Round seven Donington Park 25th May 2009
Davis in command at Donington Chester’s Jason Davis extended his lead at the top of the 250GP ACU National Championship with a superb win at Donington Park in front of a huge Bank Holiday British Superbike audience. Topping the charts in free practice, qualifying and taking the race win, it was a perfect weekend for Davis and his BM Groundworks/Ovenden Yamaha Team.
From as early as Saturday’s free practice session, it was clear that several riders were in with a shout of steeling the show on the big stage. Title hunters Mark Davies and Andrew Sawford were both quick out of the blocks and Lee Dickinson, making his Championship debut also impressed on the aging Honda and sat in a creditable fourth position overnight. Notably the reigning 250GP Champion Ben Johnson was also making his first appearance of the season on the Darrell Higgins Racing TZ Yamaha, replacing the absent Ross Willshire.
Timed qualifying drew the very best British Superbike stars from their motor homes to watch the return of 250GP action to the BSB scene. Jason Davis controlled the session, and when Andrew Sawford put in some laps to challenge pole, Davis went faster again, with a blistering 1:37.773 lap, 1.6 seconds faster than Sawford on his St Neot’s Motorcycles Yamaha, and double race winner from Snetterton just one week earlier. Mark Davies finished in third and disappointed with the gap between himself and Davis’ pole time. Lee Dickinson completed the front row in fourth.
Bruce Dunn headed the second row fresh back from his North West 200 trip, Rich Grinling;s Honda 6th Chris McAloran’s Honda was seventh fastest but with the J&RB Racing Honda chewing up barrels on an annoyingly regular basis, including mid session here, the 2007 Irish short circuit champion played no further part in the weekend’s action. A very impressive Ben Johnson was eighth despite only sitting on the Darrell Higgins Yamaha for the first time the previous day.
Supporting the number one plate, he suffered various set up problems which meant the midnight oil had to be topped up. The NG Cup was very well supported for this event but it was Championship regular Paul McCullagh who was quickest in 16th position with title rival Jonathan Stamper sitting next to him in 17th on the grid.
Disaster struck for Ant Hodson as his MDJ / TSM Racing Yamaha simply would not play and he failed to post a flying lap all session. The fault was identified as a loose main jet, and luckily he was granted a back row start position, that would later prove priceless. The 1055 race start time meant the Fraser’s of Gloucester and Dunlop backed series would be on show to the majority of the gathering BSB crowds, and would also be over before any danger of the forecasted rain came in.
The freight train at the end of lap one was headed by Jason Davis with Lee Dickinson slotting into second, Sawford third, Mark Davies fourth, Bruce Dunn fifth Chris Barton in sixth, Grinling, Johnson, Guillou and after a frantic first lap, Ant Hodson was into tenth from his back of the grid start slot. On lap two, the leading quartet had gapped the chasing pack and the race was on, with only Hodson, still picking his way through the top ten, any where near the same lap times. Sawford took over the running on lap three to lead for the next couple of laps.
With Davis slotting back into the lead on lap five, Lee Dickinson’s race ended when the Honda suffered crank failure. The action was frantic for several laps but on lap nine, things were to change as Sawford’s cruel Donington Park luck returned and the Yamaha also stopped with crank failure. While exiting Goddards to start the tenth lap, Ben Johnson crashed out uninjured, while trying to catch Rich Grinling’s Honda. This promoted Bruce Dunn to fifth. Further back, Lee Goddard was having the race of his Championship, picking off the likes of Paul Lumb, Phil Guillou and even piped Chris Barton on the last lap.
In the NG Cup battle, Jonathan Stamper was having an incredible race on his Graham File Tuning TZ to pick his way up to 13th on the road. Likewise Paul McCullagh had a poor start and ended lap one in 24th, but clawed his Amethyst Yamaha back to 15th. Meanwhile at the front, Jason Davis held off a late charge from Mark Davies, to take the win.
The fastest lap was set by Mark in his quest to close the gap, and upon closer inspection of the rear Dunlop on Jason’s BM Groundwork’s Yamaha, it’s doubtful he would have been able to fend any challenges given another lap. Completing the podium, was a delighted Ant Hodson. Rich Grinling ended up fourth, Dunn fifth, Lee Goddard sixth, Chris Barton seventh, Phil Guillou eighth, the returning 2008 NG Cup Champion – Paul Lumb a brilliant ninth and Tony Davis tenth. Race winner Jason Davis was also presented with the Ken Walker Shield, which has some very famous names already engraved on it, including the presenter, and BSB fans favorite - Chris Walker. It was awarded on behalf of the Donington Park Supporters Club.
The NG Cup saw Jonathan Stamper take the win and in doing so, claimed the lead in the Championship. Paul McCullagh took second, and consolation for the J&RB Racing Team as Adrian Martin claimed another podium in third. Louise Goddard was pleased with her fourth position and Peter Henry Cox took fifth, a resounding result considering he stepped off his PHC Racing Yamaha at Redgate in practice.
Championship: Davis 152: Davies 103: Grinling 95: Sawford 88: Hodson 81: Willshire 49: Kenchington 47: Guillou 44: McAloran 35: Tony Davis & Russell 31
Cup: Stamper 122: Willshire 100: McCullagh 93: Hampton 92: Martin 87: Goddard 85: Keogh 39: Woolcott 38: Ashcroft 34:
Next Rounds – Cadwell Park 6th, 7th June 2009