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The first meeting of the year eventually attracted an entry of 24, the best I can recall for some time for the first meeting. As usual a few were a bit late entering but not for the usual reasons, quite a few were still waiting for their race license and only found out late on that they could use last years license. This helped a few out, but not the ones who shall we say are careful with their money and who had cut up last years license to reuse the photo. The attendance at the rider's briefing in the Coach House Pub on the Saturday night was quite encouraging but someone did actually ask when the briefing would start. I think I must be getting a bit too suitable for some bearing in mind how it was worded on the sheet we handed out on Saturday afternoon i.e. Briefing in the pub, refreshments available at own expense. Near enough all present at the circuit turned up and were rewarded with words of wisdom from Mr. Nigel Lawrence directed to Aaron Gautrey whose first meeting it was. His explanation of how and why you needed to be nice and smooth out on the circuit had to be heard to be believed but perhaps unfortunately couldn't be argued with too much. As if to prove a point, Nigel then had some sort of reaction to something he had consumed (no prizes for guessing what) and fell off his chair. On the Sunday morning scrutineering seemed to take ages and some reported that a lot of attention was paid to catch trays by some with it being suggested that certain ones didn't comply with the regs this being despite the exact same bike having been passed all last year and there being no changes to the regs. Eventually everyone was ready for practice and it started to snow and for a while it looked that unless things improved we wouldn't be doing much else. However it cleared up and as we were race 6 on the programme it was, to all intents and purposes dry when our race got underway. As usual it was the 1100s of Nigel Lawrence and Clive Wadey that led the way but it soon became clear that behind them were the three modified class RD40Os. Then in quick succession two of these struck problems. Nigel's 1170 Kawasaki ate a piston leaving a trail of smoke and apparently bits of piston behind it, while the RD400 of Glenn Graham seized. This left Clive to take the outright win followed home by Adrian Sanders and Cass. Following them were six 750s with the class win going to Chris Satchwell on his first outing with us, mind you he has done a bit of racing a few years ago. Behind him it was the XJ550 of Pete Boyles that for some reason showed up as an 850 in the results. Keith Chambers followed him home after a bit of a nightmare on the start line when it stalled, but fortunately with an electric start still fitted Keith didn't lose as much time as he could have done. Following them home it was the GPZ 750s of Michael Baillie and Tony Smith who were in turn ahead of Barrv Swailes on yet another GPZ750. Rob Thorpe was next to finish on his production class GT500 to take a class win. Colin Young was behind him out on the XJ550 he bought off Met Coote in the close season. This was the first time Colin had even ridden it and the first time I believe he's raced a four stroke after years on X7s and he was taking it a bit easy. Paul Riggs on another GPZ750 was next and he was ahead of Gordon Church who has come out of retirement on his trusty BMW R100 with over 118,000 miles under its wheels, not all in Earlystocks races mind you. Pete Scott was next to finish on his production RD400 and he was in turn ahead of the KH250 of Steve Jones and the X7 of Aaron Gautrey. The total number of finishers was 16 out of the 24 who started the worst drop out rate I can recall. There was only one faller, this being John Turner who was clipped by Tony Smith on the start line after his X7 looked as if it didn't want to come off the line. Fortunately it wasn't as bad as it could have been and he made it out for the second race. Of the rest, the majority seemed to be the two strokes nipping up, were they running a bit weak in the cold conditions? Just after the race the weather took a dramatic turn for the worse for a while but by the time it came round to the second race it was dry again. With Nigel out of action it looked as if the second race was Clive's for the taking but Clive had other ideas. Now there are many ways to lose a race, but Clive came up with a new one. "Now let's see, Nigel beat me every race last year on his GSX1100, that's why I bought it of him in the close season, now what would happen if I let him borrow it". Joking apart it was the most sporting gesture I've ever seen. As you can probably guess the finishing order was Nigel, followed by Clive. Pete Boyles took third just ahead of Adrian Sanders and Michael Baillie. Cass followed them home and was in turn followed closely by Tony Smith and Chris Satchwell. Keith Chambers was next after getting an even worse start in this race when his GSX750 just bogged down and cut out and then took a bit of starting. Rob Thorpe took the next position, well clear of Colin Young and John Turner. Paul Riggs followed them home and he was followed by Gordon Church and Pete Scott. Rob Patterson was next, after fitting the barrels he had run last year after his RD400 seized in the first race. He was in turn ahead of Steve Jones, Aaron Gautrey and Richard Searl. Glenn Graham was the last finisher with an RD that sounded quite ill. All in all it wasn't too bad a meeting. We got a good entry, missed the bad weather somehow and everyone went home in one piece. John Turner was the only faller, if you can count a start line coming together as a fall and even he got out in the second race. The only down side was the number of retirements due to machine problems but this is something that's not too unusual at the first meeting of the season. Steve Bailey. |