"Classic Lines"--- 2007

Croft Circuit 17th ~ 18th March 2007

 

After one of the mildest winters on record, it was disappointing to see a downturn in the weather as the meeting approached, with 30 mph winds and even snow forecast for the Sunday.  Unfortunately, for once the weathermen got it spot on and although Saturday was reasonable day, dry and just a bit windy, Sunday's weather was atrocious, with gales and snow flurries. As a consequence the meeting was abandoned on Sunday, on safety grounds.

Practice on Saturday was anything but uneventful, with Paul Coward chucking the big 850cc "works" Weslake into the gravel trap at Clervaux and Iain Bell coming to grief on his Rickman Trident just after the Chicane in a coming together with another rider. Not the way to start the season, but hopefully we will see Iain back on the Rickman at East-fortune  "without the sticking plaster".

Race one got underway in "breezy" conditions with probably the biggest grid of Classics we have ever had at Croft. Early leader, and last years unlimited Champion, Adam Ward, got away first in good style on his Weslake Metisse, hotly pursued by Aly Croft on his Gawthorpe K4 Honda and "yours truly" on the Norton Dominator with Colin Dally in fourth place on his Molnar Manx at the end of lap one.  Colin made his way steadily to the front over the next few laps to take the win from Adam Ward by 0.5secs. Third place and first 350cc was Aly Croft, with similarly mounted Ian Ambler taking fourth place from yours truly at the last bend (he was lucky!!!). Fastest lap was set by Paul Coward on the 850cc Weslake who finished in sixth spot after having had to start from the back of the grid and negotiate the "traffic".

 

Race two started in much windier, but manageable conditions, with most of the Classics coping well, but having to give extra consideration to some of the juniors also on the track, but who were suffering in the windy conditions on their "pocket rocket" Aprilias.

 Straight into the lead again went Adam Ward with Mark Herbertson hot in pursuit on his G50 Matchless. Aly Croft was again in third spot with Colin Dally on his heels. By lap two, Mark Herbertson had taken over at the front and started to build an unassailable lead, which he held to the finish, to win by 19 seconds.   After several laps, Dave Beadle had stormed through to pass Aly Croft and Colin Dally on his Seeley / BSA A65 to take the third spot, 7 seconds behind eventual runner-up Adam Ward. Newcomer Rob Walker finished in sixth spot on his Velocette / Tickle hybrid, after machine problems with the Brian Richardson Manx. Hopefully we will see more of him later in the season on Brian's bike.

All in all, a good start to the season, but a pity about the cancellation of the Sunday's events. At the time of writing, I understand all competitors will receive credit against future entries to the tune of 70% of their entry fees for the cancelled Sunday events.

Hopefully, I will see you all up at East-Fortune for the next round in May.

 

Yours truly, Richard Johnston.

 

 

 

 

 

East Fortune 19th~ 20th May 2007

 

Who says lightning never strikes twice!  It has for the NEMCRC!  Following on from the cancelled Sunday racing in March due to gales, we had a repeat for the Saturday in May.  The gales overnight had seen awnings and tents damaged in the paddock and showed no intention of abating on the Saturday.

After a trial run by a small posse of riders, the SACU Clerk of the Course decided it was too dangerous to run on the Saturday and cancelled until Sunday when the wind was due to ease.

In the event, Sunday was a fine, sunny, day, which got calmer as the day progressed. The rain only arriving as we all packed up to go home.  

Despite the loss of the Saturday for practice and racing, the Club managed to run through the programme three times, by limiting practice to one timed session and reducing race laps to eight.  Quite an achievement, made possible due to slick organisation and thankfully few interruptions. Speaking of which, I do hope the Marshal who was unwell and needed the doctor has made a full recovery now!

Onto the racing and some notable absentees due to injury were Adam Ward, who "had a doctor's note" due to a "personal injury" sustained, I believe at work, and also Colin Dally, who had fallen from his road bike and broken his wrist.  We wish them both a speedy recovery and hope to see them later in the season.

 

In race one, Hexham's Mark Herbertson showed how a Seeley G50 could go and promptly did! Leading from start to finish to win by twenty seconds from 350 cc class winner, Ian Ambler, who was comfortably ahead of second placeman Stuart Gray, both on K4 Hondas.

In the lower orders, first 250cc was Phil Shaw on his Suzuki twin, first 350cc single was Adam Easton on his very original Manx Norton, who finished just 0.4sec's behind Ian James on his 250cc Ducati, who took the 250cc single award.

 

Race two proved the old adage that "if you want to finish first, first you have to finish".  As race one, Mark Herbertson set off like a missile and disappeared into the distance, leaving "yours truly" on the Dominator and Ian Ambler on his K4 to battle it out for second place, or so it seemed!  Out in front all was not well, the clutch cable had snapped on the G50 and Mark had parked it at the side of the track. This meant the race for second place now took on a new importance, for Ian anyway, who had spotted Mark at the trackside. At the end it was Ian who was first under the flag to take a well earned win overall and first 350cc award, by 0.6sec. Second 350cc was Stuart Gray on the Eclipse Honda.  First 500cc was Ian Bainbridge on his Manx Norton, hotly pursued by Anthony Ambler on his Black Bomber Honda and Paul Langley on the Cooke Honda-four.

Phil Shaw again took the 250cc honours on his T20, ahead of similarly mounted Bill Robertson. The 250 single award, this time went to Colin Barrow on his little Cotton Telstar.  The 350cc single award again going to the experienced and consistent Adam Easton.

 

Race three started like a repeat of race two, G50, Dominator, K4 Honda, followed by the "pack" of Honda twins and Fours. After one lap Mark Herbertson began to draw away leaving the Dominator to again repel the attentions of Ian Ambler and his K4. This time there was to be no repeat of the broken clutch-cable and Mark took another easy victory.  The battle for second place raged on to the end with only moderate "paint swapping" between the two combatants (combined age of riders and machines 205 years approx.!), finally being decided at the start of the last lap by the intervention of a back-marker at the chicane, when the K4 was just ahead (lucky again Ian!).

 First 250cc home was again Phil Shaw on his T20 Suzuki, but hotly pursued by the Cotton mounted and much improved Colin Barrow, on the first of the 250 singles, less than a second adrift at the finish. Another noticeable improver was young Paul Langley, who knocked 15seconds off his race times over the weekend on the 500cc Honda-four. Watch out for Paul in the future!

Well that was it, a great end to a bad beginning and three more events to go!  See you all at Croft in July.  Yours truly, Richard Johnston.

 

 

Croft Circuit, 28th ~29th July 2007.

 

With the promise of good weather and an even better Classic grid, the July meeting at Croft held excellent prospects for close and exciting competition. In particular the 500cc grid was very well supported, with Seeley twins and singles, Norton's, Triumphs, Honda Fours and twins in abundance.

In race one the quality of the racing in this class proved as good as the entry with Michael Cooper, newly elevated from a 250cc Ducati single, to a 500cc Seeley, showing what he could do by setting a blistering pace to win by 10 seconds from hard-riding unlimited rider Dave Beadle on his Seeley-BSA twin. In the process he set a fastest lap of 1min 36.9sec, which is probably a class record for our club.

Three-fifty honours went to Ian Ambler on his 350cc K4 Honda as usual, likewise Phil Shaw in the 250cc class on his T20 Suzuki.

Race two followed a similar pattern with Cooper leading Beadle again, but this time only a second in it at the finish. Likewise the battle for third place went to the wire with Mark Herbertson on his 500cc Seeley narrowly beating David Whitehouse on his 500cc Manx. Epic stuff indeed!

 

Sunday's events proved just as exciting, but for different reasons! Race one got underway with a badly oil-leaking bike at the front.  As the following pack steamed into Tower bend, Matty Barkess fell heavily on the dropped oil, while shortly after, at the Esses, the offending oil-leaker came to grief. This was followed seconds later, by two 125cc riders tumbling off at Tower, on their first approach, before the race was finally stopped. Thankfully nobody was badly hurt.

 

The race was eventually re-started with much cement at Tower Bend. Immediately, this claimed another victim, who thought he could ignore the laws of friction and fell heavily. This resulted in another stoppage while the rider and his machine were attended to. Thankfully again, no serious injuries were sustained.

For restart two, discretion ruled and due respect for the track conditions were observed.  Again Michael Cooper was the victor over a much depleted field, with Anthony Ambler, on his Honda black-Bomber, taking the runner-up spot by a mere second from dad, Ian on his 350cc model.

In this race hard-riding Paul Rushton on his immaculate AJS 7R-Metisse won the 350cc single award.

 

After a fine start, Sunday's weather took a turn for the worse and race two got underway on a soaking wet, but drying, track.

Obviously the man who had been doing the rain-dance was Dave Beadle as he came home the winner on his 750cc Seeley BSA, with a 3sec margin of victory over Michael Cooper, and the fastest lap.

Third place went to Henry Bell on his Honda. Ian Ambler was first 350cc home again, with Phil Shaw taking the 250cc win ahead of Colin Barrow on his Cotton Telstar.

So it was all's well that ends well, as none of the fallers were seriously hurt and so it is next stop Cadwell in September. See you all there!

 

 

Cadwell Park --- 8th~ 9th September 2007.

 

"Oh! Didn't we have a lovely day, the day we went to Cadwell!" Or so the song goes! And so we did on the Saturday, with, for a change, fine warm weather and probably the best circuit in the country to race on.  However, after a late start due to a shortage of marshals and several stoppages due to racing incidents, the classics only got one outing on the superb Cadwell full circuit before racing had to finish for the day. No problem, the coach was still on the road and it was anticipated that the remaining three classic races could be completed on the Sunday, with a 9.30am start.

 On the Saturday, race one was won by Preston's Colin Dally, on his Molnar Manx replica, by a mere second from Hexham's Mark Herbertson, on his Seeley Matchless, after a race long battle.  Meanwhile, the battle for third place was being closely contested by four riders, with the final podium spot going to Dave Beadle on his Seeley A65 BSA, 2 seconds ahead of the following group including "yours truly" with Anthony and Ian Ambler, all finishing in that order, with, as usual, K4 mounted Ian taking the 1st 350cc award.

In the smaller classes, Washington's Colin Barrow took his first 250cc class win ahead of Phil Shaw, both Suzuki mounted.

 

Sunday started badly, with ominous appeals for more marshals from the Clerk of the course. Sadly, not enough were forthcoming and eventually the decision was made to switch to the "nadgery" Woodlands Circuit, to the disappointment of most of the riders. All races now being re-scheduled for 10-laps.  Personally, although disappointed at not using the full circuit, I saw it as an opportunity to improve my performance over what I consider the most difficult section of the full circuit and is always a challenge to really fast laps.  In the end I fully enjoyed the Woodlands circuit, with the exception of the hairpin at the end of the main straight.

Race one was, in the absence of Colin Dally, totally dominated by Mark Herbertson, on his Seeley G50. Mark cruising home a full 16 seconds ahead of second placeman and first unlimited rider, Dave Beadle on his Seeley A65.  Dave in turn, finishing 3 seconds in front of yours truly on the Dominator, with 500cc runners Anthony Ambler and Dave Fawcett just behind and in hot pursuit.

In the 250 class, at this point well supported, Scunthorpe's Anthony Allen on his TD1C was the clear winner from Ducati mounted Paul Reed, who also took the 250cc single cylinder award.

Race two was a much closer run affair, with Mark Herbertson again taking the race and the 500cc honours from the fast improving Dave Beadle in a race that was unfortunately stopped after 5-laps due to a non-racing, medical emergency at the track-side.  In the 250cc class Phil Shaw exacted revenge over Anthony Allen by a mere second! David Thorp and Paul Reed finished in that order in the singles category with a tenth of a second between them!

 

Race three, the final race of the day, appeared to be following a familiar pattern to the earlier races, with Mark away in the lead. However, Dave Beadle, who was quickly getting the measure of the nadgery little circuit, was in hot pursuit and right on his tail.  Come the eighth lap and Dave made his challenge on the back straight, cruising past the G50 of Mark.  At this point, as has been reported elsewhere, some mutual gesticulation was observed between the pair (later confirmed by Mark as a "two laps to go" signal by Dave, confirmed in kind by Mark!). From this point the finish of the day became the DNF of the day as Dave took a tumble at Barn Corner while leading, and Mark, now hot on his tail, ran into the melee, took a heavy tumble and the race was stopped.

The surprise beneficiary of all this action was John Fawcett on his Seeley G50, who headed home a close trio of Anthony Ambler on his Honda Black Bomber, yours truly on the Dominator and on the pace Paul Langley on his P.C /C.W. Honda four.

The 250cc class was won by Phil Shaw,  Don Simpson took the runner-up spot.

 

Well that was Cadwell, nothing if not eventful!  See you all at Croft in October.

 

 

East Fortune 13th ~ 14th October 2007.

 

Well, after the bleak, wet summer we had just endured who would have predicted   beautiful, balmy weather for East fortune in mid-October? Not me for one! But that is what the final NEMCRC race meeting was blessed with.  Add to that a bumper Classic grid, of over 30 machines from far and wide, and you have all the ingredients for a great weekends racing, with all races 10-laps!  It was also nice to see some of the old faces returned after injury.

Saturday morning's timed practice put Mark Herbertson on pole position, with Wattie Brown as second fastest qualifier. Returnee Adam Ward proved he had lost nothing in his absence by posting third fastest.

Practice over and into race one and Wattie Brown took an immediate lead on his Petty Manx, followed by yours truly on the Dominator. Lap two put Dave Beadle into second spot in hot pursuit of Wattie, with Dennis Gallagher in fourth. Come the fourth lap and Wattie was stopped with a broken drive-belt, elevating Dave Beadle on his Seeley A65 to the lead, with Honda K4 mounted Dennis Gallagher disputing second place with yours truly.  So it remained until the eighth lap when Dave too coasted to a halt with an electrical problem! Suddenly, Y.T. and Denis were contesting the lead! Lap nine and the Dominator was back in front of the little Honda of Denis, to hang on to the finish and take a hard fought win!  Third place was taken by Ian Ambler on his 350cc K4, with Richard Lambourne taking the 350cc single award, with a creditable eighth overall. First 500cc was Anthony Ambler in fourth, just ahead of Ian Bainbridge and Matty Barkess.

In the 250cc class Phil Shaw just pipped Bill Robertson by 0.3s., to take the class win.

 

Race two had no such surprises on offer! Dave Beadle taking an early lead and extending it to win by a huge 14 seconds margin over a slowing Wattie Brown on the first 500cc. Third place overall went to yours truly on the Dominator after another "ding-dong" session with the hard battling Denis Gallagher and Adam Ward on his rapid Weslake Metisse. Amongst the pursuing pack, Seeley Weslake mounted Matty Barkess was getting the better of Anthony Ambler on his Honda and Ian Bainbridge on his Manx.

First 350cc and the first 350cc single awards both went to Richard Lambourne on his 350cc Manx, with 250cc awards going to Bill Robertson in a reversal of positions with Phil Shaw.

 

Despite some overnight showers, Sunday was another beautiful, spring-like day, with not a cloud in the sky, amazing!

Race one saw the inclusion of Stuart Gray on his beautifully prepared Rob North R3 BSA, who, as a "Sunday only" had not practised on Saturday and as such was consigned to the back row of the grid. No problem for Stuart, as he surged into the lead on the railway straight never to be headed again, setting the fastest lap of 1.08.80 in the process.  Further back Dave Beadle and Mark Herbertson, now riding his Seeley 7R 350cc, were doing battle for second spot, with Dave eventually easing it by three seconds over the ten laps (no gesticulations this time chaps, I hope!). A lonely Fourth place went to yours truly after Denis Gallagher had unseated himself on the last lap at the hairpin. Once again the trio of Anthony Ambler, Matty Barkess and Ian Bainbridge were having their own dice for fifth spot, with Anthony just getting the better of a resurgent Matty with Ian following on.

In the 250cc class, once again, Bill Robertson got the better of Phil Shaw to take the class win, with Gordon Brown on his CB72 Honda, just taking the third place from Washington's Colin Barrow.

 

Race two, the final race of the season, got underway after some clouds and brief showers, which had threatened to dampen proceedings had cleared and the track dried again. The result of this race was virtually a carbon copy of race one, with Stuart Gray again a comfortable winner, with the fastest lap, and the usual Beadle, Herbertson duel finishing in that order with Y.T. again a lonely fourth. However, the Ambler, Barkess duo had this time been joined by Paul Langley on his Honda Four to make it a close, three way contest for fifth, finishing in that order.

Bill Robertson once again showed who was boss in the 250cc class, from Phil Shaw just two seconds adrift.

 

So, that was it, another season over and done with and just the long winter nights ahead to plan the next campaign and fettle the bike! Thanks to all the riders who supported the Classic Class during what has been our best ever season (I estimate 50+ riders) and congratulations to all who won something during the year and to our four 2007 Championship winners, and maybe see you at the dinner dance in the new year!

 

Best regards, Yours Truly, Richard Johnston.