The penultimate round of the Darley Moor Motorcycle Road Race Championship took place on Sunday 15th September 2013 and in addition to the regular two, three and four wheel classes there was also two Thunderfest ‘races’ for a wide variety of classic machines.
With the clouds looking rather ominous the racing could not have got off to a better start, but why save the best for last? The Peak Cup class got things underway and the spectators were able to easily forget the impending weather conditions with Jim Hodson and Danny Smith battling it out for 10 laps. After lap 1 the pair were never separated by more than 0.5sec, for the majority of laps it was half that gap, Hodson lead across the line each time with Smith trying his hardest to find a way through. Despite his attempts Hodson took the win with Smith 0.1sec behind at the flag, their battle so intense they had pulled out a 20 second lead on the 3rd place man, Tim Poole. With the majority of these riders out in Race 3, the combined Open Solos and Formula 600, there was no time for a rest, just enough to refuel and make any necessary quick adjustments to suspension. Unfortunately, Smith failed to complete the second lap allowing Hodson to pull out another huge lead on Poole, the quickest of the 600 riders, with Ashley Blake and Jamie Hodson 3rd and 4th respectively. With conditions very different for their afternoon races Poole was able to notch up a rare victory over Jim Hodson in the Peak Cup class, his 600 machine a little easier to ride than Hodson’s 1000cc machine in the very wet conditions and after taking the lead on Lap 7 of 10 he pulled out an advantage of over 6 seconds at the flag. Their final encounter in the Open Solo/Formula 600 race saw Hodson make no mistakes and taking a flag-to-flag victory with a 20+second winning margin.
The first combined Formula Darley/125/Classic race provided close racing, although the result sheet doesn’t show that after Brad Vicars was one of four riders to be penalised for a jump start. Unsurprisingly Vicars led off the line and was able to keep the efforts of Ricky Tarren at bay for the 10 laps, but with 10 second penalty added to his time the overall victory was given to Tarren on his 125GP machine, but with the margin these two had built up Vicars was still credited with 2nd place overall, which gave him the Formula Darley class victory. David Bradley won Classic 1000 class, despite also incurring a jump start penalty and Gordon Thorpe recorded another Classic 500 win. The wet afternoon race saw Vicars take a flag-to-flag overall victory, with Tarren the 125 class win and Mike Harding the only Classic rider to brave the conditions on his Classic 1000 machine.
The Thunderfest event was open to any motorcycle, road or race, built before 1978, from 50cc through to 990cc and with almost 40 riders registered there was a huge selection of machines out on track bringing the sounds of the past back to life. Although there was scheduled to be a ‘Le Mans’ style start, it was deemed too dangerous in the wet conditions. After practice and their first ‘race’, the riders set their own target speed and attempt to lap the circuit for 20 minutes, as close to this time as possible, the rider nearest to their target wins. With the huge variety of machinery on track this requires a high degree of riding skill and concentration, in normal conditions but add to this the different weather conditions from the morning to the afternoon and this must have been similar to a lottery. Amazingly, three riders were able to predict their average speed to within 1mph! Rick Quinlan being the closest, on his 1978 Honda CB990, and circulated just 0.26mph inside his predicted speed.
The combined Steel Framed 600/Pre Injection 600/Lightweight races were both won by Jamie Pearson, the afternoon’s race showed his prowess in the wet, taking the victory by almost half a lap on his Pre Injection machine! Gavin Brown and Dean Ephgrave shared the Steel Framed honours between them, whilst Matt Zschiesche and Mark Tyrrell did the same in the Lightweight class.
The first Pre98’s/Sound of Thunder race saw three race leaders throughout the 10 laps, Shane Pearson led across the line on the first lap with brother Jamie, on their Pre98(Up to 1300cc) machines, in very close pursuit. Then Jamie led for a couple of laps, whilst his brother tried to fend off Ken Davis, Davis then managed to squeeze by into 2nd on lap 3 and into the lead on the following lap. Disaster struck for Jamie, who then failed to complete lap 6, leaving Shane to try and bridge the 3.5sec advantage Davis now had, with the help of backmarkers he was on his tail by lap 8 and found a way past on the next, finishing the race with a 4 second lead at the flag. Gary Henriksen, finished 3rd overall, but took the Sound of Thunder class win; Brad Vicars the Mini Sound of Thunder and Matt Zschiesche the Pre98 (Up to 500cc) victory. In the second encounter Jamie Pearson enjoyed a flag-to-flag victory, with Davis in pursuit throughout, whilst Dean Ephgrave pipped Shane Pearson for 3rd place, all riders on Pre98 (Up to 1300cc) machines. Damian Wilson took the (Up to 500cc) honours, Mark Tompkinson the Sound of Thunder class victory and Vicars another victory for the Mini Sound of Thunder machines.
The first Sidecar race saw a superb battle develop between three crews at the head of the field, the Tony Thompson/Jack Jones pairing leading for 4 laps, with Roy Hanks/Julie Hanks-Elliott and Dave Holden/Ray Burns dicing for 2nd place. Holden/Burns moved into 2nd on lap 3, but they could only hold it for just 1 lap as their machine developed a problem allowing Hanks/Hanks-Elliott back in front and challenge the leaders. The Hanks outfit hit the front on the fifth lap but they had to produce some faultless laps to prevent the Thompson/Jones pairing retaking the lead. Unfortunately, despite trying to gain some points at least, the Holden/Burns machine had dropped down to 7th place by lap 9, but failed to complete the final lap. The second race was looking to be one of the season’s best races, but due to a very heavy downpour had to be curtailed with no result being given and bringing the meeting to an early close.
This weekend’s results have finalised champions for a further seven classes to Darley Moor’s 2013 roll of honour and with the 8 round Championship coming to a close at the Stars at Darley meeting on Sunday 13th October you can be certain there will be some very determined rides from plenty of racers wanting to be crowned champions.
The Champions include;
Jim Hodson, Peak Cup and Open Solo Champion
Brad Vicars Formula Darley Champion
Stephen Campbell Formula 125 Champion
Dean Ephgrave Steel Framed 600 Champion
Roy Hook Classic 250 Champion
David Bradley Classic 1000 Champion
So far the Honda Legends duo of John McGuinness and Michael Rutter have promised to renew past battles at the Stars meeting, but there will be plenty of further special guest to be announced shortly before the meeting.
Saturday 12th October will be an extra test prior to the season finale, with adult admission just £5.00. Stars at Darley meeting adult admission is £15 and Senior Citizens £10.00, children under 16 are free, adult admission to the Test Days is £5.00.
Advance Tickets at discount prices are also available on-line just visit the Darley Race Shop for full details - http://
www.darleymoorstore.co.uk/.
There is ample room for spectators to camp and caravan at Darley Moor over the race weekends. The cost is £5.00 per unit per night. You can normally arrive after 5.00 pm on the Friday and stay until 10.00 am on the morning after the meeting.
Championship standings after 7 Rounds (riders’ names in bold show Champions)
Peak Cup 1st Jim Hodson, 102pts; 2nd Danny Smith, 71pts; 3rd Tim Poole, 30pts
Open Solos 1st Jim Hodson, 102pts; 2nd Danny Smith, 72pts; 3rd Louis Turner-Laurent, 27pts
Open Sidecar
1st Dave Holden / Heath Fairbrother, 82pts; 2nd Tony Thompson / Jack Jones, 66pts; 3rd Ray Thomas / Neil Aslaksen, 60pts;
Lightweight
1st Adam Hoare, 69pts; 2nd Matt Zschiesche, 52pts; 3rd Mark Tyrell, 41pts
GP125
1st Mark Tyrell, 60pts 2nd Ricky Tarren 45pts; 3rd Reg Richardson 18pts,
F600
1st Tim Poole, 72pts; 2nd Jamie Hodson, 66pts; 3rd Ashley Blake, 46pts
Formula Darley 1st Brad Vicars, 96pts; 2nd David Carson, 62pts; 3rd Gary Dangerfield, 27pts;
Formula 125 1st Stephen Campbell, 90pts; 2nd Aiden Rushton, 54pts; 3rd Jake Archer, 33pts;
Formula 600 Sidecar
1st Dean Banks / Lee Saunders, 75pts; 2nd John Shipley / Ian Cunliffe, 73pts; 3rd Matt Williams /Jevan Walmsley, 44pts;
Steel Framed 600 1st Dean Ephgrave, 91pts; 2nd Dave Marsden, 58pts; 3rd Steve Price, 52pts;
Pre Injection 600 1st Antony Porter, 87pts; 2nd Jamie Pearson, 62pts; 3rd Richard Shipley, 35pts;
Mini Sound of Thunder 1st Brad Vicars, 112pts; 2nd David Carson, 54pts; 3rd Gary Dangerfield, 30pts
Sound of Thunder 1st Steven Hill, 78pts; 2nd Gary Henriksen, 51pts; 3rd Mark Tomkinson, 49pts;
Pre 98’s Up to 500cc
1st Fred Burbidge 82pts; 2nd Alex Woodhouse, 77pts; 3rd Matt Zscheische, 45pts
Pre98’s Up to 1300cc 1st Shane Pearson, 90pts; 2nd Ian Morgan, 53pts; 3rd Jamie Pearson, 44pts
Classic 250cc 1st Roy Hook, 36pts Classic 350cc
1st John Leese, 36pts; 2nd Paul Rogers, 27pts; 3rd Gary Freeman, 9pts
Classic 500 1st Gordon Thorpe, 99pts; 2nd Andrew Lee, 12pts
Classic 1000 1st David Bradley, 75pts; 2nd Mike Harding 46pts; Anthony Redmond, 33pts