The Anglesey circuit, and especially the coastal layout with the corkscrew is a great place to go racing and that was the host venue for the tenth and eleventh rounds of the NG 2015 series.
As you can see from the shot from the Liam Delves team on the right this meeting was blessed with fantastic weather, which in turn rewarded the spectators with great racing, which makes it regretful for me that I was unable to be there !!. It was just the third meeting in 33 years that I have missed, but I am lucky enough to have a great selection of pictures from the EDP Photo News team to help understand the meeting. Using them I will fill you in with the background stories of the weekend and the winners and losers as far as the championships go with just one more meeting to go to settle the 2015 season
Bevan does the double again.
Phil Bevan racked up three wins in the Open and another in the Powerbike on his ZX10 to take the Superbike championship double for the seventh year on the trot. The only blot on his copybook was a dnf in the second Powerbike final, as an uncharacteristic mistake saw him bite Welsh tarmac leaving the way open for Chris Barnes on the AP Broome ZX10. Amazingly Phil has seventeen class championships now, and it seems a long time ago that his first title came, in fact it was back in 2000 on his 996 Ducati. He shows no signs of slowing down either.
Josh eyes up the 600 title.
Josh Day picked up his fourth and fifth wins of the year to lift himself to the top of the 600cc open title chase. He set a new lap record on the way to overcoming the challenge from Chris Mort, and the returning Bradley Hughes to grab maximum points. Hughes was happy to be back in the saddle after 12 month out, and despite being race rusty celebrated his two podiums. Series leader going into the round was Sean Montgomery, but despite setting his best laps ever around Anglesey he had to settle for solid points……. he is left ruing his two early season dnf’s (….from race leading positions !!!) as he had to relinquish the series lead by 3 points to Josh with just Pembrey to go.
Caleb is cream of the young crop.
He may be just 12 years old but Caleb Smith, the schoolboy from Solihull has a wealth of racing under his belt. The former leading light in the Mini GP series stepped up to the F125 Aprilia this year and has taken five wins and three other podiums to secure this years Formula 125 championship. He had to give second best to Max Cook this weekend but considering he is returning from a high speed tumble at Thruxton he rode with maturity to claim that all important first championship…….The bike also still carries the scars from Thuxton !
Paul Jeffery get back on top of the box.
Paul Jeffery, the North Devonshire racer who first came to the fore in the NG R6 Virgin Cup back in 2007, made a switch from that Yamaha to a new R1 this year. So far though he has suffered more than his fair share of engine blow-ups and crashes as he masters the big Yam in the Streetstock class. This weekend saw the breakthrough with his best position of second on Saturday…..but he then followed that up with his first win on Sunday, making the 370 return trip to Devon all the more bearable. In the absence of Martin Lowe, Paul Williams took the 2015 Streetstock title on his S1000R BMW…..Which is now up for sale…..Any offers !!!!.
Two wins keep Goode in the hunt.
Richard Goode on his WDS/Geoff Hand SV650 took four wins over the weekend to keep the Mini Twins championship alive with just Pembrey to go, but it was a close run thing with series leader Aaron Silvester. Both days saw barely a bike length or two between them. Back markers came into play and Goode just had the upper hand. Silvester though extends his series lead as Goode leap frogs Paul Wardell in the points table…..all three can still win this one.
Atkinson on a roll in the 250 GP ACU Series. South African Phil Atkinson on the Declans Racing TZ250 made it eight wins in 2015 from the eleven rounds with a pair at Anglesey. Despite winning more races than anyone else he still sit in second in the series behind former champ Ant Hodson, although Hodson’s lead is down to just 3 points. Another former champion Dan Jackson along with Thruxton victor Dave Hampton were in the mix, but at the flag Atkinson had the upper hand. So once more the 250GP ACU National series will go right to the last race of the year.
Wilford wins at will.
Kent based teenager Sam Wilford is packing in lots of racing this year, much of it in Europe where he competes in the PATA Honda Junior Cup where he is pitting himself against the best young European talent. Taking a stunning podium at Portimao for the Portuguese round. This weekend though he wheeled out his GP45 450 Aprilia and won the GP45 and 500 open races with a lap record in the GP45. Dave Hampton had a storming ride in Sundays 500 as he came through from a back row start to take second on the 450 Enigma Single Cell Race Tigcraft. He is now back in contention with defending 500 champ Paul Metcalfe and current series leader Liam Delves who rode on Sunday with a broken thumb after a tumble and therefor no points on Saturday
Blackstock and Rosney get double top.
On a track that is notoriously hard work for the chairs Lewis Blackstock and Paddy Rosney took the F2 sidecar double on their Rosney Contractors LCR600 Suzuki. Each time taking the wins over father and daughter pairing of Craig and Kirsty Hauxwell, with Nev Jones and Giles Stainton third each time.
The race wins on track went to Rob Biggs and Ben Ransley on the Corbett Sports LCR 1000 Suzuki…. unsurprisingly really as they were the only open crew in attendance. They had to work hard early on though, as the F2’s are more nimble around this coastal circuit
Tim takes his second double of the year.
Shipton on Stour F400 stalwart took his second double of the year in the Formula 400 class backing up his previous Brands result to secure this years class title. He has taken six wins from the eleven rounds on his FZR Yamaha. This meeting saw him unbeaten through qualifying and finals as he headed Ben Harrison and Antony Van Looy over the two days. Ben has second in the series tied up now and is looking to add to his win tally at Pembrey for the final round
Roo ramps up his R1 as we wrap up the rest of the on track action.
Former 125GP champ and top 250 National front runner had his best weekend ever on his DTR R1 Yamaha with podiums in the Powerbikes on both days, one behind Chris Barns and one behind Phil Bevan. It has been a long haul back from injuries sustained at the Brands meeting at the start of 2014 but Roo dug deep this weekend and has been rewarded with second place in the championship as he held off the challenge from Darren Rumley who had a wasp trapped in his crash helmet for most of the race !!!!!!!
Ben Broadway had a stunning double in the Sound of Thunder classes as he swept ahead of Peter Carr to lead the championship. Carr had set a new lap record on Saturday but ended the two-day meeting with no points after a pair of dnf’s.
John Simpson took a clean sweep in the Super Twins on his Trickbits / FBM SV650 and set a new class lap record to boot.
NG have picked up the running of the Ducati Desmo Due series for the remainder of 2015 and the riders repaid the club with some great close racing with Dallas Hornblow, Andrew Claridge, James Gerrard and Scott Wilson going toe to toe.
Daley Mathison had things pretty much all his own way in the European Moto E series with a brace of wins over the rest of the battery powered machinery with his Nottingham University machine, eventually lapping the whole field in Sundays thirteen lapper.
Thomas Williams bagged both 700 Streetstocks final setting and then bettering the class lap record over the weekend on his Racetek Race Components R6 Yamaha.
Chris Hobbs kept the retention of his 700 Pre injection title alive as he took the double wins over this years front runner Phil Webber….. all will be decided at Pembrey in September. Meanwhile Chris’ dad….Mike Hobbs had a below par weekend for him but still secured the points needed to take the 1300 Pre Injection crown for a second year on his DC R1 Yamaha. Owen Hunt took the wins in the class through and a new class lap record on his strangely named Dobbies Dodgey Dealings R1 Yamaha
Roll on the final round of 2015 at Pembrey on the 26
th and 27
th September
Words : Russ Gardner
Images : EDP Photo News