Snetterton- Saturday 10th/Sunday 11th May 2008

250GP ACU National  Championship
& NG Cup

Snetterton was the venue for rounds 3 and 4 of 250GP ACU National Championship & NG Cup.   The weather was in stark contrast to the launch at Brands in April as the entire weekend was blessed with clear blue skies, and wall to wall sunshine.

With full grids and a number of very fast guys making their debut in the series at this event, having missed the first rounds at Brands because of European duties, the scene was set for some very exciting racing.

Championship leader Ben Johnson had a weekend full of drama which he kicked off with a high-speed spill at the Esses in qualifying.  Chesterfield’s Johnson appeared “concerned” about the uncharacteristic mood of his DoubleMRacing Honda prior to the incident, and coupled with his clear dislike of the ultra fast Norfolk circuit, a third row grid slot was the best he could have hoped for.  The timesheet showed him over 3 seconds adrift of the pole sitter’s time.

Toby Markham encountered a major engine failure during Friday’s open testing. Frantic overnight work by the team paid off though, as Markham, on his BY Groundworks/Ovenden Group Yamaha, took pole position in the qualifying session, with a fastest lap of 1:10.66.  This was over a second quicker than Bedfordshire’s Andrew Sawford on his St Neots Motorcycles TZ, who took second on the grid.  Jason Davis was third, with Alex Kenchington completing an all Yamaha front row.  
Paul Lumb, currently leading the “NG Cup” class qualified in 23rd position on his Ken White Signs/NGK Yamaha.

So with the fastest 250GP guys in the country sat at the front of the biggest 250GP grid Snetterton had see for many years, Saturdays Championship race had all the ingredients for thriller, and that’s exactly what we witnessed.  Markham made a good start from pole but it was Sawford, who had struggled at Brands and needed to challenge for maximum points who took the lead early on. Behind these two a frantic battle was raging for 3rd place with Somerset’s Alex Kenchington, on the Dennis Trollope Racing machine,  Peterborough’s Bruce Dunn, Royston’s Ben Miller plus Jason Davis and Ben Johnson all swapping places at every corner and many times were up to four abreast entering the tricky Russell Chicane section. 

European star Markham timed his race to perfection though, and with just a couple of laps remaining he broke the priceless slipstream along Revett Straight to take the win by 3 seconds from Sawford in a safe second.  Five seconds further back, the freight train was still sorting it’s self out and at the flag, it was Kenchington who took the final podium spot from Dunn, with Ben Miller in 5th and Ben Johnson on the first Honda home earning him 10 championship points in 6th. Jason Davis was a close 7th, but frustrated at his lack of power on the long straight against the newer machines. 

19th in the main race was enough to give Paul Lumb a win and 25 points in the “NG Cup”, to maintain his 100% record of wins in this class.  Sian Brooks took a very creditable second in class, with 28th on the road.  Paul McCullagh, who was 3rd in the Cup Championship prior to the race, slipped off his AmethysT Yamaha at the chicane without injury.  Duncan Fitchett also dropped his FCL Imports TZ–A at the Esses early on in the race, after his very strong 16th start position. An amazing 31 riders took the chequered flag..

Sundays conditions matched those of Saturday with an air temperature topping 26 degrees all day and a track temperature over 33 degrees.  The morning warm up times were headed by Toby Markham. News emerging from Ben Johnson’s garage was that his weekend was over.  His Honda had been off colour all weekend and with the motor stripped, tell tale bits of bearing were evident and his day was over. 
Sundays race was preceded by a full count down on the line, giving teams and brolly dollies a chance to enjoy the sunshine on the Norfolk grid. Once cleared and the red lights went out it was obvious that Markham was in no mood for uncomfortable battles as he set a blistering pace at the front from the off.  An improving Bruce Dunn, getting quicker on his 08 Yamaha with every outing, kept him in sight but at the flag Toby had a 9 second advantage to take the double. With Dunn a lonely second, the race was again on for 3rd place, with five riders swapping places at every opportunity throughout the 15 laps.  In a repeat of the previous day’s outcome, Alex Kenchington won the battle, taking the final podium position, the Silverware and the champagne plus of course 16 points.  Andrew Sawford took 4th, Ben Miller on his Phillips Digital Yamaha was 5th, Jason Davis 6th and Towcester’s Ian Gardner joining the battle in 7th.
Kenchington’s two 3rd places were all the sweeter after battling through the positions from poor starts both days.

Once again, the “NG Cup” class was won by a delighted Paul Lumb, with 15th spot overall. Sian Brook’s runner’s up spot in this class was enough to move her into second place in the Cup Championship and also earned her the Novice of the Day award.

A notable absentee this weekend was Chay Newton who shot to fame at the opening round with a 2nd place on his return to racing following injury.  Chay was practicing on his motocross machine at home on Friday morning prior to setting off for Snetterton and experienced severe tendonitis ruling him out of the action.  One to look out for at Cadwell.

Steve Bostock

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NG Road Racing – Snetterton – 10th & 11th May
Championship Rounds 3 & 4

“13 year old Corey Continues Impress”

After two very wet and windy meetings for the early season NG Road Racing championship rounds at Pembrey and Brands, it was a welcome treat to be at Snetterton with 28 degree air temperatures and up to 34 degree track with clear bright and sunny conditions for rounds five and six.

It certainly was a day to remember for the 13 year old Corey Lewis, as the young man from Hereford took both Refined Recruitment 125GP finals in impressive style. Saturday saw him set pole and control the race from the front finishing 8 seconds ahead of John Lea and defending champion Freddie Nickless. Sunday however saw a very different race as Corey went head to head with Luke Harvey. Harvey had suffered his 125 seize during free practice on the Sunday morning, but frantic work from the team got him out for the qualification race and post the second fastest time to start alongside Corey on the front row. The two of them were barely separated by more than a couple of bike length’s for the 8 lap final, but going into the last lap Harvey on his Excel RS125 hit the front. Corey sat and waited in his slipstream for the full lap and concentrated on getting himself in the best position to get through the Russells Chicaine for a good drive up the slightly uphill drag along the Senna straight to the flag. Harvey was concentrating on defending his position so was not as quick through Russells, and Lewis out dragged his rival to the line after a better exit from that final turn to take it by 0.2sec….. that’s less than half a bike length !.

For his weekends efforts Corey was awarded the rider of the weekend trophy to take home. Coreys brother Jay was down at Brands for the BSB 125 race, where he gained a 7th place, and it is Corey’s plan to be racing at British level with his brother in ’09. With a number of loyal sponsors already onboard including SL Heating, NW Powerpoint, Dave Bushby Plant hire and G Pollit along with Shark Helmets and TCX. A lot for people already have shown faith in the young man who won the NG F125 series last year and is already looking good for the 125GP series win this year.

As an interesting aside to this meeting, reigning world sidecar champions Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance appeared on the entry list for the CSC Racing Sidecar events. They were doing some testing work and started from the back row of the grid each time….. and pulled into pit lane on the final lap of each race to allow the season regulars to battle it out for the wins. The pace of the Eastern Airways outfit was truly awesome as they lapped in the 1:09 sec bracket….. some 6 seconds plus quicker than the regular NG riders. Saturdays race had three outfits enter Russells chicane together in the later stages, with mixed fortunes for each. Mark Edwards looked to have it at first, but in all the melee lost passenger Nick Walters out the back of the Ibley Services LCR….. then it looked like Rod Robinson and Shellie Smithies would grab there first ever win…. however it was Guy Horner and Lee Watson on the Team Heggarty Horner LCR that snatched the win by just 6 one hundredths of a second. Sundays affair was equally frantic with Ian Drowne/Gary Andrews…Matt Dix/Rob Beere… Robinson/Smithies and Ben Bygrave/Paul Ryder all looking like possible winners. With just a few corners to go though Steve Norbury and Paul Knapton who were down in 12th place in the early stages on the Lockside LCR drafted though to grab the win. Of the series regulars though Matt Dix and Rob Beere went home with a bigger series lead on the Team 2X1 Lubricants Baker 600 in both the CSC Open and Century 2000 F2 series.

Some riders seem to be dogged by bad luck, one such rider is Jodie Duffill the Maidstone based rider, who races under the Team Smokey Joe banner in the A and R Racing Formula 400 class. Jodie has returned to racing after a 12-month layoff and was straight back on the pace, with two wins at Brands and 5th in the points table as we went into this weekend. As the ZXR was fired away from the grid for Saturdays qualifier the throttle cable snapped, so no time was posted, resulting a back row start in the final. After a spirited ride through 36 other riders he crossed the line 3rd behind race winner Chris Beverley on his France and Li Asia CBR400 and Tony Meredith’s TM Racing ZXR. Duffill rued his luck and hoped for better on Sunday….. how wrong he was to be. This time as he dragged away from the line smoke poured from the bike….. soon followed by engine failure. More work was done in the team garage, and after sterling work a replacement ZXR lump was installed and he made the grid…. Once more at the back though. The new motor lasted just a couple of laps before that too expired, leaving him pointless from the weekend and contemplating a lot of work before the next round at Cadwell. The race result was once again a Beverley, Meredith 1-2 with this time a hard charging Joshua Leaning in 3rd after an excellent ride from the 17 yearold, in his first full season.

The Phoenix Yamaha of Trowbridge backed Open saw Michael Blank take maximum points away from the weekend with two wins and two fastest laps to now lead the title chase on his Gemini Fire Systems GSXR1000 Suzuki. He headed home an impressive Simon Gates on Saturday and Joe Symonds on Sunday. One of the happiest men though will have been Lee Keeble who took away good points for a 3rd and 4th on his standard CTs R1. Keeble who was hoping for a championship top 10 position in this his first year in the Open currently lies an impressive 4th.

Blank looked to be in good form for the L and  J Mechanical Powerbike too, but a couple of errors at vital moments at Sears saw his challenge stall and slipped to an uncustomary pair of results with 4th and 5th…. Although most riders would be overjoyed with those sorts of results, in this class small errors are often heavily punished. Joe Symonds a two time Powerbike champion came through to take Saturdays win from a charging Paul Shook, who is now getting to grips with his new ZX10. Joe looked set to make it a pair on Sunday as he lead a tight leading pack into the last couple of corners…..when a mistake at Russells saw him plummet down to 6th as the top 7 were covered by just under 3 seconds. A surprised Charlie Bishop on the Phoenix/PBM Henderson R1 Cup bike found himself crossing the line first with Shook once again in second. Shook and the team were using part worn tyres, as a lack of funds meant old rubber being used,

Daniel and Graham Frear, the racing brothers from Winterton took a win apiece in the George White 600 class. However to describe all the goings on in this class over the weekend would take a publication all of it’s own. We had race stoppages… overnight drives to and from the Brands BSB meeting… 6 rider turn one pile ups (…all riders were ok)… and championship contenders scoring no points. However Daniel Frear came through all the mayhem on Saturday on his France and Li Asia R6 to head home Joshua Day and Graham Frear. Frear G, could have won it but for an excursion across the grass to se him drop from the lead to 5th, before recovering back to third. Sunday was no less intense as ’07 series runner up Rich Bearcroft exited at turn one from his Suzuki leaving the battling Frear brothers to once again show each other no mercy. Graham this time took his CBR RR to the win over Daniel, with an ecstatic Lee Tyack third in only his 6th ride on his new Honda, after moving up from the F400 class last year where he was the overall champion.

Rowan Miller extended his lead in the Steve Lynham Formula 125 class as he rode his Metrakit GP80XL to second on Saturday, but went one better on Sunday. Thomas Williams it was that had the Saturday victory on his G&B Williams Transport RS125 Aprilia.

Once more both Race Trader 400 Streetstocks finals went to Richard Troth on the Bunnie Layla 400 Honda, heading home Peter Branton and his 350YPVS on Saturday and Craig Neve’s VFR on Saturday. So with 5 wins from the 6 rounds so far things are shaping up nicely for Troth.

Andy Hayes and Nicholas Andrews were equal on points going into Snetterton in the Metzeler/DTR Racing 700 Streetstock with Hayes just taking Saturdays win over Andrews. But a dnf for Andrews in Sunday’s race has really dented his charge. Hayes on his MLF R6 didn’t have an easy run with Andrews absence though as Marlon Butcher on a MJF Roofing ZX6R pressured him right to the flag. Although Hayes was happy he admitted that it had been hard work in the scorching heat. Series leader in the Metzeler/DTR Racing 1300 Streetstock division Hillary Phillips set pole, but failed to make the start due to a broken bleed nipple on the front brake as they had been forced to change the master cylinder. Dan Kift took the win to leapfrog Phillips with Jon Harwood in close attendance after a charging ride through. Harwood continued his run of good form on Sunday to take the win aboard his Albe Tec ZX10 R from a rejuvenated Hilary Philips with this time Kift suffering bike maladies down in 8th place

Series leader in the Team Spidey Sound of Thunder championship Greg Gibson took his JHP 1098 Ducati to the win on Saturday over his brother Duncan Gibson on an almost identical 1098 with Justin Waite on the STP 675 Triumph a strong third. Sunday though saw Duncan take top honours as Greg made a mistake at Russells in the latter stages for slip down to 4th at the line. Despite this Greg extends his series lead in the title chase over former champ Andy Peck, who’s now ageing Aprilia was left wanting for a bit of speed.

Darryl Alexander had two convincing victories in the Big C Mini Twins on his Chrysler Jeep Specialist backed SV650 although reigning champ and current series leader Nigel Wright racked up a runner up and third to defend his table topping position.

Mart Linton and Nigel Palmer shared a win each in the Dara Brady 400 open class, with Linton getting himself to the top of the championship table after these first 6 rounds. Although with Linton doubtful for several future meetings due to his working commitments as an airline pilot things are looking good for Tony Davies as his two good scores keep him well in contention.

Female racer Sian Brooks took her Spyke Ltd/Plasmac RS 250 Honda to an emphatic 13 second win in the Louigi Moto 400 Newcomers final to also grab the Newcomer Performace of The Weekend Award. Whilst in the Gary Vardy Open Newcomers Martin Lowe on his Highway Services R1 got the better of Dean Huggett and his GSXR 1000 after a titanic battle.

As the championships start to take shape we now look ahead to Cadwell Park on 7th and 8th June.

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Russ Gardner
(Press Officer – Commentator – Bike Sport News Contributor)

Tel : 01242 679939  -  Mobile : 07799 047 996  -  Mail : russell.gardner@tiscali.co.uk