COOPERMAN - THE STAR OF DARLEY AGAIN

Tuesday October 15, 2013 at 3:08pm

The CMC Motorcycles Stars at Darley meeting brought the 2013 Darley Moor Motorcycle Road Race Club’s season to a close this weekend, 12th – 13th October 2013 and despite the weather forecast keeping plenty of spectators away those who were determined to have their final high octane fix were treated to some superb racing, and better than expected weather conditions.

The Peak Cup class got the racing underway on Sunday and with Jim Hodson already Champion combined with the wet conditions he had decided to sit the race out saving himself for the Stars race. Matt Smith took total advantage of the absence, dominating the 15 lap race with a start to finish win, and a victory margin of over 20 seconds from Hodson’s son Jamie and Brad Clarke a similar distance back in 3rd.

Next to the grid was the Formula Darley and 125GP machines, with Brad Vicars already the Formula Darley Champion the spotlight was on Mark Tyrell and Ricky Tarren to decide the 125GP title.

Vicars continued his championship form and led from the off, opening up a huge gap on Tarren, in second place, but with Tyrell following in 3rd, the points difference was enough to allow Tyrell to take the title. Unfortunately, Vicars failed to complete the final lap, handing Tarren the consolation of an Overall victory.

The Steel Framed and Pre Injection 600 championships had already been decided; Dean Ephgrave and Anthony Porter the respective Champions, but the final race still provided entertainment for the crowd. Andrew Lowe leading from the flag with Chris Spink staying closely in his wheel tracks until he was passed by the slower starting Jake Hingley. Hingley was able to squeeze by into 2^nd place on the sixth lap and then into the lead in Lap12 and opened up a gap of 3 seconds over Lowe, with Spink 3rd a further second back. Steel Framed 600 Champion Ephgrave finished 5th, but had the consolation of setting the fastest lap of the race.

With the Lightweight champion still to be decided their combined race with the Classic machines was set to be a battle between current leader Adam Hoare and Matt Zschiesche. With 17 points the deficit Zschiesche had to claw back he needed Hoare to suffer some bad luck. With Hoare leading from the Start and Mark Tyrell, on his 125GP machine in 2nd place, Zschiesche could not get any higher than 3rd place, then bad luck struck and he failed to complete the 8th lap and sealed the Championship for Hoare.

The first of the two 10 lap CMC Motorcycles Stars at Darley races provided the closest finish of the day. The Honda Legends duo of Michael Rutter and John McGuninness led from the start with Richard Cooper 3rd and John Ingram 4th. On Lap 4 Cooper had squeezed by McGuinness then on the following lap passed Rutter into the lead. However, Rutter was not about to leave it that and pushed Cooper all the way to the finish, but was not able to regain the lead.

The 2013 Sound of Thunder Champion Steve Hill and Mini Sound of Thunder Champion Brad Vicars continued their championship form, Hill taking a Start to finish victory, with Vickers taking the class victory.

Immediately after the Sound of Thunder race Hill switched from the V-twin machine and returned to the grid for the Open Solo race on a four cylinder machine. Despite the different power characteristics he finished the first lap in 2^nd place and hit the front on Lap3 then managed to extend his lead to almost 2 seconds at the flag!

It wasn’t just the Stars races that had the international feel about them; the Sidecar race had the 2009 FIM World Sidecar Champions, Ben and Tom Birchall on the grid. The Birchalls quickly showed their quality leading from the start and stretching out a 20+ second lead at the flag. However, this didn’t mean the race was boring, the John Lowther/Jack Lowther pairing were in 2nd place, under intense pressure from Roy Hanks/Julie Hanks-Elliott. On the final lap the pressure proved too much and a mistake was made, allowing the Hanks outfit through into 2nd place with the Lowthers’ taking 3rd place.

The second CMC Motorcycles Stars at Darley race proved to be an absolute thriller after Richard Cooper suffered a bad start, breaking the timing beam in 13th place as he left the start line. At the end of Lap 1 Michael Rutter was leading, John McGuinness 2nd and John Ingram 3rd, with Cooper down in 6th after a frantic first lap. The top 3 were the in the same order at end of the second lap, with Cooper up into 5th place, he then made his way up the leaderboard one place each lap before hitting the front on the sixth lap and stretching out a lead of 1.4 seconds at the finish and therefore a third Stars of Darley title.

With 6 points separating the first and second place in the Formula 600 championship this 15 lap race was set to be an excellent follow up to the Stars race, Tim Poole holding the slender advantage over Jamie Hodson. After Lap 1 it was Daley Mathison leading with James Cowton 2nd, Poole 3rd and Hodson very close in 4th place. By Lap 4 Hodson had made his way up to 2nd place with Poole in 4th; Lap 5 saw Poole move up into 3rd, right in Hodson’s tyre tracks. Passing backmarkers the pair circulated in very close company, finally Poole found a way past, into 2nd on Lap 10 and the cat and mouse dice continued with Mathison two or three seconds in the lead. The racing proved excellent entertainment for the crowd but after a 10 second penalty was added to Mathison and Hodson’s times for jumping the start, the final result gave the win to Poole and therefore the Championship, Mathison 2nd Hodson 3rd and Cowton 4th.

The final 2013 Championship to be decided was the Pre 98’s (Up to 500cc) class, Fred Burbidge holding just a 5 point advantage over Alex Woodhouse. With just these two riders being the only (Up to 500cc) machines on the grid, sharing the track with the (Up to 1300cc) machines the Championship action was always going to be towards the rear of the field. From the start it was Woodhouse who held the advantage until Lap 8 when Burbidge found his way past and managed to hold off the determined Chesterfield rider right to the end and clinched the Championship title.

The meeting bought the Darley Moor Motorcycle Road Race season to a close, but whilst the racing has finished the Club will be busy over the winter carry out improvements to the venue to benefit competitors and spectators in the 2014 season. The Club are always appreciative of any help assistance that can be offered throughout the closed season and racing season, if you would like to help out please contact the Club via the website, www.darleymoor.co.uk; or info@darleymoor.co.uk; Darley Moor Motor Cycle Road Race Club, Anvil House, Derby Road, Old Tupton, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S42 6LA; tel:01246 866537; fax:01246 861480.

Final Championship standings

Peak Cup

1st Jim Hodson, 102pts; 2nd Danny Smith, 71pts; 3rd Matt Smith, 36pts

Open Solos

1st Jim Hodson, 102pts; 2nd Danny Smith, 72pts; 3rd Alan Hughes, 29pts

Open Sidecar

1st Tony Thompson / Jack Jones, 84pts; 2nd Dave Holden / Heath Fairbrother, 82pts 3rd Ray Thomas / Neil

Aslaksen, 68pts;

Lightweight

1st Adam Hoare, 87pts; 2nd Mark Tyrell, 53pts; 3rd Matt Zschiesche, 52pts;

GP125

1st Mark Tyrell, 72pts 2nd Ricky Tarren 63pts; 3rd Sarah Boyes 19pts,