Clear blue skies greeted all involved with the opening road race of the 2014 season, the Ian Watson Spring Cup at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough.
With the winter blues being blown away during practice and qualifying the first of 12 races, the Senior A Race over eight laps of the 2.43-mile hillside course grabbed the large crowd of spectators attention as the ‘Young Pretenders’ Lee Johnston, Dean Harrison, Ivan Lintin, James Cowton pitted their skills against old-timer Guy Martin.
Lee Johnston got the hole-shot but at the end of the first lap it was Guy Martin ahead by 0.003 of a second with Ivan Lintin third 0.8 of a second adrift, followed by Dean Harrison, James Cowton and Mick Goodings.
A lap later, Johnston was back in front followed by Martin and Harrison. It was the same at the conclusion of the third circuit.
Half distance saw Guy Martin in front by one-second from Johnston with Harrison near on half a second down in third.
Lap five and Martin was now 3.3.seconds ahead, with Harrison now just two-tenths of a second down in third. Lintin, Cowton and Jamie Coward completed the top six.
Lap six and Harrison was up to second 3.9 seconds adrift of Martin.
The penultimate saw Martin’s lead cut to 3.2 seconds by Dean Harrison, and at the chequered flag it was Guy Martin having pulled the stops out to finish 4.189 seconds ahead of Dean Harrison with Lee Johnston third. Followed by Ivan Linton, James Cowton and Jamie Coward.
The B Final, also over eight laps saw Rad Hughes and Andrew Sellars head into Mere Hairpin together, but by the end of the lap it was Gareth Keys who headed Hughes across the line, with Neil Kernohan third.
Lap two and Keys still lead, but only by 0.096 of a second from Daley Mathison, with Neill Kernohan now third 4.5 second down.
Lap three – and Mathison now had a 2.6 second lead over Keys, with Kernohan some eight seconds back in third.
The half distance lap saw another two seconds added to the leader’s advantage.
Lap five and the leader continued to increase his advantage by another two seconds, as Kernohan maintained station in third.
Lap six – and the race pattern continued as per ‘the script’ with Mathison now 10 seconds ahead of second placeman Keys.
Lap seven and a change in the race pattern as the leader added three seconds to his advantage.
Daley Mathison took the chequered flag some 15.5 seconds ahead of Gareth Keys, whilst Rodger Wibberley snatched third place from Neill Kernohan by just short of 3 –seconds.
Next up was the first leg of the Super Lightweights, made up mainly of the 650cc SuperTwin machines, once again over 8 laps.
James Cowton got the hole-shot into Mere Hairpin, but at the end of the opening lap it was Ryan Farquhar who had a 3/10th of a second lead from Cowton with Ivan Lintin third a similar distance behind, followed by Lee Johnston, Jamie Hamilton and Davy Morgan.
Lap two and Lintin was in front by 6/10ths of a second with Cowton now third.
Lap three and the lead was now up to 2.8 seconds by Lintin, followed by Farquhar, Cowton, Johnston, Hamilton and Adrian Harrison.
Lap four and Lintin was now 4 seconds ahead, with Farquhar now just 2/10th of a second ahead of Cowton.
Lee Johnston retired to the paddock on the fifth lap, and positions remained the same, as they did on the sixth lap.
Lap seven and the lead was now 4.6 seconds and at the flag it was Ivan Linton by 2.333 seconds from Ryan Farquhar, James Cowton, Jamie Hamilton, Nick Anderson and Adrian Harrison.
Race Four, Guy Martin had pole position in this Junior A Final eight lapper, but fluffed the start, which James Cowton took full advantage of leading into Mere Hairpin and held the lead at the end of the lap by 1.4 seconds from Seamus Elliott and Guy Martin a further 3/10th behind in third.
The leading trio were followed by Daley Mathison, Dean Harrison and Tom Weeden.
Lap two and Martin was now second just 1/10th of a second down on Cowton with Harrison third.
Lap three saw Martin in the lead by one second from Cowton and Harrison with Harrison only 4/10ths down on the second place man.
Lap four and the lead was up to 2.4 seconds for Martin as Harrison took over second place from Cowton, one second down on Harrison.
Lap five and the gap between first and second remained the same, as Cowton slipped back a further three seconds.
Lap six and Martin’s lead increased slightly by 4/10ths of a second.
Lap seven and the lead was up to 3.7 seconds, with Cowton dropping back a further eight seconds on Harrison.
At the flag it was Guy Martin, from Dean Harrison, James Cowton, Ivan Lintin, Seamus Elliott and Daley Mathison. The winning advantage 5.222 seconds.
Race Five, the Junior B Final and James Neesom got the advantage into Mere Hairpin, although it was Mark Lister who held the lead at the end of the opening lap of eight, followed by Rob Barber and Davy Morgan.
Lap two and Morgan had now moved into second place with Jamie Coward claiming third, whilst Lister still lead by 1.9 seconds.
Lap three and Morgan was only 3/10ths of a second behind Lister with Coward still third.
Half Distance and the gap increased to 4/10ths of a second.
Lap five and Davy Morgan had taken the lead with Coward now second, as early leader Lister now third. Only 4/10ths of a seconds separated Coward and Lister.
Lap six and Coward had pulled a second back on Morgan, leaving less than half a second between the leading pair.
Lap seven and Morgan had increased his lead by one-tenth of a second over Coward as Lister maintained third some 12 seconds down.
At the chequered flag it was Jamie Coward half a second ahead of Davy Morgan with Mark Lister third, Rob Barber fourth, Nuno Caetano third and Mike Minns sixth.
Race six, the first leg of the F2 Sidecars, over six laps. Ian and Carl Bell had pole position, but it was rival Conrad Harrison who got the hole-shot into Mere.
At the end of the lap it was the Bells leading the charge by 2 seconds from Harrison and Patterson, with Dean Lindley and Rob Bell third.
Lap two and the Bells had increased their lead to 4.5 seconds.
Lap three and three seconds were added to the lead by the father and son duo.
Lap four saw the leading gap double to 10 seconds!
Lap five and for once the gap didn’t alter, and at the Chequered flag Ian & Carl Bell achieved their 62 race victory, with Conrad Harrison and Lee Patterson second and Dean Lindley and Rob Bell third.
Race seven, the first race for the Lightweights, up to 450cc, and once again over eight laps.
Seamus Elliott took the hole-shot when the lights went out, but it was Alistair Haworth who had the lead at the end of the first lap, followed by Nick Anderson, with hole-shot man Seamus Elliott third.
Lap two and the positions were static, although the lead had increased to 2.2 seconds
Lap three and Haworth added another second to his advantage, with just one second keeping second and third apart.
Lap four and a further second was added, whilst the gap between second and third, Anderson and Elliott increased by a further half second.
Lap five and the distance was now 7.1 seconds as Seamus Elliott moved into second ahead of Nick Anderson.
Lap six and Anderson was back to second and 6/10ths ahead of Elliott in third.
Lap seven and positions remained the same.
At the flag it was Alistair Haworth from Seamus Elliott and Justin Waring after Nick Anderson retired on the final lap OK.
Race eight; the second leg of the Super Lightweights, Farquhar got the hole-shot and held the lead at the end of the lap by 3/10ths of a second from Ivan Linton, with James Cowton third, followed by Hamilton, Adrian Harrison and Nick Anderson.
Lap two and Lintin had taken the lead by 0.853 of a second from Farquhar and Cowton.
Lap three and the leaders advantage had increased to 2.5 seconds, whilst Farquhar and Cowton lapped at equal times, albeit 0.8 of a second.
Lap four and Lintin added a further 0.08 of a second to his advantage.
Lap five and the pace had settled down, the first three lapping in similar times to the previous lap.
Lap six and the pace increased once again with the gap at the front extending to 4 seconds.
Lap seven and another second added to the leader’s advantage.
Ivan Lintin took the chequered flag some 5.950 seconds from Ryan Farquhar with James Cowton third.
Race Nine, the second F2 Sidecar once again over six laps and the Bell family outfit had the advantage away from the line, followed by Dean Lindley and Rob Bell (no relation).
The end of the first lap saw Ian & Carl Bell from Dean Lindley/Rob Bell and Tony Thirkell/ Nigel Barlow.
The lead of 1.678 seconds at the end of the first laps extended to 13.292 seconds at the chequered flag.
Race ten the feature race, the Ian Watson Spring Cup had Guy Martin in Pole position for the eight lap race.
Lee Johnston and Guy Martin were side by side as they approached Mere Hairpin and it was Guy Martin from Lee Johnston one second behind with Ivan Lintin third, followed by Dean Harrison, James Cowton and Seamus Elliott.
Lap two Ivan Lintin moved into second at the end of the lap, pushing Johnston back to third – the gap now 2.78 seconds.
Lap three Dean Harrison was now up to third one second behind Lintin.
Lap four and Martin increased his lead to 3.33 seconds.
Lap five and positions remained the same, but by lap six Harrison was n, the gap being down to 0.3 of a second.
Lap seven and positions were static, with Lintin pulling out 2/10th of a second to widen the distance between himself and Harrison.
At the flag it was Guy Martin 3.937 seconds ahead of Ivan Lintin, with Dean Harrison third, followed by Lee Johnston, James Cowton, Seamus Elliott.
It was Guy’s third Ian Watson Spring Cup victory.
Race 11, saw the Lightweights out again and as in the first race, it was Alistair Haworth who led at the end of opening lap, followed by Nick Anderson and Seamus Elliott.
Lap two and Anderson was only 0.3 of a second behind Haworth with Elliott a further 0.1 of a second down in third.
Lap three and the leader’s advantage had grown to half a second, as had the distance between second and third.
Lap four and Anderson had pulled by 3/10ths of a second on the race leader Haworth, whilst the gap between Anderson and Elliott had grown to 1.5 seconds.
Lap five and the se-saw once again went to Haworth’s advantage the lead increasing to 0.9 of a second, with Elliott falling even further back in third some four seconds down.
Lap six and the distance had grown to 1.705 seconds.
Lap seven and the advantage had extended to 4.129 seconds
Lap eight saw Alistair Haworth taking his second win of the day from Nick Anderson and Seamus Elliott.
The final race of the day for Solo Non Qualifiers only had two finishers, Matthew Rees 0.081 of a second from Jack Hunter.