|
The 14th round of the championship was held at the last EMRA meeting of the year. We nearly got a grid to ourselves but ended up with the championship LCs on the back of the grid. The non championship YPVSs were out with the 400s. There was no scrutineering on the Saturday night as at the last EMRA meeting but it was much quicker than usual on the Sunday morning. We were also race 4 on the programme and several mentioned what a change it made compared to some of, well most of, the race numbers we have had with other clubs. John Turner, Dale Eames and Wayne Hickman were back after their first race meetings with us at the last Phoenix Mallory meeting. At least the 2 lap second race didn't put them off. Out with us for the first time was Michael Baillie on a GPZ750 Mike Annesley was also out with us as EMRA don't have a problem with his classic 1972 Laverda running without a catch tray. Richard Digby made one of his rare appearances this year on the 500 Husky. Dick Bradburn did make it to the meeting but not his GS1000 that struck problems in a practice the previous Wednesday with it locking up solid. When I spoke to him on Sunday he hadn't found the problem but it doesn't look good as the oil was full of bits of bronze coloured metal chips and shavings. When race four got underway it was once again the 1300 machines that filled the first 4 places. Nigel Lawrence just getting the better of Andy Jackson although it took a new lap record of 58.56s to do it and in doing so, he secured both the EMRA and overall Earlystocks 1300 championship. Clive Wadey followed them home followed by Mostyn Bullock. Behind him were the three modified class RD400s of Glenn Graham, Adrian Sanders and Cass in that order. Behind them were five 750s with the GSX of Keith Chambers being the lead one. Mel Coote was behind him and he was followed by Pete Boyles, Tony Smith and Wayne Hickman, who this time managed to finish with a complete exhaust still attached to his XJ700. There was then a bit of a gap back to Richard Digby on his Husqvarna 500 that is in the 500 modified class after ditching the 21' front wheel and 6' front drum for a 18" wheel and rather large wave disc and Brembo calliper. This machine had already fractured the exhaust at the back of the chamber in practice and during the race it became evident by the noise that the emergency repairs had failed. The drop in performance also showed just how much a two stroke relies on the exhaust. Michael Baillie was the next to finish, just managing to get the better of Mike Annesley who was in turn ahead of the CB 750 of Andy Charlesworth. Following him were the three 500 production machines of Phil Underwood, GT500, John Turner, X7, and Dale Eames, RD250. This being the order they finished in with each particular combination of rider and machine having the upper hand at certain parts of the circuit but the end result being very similar lap times as just two second covered them as they crossed the line. Following them was another close battle between the 500 production machines of Pete Scott whose RD400 just got the better of Howard's Morini 350. Following them home was the Katana 1100 of Dave Gibbs. The second race was at 3.15pm and by this time, Richard Digby had managed to find someone who was able to weld, braze or otherwise stick his exhaust back together. What would we do without sidecar crews? Don't answer that, as they always have welding equipment. Once again it was the 1300 class machines that initially drew clear and this time it was Andy Jackson who held and maintained the lead until the chequered flag. Nigel took second although I got the impression that he wasn't pushing quite as hard as he could have done. Clive Wadey took third again and he was ahead of Adrian Sanders who just managed to get ahead of Mostyn Bullock. Glenn Graham was next to finish, ahead of Keith Chambers and Cass. She was just ahead of the Husky of Richard Digby who initially got the better of all the RD400s as it gets unbelievable drive off the line and away from low speed corners. Behind Richard it was Pete Boyles followed by Mel Coote and Tony Smith. Tony was closely followed home by Wayne Hickman whom he had just managed to stay ahead of. There was then a bit of a gap back to Michael Baillie who was in turn ahead of Mike Annesley and Andy Charlesworth. Phil Underwood was less than a second behind Andy and in turn less than a second ahead of John Turner. Dale Eames was behind him and he was ahead of Howard who this time got the better of Pete Scott. Pete was in turn ahead of Dave Gibbs. Steve Bailey. |