Wednesday May 17, 2017 at 11:41am
A meeting was held last year with the racers about moving one of the rounds of the ACU Championship from October to earlier in the year. On May 20th –21st Race Rock(n)Ride meeting will be round three of the ACU Championships. The weekend before round one of the European FIM Championships, which is also being run at Santa Pod.
Pro Stock Bike.
Len Paget will hopefully have his Four-valve motor back in the frame for this round after winning the season opener with his spare motor. Ian Burns return has been a bit frustrating, with gear selector issue at Santa Pod and air leak problem at Shakespeare County. Hopefully the team will put some good laps in at this event. Reigning ACU Pro Stock Bike Champion Alex Hope will be trying to sort out the handling issues of his new bike before the Main Event.
Funny Bike.
Reigning ACU Funny Bike Champion Phil Crossley has a 70 points lead after two rounds over Allan Davies, who has knocked 3/10ths off his personal best from last season and has more to come from his new set up. Dave Peters has found his form again with back to back 7.3secs here at Easter and 7.36 at Shakespeare County. Eric Richard has also entered the event. Pete Le Gros will make his first appearance of 2017 after an engine rebuild.
Comp Bike.
Reigning ACU Comp Bike Champion Eddy Smiley leads the championship by 200 points after two rounds. Martin Walker is second and is on a soft set up so he may turn the wick up and dip into the sevens at this event. Sean Mills had a bad time at Shakespeare County and didn’t qualify, so will be hoping to find a set up again for Santa Pod. Mick Winyard is a another rider to look out for after dipping in to the sevens at Easter. Two other riders who ran into the sevens are Tony Clark and Paul Hambridge both could win the event.
Super Street Bike.
Pete Field ran consistent 7.2secs to win the event at Easter and has run quicker. Rick Stubbins was the number one qualifier at Easter and finished runner up to Field. He also was runner up in Hungary at the first round of the European FIM Cup for Super Street Bike. Sweden’s Robert Nilsson and Mathias Bohlin return to Santa Pod to test before the Main Event. Both riders ran personal bests here at last years Extreme Performance Bike Weekend. Reigning European FIM Super Street Bike Champion Garry Bowe did some testing recently and ran 7.05 –204mph. Reigning ACU Super Street Bike Champion Steve Venables is still sorting out his new set up. Both Stephen Mead and Jemma Venables make their first appearances of the year.
Report by Steven Moxley