Tuesday September 4, 2012 at 12:52pm
After turning his back on the BSB paddock (….. for now) Dan Cooper the 25 year old former British 125 GP champion from Stroud returned to his roots. Dan started his short circuit career with NG Road Racing back in 2001, and after elevating himself through the club and National ranks he is now on the verge of making a real name for himself on the pure roads scene.
Castle Combe has a reputation for being very similar in feel to pure road circuits with its characteristic bumps and undulations, so Dan and the Centurion team headed up by Paul Rees came to the Wiltshire venue in preparation for their next roads foray…. and Macau.
Qualifying for the Simply Saab King of Combe went well and Dan set pole by 0.70 of a second over EDP Suzuki man Mark Compton, Paul Shook and Castle Combe track day instructor Simon Knowlson.
Come the final and it was a traditional blistering start from DTR R1 rider Roo Cotton and Mark Compton. Compton race lasted just three corners as he had a heavy fall at the Esses, so Cotton led the way. Cotton’s lead was short lived though, but he slotted in behind new race leader Cooper. Nearing the end of lap one Cotton had to take the slip road at the tight Bybrook chicane…..rejoining down in 8h place, and despite pushing on hard his still damaged wrist from Brands Hatch meant that getting any further back up the rankings was going to be hard. At the front Cooper and the Centurion CBR reeled of 1min 13 laps at will to ease out a lead. Behind Cooper though a resurgent Tom Garness on his Retarrd BMW and Chris Pope on his AFB R1 had what can only be described as a 10 lap bare knuckle fight, with the pair swapping podium places regularly. All was going well….until lap six when both riders tangled with a backmarker ….they both went through the now notorious Bybrook chicane, and Phil Bevan swept through. Bevan through was racing with a damaged hand sustained in a practice crash early in the day and was not able the run the pace of Garness and Pope and so it wasn’t long before he was relegated back to fourth. Tom and Chris resumed battle, and as the flag came out Cooper now 12 seconds clear looked back to see Garness grab second from Pope. The pair was grinning from ear to ear and congratulated each other on the cool down lap.
Cooper though added his name to the list of King of Combe winners and accepted his spoils of victory from local Devizes man Tommy Bridewell who was enjoying a weekend off at his local circuit.
Bevan’s painful fourth place puts him 15 points clear of Peter Baker in the season long Phoenix of Trowbridge Open title race with one more round to go.
The Motorcycle Direct / Pro-Bolt 600cc
After falling from the SP Racing R6 in qualifying it looked a forlorn fight for points for 18 year old Scott Pitchers with 40 riders lined up ahead of him as he sat on the back row. But the lanky 18-year-old out who cut his racing teeth on pit bikes and Supermoto was not deterred and not wanting to let down his massed ranks of local Wiltshire sponsors (Wayside Garages, Gary Vardy, Steve Lynham and Quolodge) he set about his seemingly impossible task. As pole man Ritchie Connell on the Challenge Motors R6 and former 600 class champ Ricky elder on a borrowed ZXR 6 from Ben Ireland and Sasco’s chased by Danny Frankham and Darrel Jones Pitchers was carving up the pack.
Amazingly Pitchers was lapping over 2 seconds per lap quicker than anyone else, and by lap 5 of 8 he was in second place….. but was still over 5 seconds off the leading pair of Connell and Elder. Undeterred he set about them and with just over a lap to go the backs of spectators saw Pitchers blast into the lead….. and then pull out another 4 seconds on the last lap and a bit to win. Elder, Connell, Frankham and Jones simply had no answer. This win also elevated Scott into second sport in the year long Pro-Bolt 600 series
The Simply Saab / Phoenix Motorcycles Open
As already stated Dan Cooper took the win in the Open on his Centurion CBR from Tom Garness and Chris Pope from defending champion Phil Bevan, in a fantastic race…. despite the fact that Mark Compton and Paul Shook, two of our front row qualifiers exited early on, and the fast starting Roo Cotton was forced to run through the chicane on lap one.
Steve Lynham Formula 125
Joseph Thomas continued his season long domination of the Formula 125 class with yet another win on his RS125 Aprilia (…..still remarkably devoid of any sponsors logos) although this time out he had a fight on his hands as he held off the challenge from Eurofit Direct RS 125 rider Jordan Rushby who was left ruing his mechanical DNF in the qualifier, meaning a back row start for the final.
125GP
Andrew Fisher has led the 125 GP class championship since way back as round three and at Castle Combe the tenacious 17 year-old was in no mood to relinquish his table topping position as he wrung the neck out of his 1996 spec RS125 Honda. So the 17-year-old on a 16-year-old bike took not only the race win, but…. the fastest lap…..a new NG lap record…. and a bigger lead at the top of the year long championship table with just one round to go. It is a real testament to the preparation of the bike put together by his father as he took the win by over 30 seconds over Alistair Rowland-Rouse having a one off 125 outing and defending champion Jamie Ashby.
450cc Open
Harry Coomber and Brad Jones, both 14 year-old and both on virtually identical Aprilia RV450’s raced wheel to wheel for the whole of the 8 lap 450 open. There was never more than half a second between the two teenage tearaways. Despite setting the fastest lap on the last lap of the race, the win went the way of Coomber on his Bardahl Oils backed Aprilia……. It’s strange to conceive that it was back to school on Monday !!!…. and the usual questions of “…….what did you do during the holidays ?”
A and R Racing Formula 400
Newcomer Chris Baker set off at the front of the F400 packs on his AT Motorcross/ WC Racing VFR. But once the class old guard (…sorry guys !) of Alan Russell and Simon Gates got into their stride his at the front were numbered. The experienced pair (….that sounds better) then pulled away with Gates setting a series of fastest laps in the latter stages on his GNG ZXR to pull away and take the win from Russell on his A and R Racing RVF. Aaron Ridewood had set the second quickest time in practice and was looking forward to the final, but a broken throttle cable forced him out on the warm up lap.
Simon Consulting Powerbikes
Centurion Honda rider Dan Cooper took a fine win in the Powerbikes over Chris Pope on his R1 and Paul Shook with his now ageing but still quick and well sorted ZX10. Pope was having probably his best weekends racing for years. Phil Bevan, carrying a hand injury after being taken out in practice at Bobbies Chicane came home in a painful fourth to grab enough points to secure the Powerbike title for the fourth year in a row. This was helped in part due to his season long rival Peter Bakers non-attendance due to breaking his collarbone.
Performance Red Sound of Thunder
Local man Paul Willis grabbed a good early race lead on his Willis Developments KTM RC8, but as the race progressed Coventry man Lee Reveley set about hunting down Willis, and with a couple of laps to go the pair were as one. With Willis being one of the toughest riders on the grid to get past Reveley would have his work cut out…. But at Tower with less than 2.5 miles of racing to go Lee and his Aprilia Mille swept through. After a tough injury hit year Willis showed he has lost none of his fight. Darren Rumley 2012 champion elect got the better of Nick Williamson for the final podium spot.
MPH Bikes Mini Twins
It was a real case of youth and talent versus age and experience….. and talent in the Mini Twins as 2012 front runner and 18 years old, Dale Thomas race wheel to wheel with occasional racer, but still very fast, and about to turn 40 (…. Sorry Nige !). In the early laps there was nothing in it, but as the race went on Reed applied more pressure and Thomas who leads the year long series visibly decided that 20 points would be better than trying to keep up. As a bonus for Thomas’s championship cause Ali Rowland Rouse came in third ahead of Thomas’s series rival Ben Marsden…… the beer’s are on Dale then.
Pirelli UK GP45 Singles and Twins
Peter Carr took his ninth win of the year on his Pistol Pete Racing KX450 Kawasaki, but had to fight hard against the outgoing 2011 class champion who was having a one off ride on a bike supplied by his new sponsors of Corby Kawasaki. Andrew made a great start but Carr hunted him down and eventually crossed the line with the fastest lap to win by just over a tenth of a second. It really has been a very successful return to racing for Carr after winning the Streetstock series in 2010. Andrew now embarks on the BSB Supersport path with new sponsors Corby Kawasaki.
In the Twin cylinder GP45 class it was neck and neck race long for the duelling 14 year-olds of Harry Coomber and Brad Jones. But it was eventually a similar tale to their earlier 450cc open outing as despite Jones setting the fastest lap Coomber on his Bardahl Oils RV450 Aprilia had the race craft to take the win.
Metzeler and DTR Streetstock / Fowlers Motorcycles
Chris Baker is on a strong run of results as the season nears its climax and this meeting saw him take his first 400 streetstock win on the AT Motocross / WC Racing Honda. The 700cc division had Sean Ridley and his ZX6R took the top spot from David Mitchell with the CIR GSXR. Mitchell with still mending collarbone had to secure points and that is exactly what he did. The 1300cc front runner Paul Dawson went into the weekend with the series lead but dropped hi R1 in practice resulting in a suspected broken wrist. That left the way for Mark Skinner, and he did the perfect job bagging 25 points and the trophy for the Fowlers backed race. Simon O’Donnell kept himself in the hunt with third place after a late dash back from a business trip in America…… It’s all down to Thruxton.
TPC Construction Pre Injection
Alexander Jones on his ZX6R Kawasaki closed in on the series lead in the 700 pre Injection class after Mark Pask was another rider to succumb to The Combes tarmac. Whilst Adam Jeffery knicked some more points back on 1300 class leader Tom Palmer with a runner up spot behind Steven Palmer and his 750 SRAD Suzuki. Palmer (Tom) though has done all the hard work early season on his BS Racing R1 and is now able to watch and wait with a point’s cushion. Jeffery’s hopes of a third title in a row are still alive but with Palmer only finishing off the podium once this year he has proved he is not only fast…but consistent.
The CSC Sidecars
Sidecar World Championship leaders Tim Reeves and Ashley Hawes came to Castle Combe with testing as an agenda and set blistering lap times, but to their credit pulled off the circuit in both races to allow the regulars the chance of the points and prizes. Ben Hollard and Lee Watson, two times NG winners this term made it a convincing third win as they headed Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood over the line. Reeves/Hawes set the fastest lap lapping over 2.5 seconds faster than anyone else….. that’s why they lead the world series.
Frenchman Frank Leilas with former NG F2 champ Mike Aylott in the chair bagged the F2 win from Tom and Thomas Quaye who grabbed 20 points for second place which man prove vital with one round to go. Series leaders going into this meeting were Rob Handcock and Basil Bevan but their Shellbourne Honda expired in a cloud of oil smoke with just a lap to go…. Their points lead is now just 12 points.
Wayside Garages Performance of the Meeting
Scott Pitchers was a worthy winner of the Wayside Garages performance of the meeting award with his magnificent back row start to take the win in the 600cc class on his Team SP Racing R6.
Russ Gardner