This week’s ‘What’s on Weekly’ features a selection of just a few events taking place around the country over this weekend and next. Due to the continued bad weather a number of events have had to be postponed.
Trials
BSSA Wessex could have the answer to a hot British Sidecar Championship result on Sunday at West Harptree where they stage the Tuck Cross Trial at Beaconsfield Farm. For a start Sandra Sparkes has seven expert crews on her twenty eight strong list of championship contenders. That is the highest entry in the six previous rounds. Multi champions Robin and Sam Luscombe may be trailing in third place behind consistent Isle of Man crews Adrian and Aaron Smith and fellow travellers Gary Flowers and Antony Smith by ten points but wily Lusky has an ace card up his sleeve, a dropped round score because he missed Peveril in wet and windy February. Don’t mention drop scores to Rupert and Chris Kimber. The Rochester son and father duo have hit the jackpot when it comes down to bad luck this season. Make no mistake the Kimbers will strike back, probably on Sunday. The Inter battle is coming to the boil with Tony Crabtree and Jamie Howe rampant but Guildford school groundsman Peter Dale and the efficient Barry Pocock, the latter a but special at landscaping, will be on Crabby if he lapses on Beaconsfield Farm on Sunday. Local stars Andy Scriven and Martin Lawford have four rostrums on the score card this season as have David Tuck and Steve Chandler. Both teams are Bristolians. Steve Radford and Mike Redstone make an appearance as well, their first sortie this year. Phil Sparkes and Roger Tuck head the clubmen on eighty seven points with a drop scored implemented but the stunning news is that the winning partnership ends on Sunday. Passenger Roger Tuck leaves the UK to make his home in Greece, on Monday! “I don’t know what I am going to do for the final three events” was how Phil summed up his news. He has plotted the course with his deputy Tom Gerkin who was C of C last year. Mark Kemp and Ian Allaway are hovering in second place eighteen points ahead of Nigel Scott and Jay Ashley-Hall with Paul Churchill and Kevin Parnell a single point behind them. Newcomers Alan and Rosie Maynard travel from Launceston to probably with their class for the sixth time. The course format will be four groups starting at lambs Lair, then the road ride to Chelwood and Frys Bottom and then a second ride in Lambs Lair. Start time will be 10.00 am. Post code for the sat nav specialists is BS40 6EH.
Enduro
This Sunday 13th May sees the 2nd round of the 2012 EMG/Eastern Centre Solo Enduro Championship at Foxborough Quarry Sible Hedingham. The fifteen point’s scorers at the 1st round Championship Class, Chris Hockey, Jamie Roper, Aston Bird, Jason Morland, Tom Howe, Julian Harvey, James Jackman, Lee Whitney, Ricky Roper, Craig Roper, Ian Parker, Adam Ranson, Stephen Revett, Jack Berry and Steve Mason will be looking to improve their points tally. The top five in the Experts Class are Phil Burton, Ollie Stern, James Holt, John Bishop and Toby Morley while in the Clubman Class Andrew Greenwell leads Ian Tutton, David Stevens, Paul Davis and Kevin Webb. The Team Dave Roper racing shirts will be worn by this year’s sponsored Sudbury Club members for the first time is this Solo Championship. The format for this event is on the Hare and Hounds system with the Clubman Class starting first at 10am and rides for two hours followed by the Championship and Experts Classes at 1pm for 2.5 hours. It looks like there will be a full house of 160 competitors and the organisers, Sudbury Motor Cycle Club have decided to use only one of the bogs due to the amount of rainfall over the last few weeks and this will make it easier for lap scoring and the riders but there will still be some good spectacular action.
Grasstrack
The British Motorcycle Federation and Auto Cycle Union in conjunction with The Mid Cornwall Premier Motorcycle Club will be hosting the Opening Two rounds of the 2012 British Track Racing series. The 19th and 20th May will see the Track Racing Championship return to the East of England Showground at Peterborough. With 20 pairings all aiming to make a solid start to the new season it is sure to be a great event. With reigning Champions Mark Cossar and Carl Blyth facing plenty of pressure from matt Tyrrell and Mark Courtney and many others. Besides the opportunity to watch some first class track racing, all ACU members benefit from a special ticket deal negotiated with show organisers The Mulberry Group. For those who prefer to camp and make a weekend of it the offer is even better... Campers can gain access to the site from 14.00 on Friday 18th May and enjoy live bands on both Friday and Saturday evenings. Another new innovation for 2012 includes a Blues, Booze & Bikers area which as the name would suggests offers Blues music together with 20 real ales and 4 real ciders to choose from and this is in addition to the main hall entertainment with great headline cover bands including Limehouse Lizzy, the ZZ Tops and Dr & The Medics to name but a few, so plenty of choice for every taste! The BMF Show in May is Europe’s largest outdoor show and is attracting crowds in excess of 42,000 over the weekend with over 3,500 choosing to camp for the entire weekend.
The SPECIAL ACU ticket offer is:
BMF May Show:
Day tickets - £14.00 (valid for either Saturday or Sunday)
Weekend camping ticket - £33.00 (entry from 14.00 on Friday)
Tickets can be obtained from: Tracey Cossar in the Track Racing Department at the ACU on 01788 566402 or by email on tracey@acu.org.uk and can be purchased by Credit Card/Debit Card or Cheque made payable to ‘ACU Ltd’
It is with much regret that THE DONINGTON DEMON will not go ahead as planned. We walked the track on Sunday 6th May and decided the land is far too wet underfoot to continue. After discussions with the land owner, the circuit groundstaff who have local knowledge and ourselves, it was decided to postpone the event until the weekend of the British Super Bikes in September. We shall be using the same format with afternoon/evening practice and racing on Saturday 8th September 2012. There is little chance of the land drying sufficiently in time for the planned event, even without the torrential rain that is forecast for Thursday 10th May in the East Midlands. The land is of slightly acid loamy and clayey soils with impeded drainage which stood the test very well after the March weekend. However as the landowner have other uses for this field in the next 2 months we felt the best plan was to surrender to the weather. It has been an unusual weather year so far, as you will understand.
It is with much regret that following an inspection this morning, the Master of Midshires has been cancelled. Further rain on Tuesday night and yesterday has not drained and has left most of the field waterlogged. The actual field/race track was in good condition and the good forecast would have dried it out but this has not materialised so far. A test run of driving a vehicle on the field resulted in it getting stuck. The committee has worked very hard and tried all it could to beat the weather but have been defeated at the last hurdle. It is unlikely the meeting will be re-run this year due to a lack of availability of suitable dates but the committee will start work and planning the 2013 Master of Midshires very soon. The club would like to thank the many sponsors that have supported the meeting and with their agreement, this will be added to the prize fund for 2013. A big thanks to all the riders for their support in entering the meeting and we hope that you will support the club again next year. All riders and officials will be contacted personally by the club.
Road Racing
The next round of the Road and Track and 4 Parks Championship will take place at Mallory Park on the above date. Practice will commence shortly after 09.00am and the first of 18 races at approx 11.00am. The Championships are really livening up with James Cowton and Gavin Lupton fighting for the Formula Two Championship, currently both share the top position which will make it more interesting at this meeting. Regular Mark Goodings leads the 600 Championship with Richard Gibson the current open champion leading the big class. Admission is dealt with by Mallory Park Circuit, advanced tickets are £11 or £13 on the gate. Visit www.mallorypark.co.uk
This weekend the Aintree Motorcycle Racing Club will be holding a round of the Ace of Aintree Road Race Championship at the Aintree Racecourse. Practice will be starting at 9.30 am and the first race will start at approx 10.30 am. The meeting will consist of a 26 race meeting with 13 qualifying heats and 13 Finals. All classes are included from 125 cc upto 1300 cc Superbikes plus Formulas 1 and 2 sidecars and a full programme of both Classics and Forgotten Era machines. The AINTREE Racecourse is located at Melling Road, Liverpool, L9 5AS.
If your club is running an event in the coming weeks and would like to be a part of this feature please contact Richard Blyth on pr@acu.org.uk with details of your event.