Thursday September 19, 2013 at 12:46pm
Lee Wilson (MSG Suzuki 1000) stayed ten points ahead of Jamie Harrison (Honda 1000) in both the ACU Clubmans Championship and the Derby Phoenix club’s 751-1300cc Four stroke series, after the penultimate round of the series at Mallory Park.
Wilson and Harrison both notched up a win and a second at the Leicestershire circuit to leave the track with the same gap they had started the day. Wilson won race one, leading throughout and beating Harrison home by just under three seconds. Tim Howells had to start at the back of the grid after missing qualifying, but despite that and a ten-second penalty for twice overshooting the chicane, because of a misted-up visor, he still finished third.
Harrison was struggling to get the gearing right after not having been to Mallory since 2007, but by race two he was close. He led from start to finish. Wilson started on intermediates and as a dry line appeared he was able to quicken his pace, climbing from fifth to second place, just under five seconds behind the winner.
Carl Simpson bounced back from an earlier spill in race one to take third spot, four seconds further, just ahead of Carlo Barbaro (Kawasaki 1000), who had been fourth in race one. Howells had been running in second spot early in the race, but his soft slicks started to go off in a dangerous fashion, so he pulled out on lap five. Wilson now has 304 points, ten more than Harrison, but with double points in all four races at the final round at Cadwell Park, Simpson in third place, with 238 points is not out of contention.
Lee Wilson won a closely fought Allcomers 701-1300cc race. Tim Howells was down in fourth place on the opening lap, but quickly moved up to challenge Wilson. Wilson made a bid to take the lead on the last lap, but conscious that the others were involved in a battle for the championship did not go through with it. His hesitancy allowed Jamie Harrison to snatch second place from him in the run-in to the flag. Howells was third, with the trio covered by just over a second.
Harrison still tops the points’ table on 168, but his lead over Wilson is down to 22. The injured Liam Marchant is third with 143.
With 100 points available in the final round at Cadwell, the battle could go all the way to the very last race.
Adrian Harrison, the 28-year-old elder brother of Dean Harrison won both Minitwins races to climb to second in the championship. Harrison raced the Printing Roller Services Kawasaki 650 at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough on the Saturday and then drove down to Mallory Park.
He is now just nine points behind long-standing series’ leader Robert Mack (Kawasaki 650), who took two fourth places. Mack’s friend and closest rival, Stephen Tweddle (Suzuki 650), slipped back from second to third in the points’ table after going out of the first race on the opening lap. Dominic Herbertson (Suzuki 650), back after a good, debut Manx Grand Prix, was second home in the re-started first race, setting the fastest lap. The 22-year-old from Northumberland, making his Mallory debut, was just over four seconds behind Harrison.
Daniel Taylor (Suzuki 650) was third, just under five seconds further back.
Harrison won the second race, over ten seconds clear of Taylor, with Scott Smith (Suzuki 650), who set the fastest lap. The unlucky Herbertson was a non-starter after his battery expired in the earlier 175-675cc Allcomers event, when lying eighth.
Mack has 219 points, Harrison 210, Tweddle 203 and Taylor 160. With 200 points to be won at Cadwell Park in October the title race is still wide open.
Andrew Sawford (Yamaha 250) won both races in the penultimate round of the Two Stroke Grand Prix series, but he was lucky to escape unhurt after a crash at the end of the first. The former ACU 250 champion won race one, but less than a tenth of a second behind him over the line was Rich Grinling (Yamaha 250). So close, in fact, that Grinling did not see the chequered flag and when Sawford slowed, he ran into him flat out in fifth gear. Fortunately neither rider was hurt, but while Sawford was able to repair his bike, Grinling could not and missed race two. Sawford won that by just over seven seconds from Dan Williams (Yamaha 250).