The next round of the NG Racing / Completely Motorbikes 2023 championship returns to Castle Combe where the feature event is going to be the conclusion of the King of Combe, the final 3 races in this event will see the new king crowned.
Or will it be a new person on top of the podium to receive the Rodney Gooch trophy?
With 3 of the 6 races completed earlier this year at the April meeting it was a clean sweep of 3 wins for Max Symonds on the J & C Symonds Yamaha which puts him in a commanding position with mixed results from the rest of the grid that meeting and no clear challengers, TT rider Jamie Coward was unfortunate not to take a win, but pushed Symonds to the limit , Jim Hind could be another to look for a win or two and the DCM pair of George Edwards and Ricky Elder have been making the small 600 Yamahas fly in the previous rounds. The possibility of BSB SUPERSPORT 600 rider TJ Toms coming out to be the joker in the pack to is an interesting prospect too.
But it would be a brave man not to put 50p on Max lifting the title again.
And not to forget the class Championships as well with Symonds still going for the Phoenix Open and Bluebell lakes Powerbike at the same time and doing duty with BSB Superstock it’s a very hectic year for the Symonds team.
IMS 600 is a close battle with Ricky Elder just in front of George Edwards by a mere 7 points and the HM Racing Clubman class is Bevan Plumley from Steve Parry but with a 108 point lead
The ACU 250 GP 2 strokes is looking more like Bobby Veary every time he turns a wheel, but it only took one mistake last year to lose the championship
With the normal mixture of high-speed race machines to the production based “budget” classes of the Ducati Desmo 620 & 600, the Suzuki Bandit Challenge and the Mini Twins it the normal packed programme of racing and with 2 parades of classic machines on both days its wall-to-wall action over the weekend.
Martin Bennett: race commentator,mb07818@gmail.com
Pics: Colin Hill: