Friday September 13, 2013 at 10:59am
Team Traction Control (Steve Mercer/Ben Neeves) takes a four-point lead in the ACU/Sorrymate.com National Endurance championship after winning the penultimate round of the series.
IBL Racing topped the standings coming into this meeting, but regular team member, Hudson Kennaugh, was racing in the British Superstock championship round at Donington Park, so Mark Clark was joined by TT winner Gary Johnson (Lincs Lifting Kawasaki ZX10). The team finished second, one lap down.
Go Racing Developments, with James Edwards partnering Andy Carpenter in place of Gregg Allsop, finished a further five laps down on the winners, but stay third in the points table, 18 down on the leaders.
Dean Harrison (RC Express Kawasaki ZX10), a new star on the roads, raced with Russ Mountford, on his SHR Racing Kawasaki ZX10 Superstock machine, under the name of Team TT. They finished fourth.
Fire IT Racing (Andy Goddard/Louis Turner-Laurent) were fifth overall and first in the Clubman 1000 Endurance class. Close behind was series leader TANC 2 Racing (Grant Berry/Chris Mason), who are now Clubman 1000 champions. Anglia Interior/Insignia Signs (Arron Bird/Jamie Loveday) was third in the class, with just under 11 seconds covering all three after 206 laps of racing.
Macca and Edge Racing (Nick Edgeley/Mark Smith-Halvorsen) were eighth overall, winners in the National 600 class. TDM Racing (Terry and Mick Merritt) won the Clubman 600 Endurance class, stretching their lead over their closest rivals, Thunder Chickens (Mark Gibson/Ellis Hadley), who were non-starters, to an uncatchable 35 points.
Michelin Power Cup
Tony Keilty (Kawasaki 1000) wrapped up the Michelin Power Cup 1000 title. He is now 131 points ahead of his closest rival, Greg Allsop (Yamaha 1000), who was absent. Keilty went out on full wets for the first race, which was a mistake. The track had dried by the end of the warm up lap and Keilty struggled. He finished only fourth, but that was good enough to clinch the title.
Wayne Humble (Yamaha 600) won the 15-lap race, half a second ahead of Richard Charlton (Yamaha 600). Dominic De-Leon (Kawasaki 1000) was third home, first of the big bikes.
Humble won the next race, beating Charlton by just over three seconds. Richard Telford (Kawasaki 600), battling with Jordan Greenshields (Yamaha 600) for the 600 Rookie title, was third over the line, two seconds ahead of Greenshields. Humble won again in race three, cruising home nearly 19 seconds in front of Charlton, with Telford a good third.
Keilty tops the 1000cc class on 401 points, with Allsop on 270 and De-Leon up to third with 230.
Andrew Roberts, another absentee, is the 1000cc Rookie champion. Humble now leads the 600 class by 25 points, from Charlton. Telford has stretched his lead in the 600 Rookies class to 30 points over Greenshields.
Motogrande 600
James Edwards (Yamaha) now has a 30 point lead over Steve Bridle (Suzuki) in the Motogrande 600 class after taking three wins, a second place and a third in the weekend’s five races. Seb Kelly (Yamaha) won the first race, beating a four-rider battling group of Edwards, Steve Smith (Triumph), Paul O’Connor (Triumph) and top Rookie Tony Walsh (Kawasaki). Edwards went on to win the next two races. Walsh won race four and Edwards added another victory to his tally in race five.
SBK City Motogrande 1000
Ben Fortt (BMW 1000), the 19-year-old rookie 2012 Thai Superbike champion moved to the top of the SBK City Motogrande 1000 class, thanks to five good rides including two wins. The teenager now leads the class by 42 points from Andrew Haines (Yamaha 1000) who had led the series coming into this meeting. Haines had a tough meeting, never finishing higher than fourth. It was a tough day, too, for Graham Hornby (Honda 1000), another man, like Haines, who had had high hopes of winning the title.
Ducati Desmo Due
Dave Wood Jr and Tom Hallifax once again dominated their respective Ducati Due classes.
New champion Wood extended his unbeaten run in Class A to 17, with three more victories here to take his tally of points for the season to 455, 220 more than Mark Roxbrough, who moved ahead of the absent Andy Pike. Hallifax won his first two Class B races, but then spoilt his 100per cent record for the season, when he tipped off battling for the lead in his class, with Andrew Claridge in the third.
King of Brands
Tony Keilty (Kawasaki 1000) won the King of Brands title on aggregate scores from the two 18-lap races. Things did not start well for him, when an electrical fault left him only eighth fastest in qualifying. After a slow start, Keilty took the lead on lap four in the first race, going on to beat Seb Kelly (Yamaha 600) by just over six seconds. William White (Triumph 675) was third.
Keilty made a slow start again in race two, but was soon battling with Daryl Dance (BMW 1000). Dance finally went ahead going into Druids on the last lap, winning by just over half a second. Keilty took the King of Brands trophy and the cash on aggregate scores; with Kelly second overall and White third.
Parkitt Modern Classic/ Formula 400/MaxiTwins
When Owen Richardson crashed out of the first Parkitt Modern Classic/ Formula 400/MaxiTwins race it gave Stu Bayliss (Aprilia) a 75 point lead in the Superbike championship. Then Bayliss crashed out of race two, battling with Joe Connolly (Aprilia) leaving Richardson to win. Bayliss’ championship lead was now down to 50 points. Bayliss was fourth overall in the next race, but first in his class, with Richardson second, restoring a 54 point-advantage going into the last round.
Bob Barton stayed top of the Supersport championship, with four top-four finishes. He now has an unbeatable lead of 116 points lead over his closest rival, Wayne Morris. Rob Eagling wrapped up the Megabike championship, winning all three races. His main rival, Matt Lobb had a tough weekend.
Lobb was second in the first race, but was then hit by another rider on the grid at the start of race two and did not go out in the third race. Joe Connolly had already made sure of the Maxitwins crowns, but did not ease off the pace, battling with the other quick men on the way to three more victories.