Championship wins and lap records make it a good Day for Josh.
28 year old Cirencester boy Josh Day returned to NG Road Racing’s series in 2016 to get a bit of enjoyment back into his racing. After five years chasing rides in the BSB paddock since winning the 2010 National Superstock championship (…beating Danny Buchan into second!). He splits his schedule between the Crank Racing ZX10 at Thundersport and his own R6 at NG. This weekend at Pembrey on the R6 Josh took seven wins, a new 600cc class lap record at 58.67 seconds and secured the Open and 600 championships with one round at Thruxton still to go. Josh also went for a wobble round (…his words not mine !) on his sponsors 1983 FZ750 and took two podiums on the old Yam. He then stepped into the Chinese Zongshen Moto E Garage to wildcard on the teams spare electric MotoE bike in the European series….. he took a podium there too !!.
His wins in the 600 came over Arnie Shelton the 125GP National runner who is looking for a 600 ride next season and Alistair Haynes on his 675 Triple. Haynes’s two podiums now lift him into third in the series. Dean Richards made his racing return after fours years out and grabbed a fourth place in Sundays outing despite loosing third gear early on......he was buzzing !
Josh then pitted his relatively elderly R6 up against the big stuff in the open a promptly despatched with the fast starting Roo Cotton on his R1 who then battled for the remaining podium places with Chris Pope, Dai Beynon (now on a ZX10), Chris Pope and Michael Blank. The in-form Peter Carr on his 675 joined their battle too and took a stunning second place in Saturday’s race as he out rode all the Superbikes. Meanwhile Cotton in his main class, the Powerbikes was imperious taking both wins and the title on his DTR Racing R1.
No one could stay with Day though…. I think it is safe to say Josh is thoroughly enjoying his racing again !!.
125 and 250GP ACU National Championship.
Defending champion Phil Atkinson skipped the Donington BSB and the Ducati Tri-options round to continue the defence of his 250GP ACU National title. He and Dan Jackson were tied on points going into the weekend, and Jackson was quick in qualifying whilst Atkinson looked lacking in pace. Atkinson’s Declan Racing TZ was pulled apart by the Team with the help of Phil Gilliou, and come the races Atkinson despite being down on power fought hard with Jackson who set the early pace in both outings. Much to Jackson’s annoyance South African Atkinson tailed him all the way and in the latter stages twice used the back marked to his advantage to take two wins, fifty points, and the series lead back as we head to the final round at Thruxton. It was good to see Ant Hodson back on the podium after a difficult season, he also got himself back into third in the championship.
The 125GP ACU series has already been pocketed by Arnie Shelton but that did not stop Stephanie Waddelow gunning for her first win, and after swapping paint several times she took her maiden win by half a second. Unfortunately her J and RB RS125 packed up on Sunday and Arnie swept to another untroubled win with Steph watching from the sideline.
The most experienced 250GP runner in the paddock Darrell Higgins handed his DTR Racing number 38 TZ to his son Travis Vince this weekend and young Travis gradually adapted his style to the finicky 250 knocking seven seconds off his lap time over the course of the weekend and scored points both times out…..it is a steep learning curve.
The Newbies.
With newcomer classes being run just at the two-day meetings this was the final round for the orange-jacketed boys and girls. The races went to Gary Walters in the Open on his BMW 1000R but second for Simon Bastable saw the championship go his way. Samuel Mousley took the Mini Twin race but the title went to Jake Detloff and in the 500’s Tom Harrison took the race but the title was already in the hands of Michael Rees.
They all move into the main championship next term
Thunder and the Twins.
Peter Carr had a fantastic weekend on his Pistol Pete Racing 675 Triumph being unbeaten all weekend and taking the Sound of Thunder title for a second time beating Jonathan Stenning, Dave Irons and Dave MacKay in the process. He also set his best ever lap time at Pembrey by getting into the 59’s. There is a muted move into the Superbike class for 2017….watch this space!.
William Holland took Saturdays Super Twin final in impressive style over Samuel Mousley with Mousley was runner up again on Sunday but this time behind Michael Rees the newly crowned Newcomers champ, proving he will be a force in 2017.
Alan Russell was in no mood to finish anywhere other that top spot in the Mini Twins and two wins over Tom Blackwell and the rest saw him take the title on his A and R Racing SV650.
Small Capacity but big action.
The F125 saw wins for Brian Daly and Josh Singh. Daley took a big tumble out of Sundays final but after a little time to recover walked away from the incident. Greg Maden continued to claw back Tony Bridgefoot in the GP45 class, but a no score on Sunday sees the series go to the final round, Paul Annetts took his first win after Maden went out. Dave Hampton took a dominating pair of wins in the 500 class on the tiny Tigcraft to return the table after a series of mid season mechanical woes. Tim Bradley was again unbeatable in the F400’s racking up two more wins…. the win on Saturday being despite being penalised 10 seconds for a jump start.
Ducati Desmo
It was a tale of two days with the Desmo’s. Scott Wilson was the man on Saturday with a pair of wins, whilst James Gerrard stepped up on Sunday to take a stunning hard working pair of wins as he, Duncan Baillie, Wilson, Andy Blomfield and Paul Payne showed what close racing is al about. Blomfield had half an eye on the class A championship and rode safely for points on the BB Racing 620 Ducati to secure the points and the title. The B class has already gone to Peter Pritchard and he is off preparing his A bike for 2017, so Rodney King racked up three wins with the other going to Pritchard’s season long team-mate James Robinson.
The Road going stuff.
Paul Jeffery continued his winning way in the 1300 Streetstock class with a victory over former champ Richard Hughes, but tumbled out of the lead on Sunday leaving Hughes to battle with newcomer Gary Walters for top honours. Walters took it by half a wheel. Tom Williams battled both days with Russell Hynes but young Welshman Williams with his all action style on the R6 took both wins giving his seven wins in 2016.
Adam Jeffery took his third 1300 pre injection title as he left Pembrey with a win and a runner up spot as the returning from injury Thomas Payne took the second win. The 700’s had Kai Masters on his FZ750 and newly crowned champ Jon Wright taking a win each.
Keith Chamber the series co-ordinator for the Formula Prostock Suzuki Bandit Challenge took his tenth win of the year on Saturday but had to settle for third on Sunday behind Jamie Harrison and John Potton in what has been a very successful first year for the Formula Prostock with NG.
MotoE European Championship
Pembrey Circuit hosted the UK round of the 2016 MotoE European Championship Cup and was the fourth meeting in the five meeting series. Each meeting holds a sprint race and a long race and up until this meeting defending champion Daley Mathison on the University of Nottingham MuRata bike was showing his unbeatable form once more with six wins from six starts after taking victories at Zolder, Assen and Schliez. However Pembrey was not to be kind to him after setting pole with a 1min 4 sec lap.
Starting on pole for the sprint race he accelerated away but as he braked hard for turn one at Hatchets the UoN bike lurch uncontrollably. Daley wrestled the bike round for three laps but pulled in with a broken front fork. That left the way clear for his team-mate American Jeremiah Johnson to take his first win of 2016 ahead of Zongshen’s Chun Kay Kwok and guest rider from the UK Josh Day.
The longer 13-lap 18-mile race was a stroll in the park for Jeremiah as he won by a clear minute over Chun Kay Kwok and UK wildcard Dave MacKay. MacKay had the Chinese behind him all race and just got out-dragged to the line.
No points for Mathison but Johnson’s points lift him to second in the series with just one round at Portimao to go.
Sidecars
After setting pole in qualifying we were mystified as to the non-appearance of series leaders Nev Jones and Tom Bryant to the grid for the final. As it transpired the rear wheel drive pins had sheared on the LCR Yamaha. That left the door open for Paul Riley and Kenny Cole to take their maiden NG Sidecar win ahead of experience Welsh pairing of Mike Cookson and Alun Thomas. With no spares to fix the Jones outfit, passenger Tom’s brother drove that night to Donington Park to pick up the parts needed and the re-build started. Luckily the repairs went without a hitch and the championship leaders took the race win again with Cookson in second. Jones and Bryant in their first year with the open LCR outfit have secured the NG title with a round in hand.
Words : Russ Gardner - NG Road Racing Media Officer
Images : EDP Photo News -
www.edpphoto.co.uk