Well, now Pembrey in September. You’d expect it to be a bit overcast with perhaps a shower or two in the offing, wouldn’t you? Well, it wasn’t. Saturday came and it was bright and clear, with a bit of a breeze.
Enough of the weather report, you want to hear about the 250 GP and NG cup racing, don’t you? Off to qualifying we went, and Dan Jackson on his TZ took pole position by 0.38ths of a second from Ant Hodson, with Phil Atkinson just a tad further behind. Mark Linton, Dave Hampton and Thomas Lawlor filled the second row. A welcome return after about two year’s absence saw Jonathan Stamper on the third row along with Adrian Martin and Gary Vines.
Come race time, Jackson got a good start and led into the first corner, hotly pursued by Atkinson with Hodson hard behind. Atkinson stalked Jackson until, during lap 6, he sneaked past and held on to finish just 0.73 seconds ahead of Jackson. Hodson held a fairly lonely third place to the flag. Lawlor was fourth ahead of Hampton.
A ring-rusty, (or should that be race-rusty?), Stamper binned it in a big way and failed to complete the first lap. Being a tough bloke, he walked away from the crash but his bike was too damaged to continue. Get better soon Jonathon, see you at Thruxton? Travis Vince took the NG Cup honours as Henry Cox was absent preparing for the birth of baby Philippa, good job he had already sewn the championship up!
That was a pretty exciting race, thought by some at the time to be the best of the season. Stephanie Waddelow took the 125 hon-ours ahead of Arnie Shelton.
And so we came to Sunday. Again, the weather was kind. The race started in what was officially termed “bright” conditions.
Once again Jackson was on pole. And again, he managed a good start, leading the following pack. And again, Atkinson hounded him, taking the lead during lap 1. The two of them had a fine battle for the rest of the race, Jackson posting a personal best at Pembrey with a 59.53 lap on lap 12. Altogether he managed 5 sub one minute laps compared to Atkinson’s two.
Jackson hounded and harried Atkinson throughout the race, drawing nearly level several times before finishing second at the line missing out by just 0.23 seconds. We’re thinking that this might’ve been the best race of the season so far... What do you think? In a déjà-vu moment, the podium was the same as Saturday, with Hodson taking third place again.
Lawlor came home in fourth, with Linton fifth and Hampton sixth. Again Vince, son of famous 250GP racer Darrell Higgins, took the NG Cup win. Vines dropped back a little from fifth on lap one, coming home in seventh. Paul Metcalf finished a solitary eighth. Simon Hunt made steady progress, coming from thirteenth on lap one to tenth. Shelton took the 125 honours with Waddelow having a DNF.
Phew. Two very good races, and the battle for the ACU Championship goes on towards the final race at Thruxton. With Jackson now ten points behind Atkinson, it might take some extraordinary events there for Jackson to win it, but who knows?
For up-to-date NGRRC results, lap times and general info please visit
www.ngroadracing.org
Images by EDP Photo News
www.edpphoto.co.uk