Two wins for Alex Kenchington in the Replicast-BikeSport News 250cc British championship series at Castle Combe, Wiltshire at the weekend has tightened things up at the top of the standings.
Lee Dickinson, the 30-year-old satellite engineer from Stanfree, Derbyshire, stays top of the points’ table, but his lead has been slashed from 22 to 12.
Dickinson, on the Malcolm Hobbs/Galemain Engineering Honda, was robbed of the chance of snatching victory in the first of the two points’ scoring rounds on Saturday, when red flags halted racing in the closing stages of the scheduled 15-lap event after local racer Darrell Higgins had crashed heavily at Tower Corner.
The decision to stop racing came just as Dickinson launched a challenge to regain the lead from Kenchington the 23-year-old bicycle shop owner from Wellington, Somerset, with whom he had been battling throughout.
The official result went back to the order over the line at the end of lap 13, when Kenchington (Dennis Trollope Racing Yamaha) had held a slender lead of just over a quarter of a second.
Dan Tarratt (J&RB Racing Honda), the 36-year-old maintenance fitter from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, who had been quickest in qualifying, was third home after battling at the front with the other pair in the early stages.
Dickinson led Sunday’s second race, run in place of the rained-off Silverstone round in May, for the first couple of laps, but then Kenchington, who had been back in fourth place on the opening lap, went by to hit the front.
This time Dickinson could not match the pace of his younger rival and crossed the finishing line over six seconds down on the winner.
Third home, almost a second behind Dickinson, was 29-year-old motorcycle dealer from Sandy, Bedfordshire, Andrew Sawford (St Neots Motorcycles Yamaha).
Dickinson now heads the championship with 111 points, 12 more than Kenchington. Sawford, in third place, is on 72.
Victory for Lee Hodge, the 26-year-old builder from near Dunstable, Bedfordshire in the 15-lap Suzuki GSXR Cup race, has taken him to within two points of series leader Jay Dunn.
Dunn, the 17-year-old student from Romily, Cheshire and youngest competitor in the race, led from the start of the 15-lap race, shadowed throughout by Hodge.
But three laps from home Hodge grabbed the lead, going on to win by two seconds.
Local rider Chris Hawkes, from Cheltenham, had been fastest in qualifying and had been in third place for the first four laps. Then his arm muscles had tightened up and he was forced to slow, finally finishing in fourth place.
Novice licence holder Michael Birch, the 20-year-old plumber from Poole, Dorset forced his way through to third place, claiming his second Express Insurance Top Gun Award, but over 30 seconds down on the winner.
Dunn stays top on 110 points, with Hodge now on 108.
Hawkes, who played his Joker, earning double points, climbs to third on 77.
James Lodge took full advantage of big brother, Jonathan’s crash, to move to the top of the 125 GP class.
James, the 18-year-old student from Holmfirth, Yorkshire, had been fastest in qualifying, but finished third overall and second in the 125 GP class behind 20-year-old Jonathan and Stuart Mitchell, who was best of the Colin Appleyard 125 Academy championship riders in Saturday’s six-lap non-championship event.
Mitchell headed the pack home in Sunday’s dramatic points’ race, but he was more than a shade lucky.
He was battling with James Lodge and Academy Cup points’ leader Martin Glossop (Bristol Bus & Coach Sale Honda) for the lead when he clipped another rider that he was putting a lap down at one of the chicanes.
Mitchell stayed on his bike after the collision, but the slower man crashed and soon after that the race was red flagged, just as Mitchell took the last lap flag.
With the results taken at the end of lap six, Mitchell was declared the winner and first Academy rider home, one second ahead of James Lodge, who had led briefly on lap five, with Glossop third, a fraction of a second further back.
Jonathan Lodge had been in the thick of the action in a four-way dice with the first three home, till he crashed out, without injury, on lap five.
To add to the pain, brother James is now top of the championship on 116 points, one more than Jonathan.
Charles Wallace, the 21-year-old pharmacy assistant from Kings Langley, Herts. was 12th over the line, handicapped by having managed only two laps in the short qualifying session. But he was third 125 GP rider home and the points lifted him into third place in the class on 70.
Glossop leads the Academy series with 91 points, extending his lead over James East, the 17-year-old from Royston, Herts, who was fourth in the class from six points to 13.
Grant Thomas, the 15-year-old schoolboy from Glasgow stays third, on 61, after finishing a lowly tenth.
George Hogton-Rusling, the 15-year-old schoolboy from Rotherham, Yorkshire, won his second championship race of the year after winning Saturday’s sprint race, to climb to second in the Sports Production 125 table.
Hogton-Rusling headed home a four-rider Aprilia-mounted group, beating Series leader Pete Sutherland, the 13-year-old schoolboy from Glasgow by a comfortable ten seconds.
Another 15-year-old, Joe Moore from Sheffield played his Joker just at the right time, taking third place, his best-ever result in the series, to storm up the points’ table.
Hogton-Rusling, who has still to play his Joker, has 82 points, seven behind Sutherland. Moore is up to fourth, with 61 points, 14 down on the absent James Folkard.
Tom Weeden, the 13-year-old from Maidstone, Kent, narrowly won the sprint Sports Production 80 race on the Saturday from archrival Edward Rendell, but he could not repeat the feat in Sunday’s championship race.
This time it was 14-year-old Aiden Simmons, from nearby Swindon, Wiltshire who grabbed victory, with Rendell, the 16-year-old from Chelmsford, Essex second and Weeden third.
The defeat pushes Weeden to second in the standings on 89, 16 points behind Rendell, who scored double points, after playing his Joker. Simmons is third with 75.
With many of the top ACU Clubman’s Cup contenders absent, teenager Jay Dunn, on his standard Suzuki 600, took on the big bikes in the eight-lap championship race, taking fifth spot.
He could not match the pace of John Fisher (Suzuki 1000), Jamie Wheatley (Yamaha 1000) and Nick Pusey (Yamaha 1000) who filled the top three places.
Dunn climbs from sixth to second in the points’ table, with 33 points, 14 behind series leader James Slater.
The ACU Yokohama British F2 Sidecar race saw the Championship top 3 take up their respective places on the podium. John Holden/Andy Winkle taking their second win and extending their lead in the Series, Simon Neary/Stuart Bond second and Tony Elmer/Darren Marshall third.
Please note all Championship positions are provisional at this stage, please refer to website, www.acu.org.uk for Official Championship tables.
Results and Championship Positions
ACU Dunlop Tyres Sports Production 80 MotoStar Championship
1st Aiden Simmons 2nd Edward Rendell 3rd Tom Weeden
Championship standings
1st Edward Rendall, 105pts 2nd Tom Weeden, 89pts 3rd Aiden Simmons, 75pts
ACU Dunlop Tyre Sports Production 125 MotoStar Championship
1st George Hogton Rusling 2nd Peter Sutherland 3rd Joe Moore
Championship standings
1st Peter Sutherland 89pts 2nd George Hogton-Rusling 82pts 3rd James Folkard 75pts
ACU Dunlop Tyres Colin Appleyard 125 Academy Cup
1st Stuart Mitchell 2nd Martin Glossop 3rd Jake Timms
Championship standings
1st Martin Glossop 91pts 2nd James East, 78pts 3rd Grant Thomas 61pts
ACU Dunlop Tyres 125 Open MotoStar Championship
1st James Lodge 2nd Luke Harvey 3rd Charles Wallace
Championship standings
1st James Lodge 116pts 2nd Jonathan Lodge 115pts 3rd Charles Wallace 70pts
ACU Replicast UK Bikesport News British 250 Championship
1st Alex Kenchington 2nd Lee Dickinson 3rd Andy Sawford
(Additional Round)
1st Alex Kenchington 2nd Lee Dickinson 3rd Dan Tarratt
Championship standings
1st Lee Dickinson 111pts 2nd Alex Kenchington 99pts 3rd Andy Sawford 72 pts
ACU Suzuki GSX-R Trophy
1st Lee Hodge 2nd Jay Dunn 3rd Michael Birch
Championship standings
1st Jay Dunn 110pts 2nd Lee Hodge 108pts 3rd Chris Hawkes 77pts
Yokohama ACU FSRA British F2 Sidecar Championship
1st John Holden/Andy Winkle 2nd Simon Neary/Stuart Bond 3rd Tony Elmer/Darren Marshall
Championship standings
1st John Holden/Andy Winkle 110pts 2nd Tony Elmer/Darren Marshall 3rd Simon Neary/Stuart Bond 78pts
ACU Clubmans Open Championship
1st John Fisher 2nd Jamie Wheatley 3rd Nick Pusey
Championship standings
1st James Slater 47pts 2nd Charlie Corner 30pts 3rd Fisher/Ward/Littlewood/Redding 25pts
For more details on the ACU Dunlop Tyres MotoStar Cup or any of the individual classes, please contact the ACU Road Race Department on 01788 566406 or email rr@acu.org.uk