Round three of the FPR club Championships took place at the ever popular Donington Park circuit and once again, we were blessed with the weather.
FPR Suzuki Bandit Challenge:
It was the usual suspects once again, who dominated race one, last season’s champion, Chris Edwards and runner up, Lee Marks, but in the end, it was Edwards once again taking the victory from Marks. A close fought battle for third, with Dan Tuplin piping David Greenwood by 0.04 seconds. Calum Gale had a solid fifth place finish, from Richard Turnbull.
FP1: It was a very lonely race weekend, for new club member Cathal Phelan, who had travelled across the Irish sea to come and race with us. Unfortunately, he was the sole FP1 entry, but that said, he had a good race with several FP2 and FP3 riders.
FP2:
Nick Williamson continues his dominance in the class, with no one to challenge him, he took a healthy lead all the way to the chequered flag. There was a good battle for second and third places between Mark Smith and Hayden Rushden. Smith eventually came out in front after a race long battle. Paul Willis finished in fourth, with Greg Gibson a little further back fifth, from John Goulding and Gareth Williams.
FP3:
Donington Park saw Tom Weeden make his second appearance the Classic Superbike class, on his beautifully prepared Suzuki SRAD. Tom was once again in fine form and led the race from start to finish. Tommy Vear had a good race to second place, from Kurtis Butler on his FZ750. Dean Ratcliff had his first outing of the season on his ZXR750, with a strong fourth place, from Fred Manning-Morton and the ever-improving Simon Bastow.
GP1:
Our new Super-mono series was dominated by Jay Bellers-Smith, with Championship leader, Clive Somerfield taking the runner up spot.
Race Two: FPR Suzuki Bandit Challenge
Unfortunately, early in to race two, there was a red flag and quite a delay, whilst the marshals and doctors attended the fallen rider, which turned out to be Craig Harris. Craig suffered concussion and some arm damage. Thankfully, he is well on the mend and plans to be back out before the end of the season.
The restart saw Edwards get a flying start. Marks wasn’t quite so quick off the line, so pushing hard lost the front on cold tyres at Mcleans, so that gave Edwards a clear run to the finish. Tuplin and Greenwood where swapping places throughout the race, with Tuplin taking second by a tenth of a second. Shannon Bishop had his strongest finish to date, finishing in fourth, after another race long battle with Turnbull and Gale.
FPR Bandit Seniors was dominated this time by new-comer and rookie, Shane Watson. Eddie Boyce got his first trophy of his racing career, finishing second, then followed it up with a third in race three!
FP2: Race two was very much a repeat on race one, with Williamson breaking away at the front, with Smith and Rushden battling once again, but with the same outcome! Followed home by Willis, Gibson, Williams and Goulding.
FP3: Weeden took another, seemingly easy victory, Vear had another strong point scoring finish in second, with Manning-Morton a little way further back in third. Forth was Simon Bastow from Dan Kift, Neil John, Spooner and Gareth Sutton.
Race Three: FPR Suzuki Bandit Challenge
After his crash in race two, Marks had to start from the back of the grid. Unfortunately, on the warmup lap and in his eagerness to push towards the front, he clipped on of the rookies, who in turn started a domino effect, with three of them going down. Marks was later excluded from the points for this incident, after a great race up to runner up spot.
Edwards went on to win the race quite convincingly. Second place went to a very hard charging Dave Crampton, who also had started from the back of the grid, due to a crash in the previous race. This time out, Greenwood got the better of Tuplin, followed by Turnbull, Gale, Bishop and Mark Wardle.
In the Bandit Seniors, Watson took his third win of the weekend, from Championship leader Tim Hawkins and Boyce.
FP2: Williamson completed another hat-trick of wins, from Smith and Rushden, with Willis again coming home in fourth.
FP3: Weedon finished the day unbeaten, with Vear taking a hat-trick of second places, from Manning-Morton, Matt Orford, Spooner, Sutton and Kift.
Once again, another great weekend of racing. We now look forward to our next round at Pembrey.
FPR would like to thank all at NG for hosting us as a guest club, and all the hard work they do to put on the events.
A special BIG thank you to all the marshals, if it wasn’t for them, giving up their time to stand out all day in all weathers, we wouldn’t be able to go racing! So, Thank You all!
Keith Chambers FPR Club Chairman.
Pics : Gordon Brady GORDIE1960@hotmail.com