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The 2002 season got underway as usual at the first EMRA meeting of the season on 3 March. It attracted an entry of 19 although it would have been few more if a couple hadn't decided to give it a miss due to the catch tank saga. As usual for the first meeting there were a couple of new faces, some making a return after a lengthy break and a few who had changed class. When the race got underway it was Nigel Lawrence who made the running on his GSX1100 eventually finishing well clear of Glynn Williams who was out on his Z1000. In third came Steve Cave on his GSX1000 Katana which this time was actually running in the 1300 production class. According to Steve, putting the standard swing arm back in improved the handling no end. Behind Steve was Karl Scott on his XJ550 back out for the first time since the Anglesey meeting. Mel Coote was next to finish to take the first 750 place on his XJ580 and he was in turn ahead of Cass. Clive Wadey was the next to finish on his 1100 Katana. Clive struck problems in the closing stages of the race and only just made the finish. I'm not suggesting he ran out of fuel but I think they would have had a job to do a fuel test on him. Dean Martin was next to finish on his GPZ750 this being his first meeting since last May. Dean was followed home by Tony Smith who was out in his first race on Glynn's old GPZ750. Thank god he's painted it red, at one stage I was expecting half the grid to consist of yellow bikes. Colin Young was the first 250 home on his X7. This was his first meeting since he broke his collar bone and shoulder last year at the Cadwell hairpin. Colin was chased hard all the way by Richard Insall on his RD250, who finished close behind. Behind Richard it was Pete Jarnell on his production GT500 to take a class win. He finished ahead of the 750 Katana of Paul Myler. Andy Charlesworth was the next to finish on his XJ550, having moved on from the production XBR500 he ran last year. Andy was in turn ahead of the XJ550 of Keith Chambers who was out in his first race and the production GT500 of Phil Unclerwood. Out of the 19 entered, 3 failed to finish. Adrian Saunders had the worst luck as his RD400 started to play up in practice. Initially a coil was suspected but it turned out to be crank seals that kept him out of both races. Michael Hand was out for the first time on his RD400 and there were a few worried faces before practice as it had a rather unhealthy rattle to it. It had only been started a few hours earlier. It did practice no problem but a loose ignition rotor put him out of the first race early on. Chris Spooner was the other non finisher who went out with a puncture. As the second race approached, the weather looked as if it were about to break but it stayed dry. Once again it was Nigel Lawrence who made the initial running but Glynn looked to have got to grips with his ZIOOO,s wayward handling taking the lead. From mid distance in fact, it looked as if Glynn had held Nigel off as they crossed the line but the verdict went to Nigel by 0.1 sec. Clive Wadey made sure he didn't have a repeat of the problems of the first race and took third ahead of Karl Scott whose catch tank looked as if would double up as a boat if he ever felt the need to take a short cut across the lake. Behind Karl was Steve Cave closely followed by Mel Coote and Dean Martin. Cass was the next to finish, ahead of Tony Smith who was clear of the race long battle between Colin Young and Richard Insall. It finished a reverse of the first race with Richard just taking the class win. Paul Myler was next to finish this time getting the better of Pete Jarnell. Pete was in turn ahead of Chris Spooner who finished ahead of Phil Underwood who, was going much better in this race. Phil was ahead of Andy Charlesworth and Keith Chambers. The only non finisher was Michael Hand whose RD suffered detonation mid race. All in all it wasn't a bad start to the season, the weather held and although cold, was better than you could expect that early in the year, I wouldn't bet on it holding for Snetterton though. It's on a Bank holiday Monday and of the five times we have been to Snetterton 4 have been total washouts. Steve Bailey. |