Gorton’s Day at Darley Moor

Tuesday May 13, 2025 at 9:31am

A perfect day’s racing at the Darley Moor Sports Centre, near Ashbourne, DE6 2ET (What3words: bounty.behalf.charm) on Sunday 11^th May when the gates were opened for Rounds 3 and 4 of the Darley Moor Motor Cycle Road Race Club Championship. Perfect weather, certainly for spectators and a perfect day for one competitor, Stephen Gorton (Leigh) with six victories and six Fastest Laps, from six starts in the twenty-two-race programme!

One of the busiest competitors of the day Gorton, along with his apparent ‘shadow’ for the day, Corey Brown (Atherton) were in action from the opening race of the day, the Golden Formula 400 race, which Gorton lead from Start-Finish with Brown and Steve Price (Stockport) following throughout. The afternoon’s race saw Ant Porter (Chesterfield) split the two on the opening lap until Brown found his way through on the 2^nd Lap, but Porter was able to stay ahead of Price, dropping him to 4^th place. Gorton and Brown were out again for the Wilson Trophy race, Gorton again leading from the start, but this time with Brown in 4^th place after the opening lap, Richard Hughes (Wolverhampton) 2^nd and Mike White (Atherton) 3^rd. By the end of Lap2 Brown was into 2^nd, with Hughes 3^rd and White 4^th, but just another lap would see White drop Hughes back a place into 4^th and there they remained until the chequered flag. Brown had a bit more of a battle in the second Wilson Trophy race, whilst Gorton continued his dominance out front. The opening lap saw Brown down in 5^th place, behind Porter, 2^nd, White, 3rd and Shane Watson, 4^th, then Brown moved pass Watson and White took 2^nd spot from Porter on Lap2. Porter then reclaimed 2^nd place on Lap3 and held it until Lap6 when Brown found his way through on him and White, who then passed Porter on the final lap, the result being another victory for Gorton, followed home by Brown, White, Porter and Watson. Gorton’s final two victories came in the combined Lightweight and Honda CB500/Suzuki Bandit 600 race, another Gorton/Brown demonstration heading the field for the Lightweight class with Hughes carrying the CB500 flag and holding 3^rd place overall until the Lightweight machine of White passed him on the 7^th, of 8laps, Hughes dropped to 4^th Overall, but victory in the CB500 Class. The penultimate race of the day saw this group of competitors in action once more in the second Lightweight/CB500 race and the only time Gorton was headed, with White leading from Hughes, Brown and Gorton down in 4^th place. An ‘incident’ for White on Lap2 saw him drop to 4^th, whilst Gorton fought his way to the front with Hughes and Brown maintaining their 2^nd and 3^rd places. Lap3 saw Brown move into his ‘customary’ slot shadowing Gorton, White moved into 3^rdand dropping Hughes to 4^th. Lap7 saw White break the Gorton/Brown domination when he passed Brown for 2^nd place and hold it until the chequered flag.

Whilst the opening race of the day saw the beginning of Gorton’s dominance Race 2, the combined Open Solo/Golden Superbike race, would give spectators the start of an epic battle between a pair of competitors, Matt Bell (Sheffield) and Ben Luxton (Bredbury) throughout the day. Whilst Luxton, Runner-Up in the 2024 Star of Darley meeting, was only testing his new British SuperSport machine and ineligible for any championship points, nobody was complaining from the spectator banks around the circuit. The Race 2 Lap Chart shows that Bell was leading throughout, but after Adam Walters (Derby) was dropped by Luxton to 3^rd on Lap2, initially almost 1sec adrift of Bell, but Lap3 saw the advantage halved, then back to around 1sec for Laps4, 5 and 6, then halved once more on Lap7, after Luxton recorded the Fastest Lap of the race, then down to 0.65sec at the flag, with Walters almost 13sec back in 3^rd place. Their next battle was in the Ben Godfrey Trophy race, Race 11, again no Championship points for Luxton. Lap1 finished with the British SuperSport machine leading by 0.5sec, with Bell, 2nd and Walters, 3^rd, but almost 2sec back. Lap2 saw the gap between Luxton and Bell stretched to almost 1sec, then reduced to almost 0.5sec on Lap3 and 4, but after posting the Fastest Lap on Lap5 Bell moved into the lead, albeit with an advantage of 0.08sec. Lap6 saw a 1sec lead for Bell, over Luxton, with now four lapped riders between them and Walters, still in 3^rd place. Lap7 saw Bell stretch out a 1.2sec advantage, but Luxton managed to almost halve this on the final lap to 0.6sec, again, at the flag. The afternoon’s race, Round 4 of the Championship, combined Open Solo/Golden Superbike race, saw Luxton lead the opening lap, heading Bell by 0.6sec, with Walters, 3^rd. Lap2 finished with Bell crossing the line 0.01sec ahead, Luxton then reclaimed the lead on Lap3, all of 0.1sec of it and stretched it to 0.4sec on Lap4 and 5, but by the end of Lap6 Bell was back in front, 0.06sec, with Luxton again reclaiming it on Lap7, 0.04sec and taking the chequered flag by just 0.01sec on Lap8. Epic! Mark Brailsford (Chesterfield) claimed the Golden Superbike honours in both races an overall 9^th in the first and 10^th, in the second race. Luxton/Bell’s final encounter of the day was in the final race, ensuring no spectators left early, the Ben Godfrey Trophy, as in the their first race of the day, the same competitor led across the line after each lap, this time it was Luxton, with Bell between 0.3 – 0.7sec behind him throughout, but with the largest gap on the penultimate lap, 0.78sec reduced to 0.42sec at the flag with the help of Bell recording the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.

Benjamin Dale (Warrington) stamped his authority on the Golden SuperSport class with another two start – finish victories, both with Liam Ashton (Hyde) following him home in 2^nd spot, approximately 10sec adrift. A third win came in the first Darley Cup race, although it was a very hard-fought victory after Josh Froggatt (Worksop) led across the line, just, each time, until the final lap, the gap between the pair had never got above 0.5sec, on Lap7 Froggatt’s advantage was 0.23sec, but Dale put in the Fastest Lap of the race on that final circulation and managed to take the victory by 0.13sec. The second Darley Cup race saw Joe Walton (Preston) take a Start – Finish victory, but in a non-points scoring ride, leaving Dale and Froggatt to battle it out again for Championship honours. Once again it was a close battle between them, with Dale having the advantage, again around 0.4sec, except on Lap6 when Froggatt recorded his quickest lap, giving him the advantage, briefly, only for Dale to reclaim the lead and ‘victory’ by 0.17sec.

However, Froggatt was able to claim an overall victory in the first combined Super twins/250GP& Mini Twins Championship and a Start-Finish victory at that, finishing with a 9.6sec advantage over David Glossop (Wilmslow). The 250GP & Mini Twins class victory went to Peter Fell (Burton on Trent) in Overall 6^th place after Jim Hodson (Wigan), who was overall 3^rd on Lap3 but, failed to complete Lap4. The second race saw Joe Walton return to the grid for another test of his machine, again ineligible for championship points, but taking a start – finish victory. Behind him Stephen Taylor (Uppingham) finished the opening lap just ahead of Froggatt, but by Lap2 Froggatt had taken the lead and was able to stretch out an 8sec lead over Taylor, claiming the points for 2^nd place. Mini-Twins honours went to Anthony Thane (Stoke on Trent), 7^th Overall, after a race long battle with Fell, who finished almost 1sec behind in 8^th, Overall.

Stephen Parsons (Carnforth) secured two Start-Finish victories in the Open 600 class, both finishing around 5sec ahead of two Stoke on Trent competitors Matt Zschiesche, 2^nd and Jordon Poole, 3^rd.

The two combined Open Sidecar and Formula 600 Sidecar saw another team just testing their machine out and ineligible for Championship points, but a satisfying day for Hebden Bridge pairing, Steve and Matty Ramsden who secured two start – finish victories. However, maximum Formula 600 Championship points were secured by Dan Knight/Justin Sharp (Congleton/Skellingthorpe) in the opening race, finishing behind the Ramsden’s with Alan Molyneux/Rob Coppock (Rufford/Runcorn) taking the Open Class victory with an Overall 3^rd place after fending off a challenge from the Howard Baker/Mike Killingsworth (Sutton Coldfield/Lincoln) F600 outfit. The Second race saw the ‘demise’ of the Knight/Sharp pairing off the start-line, leaving Molyneux/Coppock and Baker/Killingworth to battle it out for Overall Championship honours and with the two outfits never separated by more than 1sec throughout the race, they kept the spectators entertained and separated by just 0.2sec at the flag, with Molyneux/Coppock 2^nd Overall and Baker/Killingworth, 3^rd , but each taking their respective classes maximum points.

All in all, an excellent meeting and just over a month to wait for next Championship event on Sunday 15^th June 2025, for Rounds 5 and 6, Fathers’ Day, an ideal gift and a family day-out? Just go to the website, www.darleymoor.co.uk, for advanced, cheaper tickets.

2025 Championship Standings (after Round 4)

Golden Formula 400

1^st Stephen Gorton, 45pts; 2^nd Steve Price, 40pts; 3^rd Ant Porter, 37pts

Wilson Trophy

1^st Stephen Gorton, 60pts; 2^nd Corey Brown, 48points; Mike White, 40pts

Darley Cup

1^st Josh Froggatt, 51pts; 2^nd Benjamin Dale, 45pts; 3^rd David Glossop, 42pts

Ben Godfrey Trophy

1^st Matthew Bell, 60pts; 2^nd Adam Walters, 48pts; 3^rd Matt Zschiesche, 30pts

Open 600cc

1^st Stephen Parsons, 60pts; 2^nd Matt Zschiesche, 44pts; 3^rd Jordan Poole, 40pts

Golden Superbike