With the ACU Clubmans title already safely in the hands of Yorkshire teenager, Kingsley Ruddy, the way was clear for others to take their place in the spotlight in the Derby Phoenix club’s final meeting of the season.
Local rider Liam Marchant was delighted that at long last his Kawasaki 1000 was running perfectly and won three of the five races, finished sixth and last in another and then failed to start in the fifth and final outing in the class.
Those results hoisted the 29-year-old from nearby Caister to sixth in the final standings of both the ACU Series and the Derby Phoenix club’s 751-1300cc championship.
Neil Watson (Honda 1000) and Phil Crowe (BMW 1000) finished behind Marchant in Saturday’s first two races.
Watson was third for a while in race one, before finally getting past Crowe. By then he could not catch Marchant, who crossed the finishing line less than half a second clear.
Crowe was right behind the pair, with less than three fifths of a second covering all three.
Watson made a better start in race two, but then left too big a gap at the chicane on the final lap allowing Marchant to go through, to win by less than half a second again. Crowe was once more third over seven seconds further back.
The circuit was wet for race three and both Marchant and Watson made the wrong tyre choice.
Andrew Cheetham (Suzuki 1000) was clear cut winner, beating Watson, who was struggling, by over five seconds.
Dave Norton (Suzuki 1000) was third, just over 20 seconds behind Watson.
Marchant just could not get going. He was lapping 16 seconds slower than race two and finished sixth. Marchant was back to winning ways in the next race on the Sunday morning.
By now both Crowe and Watson had gone. Crowe, still waiting for an operation on his injured left wrist, had been seeing how well it held up, while Watson, the 28-year-old from Doncaster, an operations manager in the Second Rifles, was on his way to the regimental headquarters in Germany for a meeting on the Monday.
Marchant won the fourth ACU Clubmans race, nearly two and half seconds in front of Cheetham, with 43-year-old Norton, who only started racing in 2009, having perhaps his best ever-meeting, third, just over a second behind Cheetham.
Marchant gave the fifth and final race a miss and he was not alone. Only three riders started and only two of them did the full eight laps.
Paul Whyatt (BMW 1000) was the winner, over 51 seconds clear of Christian Slater (Suzuki 1000).
Ruddy was the ACU champion, the absent Ash Chivers second in the final standings, with Watson, who had missed part of the early season while on duty in Afghanistan, third, the late Steve Hix fourth, Slater fifth and Marchant sixth.
Marchant, his Kawasaki at long last running perfectly, also won the first of three Allcomers events. He headed home pole-setter Crowe by under four seconds, with Watson third, six seconds further back.
Without Marchant, Crowe and Watson all missing, Dave Norton won the second and third Allcomers, beating Cheetham and Whyatt in one, with Whyatt second, ahead of Cheetham, in the other.
Those results allowed a delighted Norton to climb to third in the final points’ table behind Ruddy and Chivers.