"Bobby" dazzles......even on a borrowed bike from rival Booth.
You can never guarantee what sort of weather you are going to get at Anglesey, but one thing you can be 100% sure of it that the 1.55 mile coastal circuit with its banked corners, high speed sections, sweeping turns and the infamous corkscrew gives great racing.
With rounds ten and eleven of the 2017 being fought out on the Island circuit, and bearing in mind that just two more meetings are left on the NG calendar this meeting could....and would prove vital for many.
The racing was fast and close with lap records tumbling on Sunday as Saturdays windy conditions passed through.
NG's "in form" rider for 2017 is Josh Day. The former British National Superstock 600 champ is taking wins and lap records at every circuit this year, and Anglesey was no different with a clean sweep of victories plus new NG overall best lap figures at 1 min 07.8 seconds.
The racing was hottest in the 600cc class with Lancashire youngsters Daniel Booth and Robert "Bobby" Varey joining the NG regulars. Donington winner, Alex Baker was back too, joining battle with current series leaders Max Symonds, Allister Haynes, Jon Wright and Aaron Ridewood.
"Bobby" Varey, the 21 year old fuel systems engineer from Preston may have a mini-moto background but his racing belies the fact that he only has had a couple of years on "real-race-bikes". He took Saturdays final after a frantic outing that saw front runners Allister Haynes and Jon Wright crash out of the action at Rocket. That incident split the group and left Varey and Booth to battle it out for the win. Varey on his R6 Yamaha was able to bang in low 1 minute 9's to break Booth and eventually crossed the line almost two seconds clear, with Max Symonds picking up an important podium ahead of rivals Baker, Ridewood, Aaron Silvester with Kayla Barrington on her 675 next through.
Sunday saw Varey dominate the qualifier as Booth pulled out with a mechanical issue. But Varey would doubling up in the Open class suffered an engine failure whilst in second spot in Sunday afternoons Open race. His Yamaha had dropped a valve and it looked like Varey would be out of action for the rest of the day........ Step up the DB Racing / UK Race Homes team of race rival Daniel Booth. The benevolent team loaned their spare bike to Varey for the remaining races on Sunday. That obviously included the 600 final, and Varey repaid the team by taking the win over Symonds, Baker and Ridewood. Aaron Silvester crashed out in the latter stages at the corkscrew to give a hard earned fifth place to Daniel Booth.
19 year old Daniel Booth had better fortune and form in the Open, as he took three podiums on his R6 after two thirds behind the returning James Kiff in Saturday afternoon and Sunday mornings finals. Booth though grabbed a fine runner up spot in the last race of the day just getting the better of Varey still on the borrowed Booth bike and James Kiff who had to settle for fourth this time. All of this action though took place in the wake of Josh Day on his Kendrick and Spalding ZX10 who topped the podium in all three Opens as well as both Powerbike finals as Peter Carr, James Kiff and Nick Williamson scrapped it out for the places. Marking another 100% win weekend for Josh, with two more lap records to boot....
250GP and 125GP ACU National Championship.
The 250GP ACU National class with it's new for 2017 format of three races, long...sprint and long has spiced up the campaign. With defending champion Philip Atkinson absent from this meeting the FCL Team of Ant Hodson had done the maths and knew that if results went their way then Ant would regain the title he last won in 2011. Dan Jackson did all he could by taking Saturdays long race in impressive fashion after setting pole on his Team Sigie TZ250. Hodson trailed him over the line after tussling race long with Thomas Lawlor.
Sundays sprint race saws Hodson take it from Lawlor, Alan Naylor and Mark Taylor. The telling fact for Ants' title hopes was that Jackson was down in sixth position.
Hodson and the crew knew a finish in the points would be enough, and despite Jackson's best efforts by taking the win Ant came across the line in second after the re-started red-flagged race. Lawlor took another good podium......but Ant and the FCL TZ team took the title with Pembrey and Thruxton in hand.
The Bluebell Lakes 125 series is hotting up nicely and this weekend the even championship saw Byrn Owen on his Byrn Taff Racing RS125, James Hind, NLC RS and Gavin Mills, Compact Car Corner RS take a win each. It was only Derek Clarke who let things slip as he lost ground to series leader James Hind in the points table.... 55 points the difference now with 100 still to play for !!
All the NG championship action.
James Chapman had a trouble free run to take maximum points scores on his Chapman Racing RS125 Aprilia that put the championship well within reach.
Ben Harrison and his JHS Racing team now has a dilemma on their hands in the F400 class. His Brother Tom lead the championship going into this weekend, and in fact still leads it, but now by only 34 points over big brother Ben who had not intended doing the full season after missing the first few rounds due to work commitments. Tom and Ben were P1 and P2 in Saturdays race but Tom was spat off his ZXR at the bottom of the Corkscrew and knocked himself out and broke his wrist, making him doubtful for Pembrey. Will Bryant was not able to capitalise on Tom’s misadventure and also dnf’d allowing Ben to sweep into second in the championship!!….tough call for the brothers from Cornwall…..
Andy Blomfield really clicked with the Anglesey Coastal circuit that normally gives close racing up front and dragged away from the opposition headed by Matt Lawson and Peter Pritchard, and take the series lead in the Desmo Due 620cc A class.
The 600cc B class saw Jack Younge take yet another maximum on his Chase Timber Products Ducati putting him on the verge of the championship.
Dave Hampton, series leader in the 500cc Open class was a non-starter this weekend so it was an opportunity for others to overhaul his lead. Paul McCullagh on his Tec-Tag TZ and Nick Brown on a ZXR400 took the race wins, but Greg Maden on the Allied Mobility 450 Aprilia snatched a slim series lead with two podiums….Dave will be back for Pembrey though !!. Hampton also headed the Supermono series going in but with two dominant wins Jay Bellars-Smith swept up the table to lead on his Smith Bros 717 KTM. He also set new lap record figures in a stunning display of how to keep up corner speed.
After early season battles with Jake Dettloff and William Holland, Paul Wardell has gradually stolen the march on the rest in the Mini Twins with his Bee Lighting SV. Two more wins here over Alan Stevens each time put him clear at the top of the table and in an unassailable position. The Super Twins has been a different story with on one grabbing the class by the scruff. William Holland lead the series going into Anglesey, but had resigned himself to loosing the lead as he is over in Ireland with the JHS Team. However Tim Hawkins took both wins to close in but not surpass Holland’s total. The same was true of Matthew Rees with two podiums. Holland will be back on track for Pembrey. The Sound of Thunder had two great three-way scraps for the points as David Irons on his TWR 1198 Ducati, Dave Mackay with the 899 True Heroes Panigale and 675 Daytona mounted Allister Haynes vied for supremacy. Haynes took his first ever race win on Saturday, over Irons and Mackay, but front brake issues on Sunday meant he could not challenge for the win. Irons took it over Mackay. That means that the top three are covered by one point in the championship with Irons on top…..close or what !
Formula Prostocks have found a full time home with NG and series coordinator Keith Chamber has all four races over the weekend as points scoring rounds. It was a full 100 points for John Warwick on his Suzuki in the Bandit challenge heading home series leader James McHardy on each outing, and also a full house for Phil Webber in the Pre-87 production class. Webber and his GSX-R 750 have won every single race in the series winning every one of the 22 rounds, with this weekends tally taking him to the title clear of Andrew Howe who had his best race weekend of the year.
Top podium honours were shared around in the pre-injection classes with John Wright and Liam Turberfield taking one each in the 700 category, but these two had Tim Bradley for close company all weekend.
Turberfield on his R6 (…which is up for sale!) took both qualifiers and one final, plus a top ten in the competitive 600 open on his new ZX6R to win the performance of the meeting award. The 1300 Pre injections had series leader Thomas Payne on the BAS Assessors/AFB R1 and Paul Harlington returning to form take one each.
Paul Jeffery took maximum points in the 1300 Streetstock on his Alex Buckingham Racing R1. Jeffery’s rival Ciaran Bligh was unable to compete this weekend, so with now just seven points separating them it has set it up for a great couple of rounds at Pembrey and Thruxton. The small 700 Street class saw a victorious return for Dean Richards, who four years ago had an possibly career ending crash here at the top of the banking. He won Saturday’s race on his ASR R6 but went out of Sunday’s race which saw Russell Hynes showing a return to form on his 675 to take it.
The newcomers have their own outing at all two day meetings with Luke Bailey winning the Open on his LCAB Engineering ZX10….. Will Bryant the 500cc on his WIB Racing ZXR 400 and Michael Rees the Mini Twins on his M I Construction SV in after a race long duel with raw rookie Cameron Corfield.
Moto E.
The Zero emissions all electric Moto E European series made their second trip to Anglesey after the Welsh venue hosted a round in 2015. Despite the series being a little low on numbers this year the quality and development of the bikes, especially those from Bath University and the Dutch Delft University Nova bike was very evident.
Team Nova runner Casper Voogt set the pace in both qualifiers, but when it came to the finals the Bath Uni students had found a little extra. That allied to the riding skills of Matthew Rees, who took the bike to eighth in this years TT Zero event meant that the wins came their way. Despite being a little down of the times of Daley Mathison on the Nottingham Bike from previous years the Bath Team revelled in their historic double race win.
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