Sunday saw the fourth round of the SMCA Clubmans Championship at Toddington near Luton. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining the wind was minimal and spirits were high in the pits!
A short practice meant that crews took to the line in Championship positions, and as the gate dropped for the first race, current Championship leaders, Tony Grahame/Scott Lloyd took the holeshot and the lead into the first lap, followed by Danny Gray/Lewis Gray and Jonathon Pannell/Craig Parmenter. Pannell/Parmenter quickly pass Gray/Gray, as Grahame/Lloyd slowly spent the race pulling away from second place. Within a couple of laps, Ross Bowers/Dan Phelps move into third place, but unfortunately they don’t hold the pace to keep up with the 1
st and 2
nd place crews. With the track being narrow and running to opposite way round to what we have been used to at this track, passing was difficult, with only a couple of teams actually making do or die moves to gain positions. As they cross the finish line, we see Tony Grahame/Scott Lloyd albeit in a very loud fashion, having lost all the packing from his exhaust, Jonathon Pannell/Craig Parmenter, Ross Bowers/Dan Phelps, Danny Gray/Lewis Gray, Arthur Walton/Faye Barnes.
Race 2 sees another holeshot for Tony Grahame/Scott Lloyd, followed again by Danny Gray/Lewis Gray, however a wide line into the 2
nd bend soon sees Jonathon Pannell/Craig Parmenter slip through. 4
th place lies with Mark Banks/Chris Pannell for the time being, however, an electrical problem soon sees them retire from the race after the bike cut out. A flat tyre for Gray/Gray also means they are forced to retire from the race. Again there is very little room for passing and positions stay near enough the same. As they cross the finish line we see Tony Grahame/Scott Lloyd take the win, Jonathon Pannell/Craig Parmenter take 2
nd followed by Arthur Walton/Faye Barnes, Ross Bowers/Dan Phelps, Dan Lawry/Darren Bishop.
Race 3 sees a lot more action within the field, although at the top, Tony Grahame/Scott Lloyd take the holeshot and the lead again, closely followed by Danny Gray/Lewis Gray, Arthur Walton/Faye Barnes and Jonathon Pannell/Craig Parmenter. Within the first couple of laps, Walton/Barnes and Pannell/Parmenter have battled through into 2
nd and 3
rd respectively, and after another lap, Pannell/Parmenter have gained another position and now sit in 2
nd, pulling away from the rest of the pack. Gray/Gray maintain 4
th position, however, another puncture for the brothers sees them unable to hold 4
th to the flag and they are passed by 3 crews. Dan Lawry/Darren Bishop sit comfortably in 5
th. Behind the top 5, Rob Foden/Dug Woods can be found battling against Mark Banks/Chris Pannell for 5
th and 6
th place, with Ross Bowers/Dan Phelps chasing hard behind. A quick pass around the inside of the bend on the second to last lap sees Banks/Pannell take 5
th and Bowers/Phelps quickly follow suit and take 6
th, leaving Rob Foden to chase until the end. As they cross the finish line we see Tony Grahame/Scott Lloyd take the win, Jonathon Pannell/Craig Parmenter take 2
nd place, 3
rd place for the race goes to Arthur Walton/Faye Barnes, 4
th place to Dan Lawry/Darren Bishop and 5
th to Mark Banks/Chris Pannell.
The overall results and Championship positions will be available at
www.smcagb.com as soon as they are released by the club. Unfortunately, there were technical difficulties with the timing system and the results have not been published at this time.
Words and Pictures by Polly Chewter