Despite a number of rumours that this meeting was going to be cancelled the event most definitely went ahead, hosted by the North East MCC on their well prepared Wooley Grange circuit. A sizeable crowd was treated to three good races, the second of which was one of the best seen this year.
With the Millard brothers having pulled out of all racing for the rest of the year and Richard Jenkins still very sore from the broken collarbone sustained in Kramolin three weeks ago it looked like Brown / Chamberlain would continue their unbeaten run of victories in this country. From the time the gate dropped for race one it became clear that wasn’t going to be the case.
In timed qualification Brown put up the fastest time over 1.5 seconds ahead of second placed Etheridge / Grahame with Jarvis / Humphrey third.
The charge into the first corner in race one was headed by Jenkins / Chamberlain just ahead of Oldfield / Murch with Bowers / Eastman in third. By the end of the first lap Jenkins led from Wilkinson / Parmenter, Oldfield, Jarvis, Brown and Etheridge. Although Oldfield was able to get off the line very fast his race pace was not to that of those around him and by lap three he was down to seventh place. Brown was now up to third and closing fast on Wilkinson. After ten minutes Brown was right in the wheel tracks of Wilkinson but it took another three laps before he was able to make the pass. This left Brown with three laps to catch and pass Jenkins. Behind the leaders Wilkinson led from Jarvis, France and Etheridge. At the flag Jenkins took the win less than one second ahead of Brown with Wilkinson third. Such was the pace of the leading six crews that the gap to the seventh rider, Oldfield, was nearly one minute.
When the gate dropped for the second moto Oldfield took the lead and by the end of the start straight he was over a bikes length ahead of Wilkinson and Etheridge. By turn three Etheridge was leading from Oldfield with Wilkinson third and France in fourth. On the third lap Etheridge was just ahead of Wilkinson then there was a short gap to France in third who was under pressure from Brown then there was another short gap to Jenkins and Jarvis. By half distance the leading six were virtually nose to tail. On lap seven Brown overtook both France and Wilkinson and rapidly started to close on Etheridge. Despite the changing of places there was still hardly any daylight between the front six. Wilkinson then started to fall back with brake problems but he managed to hold third place until the penultimate lap when Jenkins and France got past. Brown took the lead on lap eight and never looked back taking the win over five second ahead of Etheridge.
In the final race of the day Brown made his intentions very clear right from the start taking the holeshot from Wilkinson and Oldfield. Oldfield rode gamely but by lap three he was down to sixth with just France of the ‘Big Six’ behind him. Two laps later France was past which left Brown leading from Wilkinson, Jarvis, Jenkins, and Etheridge with France in sixth. Having got a good start in ninth place Pelling / Georges suffered a rear wheel puncture on lap three and started to drop back eventually coming home in seventeenth.
The final points scorers in this race were Emma Moulds / Niki Adair from Lisburn, NI. Emma is the sister of no 19, Gary Moulds and is believed to be the first ever female driver to compete in the British championship and she is certainly the first female to score points as a driver.
Brown now leads the championship by twenty four points from Jenkins with Wilkinson a further fifteen points behind in third. The next round is at Grittenham on 14th July