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The 11th round of the championship was held at the New Era meeting at Castle Coombe a circuit hardly ever used for bike events. For many it was a totally unknown quantity so it was interesting to see what people's first impressions were of it. On arrival it gave the impression of a circuit that was built solely for classic car club meetings everything slightly old fashioned in appearance, but fully up to modem standards but more noticeable than anything, immaculate. Even the grassed areas in the paddock were more like what you would find in a park than a race paddock. The first impression was good and things got even better for some when someone came round and scrutineered the bikes you can't get better than that. Then it was a walk round the circuit and once again the general view was favourable. It was clearly going to favour the larger machines but there were enough corners to provide a challenge. Several mentioned that although there were a couple of chicanes that had been added to the original circuit they at least looked like proper corners unlike the additions that have been made to some other circuits. We only got an entry of 16 for this meeting which we were a bit disappointed with as the ability to get different circuits does to some extent depend on us getting good entries when we do circuits such as Oulton, Cadwell etc. Due to the entry the grid was split with the up to 500 machines with the F400, Hornets, LCs etc. while the 750s and 1300s were with the Sound of Thunder and Superstock class. For the first time ever we had timed practice and due to what we were out with most ended up near the back of the grids. The up to 500 machines were out in race 2 and 9 and both had identical results . John Turner was the first Earlystocks machine in both races and he was followed by Cass who was having to be a bit careful as she was due for an operation on her right ankle on the following Thursday. When you've been on a waiting list for two years you don't really want to miss it especially as you've only just got away with the broken bones in your hand and right foot that came close to causing problems. Richard Insall was next with the RD250 still just shutting down at random and only running again after flicking the kill switch off and on. That's the problem with these intelligent ignition systems they have a mind of their own. Following Richard was John Hardwick and Alan Butler. The over 500 machines were out in race 4 and 9. In race 4 Clive Wadey was the first Earlystocks machine home and he was followed by the GT750 of Richard Digby. Steve Cave was slowly gaining on him but ended up just over a second down. It was interesting to watch the performance of the two machines there didn't seem to be much in it at the top end but the GT looked to lose out to the GSX1100 coming out of the corners. The GT was however totally superior in one department, it wobbles so much better than the competition. I also think it sounds better but perhaps I'm slightly biased. Michael Baillie was the next to finish just ahead of Andy Charlesworth who was in turn ahead of Pete Boyles. Terry Davies was the next to finish he being ahead of Mike Annesley and Pete Mabberley. In race 9 things were a little closer in the 1300 class as Steve Cave was only two seconds down on Clive Wadey at the finish. Behind them came Michael Baillie who was in turn followed by Richard Digby. Richard was in fact fortunate to finish as from the second lap onwards his GT750 started to sound progressively worse. In some ways he was lucky he was lapped by the leading Ducati 999s in the sound of thunder event as I'm not sure it would have made a further lap. Even if it had I'm sure he would have been caught by Pete Boyles, who finished 0.25 sec behind him. The cause of the problem, not charging the battery between races, would you believe the same thing happened at Darley. The total loss ignition or maybe the electric water pump will have to go or perhaps a larger battery. There is a rumour that several of the 750 class runners are clubbing together to get him one of those that they use to jump start a 747, that's Boeing 747s by the way. Barry Swailes was next to finish this being his first race, he had missed the first race due to a combination of problems. In practice his GPZ750 had a bit of an oil leak caused by a thread letting go on the cam chain tensioner this was sorted but it then just failed to start due to a total ignition failure that look quite some time to solve. Following Barry was Andy Charlesworth and Terry Davies who were in turn ahead of Mike Annesley and Pete Mabberley Steve Bailey. |