BOWYER AND BROWN STEAL THE SHOW AT DARLEY

Tuesday September 22, 2015 at 12:04pm

The penultimate round of the Darley Moor Motor Cycle Road Race season took place on Sunday 20th September and, once again, provided spectators with a fantastic days racing.

The Newcastle under Lyme rivals, Simon Bowyer and Brendan Brown certainly played their part in the entertainment, the pair battling at the head of the field in four races, two of which saw them split by less than 0.5sec. In the opening Peak Cup race Brown made the faster start and led for two laps until Bowyer passed him on Lap 3 and manage to extend an advantage of 2 seconds at the flag. Circulating in fifth spot until the final lap, Kevin Bond benefitted from Steve Hill’s failure to finish, which also spoiled Carl Morris’ run to the flag, Bond taking 3rd place from Morris by over 4 seconds. The next Peak Cup encounter gave the same result for the top two, although on this occasion Bowyer found a way past Brown on Lap 2, but the spectators enjoyed an excellent battle for the remaining 8 laps. The pair never separated by any more than 0.5sec, with Bowyer securing another victory and taking him to within 5 points of Brown, the leader of the Championship. With no mistakes Morris came home in 3rd and Bond 4th. The Open Solo races also gave similar results, the first Brown led away from the start again, Bowyer passing him on Lap 2 and then the duo locked in another fierce battle, never more than 0.4sec apart, Bowyer’s advantage just 0.37sec at the chequered flag. Once more Morris came home in 3rd, with Bond 4th. In their final encounter of the day Brown made sure that Bowyer was not going to make a clean sweep of victories, again leading away from the start he pulled out the largest gap the pair had seen all day, taking the victory by over 4 seconds from Bowyer, with Morris and Bond 3rd and 4th again, allowing Brown to maintain his 15point advantage at the top of the table.

After both Peak Cup races Brown swapped machines and was immediately back out on his 125GP machine in the combined 125/Formula Darley races. In the first outing he secured a class victory, taking the small machine to an overall 6th place, with Gavin Mills taking 2nd, in the class. In the second encounter Mills benefitted from a mistake from Brown on the final lap, after being almost 10 seconds behind he managed to beat him to the line by just 0.5sec. With the Championship’s 2nd and 3rd place runners not at this meeting Brown extended his Championship lead to 28points. Both races saw a battle at the head of the field between the Formula Darley-machines of Brad Vicars, Stuart Hall and David Carson. Vicars taking the two victories, but only after overcoming poorer starts and leaving Hall to fend off Carson for two Runner-Up places, the pair split by just 0.07sec in the first race! The double victory now gives Vicars a 22 point advantage at the head of the table. The trio were also battling against each other on the same machines in the combined Sound of Thunder/Lightweight race, Vicars again taking two Mini Sound of Thunder class victories from Carson, who got the better of Hall on these occasions. Vicars’ advantage at the top of the Championship stretched out to just 11 points.

Lloyd Shelley secured two flag to flag victories in the Sound of Thunder class, leaving Paul Gibbs to fend off Steve Hill for 2nd and 3rd respectively and allowing Shelley to stretch his Championship lead over Gibbs to 9 points. Shelley repeated the feat in the Formula 600 class, finishing with a 3 second advantage in the first race over Gibbs and in the second, a 6 second victory over Andrew Soar, all helping him to extend his Championship lead to 35 points, with just 36 points available at the final Round.

Championship leader of the Lightweight class, Chris Moore managed two Runner Up spots after having to play second best to Bruce Dunn, who was making a comeback and on his first visit to Darley Moor since 2002, although it was enough to seal the Championship, with a 42 point lead. Using the same machine in the Pre98’s races Moore came out victor, on both occasions in the ‘(up to 500cc)’ class, extending his championship lead, over Jamie O’Brien, who was Runner Up each time, to 27 points. In the combined Classic/Formula 125 races O’Brien made sure of victory on his Classic 1000 machine, taking two comfortable flag to flag victories and extending, his already unassailable lead. James Hind’s pair of victories in the Formula 125 class, over George Pidcock confirms him as the 2015 Formula 125 Champion.

In the Pre98’s (up to 1300cc) class Virgil Stevenson and Jamie Pearson shared a victory and 2nd place each, with two similar races. In the first Pearson led across the line after Lap 1, only for Stevenson to pass him on the second lap and hang on, just by 0.8sec, for the win. In the second race Stevenson led the first lap only for Pearson to pass on the second and bridge a gap of over 5 seconds at the flag. With the absence of Richard Stubbs Stevenson extends his lead to 30 points in the standings.

On his steel framed machine, Anthony Porter secured two outright victories, over Andrew Lowe in the combined Steel Framed 600/Pre Injection 600 races, despite setting marginally slower times than his Pre Injection counterpart. Porter had a flag to flag victory in the first race, after Lowe made a slower start, only managing to get up into 2nd place on Lap 4, although he did reduce Porter’s advantage down to just 1.7sec at the finish. In the second, Lowe made a much better start and held off a determined challenge from Porter up until the penultimate lap, when the pressure told, creating an error from Lowe which allowed Porter to pass. Porter now holds a 15 point lead in his Championship, whilst Lowe secures the Pre Injection Championship with a 43 point advantage.

After taking two victories in the Open Sidecar class, albeit the second a much shorter race after the red flags came out, Ray Thomas/Neil Aslaksen have reduced the gap to the championship leaders, Anthony Eades/Nick Roberts down to just 7 points! Formula 600 Sidecar Championship leaders have extended their lead, taking second overall on both occasions, stretching their lead out to 23 points.

The final round of the Championships are due to be held on 11th October, the Stars at Darley meeting. The schedule for this meeting differs from the all the previous rounds in that there will only be two 10 lap races for the ‘Stars at Darley’ competitors, all Championship classes will have just one 15 lap race, but with 36 points available for a win, which still leaves twelve Championship classes to be decided.

As always Practice will starts at 10am, with the first race scheduled for 11.30am. The cost of adult admission to the Stars at Darley event is £16.00 and Senior Citizens £10.00.

Championship positions (after Round 6)

Peak Cup

1st Brendan Brown, 77pts; 2nd, Simon Bowyer 72pts; 3rd Carl Morris, 33pts

Open Solo

1st Brendan Brown, 84pts; 2nd, Simon Bowyer 69pts; 3rd, Carl Morris, 37pts

Open Sidecars

1st Anthony Eades/Nick Roberts 76pts; 2nd Ray Thomas/Neil Aslaksen, 69pts; 3rd Tony Thompson/Jack Jones, 37pts

Lightweight

1st Chris Moore 75pts; 2nd Darren Spruce, 33pts; 3rd Matty Whelan, 26pts

GP125

1st Brendan Brown, 82pts; 2nd Derek Clark, 54pts; 3rd Richard Mortimer, 46pts

Formula 600