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The second round of the championship was held at Darley Moor and got an entry of 23, which is the best we have ever had for a meeting at Darley. As this is being typed at 11pm on Friday night I haven't got time to put too much down about it. It should have seen eight people out with us for the first time but as usual not all made it. Terry Davies from Durham just ran out of time getting his GPZ750 sorted while Steve Cave who never has any luck at Darley had gearbox problems on his 1100 Katana during Saturday practice. After a bit of work that evening, back at home it was all sorted by 2.00 or was it 3.00am. Anyway even with the clocks going forward it was a bit late to start it up so the first time he started it was back at Darley on Sunday. It didn't take long to switch it off again as the engine noise was enough to make you cry. Another who had problems was Rob Oily who had lubrication problems with his GSX1100 on Saturday. These problems have plagued him all close season as the GSX will just not stay oil tight. This time it was a bit different. It didn't leak oil as it had the oil pump drive gear come adrift. Anyway getting back to the racing it was no great surprise when Clive Wadey took the first race win but quite a few were a little surprised to see the RD400 of Adrian Sanders in second. Behind him were four 750s headed by Michael Baillie. In the 500 production class the win went to Rob Thorpe on his GT500 he being just ahead of Phil Underwood using his new exhaust for the first time, having suffered ground clearance problems on right handers for the last four years Phil eventually came up with the solution. Somehow he managed to get both Allspeed pipes on his GT500 to exit on the left without any cutting or welding. Its all been done by swinging the down pipe inside the frame tube and turning the chamber through about 45 degrees. Nice and simple but it took four years to think of. In the second race Clive Wadey once again took first even though it initially looked as if he was giving everyone a sporting chance by starting at the back of the grid. Clive had been out in the previous race on his P&M and had missed the start of the sighting lap by a few seconds due to having changed machines and transponders etc. Even though he got onto the grid when the last of the field were still in sight they wouldn't let him out and made him start at the back of the grid. You wouldn't ask for preferential treatment, but you would think you would get better than that, especially when Clive's business (Paxford Garage) sponsors the event. At Darley you can't even buy favoritism. Michael Baillie took another 750 class win while the 500 modified went to Glenn Graham, Adrian Sanders being absent after his RD started to play up on the sighting lap. Rob Thorpe took a second win in the 500 production. I haven't mentioned the 250 class yet because, well we didn't get anyone finish, this being despite Paul Hardwick bringing three engines with him for the weekend. The 250s that showed in the results were all in the production class. Steve Bailey. |