Amazingly the sun followed NG Racing all the way from Oulton Park but dragged a very cold gusty wind with it but dry all weekend almost ideal for racing and the added attraction of new tarmac on Paddock Hill Bend and Graham Hill bend finished off on the Thursday!
Returning back to the normal 2 day format, it was timed qualifying on Saturday with the focus on local rider Bob Collins and Max Symonds setting the pace in both Phoenix Open and Bluebell Lakes Powerbikes, IMS 600 was shaping up for a real close run race with Shane Faber, James Bull and George Edwards the front runners.
Come the first race though Symonds elected to start at the back of the gird for both races leaving Collins and the FWR Honda on pole and a huge advantage, but even from the back of the grid Symonds was making up places and was eventually up to second place but some way off.
A massive effort from the Symonds team overnight saw the BMW 100% and on the front row and taking the fight to Collins, spectator were treated to a high speed tactical battle as both riders looked for the advantage with the amazing corner speed of Max and the awesome power of Bob keeping the spectators on their toes the final tally being Collins 5 wins, Symonds 1 , for the weekend
The IMS 600’s are always as fast? as the open class bikes and Shane Faber was the early pace setter from George Edwards to set the pattern for the weekend with a commanding race 1 win Edwards had other ideas in race 2 and fired out to an early lead, Faber pressed hard and grabbed the lead back only to throw it all away at Druids and hand the win to Edwards and the maiden win for Dan Cooper Motorsport, race 3 was Edwards rocket start and James Bull getting quicker as the meeting progressed, in pursuit and running into the lead mid race and the win.
Brands also marked the first visit and championship round of the FSRA F2 Sidecars the first shock was the no sign in qualifying of the champion Lee Crawford and Scott Hardie with major engine damage and the spare to fit, Peter Founds was the pole sitter with John Holden alongside him on the grid, Crawford right at the back !!
Founds was the pace setter gradually opening up a sizable lead from Holden with the interest of how far Crawford could move up? 3rd place was the nett result after a massive charge through the traffic
Race 2 was the top 6 reverse grid so the Jackson /Roberts and Lockerly / Binns were front row and there to be chased down, both made great starts but the flying Founds soon hit the front with Holden shaping up in second only to suddenly retire at Graham Hill bend leaving Crawford in Second and putting in the fastest lap only to have the worse of the traffic to finish 1.057 seconds at the flag , FSRA F2, ROUND 2 , Donington Park , May 14/15th
Then we came to the FPR Bandit Challenge, the current champion Harley Prebble looking seemingly untouchable from 2 wins at Oulton Park and on his home track the win rate was looking good but the que to topple the No1 was getting closer!
Chris “the eagle” Edwards and Garry Cutts pushed every inch of the Indy circuit but Edwards was just 0.018 seconds away as they crossed the line, that was 22 race wins on the bounce. Next race saw a new kid on the block in the form of Ben Miller mixed in with Prebble and Edwards, almost swapping paces every corner until Miller made the decisive move to win and break the streak.
It was the same story on Sunday, Miller , Prebble and Edwards locked together all race with Miller again taking the win and looking a force to be reckoned with , not in Edwards book come race 4 as the trio duelled on track Prebble slid off at Druids leaving Edwards to fight with Miller and get the better of him to take his first win in the series.
RAC / ACU 250 / 125 National Championship saw a return to the series of former champion Jim Hind and back to his winning ways with a trio of wins in dominant style ( full report further on from Paul Korkus )
Other notable performances from the 2 days were Daniel Moffa with a clean sweep of wins in the SMW Mini Twins , Finn Smart-Weedden 3 wins in Junior Supersport and breaking the class lap record a couple of times in the process , Craig Neve on the ER6 Kawasaki taking dominant wins in both SMW Super Twins and 100% Suspension, Sound of Thunder on shakedown runs for the Isle of Man.
The series moves on to Donington Park on the 14th and 15th of May for rounds 6,7&8
Words : Martin Bennett – NG Racing commentator – mb07818@gmail.com
Pixs : Hairy Beast Pix – hairybeastpix@hotmail.com