leicestershire. Anglesey produced a healthy crop of points with a brace of wins and a third before a non scoring Pembrey with the powerful rider nursing a damaged arm following a spill out on the track. This put Shand down in third spot in the table going into the final round but never in a position to go for gold. This honour came down to 37 year old builder and landscaper, Allsop, who has proved a fast and consistent competitor with his, only no pints appearance coming in the opening race of the season. This journey to Cadwell had seen Greg rack up no less than six wins and six seconds to go with his pair of fourth places earned at Snetterton in Round One. Unfortunately all went pear shaped over the last weekend in October; in Friday testing R1 engine dropped a valve after what had been a mechanically hassle free season, Greg was also on ‘best man duty’ nowhere near Lincolnshire on the Saturday and failed to appear on track on the Sunday.

This performance was almost matched in quality and points massing ability by 2008 Thunderbike champ Jonathon Otter, aka Jonny 5, whose outside comedic image covers a fiercely quick and determined rider. Like Allsop, Jonny only failed to score points at a single round as the 2010 season entered the final round at Cadwell, the circuit named by all three riders as amongst their favourites! Along the way Otter had stepped onto the podium no less than 15 times including six top steps and no less than seven runner up spots and bagging points in every race but one of the season. Otter was superlative in the dry at Cadwell and blitzed one and all in the first and last race of the weekend, only taking it easy in Sunday morning’s rain affected bash where he finished third behind Brazilian Rhalf and Michelin tyre tester Chris Mason who spent the season getting faster and faster and racked up points in both the Michelin Power up and Hottrax MotoGrande championships along the way.

Running close-ish to Shand was Brazilian coming man Ralf Lo Turco whose pedigree includes moto cross champ and stunt rider before coming over to the UK in 2001 to pursue his road racing career. On his 2009 R1 the colourful character amassed a MPC best of second at the Snetterton opening round plus a shed load of other top five places. Get back amongst the action at Cadwell on his new BMW he posted a couple of second places in a wet race and a dry race and he used the final race to try a pair of Michelin slicks and was ineligible to score more points having made third spot in the title chase secure.

For me, a rider that stood out for continual improvement over the season was teenage Welsh Wizard Ty Jones on his GSXR1000 having moved up from considerable Welsh and British success on his modest Aprilia 125. After missing the first round the likeable teenager with a committed riding style Ty got his head down and started earning points gathering two thirds along the way and becoming another solid rider in this championship despite having some moments when the red mist appeared, wiping him out of the final weekend when he completed less than a lap before popping a collar bone. This Welshman finished in front of Jim Laird who unfortunately only put in a half season excelling with a couple of third spots and given more appearances I am sure we would have seen more to come from this youngster who before the MICHELIN Power Cup had had a stab at HOTTRAX MotoGrande on his 1000cc Kawasaki.

Other riders who only put in partial season, for a variety of reasons included ex endurance race winner Mark ‘Whizzy’ Whiston who, after gathering a second and two thirds in Round One must have been well chuffed before tipping off at Cadwell and being carted off to Grimsby Hospital (ironically Whizzo’s favourite catch phrase is “Take me to the hospital” – not funny Mark! Mark and his trusty R1 did reappear at Mallory in the summer, score more points and did not appear again. Another rider showing massive improvement was John Boakye on his ZX10R who converted his fun loving attitude towards life and racing into some very positive results, only missing Mallory the ex footballing medical engineer collected four sixth places and got better as the season progressed. David Lance, Richie Cunningham, Nick Grobler, Chris Mason, Adam Rudd, Pete Douglas, Graham Marks, Matt Flower, Mark Footitt and Tony Rodgers all rocked up to MPC races grabbed points and moved on.

A couple of ‘wild card’ entries appeared at some rounds and were ineligible for points, prizes or podiums. Having said that local hero Phil Crowe, the big man from (Market) Rasen and bike journo Rob Hoyles came to Cadwell and Mallory and made quite an impression, their appearances in no way detract from the racing and give the regular riders a benchmark to aim for, or not!

2010 Championship Results

1 Jonathon Otter 356 points
2 Greg Allsop 291
3 Rhalf Lo Turco 192
4 Scott Shand 168
5 Ty Jones 138
6 David Lance 107
7 Chris Mason 101
8 John Boakye 99
9 Jim Laird 92
10 Mark Whiston 82
11 Graham Marks 58
12 Adam Rudd 56


600 MICHELIN Power Cup - William Monie

This was a large capacity field at most of the circuits visited by the MICHELIN Power Cup, for most of the season William Monie was ‘on the money’ (groan) on his R6. Will rattled off two seconds and a third in the opening round, behind what looked like the man to beat – Simon Gardner with his three wins on the trot. At the following round in the Lincolnshire Wolds it was Monie who took what appeared to be a trio of runner up spots in mainly wet weather behind Ady Allsopp, twice and Si Gardner. Mallory Park in June was a bit of a blip for Monie and Gardner, as they fought over the #1 spot in the championship, in Race 2 as they clashed coming out of Gerrards onto the back straight causing the red flags to appear. The direction of the racing progressed differently after Mallory as we saw the Len Manchester sponsored publican from Brighton focus on his first appearance at the Manx Grand Prix whereas William stayed at home, totally focussed on the inaugural 600cc MICHELIN Power Cup.

In the back to back Welsh rounds Monie dominated with five wins from six starts in a series of races where he was showing a clean pair of heals to many 1000cc riders in the same races – this hauled WM clear at the top of the table as we entered the final round where only Nottingham LGV driver and the ever enthusiastic Andy Rouse could mathematically upset the apple cart – a tall order for either of the very talented youngsters. Along the way the slightly built Ady, who started track days in 2008 and won the HOTTRAX MotoGrande 600 class in 2009 scored four wins and a trio of seconds could have been closer to Monie after a couple of unforced errors costing him another two wins. Andy Rouse was a busy man as he also contested the HOTTRAX MOTORSPORT National Endurance championship paired with friend and fellow Brummie, the inspirational Colin Morris. The 24 year old Network Engineer was runner up to Allsopp in last year’s MotoGrande 600 and despite a couple of point costing excursions during the season Andy never occupied the top step of the podium but still nailed no less than four second spots on the way.

Another endurance racing migrant was to be found in the form of Ryan Peters who combined touting mobile phones (sorry, his career as a communications consultant) and coaching basketball at a high level with piloting a well prepped and mostly immaculate R6. Highlights for Ry were a second at Pembrey and no less than five thirds, two again at Pembrey – enough to guarantee fourth spot in the table at the end of the long gruelling six round season.

When Simon Gardner went off to focus on the Manx and upgrade to a tasty Fireblade, his sponsee and race mate Arron Hoar also disappeared but had done enough by Mallory to rack up enough points to finish in a worthy sixth place just behind Si. Influenced by economic or personal reasons there was a whole raft of riders who were unable to commit to a full season but in many cases still displayed real talent on the way. Chris Hunt-Terry did 4/6 rounds but the mid thirties chippie did enough to steal 7th place from the always cheerful and enthusiastic Dominic De Leon whose background includes night racing, drag racing and pulling stunts in cars and on bikes in his Trinidad home, whose racing hero is his father Hubert. 2010 was not only a learning year for Dom but he was able to convert his progress into points to be a solid 8th best in the championship, a massive achievement. Juggling a season of racing her Triumph 675 in other series, 19 year old student Steph Waddelow pitched in with a second place on the final weekend of racing, a fourth, two fifths and three sixth places to finish in the top half of the 2010 table.

Lower down the scale the MICHELIN Power Cup hosted some raw talent in the form of 20 year old plant engineer Lewis O’Regan, latterly appearing on a Co-Ordit liveried machine, Lewis ran up a second, two thirds and a couple of fourths – pity he didn’t do a whole season in his debut racing year.

The always optimistic and enthusiastic panel beating, Jamal Mahmood was another ‘new to racing’ rider who just got better and better with each round culminating in two fourths and a fifth at Anglesey in North Wales – all solid performances. Para legal executive Sohaib Habib committed to half a season and had a career best of sixth in North Wales, a real result for a novice rider with only a handful of track days under his belt. These two were split in the championship table by youngster Tom Dale on his Bob Farnham prepped Triumph who entered Cadwell only, scored a second and third and earned 12th in the table when the maths were done.

Others that turned up, raced and earned NPC points were; Apex Racing’s Nick Matthews, Pit Stop Racing’s Richard Dilks, ex endurance man Ian Courts, Stephen “Hives” Davies, keen cyclist Adrian Hartog, Derek Boyle, Ashraf Aboukass aka Madash, William White and finally Thor Marshall. Some of the Michelin 600 runners were relieved that 2010 MotoGrande champion, Sam Ludgate, who upgraded to the Power Cup for the final round, had not done the whole season. In Sam’s three races he grabbled three wins to finish 11th in the championship and along the way he embarrassed many of the litre pilots as he pushed for the lead on the road.

2010 Championship Results

1 William Monie 302 points
2 Adrian Allsopp 250
3 Andy Rouse 232
4 Ryan Peters 202
5 Simon Gardner 146
6 Arron Hoar 127
7 Stephanie Waddelow 119
8 Lewis O’Regan 114
9 Chris Hunt-Terry 109
10 Dominic De-Leon 104
11 Sam Ludgate 75
12 Jamal Mahmood 64

Alfonso Lygo would like to introduce you to the new swath of riders who will be taking up their positions on the grid for Round One of the 2010 Michelin Power Cup at Snetterton over Easter. Old friends Andy Rouse, Adrain Allsopp, Ryan Peters and Richie Cunningham expand into the series having enjoyed much success at the Hottrax Endurance and MotoGrande level. How will they match up to the 2o odd new faces joining them on French rubber?

Old Faces - Andy Rouse

Ady Allsopp

Richie Cunningham

Ry Peters

Greg Alsopp

New Faces for 2010