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The third round of the championship attracted an entry of 21, of whom 20 actually made it on the day. The remainder of the grid being filled by 12 LCs. The meeting got off to a good start as our club once again managed to fill the rear room at the Coach House. The equipment (can't spell Karioke machine) in the corner remained silent, apparently after certain opinions had been voiced regarding its usage. For some reason no one else wanted to use the rear room, a few thought they did but for some reason decided otherwise. No idea why but it could have had something to do with Harry Cott inviting people to "Come and sit down with us you'll be alright", or was it the good natured remarks being traded between Andy Charlesworth and Keith Chambers? When race 1 got underway it was assumed that the LCs would be on a delayed start as is usually the case. As it turned out, it was all one start which caused a few surprises for some on the entrance to Gerards. With the LCs being mixed with us from the start it was a bit difficult keep tabs on the whole race beyond the top 5 or 6. As the race developed, it was Glynn Williams, Clive Wadey and Steve Cave who made the running. Glynn took the win with Clive taking second. Steve struck problems from mid distance which caused him to drop down the field but he still took the 1300 production class win. In third overall was Karl Scott followed by Cass. Cass had initially been chased hard by the X7 Of John Correia, who from the fourth lap started to drop back and was just beaten to the line by Richard Insall on his RD250. As it turned out, John had had the clutch cable go on the fourth lap. Never the less, Richard's race time was the quickest I can recall recorded by an eligible RD250 for a long time. Steve Cave was the next to finish, ahead of the X7 of Colin young. Tony Smith was the next home to take the first 750 place and was followed by the second 750 of Paul Myler. Michael Hand was the first production 500 home, having had fuel starvation problems in practice that turned out to be a faulty fuel tap. Chris Spooner was the next finisher. At least his X7 was running this time, but it looks as if its not going to be easy to get it back to what it was. Keith Chambers was the next to finish and was the only one to receive prize money due to the rather unusual arrangement he has with Andy Charlesworth. Keith was followed home by the 750 Laverda of Mike Annesley, out in his first Earlystocks event. Mike was followed home by Phil Underwood, Andy Charlesworth and Gordon on his BM RSIOO. This year its gone classic black, much better than gold on a BM. Rumour has it, Gordon is at long last going to get some race tyres and this was his practice outing after the accident at Cadwell last year. He doesn't count his outing at Snetterton last year when he was forced to go out on his road going RS100 complete with pannier frames etc. There were two non finishers both due to mechanical failures, one minor the other a little further up the scale. I don't know if Mostyn Bullock would describe finding his front brake lever had dropped off just at that moment when he could really have done with it, as a minor incident. This did however show that scrutineers always know best when they insist the back brake works despite protests of "But I never use it", as he did manage to stop without the aid of the tyre wall at the Esses. Just. Adrian Sanders had more extreme problems that were initially similar to a total seizure. It was technically a seizure, but not the usual RD400 type. This was a little more extreme with part of the con rod through the case and bits of what might at one time have been a piston jammed into the ports. Please see Adrian for full details of who did his crank two meetings ago. Can't say too much as you never know who might see this, but it was the same place who did Cass's cranks in 1996 and guess what, they lasted two to three meetings. As the second race came round, the weather looked a little threatening, but in the end it held off for a dry day. Once again it was Glynn Williams and Clive Wadey who made the running and finished in that order. However in third it was Karl Scott who managed to get ahead of Steve Cave to take third. In fifth was Cass and behind her were the 250's of John Correia, Richard Insall and Colin Young in that order. Following them were Tony Smith, Mostyn Bullock (with brake lever) and Paul Myler. Michael Hand was again the first 500 production machine home ahead of Keith Chambers who was in turn ahead of Mike Annesley. Chris Spooner was the next to finish he managing to keep ahead of the GT500 of Phil Underwood. As he's not coming to Anglesey, I should be relatively safe in saying that it must be the cheapest bike to run I've known, with a total of no more than £20 spent on maintenance in the last 3 years. It's never failed to finish, so what more can you say. Gordon Church was the next to finish this time ahead of Andy Charlesworth. Steve Bailey. |