Wednesday October 17, 2012 at 12:15pm
Daniel Jackson ended his dominating, title winning season with another faultless display at the ultra-fast Thruxton cir-cuit in Hampshire, at the final round of the 2012 250 National Championship. With 6 wins already in the bag, the Team Sigie TZ mounted ace was keen to close his challenge in fine style.
Qualifying went the way of outgoing Champion Ant Hodson on board the FCL Yamaha. In damp conditions , you could have been excused for forgetting this was only Hodson’s 4th outing of the year after struggling to secure a full time ride. Jackson went 2nd and Mark Linton scorched to 3rd on the grid , also clearly enjoying a rare outing. Wilt-shire’s Darrell Higgins completed the front row in his bid to secure 2nd in the title race. Higgins’ challenger to that runner up spot was Adam Hoare who qualified in 12th for his first visit to Thruxton.
NG Cup Champion Gary Vines had another tough day as his RS Honda terminally “dropped it’s lunch” in qualifying. Local ace Royston Keen set the 5th fastest time for a 2nd row start and was the quickest of the NG Cup challengers.
Higgins, Jackson and Hodson got away cleanly for the 14th and final round of the Willis Developments, Auto Cycle Union and Dunlop backed series. True to form, Jackson set the pace early on controlling a small but seemingly ef-fortless gap between himself and the pack.
Hodson settled into second leaving Higgins, Linton, Keen and Dave Hampton to discuss the final podium place. At the flag, it was Jackson who closed his season with another fine win over Hodson who’s aggressive all action style reminded us and the large crowd of what we have missed out on for the majority of the year. Hodson’s result, with a fastest lap of the race may just have set up his 2013 title challenge!
Mark Linton came home 3rd, another superb ride considering he has missed much of the season due to work commit-ments. Dave Hampton won the battle of the race with Tom Snow in 4th and 5th respectively, a season best for Guildford’s Snow on board his TZ. Darrell Hig-gins dropped to 6th on board the Dennis Trollope Yamaha just holding off the duelling Roy Keen and John Lewis. Keen’s 7th position secured his 4th win of the year in the NG Cup category.
Lee Goddard secured 9th on his LLG Racing Honda and Adam Hoare was de-lighted to finally get a result in 10th after a championship affecting brace of DNF’s recently.
Lou Goddard picked up a fine 2nd in the Cup on her LLG Racing Honda, with 14th on the road, just holding off Gary Vines, who had borrowed Dan Jack-son’s wet bike after his MPS Heavy Haulage RS Honda’s disagreement with Thruxton in practice. Vines secured the Cup title last time out at Castle Combe, and thanks Jackson’s loan of his spare TZ, Vines’ result meant he finished on the podium in every race he started.
Dunlop Performance of the Day Award
There were several candidates in the running for the performance award in-cluding Tom Snow, who ‘s strong ride to 5th was worthy of recognition, Jack-son’s dominating win, Hodson’s pole position, fastest race lap and 2nd place, despite not being race fit, and Mark Linton’s podium was also notable. However, it was awarded to Adam Hoare who’s had some tough luck this year and to eventually carve out a result here was a great achievement.
National Championship final standings
Daniel Jackson 255, Darrell Higgins 150, Adam Hoare 133, Lee Goddard 123, John Lewis 115, Michael Hose 94, Dave Hampton 94, Roy Keen 90, Gary Vines 80, Ant Hodson 76
NG Cup Championship final standings
Gary Vines 242, Roy Keen 226, Charles Hardisty 190, Louise Goddard 139, Paul Metcalfe 97, Simon Hunt 95, Chris Harrison 86, Richard Ellis 23, Henry Cox 21, Kelsey Trattner 10
2013
The series is set to enter its 6th season in 2013. The fixture list is actively being planned on a daily basis and should be agreed very soon. It will once again feature a wide range of UK circuits offering variety and excite-ment across approximately 12 rounds. Who will join Daniel Jackson, Ant Hodson, Andrew Sawford, Jason Davis and Ben Johnson as National Champions?