For the last few years this Pembrey meeting had some of the best grids and certainly some of the best weather of the year. When the sun shines at Pembrey the grip levels soar and the lap times tumble. That is borne out by the outright lap record set by Josh Day at 90.6mph.
I have always said that if you can get under the magic-minute then you are not hanging around and that is the target for most. But to win now you need to go a fair bit faster !!!!
As ever Josh will be the man to beat on the big bikes, but Chris Pope, Dave Mackay, Allister Haynes, Sean Montgomery and the rest are watching and learning. The 600 class is all action with Max Symonds now leading the way in the tight 600 class and will again square up against Owen Hunt, Ross Walker, James Griffiths and Liam Delves.
The closest serie is the 1300 Streetstock class with just one points between Jason Hill and Chris Oliver…. Who will have the upper hand here ? Hill is recovering from a Cadwell injury so has been working hard to get fit. Another returning from injury is Paul Wardell, he broke his arm at Snetterton and rode through the pain barrier at Cadwell. Edward Giles took the opertunity to grab the serties lead and will be defending for all he’s worth in the Super Twins. Dave Mackay and Ben Broadway will be again squabbling over the Sound of Thunder whilst Jon Wright and Daniel Boucher will continue to trade wins in the pre injections.Jim Hind is again the target man for the rest of the 250GP ACU National runners with Phil Atkinson in the same position in the 125 GP category.
Another highlight will be the continued Mini Twins battle between Dan Harris and fast newcomer Olii Warren.
I for one cannot believe that we have passed into the second half of the season, but there are still plenty of points and races available to the slow starters to come back into the fray.
There is something for every race fan with classes for all bikes from the teenagers on the F125’s, hard chargers on 600’s through bog stock Street bikes and 1970’s and 80’s Superbikes to the exotic Sound of Thunder and Sidecars……
The Pembrey Circuit
This 1.456-mile Pembrey circuit throws up a series of demanding challenges for the riders. The circuit has two very distinct sections split by the Hatchets and Brooklands hairpins. The technical section from Hatchets, through Spitfires, Dibeni, Paddock and the Esses changes after heavy braking at Brooklands as the fast sweeping sections through the Speedway, Woodlands and Honda Curve take over. Despite the hairpin sections lap speeds in excess of 90mph are needed for glory.
NG's fastest round Pembrey
Josh Day set a new outright circuit NG lap record in 2017 on his way to Open victory aboard his ZX10 Kawasaki. His blistering 57.8 second lap is just about 90.6mph…. To get near that we need perfect conditions and a very fast and committed rider... any takers?
Adding extra interest to the weekend.......
NG Road Racing is again running and promoting the British National series for 125cc and 250cc GP machinery. This is the only place in the UK that you will see these ex-GP machines racing for a full British Championship title backed by the ACU (The sports governing body in the UK). We also have the Ducati Desmo Due Series and the Formula Prostocks runners.
On Sunday NG host the first round of the all-new ACU British 50cc Championships.
Where do we go from here.......
After Pembrey we head from South Wales to North Wales and the Anglesey Coastal circuit on the
10th and 11th August. For full details check out
www.angleseycircuit.com
Check out the full NG calendar :
www.ngroadracing.org
Words : Russ Gardner - NG Road Racing Media Officer
Images : EDP Photo News -
www.edpphoto.co.uk Web Info: www.ngroadracing.org