PDMCC Marshals Club Newcomers
Mike Norbury once again put on a superb show as Sunday’s round 6 rookie race commenced. The novice rider was again on board a 600 courtesy of Rob Barber/PRB Racing and literally wowed the spectators as his confidence grew with each lap.
Towards the end of the race, Norbury had caught a couple of backmarkers but took the flag in a seemingly effortless victory ahead of Martin McGrath and Adam Gittings. Fellow championship contender Joe Lawrence was in the mix for a time but an unfortunate mishap allowed Dan Tomlinson and Grant Gaskell to cross the line 4th and 5th respectively and also edge their way up the points table ahead of the round 7 race.
Further down the line, Brian Clark had a very good battle with Stephen and Richard Tomlinson, and Clarke crossed the line 7th, with the Tomlinsons either side of him in 6th and 8th. Speaking afterwards, Clarke told of his enjoyment in an exciting race, and the Morecambe rider was happy with his progress to date.
As the rookie final approached and the round 7 races commenced, the championship looked extremely tight for the newcomers class. Mike Norbury stole the show with one more epic performance and yet again appeared massively confident aboard the bigger bike.
Norbury started from pole and took the lead from the off, and led by a substantial distance but not without a constant challenge from Martin McGrath who started the race alongside him in 2nd. As the pair fought it out for some last minute points, the race became very interesting as the backmarkers became involved and Adam Gittings drew closer.
On the track, the top three finishers were Norbury, McGrath and Gittings. The final top rookie championship places were awarded to McGrath in 1st, 6 points ahead of Joe Lawrence in 2nd, followed by Norbury in 3rd and with a one-point gap between the runners-up.
The 2014 season has undoubtedly been the best year for rookie racers in the history of the club. This year has seen some overwhelming racing from some hugely talented riders who are sure to become part of the club’s heritage.
S K Art Forgotten Era/Single Cylinder
Mike Norbury gave another sterling performance in both Forgotten Era races, this time on board the Honda 400 and taking charge of both races to seal the championship.
The Astley rookie also set an incredible time of 43.5 seconds around the perimeter circuit and won the first race a comfortable 3 seconds over Michael Schofield in 2nd, ahead of David Murphy in this split grid race.
Daniel Booth, Derek Clark and Paul Whiting crossed the line in that order for the single cylinder class, with Booth setting the lap record for this group at a time of 44 seconds.
Norbury lined up in the number one space to set off for the final time in this class, lapping with a similar time and winning the round 7 outing with an even bigger lead of 7 seconds over Schofield. Murphy crossed the line in 3rd and his best time was only fractionally slower than Schofields, recorded over the 9 laps.
In terms of the Forgotten Era championship, Norbury took top prize with 75 points accrued over the season. Schofield ended the year 5 points behind in 2nd, and 2013 champ Mark Podmore took third. Norbury’s team-mate Kevin Lunt also met his own target by finishing the season in 4th in this class.
The Single Cylinder champion for 2014 is Paul Whiting after some consistent results this year. Daniel Booth is only 3 points behind in 2nd place, and Derek Clark earns 3rd place after some hard work over the last 3 rounds.
F600
The Formula 600 class was slightly under-subscribed this meeting, although it was fairly evident that the title belonged to road racing supremo Rob Barber even before the final rounds took place.
The Bury Bullet set another blistering pace in the round 6 outing, darting his way to the front and disappearing around the perimeter circuit. This time out, Barber set a blistering time of 41.440 – a new track record – and snatching the win almost 12 seconds ahead of David Lewis in 2nd, and 3 seconds separating him and Sean Seddon in 3rd.
A fairly quiet grid consisting of only 7 riders showed up for the round 7 race later on, and it was one more opportunity for Barber to have another rapid ride to seal the championship.
Other podium places behind Barber were awarded to David Lewis and Kevin Duckworth – 2nd and 3rd respectively. The 2014 F600 championship prizes belong to Rob Barber in 1st – and with a lead of almost 40 points – ahead of David Lewis in 2nd. BSB’s Chris Barnes also managed to take 3rd in the championship even after missing the final two rounds of the year.
Rylo Racing Pre Injection
Round 6’s Pre Injection run was a very close race with the main action taking place with the front 3 machines – particularly around Lunar.
The frontrunners consisted of Mike Bampton, Dan Tomlinson and Adam Gittings. Bampton pulled away fairly hard as the lights extinguished – although he was not involved in the points battle taking place behind him between rivals Tomlinson and Gittings.
The pair crossed the line literally side by side, but Gittings pushed a little harder on the penultimate lap and set a new track record for this class with a time of 44 seconds.
Race of the weekend had to be the round 7 Pre Injection race as the meeting drew to a close late Sunday afternoon. This championship final saw a huge effort from newly-crowned champ Adam Gittings as the Hyde rookie started from the back and gave everything he could in a truly outstanding run aboard the Yamaha.
Gittings tirelessly fought his way to the front. Once there he had to battle hard with main rival Dan Tomlinson throughout a sensational 9 laps. Gittings bravely grabbed the lead on the final corner to take the title by one point ahead of Tomlinson and if that wasn’t enough, he also smashed the class record on the new circuit layout with a time of 42.66 seconds.
Gittings was clearly amazed with his own work afterwards. Tomlinson on the other hand was a little disappointed after putting up an excellent fight but gave credit to Gittings for his title-winning performance.
3rd place in the Pre-Injection championship went to Martin Clare after a successful and consistent season.
Anglo American Electrical Steel Frame 600
Good clean racing was in order as the final two rounds of the Steel Frame 600 championship took place over the weekend.
As the lights went out to signal the start of the round 6 run, Mike Bampton shot straight to the lead and ran away on track leaving the battle for points to take place behind.
Edward Hosker and Martin Clare were spread out from each other in 2nd and 3rd – particularly towards the ends of each lap – and Clare’s main rival James Leatham appeared to have a very fast ride and looked to have mastered the apexes of Lunar Bend, finishing in 4th.
A little further back Stu Poulton appeared very consistent on track, also making a smooth job of his navigation around Lunar and finishing 5th ahead of Chris Warren, Peter Strohmaier and Denzyl Weavill.
Although Bampton was not racing for points this time, the championship looked extremely competitive going into round 7 with Leatham preparing to make a bid for 3rd, and team-mate Clare looking to snatch the top spot.
The championship final was a tidy race, and main contender Simon Aspin appeared to hold back slightly due to him already having a comfortable position at the top of the table.
Rivals Clare and Leatham were ready and battled hard from the word go. Leatham crossed the line ahead of Clare after a pass exiting the ‘new hairpin’, and Edward Hosker held a steady position during a fast ride, emerging 2nd at the flag behind Bampton and 4th in the championship.
As the points were calculated, Simon Aspin came out on top as the 2014 champion ahead of Clare in 2nd. James Leatham appeared delighted with 3rd in the points, and it was fair to say that the trio had worked tirelessly all season and deserved the reward for their efforts.
Dootson Pneumatics 50cc/carbonfibreworks Freetech 50
The Classic 50cc club made their final trip of the year to Three Sisters and brothers Roger and Alan Naul topped the bill in the 50cc points as the final rounds approached - however Tony Cawte and Sam Grief both made their presence felt as the battle for the top four championship places began.
Although Cawte literally ran away with the win in the round 6 run, Roger Naul impressed again and took second place ahead of Adrian Sanders, increasing his points lead even further.
In the round 7 race, Cawte again took victory albeit a fraction slower than earlier – when he set the class lap record at 52.4 seconds. Roger Naul repeated his performance to take 2nd ahead of Sam Grief – assisted by Adrian Sanders’s non-appearance on the grid.
Chris Alty won both Freetech 50cc races ahead of Dave Blunt. Although Alty leads the new championship, it is predicted that a future influx of entries will make this a highly competitive class.
Roger Naul took the 50cc title for 2014 ahead of his brother Alan. Tony Cawte managed third place after 3 very successful rounds, 4 points behind Alan Naul.
Primecare Training Classics up to 250cc/251 and over
The final Classics races for this year offered some clean racing and multiple championship winner Tony Benson was out to retain his title – but not without a serious battle from Jack Clarke.
Benson had his work cut out anyway after missing two rounds earlier in the season, but the bike ‘gremlins’ thwarted his success this year, forcing him to hand the top trophy to Clarke after a huge effort from both parties.
Jaeson Caunce skillfully shot to victory aboard a Triumph in both races, and the two rivals in the form of Benson and Clarke got down to business – the pair crossing the line 2nd and 3rd respectively in the round 6 run.
Caunce repeated his actions in round 7, and Clarke seemed comfortable, holding onto 2nd place for much of the latter part of the race. Benson appeared to have some intermittent running issues but managed to finish and accrue enough points to stay in the top three.
Jack Clarke becomes the 2014 Classics over 250cc champion, with Tony Benson in 2nd. Jaeson Caunce scooped third place after some superb wins over the last three rounds of the season.
The Classics up to 250cc class saw two wins from Ronald Mullin this time out, and David Thorp retains his title as class champion. Roger Smith has shown consistency this year and so takes 2nd in the championship, whilst Allan Randall takes the final trophy in the class.
Rea Racing 350-750cc & Twin Cylinder
Keith Ferrari meant business this weekend as he made a serious bid for the 350-750cc class championship and showed that he was eager to beat youngster Sam Edwards and grab the top spot – as the pair were already tied on points.
Ferrari had a fantastic run in the round 6 race, riding the wheels off the Kawasaki and taking the flag as class winner. The PDMCC veteran appeared much more comfortable on the new circuit layout and gave a best time of 44.772 and putting him in good stead for the upcoming round 7 campaign.
The round 6 Twins class was an opportunity for John Goode to have a decent outing after getting rid of the bike issues that had haunted him earlier this weekend. Goode crossed the line 2nd behind class winner Matthew Hammond - then sitting only 1 point behind Mark Moffatt prior to round 7.
The round 7 run for the split grid saw Keith Ferrari and Sam Edwards give on last push. With the result being Edwards first over Ferrari, the pair emerged tied on points yet again, with the championship being awarded to Edwards due to him having the most wins over the season. Making up the finishers for the final time were David Murphy and Ferrari’s team-mate David Griffiths.
2nd and 3rd in the 350-750cc championship are Keith Ferrari and David Murphy.
John Goode had another great ride in the Twins and finished overall 3rd in the championship, with the top two places awarded to Matthew Hammond and Keri Morgan – 1st and 2nd respectively.
Primecare F400
The F400 class this year has been highly competitive, with current champ Neil Cook putting up a fight each round against the unstoppable Mike Norbury.
Cook and Norbury were fairly close on points before this meeting, but an unfortunate mechanical problem with Cook’s Kawasaki caused him to retire and once more open up the points campaign as round 7 dawned.
On the track, the result from round 6 was Mike Norbury – also setting the class record at 43.2 seconds – followed home by Ashley Critchley and Mike Schofield. Even though he was absent, Neil Cook was sitting with a comfortable 3rd place in the championship.
A red flag incident in the round 7 run saw a result called after 6 laps, and the final championship places in the Primecare F400 class are awarded to Mike Norbury in 1st with 87 points, ahead of Mike Schofield in 2nd, with a gap of 4 points over Neil Cook in 3rd.
Jules Embroidery 501-1300cc Open
The final two races of the Open class were under the control of Rob Barber as predicted, but this did not deter the rest of the grid from putting on a great show of ‘bigger bike’ racing over the weekend.
David Lewis and Kevin Duckworth both fought it out over 2nd place behind Barber in the round 6 run, with Lewis grabbing eventual 2nd after a very quick ride, just about 4 seconds over Duckworth at the line – who took the final podium spot.
Only a handful of riders appeared for the round 7 final - seven to be exact – in what is usually an incredibly popular class. Rob Barber won as predicted, but David Lewis gave one last incredibly hard push and chased Barber down, closing in gradually as the race progressed.
After a good clean race, the results on track for round 7 were Barber, Lewis and Duckworth taking home the day’s trophies. In terms of championship, Barber takes the crown with a whopping 105 points, David Lewis in 2nd place with 66 points and Kevin Duckworth rounding off the top three with 56 points.
125/250cc
The 125/250cc championship final race late on Sunday afternoon was a fast-paced affair, and the smaller machines gave it one last attempt as top places were still up for grabs.
The faster riders took their places at the front of the field fairly quickly. Daniel Booth managed to get a big lead towards the middle of the race and held this until the flag. Peter Strohmaier gave a brilliant performance, crossing the line 2nd in class after fending off George Anderson for the whole race. Anderson desperately tried to pass Strohmaier at each and every corner but the latter held his own and relegated Anderson to third at the race conclusion.
In the 250cc class, Stuart Ogden was able to relax slightly due to his points advantage, with Mark Samuels enjoying a quick ride as the other 250 on track.
For the championships, Daniel Booth just about takes the 125cc title ahead of Peter Strohmaier – the pair tied on points but with Booth notching up the most wins this year. Lee Hindle takes third place. The 250cc crown belongs to Stuart Ogden with a massive 39-point lead over Darren Higson. Mark Samuels takes third place in this category.
Up to 500cc
The up to 500cc open class has attracted a disappointingly low number of entries in recent times but that said, the competition and rivalry is still apparent for those who enter.
Sam Edwards took the win the first time out, beating Daniel Booth to the line by a little over 3 seconds after the pair had a quick ride. Ashley Critchley made up the top three for this round as the flag went out, with David Murphy, Kevin Gallagher and Chris Hayden making up the finishers.
The final race of the day saw only 4 riders on the grid. Sam Edwards took the win again along with another scoop of points, Daniel Booth, David Murphy and Kevin Gallagher rounding off the last race of the year.
The up to 500cc title goes to Sam Edwards with 87 points. David Murphy has had a successful season and takes 2nd. Kieran Smith takes third place after notching up plenty of points earlier in the year.
The Club Committee of PDMCC would like to thank all class sponsors who have provided support this season, along with everyone else who have made these meetings possible.
The next event on the club calendar is the Annual Awards Presentation Evening on 22nd November. Booking details are on the website www.prestondmc.co.uk
2015 race dates will be announced in due course