Thursday August 16, 2018 at 12:20pm
Daley dominates and Dayo destroys……. The sixth meeting of 2018 for NG was held at Donington Park, which has been the scene of many highs and lows for racers over the decades. This weekend was no different with history being made by Daley Mathison on the Moto E electric bike, designed, built and run by the engineering and electrical students at The University of Nottingham. Daley and the UoN team had taken the fight to the Mugen Honda in the Isle of Man back in June finishing second behind Zero TT winner Michael Rutter. Daley though set a lap time just a fraction off 120mph. This weekend saw next rounds of the Moto E championship, championed by teams from mainly Europe, but the UoN bike has a proven pedigree and won the title in 2016. Mathison did not have it all his own way in the first outing as after making a stunning start he hit problems that robbed him of battery power. That left the way open for series newbies the Electric Superbike Twente Team with Dutchman Thijs Peteers to take their first win in just their first season on the grid. For the second outing Mathison said he took it easy off the line not wanting a repeat of Saturdays overheating problems. Then UoN bike was wound right up and by the first corner Mathison was in the top ten and by the end of the first lap was out front, not only heading the other Moto E’s but the packed field of tuned F400 bikes and Ducati Desmo 620cc race bikes. He set fastest lap after fastest lap to eventually set figures of 1min 15.4 averaging almost 87mph, Peteers finished a strong second with Josh Williams on the Duffy Motorsport bike third. The series now heads off to Assen for their next outing. Donington was not so kind to NG’s top Superbike rider Josh Day who took a huge tumble on just his second lap out of the pits. He was fine but the Kendrick and Spalding ZX10 was returned to the garages in bits…earning him the nickname of “Dayo the Destroyer” by paddock wags !!!!. The team worked tirelessly all day…and through the night to rebuild the bike, but in the meantime Paul Messenger generously leant Josh his nine year old R1 so that he could keep his championship hopes alive. Josh rode the wheels off the older machine but his rivals saw an opportunity with James Kiff taking the Powerbike win and Keenan Armstrong the Open. Ashley King, Gary Stevens, Chris Pope, Allister Haynes, Michael Blank, George Hindle, Michael Austin and Leigh Corfield all had their moment in the Donington limelight. It would be short lived though as Josh wheeled out the rebuilt Kawasaki on Sunday and took a clean sweep of Open and Powerbike victories. Both James Kiff and Allister suffered high-speed tumbles and we wish them a speedy return For full Moto E reports check out www.motoeracing.com 250GP and 125GP ACU National Championship. Podium regular at BSB in Moto star Asher Durham, turned up with his Mircolise/Cresswell Racing Team and the Mahindra Moto 3 machine to get some valuable Donington track time. They were pitting their single cylinder 250 four stroke against the 250 two strokes TZ’s and RS’s that raced in GP’s in the early to mid 2000’s. Durham showed his speed and the way that technology has moved on by taking Saturdays race win over top 250 runners Philip Atkinson, Andrew Sawford and Bruce Dunn. However for Sunday morning the track was damp but drying so set up was at a premium. Steven Neate go it spot on by taking the win over Sawford and Atkinson who seemed to be suffering on his TZ…..not as much a Durham through who was in eighth. Normal service was resumed for the third outing as Durham headed home Neate and Dunn. Former double 250 National champ Atkinson was suffering again with an ailing TZ in sixth, but scored enough points to already have secured the 2018 Dymag 250GP title. Gavin Mills was in usual dominant form in the first two races for the Hartsmere/Love life and ride 125GP’s, however an uncustomary error meant that he picked up a dnf in the final outing leaving the door open for Dean Hobson to take his first win of the year. All the Donington action. As we know though, NG run the full compliment of racing classes. All are hard earned with twenty-two points scoring rounds, but some seem harder to win than others. Case in point is this years 600 open with five riders still vying for the title covered by just a handful of points. The series lead advantage has swung between each of them over the season, and this weekend it was the turn of Sean Montgomery to pick up the points to haul him back to the top of the table. Alex Baker took two wins with the other going to Montgomery, but “Monty” now leads the title chase albeit by just four points over Baker. Aaron Ridewood, Kayla Barrington and Alex Jones are all still in the mix, mistakes are punished hard and Barrington suffered on Sunday as her bike stopped in the holding area, and sat despairingly as the warm up lap started without her. Despite getting the R6 fired up she had to start from pit lane are carved her way though to tenth by the flag. Each of the top runners have had a round like that this year!. Mike Wilson continued his run of form in the F125’s taking wins over Samuel Laidlow and Corey Tinker. It was also another win-fest for Tim Bradley in the F400’s with three more victories, each time over impressive newcomer Bradley Richman. Tim is unbeaten so far in 2018 and is odds on to lift the title he last took in 2015/16. Continuing the theme, Andy Blomfield took all three wins in the Desmo Due 620cc A class and Rodney King taking the triple in the Desmo 600cc B series. The pattern continued in the Mini Twins as Paul Wardell took a 75 point maximum on his SV650 as he headed home William Holland, Dean Ratcliff and fast newcomer Christopher Sinanan. Wardell also set a new Mini Twins class lap record. Wardell also doubles up in the Super Twins and took one win there too, but this time William Holland had the slight upper hand taking a pair of wins….. not to be outdone Holland also set new lap figures on his SFV Gladius. Teenager Bradley Richman has already secured the 500 newcomers and is now storming up the points table in the 500 Open after taking two wins, the other went to Nick Brown as series leader Dave Hampton had a troubled weekend on his 450 Tigcraft. He had been leading race one by some margin before it went bang on the last lap ruling Dave out for the weekend. Dave Mackay on the True Heroes 959 Panigale took two wins over the weekend but Paul Willis was in no mood to let the chance of showing the youngsters that there is still plenty of fight left in him. Paul has been winning NG titles since the 1980’s and shows no signs of slowing down, taking Sundays final in drying conditions, as he chose slicks with most going safe with wets….. the slicks allied to Paul’s ability earned him the race win. As we have already sussed out it was a weekend for maximums and Matthew Baker was another to be un-headed taking all Formula Prostock Suzuki Bandit races as Harley Prebble, John Bolsover, John Ward and David Greenwood squabbled of the minor placings. John Tatham took the full compliment of FP1 wins with Rob Pragnell and Mark Carels-Watson sharing FP2’s whilst Lewis Rees and Nigel Manning-Morton topped the FP3’s. Manning-Morton was on for three wins but his RC30 went down onto two cylinders in one outing. Will Bryant and James McHardy fought it out for 700 Pre Injection points with the edge going to Bryant on his CBR600 and raise himself to the top of the points table as Daniel Jones the early season pace setter had another big-off and not points…. a repeat of Pembrey last time out ! Despite Jon Wright taking two wins in the 1300 Pre Injections on his R1 to Owen Hunt’s one Hunt extended his series lead to 90 points with just 125 still up for grabs. Donington Park does not hold good memories for David Irons and the TWR team after having a machine stolen from the paddock last year. Dave put that to the back of his mind this year to take three wins in the 700 Streetstocks, each time over championship rival Alex Jones, with Russell Hynes in close attendance. Those wins take Dave to the top of the table with a 13-point lead going into Castle Combe. The bigger Streetstock class saw Richard Hughes win on Saturday in the dry on his BMW S1000R, but in Sunday mornings damp conditions he went for a wrong set up and Jason Hill took the flag first. Hughes was in no mood to give a way more points in the afternoon though and stormed to another victory….his eleventh from the 15 rounds so far. ACU FSRA F2 Sidecars. Defending F2 British champions Peter Founds and Jevan Walmsley took both points scoring racing for the sidecars, but it was not for the want of trying by the opposition. The Rowtec Suzuki of the champions did not miss a beat and the driver passenger combination did not put a foot wrong as all of their rivals suffered in one way or another. Lee Crawford/Scott Hardie posted yet another dnf on Saturday whilst Sean Hegarty/James Neave went home with no points. Conrad Harrison and Andy Winkle were the only other Super pair to score in both races as Founds and Walmsley continue to dominate. F2 Cup leaders Daryl Gibson and Ashley Moore took Saturdays race in fine style on the GDM Shellbourne Suzuki, but failed to finish Sundays outing leaving the way open for Kevin and Steve Morgan to take their first win on the Gittins and Son R6. Ralph Remnant and Samantha Tilley were not able to capitalise on their first pole position as they came home in seventh, clawing back just a few points in their championship chase, but remain in a strong second place. The FSRA’s also had their pre injection class at Donington and that saw three convincing wins for John Shipley and Milo Ward on their 1000cc Ireson Yamaha. Roy Tansley and Freddy Lulubez, Rob Atkinson and Glen Dawson as well as Kevin and Steve Morgan took a win each in the NG series. Sam and Adam Christie still lead the series though, but now by just four points. For full FSRA reports and standing check out www.fsra.org.uk The Protect my income.com Newcomers. With no dedicated Newcomers races at Combe or Oulton this meeting would see the climax of their championship. The Open saw a stunning win for James Welch on his R6 Yamaha, James also posted a couple of top fives in the 600 open too so is definitely one-to-watch. Blake Shaw took second on the day, which was enough for him to take the title. Bradley Richman carded his second win in succession on his ZXR400 taking a 36 second clear victory over his nearest rival Aiden Goodings to lift the 500 championship. The Mini Twins series saw a real nail-biter as series leader Cameron Corfield was watching from the sidelines after his big crash at Pembrey last time out. His closest rival was Christopher Sinanan, but Sinanan had to win….mathematically second would not be good enough. As Sinanan was embroiled in a battle with Vinny Branch he watch agonisingly as Hayden Rushton eeked out a 3 second lead. When the maths he been done the watching Corfield was named champ…by one point !!! Wiz Sliders Performance of the meeting. At every NG round one lucky rider is selected for the Wiz Sliders Performance award. The chosen one gets a special set of one-off sliders made by the Wiz guy's in Somerset. Having his best race weekend ever with 5 podiums from six starts on his BMW S1000RR Gary Stevens got the nod from the judges. He was so close to a first win finishing just 0.109 of a second behind Josh Day on the last lap of Saturday’s wet/dry Open final. www.wizkneesliders.com Wiz Sliders are made to be used and abused. Ride like you want to win them ! Next Round: Castle Combe | 1st and 2nd September. Words : Russ Gardner - NG Road Racing Media Officer Images : EDP Photo News - www.edpphoto.co.uk