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The 8th and 9th rounds of the championship were held at the Derby Phoenix meeting at Cadwell Full circuit. This attracted an entry of 25 although at times it was touch and go if several would make it. As it turned out, everyone except Paul Myler made it. Paul's GSX 750 had let go at Darley and despite his best efforts sourcing a replacement engine it was to no avail as the "new" engine turned out not to be too well. Tony Smith had exactly the same problem at Darley and the same problem with his replacement engine but he just managed to get it sorted in time. Steve Cave was another who just made it after working on his GSX1100 until 2 am on race day after it had run a big end bearing. With Cadwell at least a 3 hour trip it didn't leave much time for sleep. As usual some struck problems in practice. The two that spring to mind being Mark Wootton and Mel Coote. Mark fell off, luckily with minor consequences. The next lap Mel decided Mark must be lonely sitting by the side of the track and decided that the only decent thing to do would be to show him that it was a fault with the track that caused him to come off. After long and careful consideration, about 0.5 second in Mel's case, he decided the only way he could do this was to fall off in exactly the same place. This meeting also saw the first appearance this year of Howard Friend on his 350 Morini and John Shackleton on his GSIOOO. Howard had problems early on when he somehow managed to score III on the noise meter. How, I don't know. This left him the problem of how to make it quieter. After much thought and careful consideration he decided that wrapping the outside of the exhausts with silencer wadding might work. To my surprise, no, amazement, this act of attempting to disguise his machine as a small furry animal, nearly said sheep then, worked. This must say something about someone or something but what, I can't quite work out. Anyway, Howard (Mr Furry) solved that problem and it was on to the race itself which was number 8 on the programme. When it got underway, it was Nigel Lawrence and Rob Eley who made the initial running. Rob struck problems as his GS started to jump out of gear and had to pull out, leaving Nigel to take a clear win. Karl Scott was second on his XJ. Steve Cave took third and was followed home by Clive Wadey and Mostyn Bullock. Malcolm Price was the first 750 home just ahead of the 580 XJ of Mel Coote running in the 750 class. He was in turn followed home by the X7 of John Corriea who was in turn followed home by Tony Smith, Richard Insall and Cass. Simon Briggs was the next to finish with a dead engine and I do mean dead. He was lucky to keep ahead of Chris Spooner. The next to finish were Keith Chambers and Gary Haywood. They were in turn followed home by the production class machines of Pete Jarnell, Paul Paynter and Gordon Church. Gordon was followed home by Andy Charlesworth and Mark Wootton who found he was a little undergeared after uprating his Z650 to GPZ750 engine spec. Robbie Taylor was the next to finish ahead of Howard Friend. Glenn Graham suffered a reoccurrence of the problems with his RD that seemed to have been cured when he was out at Darley. Unfortunately this was the only race we got on the Saturday. Due to a serious incident the race programme had to be cut short. This was beyond the control of anyone involved in the running of the meeting. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for accepting this without any complaint whatsoever. On the Sunday we did get both races, although the second race was right on the curfew limit. When the sidecar event prior to the last race was stopped twice I had severe doubts if we would make it. As it turned out, Nigel made it a hat trick of wins over the weekend including setting a new lap record. In the first race he was followed home by Clive Wadey, Karl Scott and Steve Cave. Mostyn Bullock followed them home and he was followed by Malcolm Price, Tony Smith and Mel Coote. Then it was John Corriea and John Shackleton, who was out for the first time this year on his GS1000. As it turned out this was his last meeting on it as well, as it went up for sale straight after the race. It didn't stay for sale for long though. It was bought after only 10 minutes by Andy Jackson of all people. Andy had only turned up to watch but found out the hard way, that even going to watch a meeting can be expensive. Andy who was the 2001 1300 modified champion has been doing the Aprilia RS 250 challenge but no doubt he will be back out on a GSIOOO soon. Apparently his old GS has been rebuilt and is "too nice to race. You only go and fall off and knacker it" Cass was the next finisher ahead of Richard Insall, Gary Haywood, Pete Jarnell and Keith Chambers who had had to pull out of the earlier Phoenix race due to a back injury playing him up. Chris Spooner was the next to finish, ahead of Gordon Church. Gordon finished ahead of Paul Paynter who got the better of Andy Charlesworth. Robbie Taylor was the next to finish closely followed by Howard Friend. Several failed to finish. These included Simon Briggs who was out on Mark Daniels' RD250, which he had borrowed for the day, after having it delivered to the circuit on the Saturday night. The damage wasn't as bad as to his own RD, it was merely a duff battery. Rob Eley's GS1000 stopped suddenly with, as it turned out, a sheared bolt holding the ignition pulse generator in place. At the time it was believed to be more terminal. Mark Wootton's GPZ 750 died in a major way with terminal engine damage. The second race only just managed to get run and once again it was Nigel Lawrence who took first place but this time, Steve Cave was a lot closer. Steve was followed very closely by Karl Scott who was ahead of Clive Wadey. Tony Smith was the first 750 home, just keeping ahead of the GS1000 of Mostyn Bullock. Mostyn was in turn ahead of Malcolm Price and Mel Coote. Then it was the 250s of John Correia and Richard Insall followed by Cass. She was ahead of John Shackleton on his last ride on the GS. Chris Spooner followed him home ahead of Keith and Gary Haywood. Gary was clear of Andy Charlesworth and Gordon Church. Pete Jarnell was next, followed by Paul Paynter and Simon Briggs. Howard Friend was next after eventually getting ahead of Robbie Taylor. Steve Bailey. |