The Darley Moor Motor Cycle Road Race Club finished their 2016 season off in fine style with the Stars at Darley meeting on Saturday 8th – Sunday 9th October 2016 producing some fantastic racing and record breaking performances.
Peter Hickman (Alford) left nobody in any doubt that he was not going to give the title he has held since 2014 very easily, however with Richard Cooper (Hucknall), the former Star of Darley prior to Hickman’s reign; Michael Rutter (Bridgenorth) and John McGuinness (Morcambe), with many ‘Stars’ titles between them plus a host of British Championship regulars it was not going to be an easy task. The first race saw Hickman lead across the line on each of the 10 laps, but he was pushed all the way by Cooper (2nd), Rutter (3rd) and Australian Jason O’Halloran (Louth) in 4th. The victory included breaking his own the Lap Record on Lap7, 52.49 sec (previous record 52.66 sec) and recording the very first Race Record over a 100mph average speed, 100.76mph for the 10 laps! Such was the pace of the race that the top three all broke this barrier. Hickman finally crossed the finish line with a 1.35sec advantage over Cooper, a useful advantage with the title being decided by the combined times of the two races.
Race One was entertaining but Race Two ensured the record breaking crowd were on their feet with O’Halloran quickest off the line and leading until Lap 6, when Cooper, who was 3rd on Lap1 behind Rutter, moving into 2nd on Lap 3 and hitting the front on Lap 6. At this point Hickman was still down in 4th place, where he had been from the opening lap. He then passed Rutter on Lap 7, O’ Halloran on Lap 8 and set about closing the gap on Cooper, finally finishing just 0.45sec behind him at the flag, enough for his third consecutive Stars at Darley title. O’Halloran finished 3rd, still within a second of the leader and Rutter, 4th, a further 0.4sec back. Whilst not matching the Race Record set in the first, the top four all broke the 100mph race average barrier, a fitting end to Darley Moor commentator, Glyn Taylor’s (Burntwood) 40 years of service to the Darley Moor club, retiring from the ‘best seat in the house’ this weekend.
In addition to the headlining Stars races there was still the matter of a number of championships to be decided, the first of which was the opening race of the day in which Carl Morris (Etwall) and Steven Procter (Wakefield) were tying on points at the head of the Peak Cup table. Adding to the interest was Keenan Armstrong (Doncaster) from the British Championships and Ben Crowe (Carnforth) returning to the circuit after recording 3 wins from the previous two rounds. Armstrong and Crowe were quickest off the line and set off at a pace the rest of the field could not match, finishing 1st and 2nd respectively, although Armstrong was not scoring any championship points. Whoever finished ahead between Morris and Procter would lift the title and Morris did not fare well at the start, finishing the first lap in 8th whilst his rival started quicker in 5th at the end of that lap. Morris made it up into 7th on Lap 2 leaving just one rider between himself and Procter, but despite being able to get up to 5th place by the end of the 15 laps Procter was able to keep the ‘cushion’ of somebody between them, finally finishing 3rd and with it the Peak Cup title. Morris’ had to be content with the Open Solo Championship title that was secured at Round 7.
Procter was also attempting to lift the Formula 600 title, again from his current Runner-up place, just 9 points adrift of Lloyd Shelley (Burntwood) at the head of the table. With the pair getting off the line 1st (Shelley) and 2nd (Procter) it was a straightforward ‘head to head’. Shelley lead across the line each lap but Procter was always close to him, never any further than 1 second behind, but during the final 5 laps he was less than 0.3sec back and despite setting the fastest lap on the last lap he wasn’t able to get in front, finishing just 0.11sec adrift, with Shelley taking the race win and the Championship. Shelley was also leading the Sound of Thunder Championship by 18 points from Jamie Horner (Newark) and managed to secure this title a little easier, taking another flag to flag victory, but on this occasion after opening up a 2.5 second lead on the opening lap he went on to win by over 16 seconds.
The next title decider was the Lightweight race, running alongside the 125GP class, which saw Chris Moore (High Peak) leading from Neil Lloyd (Wednesbury). Unfortunately, for Lloyd it wasn’t to be after only managing to finish Lap 1 in 10th place and finally ending the race as 6th Lightweight machine, after the 15 laps. Whilst Moore recorded a start – finish victory, therefore adding the Lightweight Championship to the Pre98’s (Up to 500cc) title he secured last time out, also over Lloyd.
Both championships were still at stake in the combined Steel Frame 600 and Pre Injection 600 race; Anthony Porter (Chesterfield) only requiring too finish in a points scoring position to lift Steel Frame Championship; Andrew Lowe (Stone) leading the Pre Injection Championship by 25 points from Jamie Pearson (Derby).
However, there was an additional piece of silverware available to the overall winner of the race, The Jake Hingley Trophy in memory of a racer who began his career at Darley Moor in 2012, in the Steel Framed class. Unfortunately, his career came to an untimely end at Cadwell Park in 2014. As the flag dropped Pearson left the line, almost in a different class to anybody else, finishing the first lap over 3 seconds ahead of the 2nd place competitor! His pace never relented, eventually taking the victory by over 24 seconds from Lowe, who did enough to ensure the Championship went to him. With Porter bringing his Steel Frame machine home in 3rd place he took that title with a class win, although it was following a race long battle with his championship rivals Dave Marsden (Wirral) and Dean Ephgrave (Hucknall), Ephgrave failing to finish the final lap whilst lying 5th overall.
Lowe and Pearson were also in contention for the Pre 98’s (Up to 1300cc) Championship; Lowe leading it, with Pearson 19 points adrift, but in 3rd place, with Mark Brailsford (Chesterfield) sandwiched between the two, 9 points behind Lowe. With Pearson finishing the first lap 3rd, Brailsford 4th, but Lowe unable to finish the first lap there was a title showdown between these two riders. Pearson hit the front on Lap 6 and held onto the lead until the end of the race, finishing with an advantage of over 6 seconds, but with Brailsford unable to improve on 4th place Pearson took the championship title by 14 points.
In the combined Classic classes and Formula 125 race there was proof over how important this final round is with quadruple points on offer for just the one long race. With just the Classic 250 and Classic 500 championships to be decided; Glenn Atkinson (Northampton) had a 21 point advantage in the 250 title over his nearest rival and did enough in the race, finishing 2nd 250cc machine, to lift the title. However, the Classic 500 Championship was being led by Gary Widdowson (Nottingham) by just 12 points from Oliver Presswood (Bath) with Andy Bacon (Hucknall) and Gordon Thorpe (Matlock) 18 points behind in 3rd place. Bacon made a superb start getting away with some of the Classic 1000 machines, finishing the first lap in 4th place overall, but first of his class, with his Championship rival a further three places back and struggling to maintain the pace before finally failing to finish Lap 6, whilst Bacon went on to finish 3rd overall, but 1st of his class and leapfrogging his other two rivals to claim the Championship.
Fans of three wheeled motorsport were treated to a fantastic display from former World Champions Ben and Tom Birchall (Mansfield) who took their 600cc outfit to a start to finish win, from TT winner Conrad Harrison/ Kenny Cole (Bradford/Bath) with Open Sidecar Championship winners, Ray Thomas/Neil Aslaksen (Birkenhead) 3rd and Formula 600 Sidecar Championship winners Howard Baker/Mike Killingsworth (Sutton Coldfield/Lincoln) 4th.
The weekend finished a great season of racing off in perfect style and the Club now look forward to the 2016 Stars at Darley and Club Championship Presentation of Awards and Annual Dinner at the Moat House Hotel, Stoke on Trent on 4th February 2017.
2016 Championship final standings Peak Cup 1st Steve Proctor, 105pts; 2nd Carl Morris, 93pts; 3rd Ben Crowe, 63pts;
Open Solo 1st Carl Morris, 110pts; 2nd, Ben Crowe, 72pts; 3rd, Alan Hughes, 63pts
Open Sidecars 1st Ray Thomas/Neil Aslaksen, 129pts; 2nd Keith Waddington/Julia Hardisty, 63pts; 3rd Anthony Eades/Keith Box, 51pts
Lightweight 1st Chris Moore, 117pts; 2nd Neil Lloyd, 66pts; 3rd Tony Limer, 36pts
GP125 1st Graeme Wilson, 137pts; 2nd Gavin Mills, 66pts; 3rd, James Hind, 58pts
Formula 600 1st Lloyd Shelley, 126pts; 2nd Steve Proctor, 105pts; 3rd Jamie Hodson, 33pts
Formula Darley 1st David Carson, 133pts; 2nd Kevin Bond, 71pts; 3rd Brad Vicars, 51pts
Formula 125 1st James Hind, 138pts; 2nd Adam Warner, 82pts; 3rd George Pidcock, 55pts;
Formula 600 Sidecars 1st Howard Baker/Mike Killingsworth, 142pts; 2nd Brian Alflatt/Aaron Gorman, 61pts; 3rd Richard Hackney/Andrew Mitchell, 41pts
Steel Framed 600 1st Antony Porter, 150pts; 2nd Dave Marsden, 102pts; 3rd Dean Ephgrave, 70pts
Pre Injection 600 1st Andrew Lowe, 94pts; 2nd Jamie Pearson, 81pts; 3rd Chris North, 51pts
Mini Sound of Thunder 1st David Carson, 123pts; 2nd Kevin Bond, 62pts; 3rd Stephen Taylor, 60pts
Sound of Thunder 1st Lloyd Shelley, 135pts; 2nd Jamie Horner, 87pts; 3rd Michael Gloster, 30pts
Pre 98’s Up to 500cc 1st Chris Moore, 72pts; 2nd Neil Lloyd, 47pts; 3rd Phil Leatherland, 36pts
Pre98’s up to 1300cc 1st Jamie Pearson, 81pts; 2nd Mark Brailsford, 67pts; 3rd Andrew Lowe, 64pts
Classic 250 1st Glenn Atkinson, 109pts; 2nd Mark Cockerton, 64pts; 2nd Geoff Hadwin, 63pts
Classic 350 1st Brian Prescott, 127pts; 2nd Benjamin Smith, 78pts; 3rd Jim Barnett, 18pts
Classic 500 1st Andy Bacon, 72pts; 2nd Gordon Thorpe, 60pts; 3rd Oliver Presswood, 58pts
Classic 1000 1st David Bradley, 114pts; 2nd Mike Harding, 49pts; 3rd Gary Porter, 36pts