Wednesday October 2, 2019 at 4:50pm
As has been the case in 2019 the weather played more than a small part in the proceedings at Oulton Park for this the final meeting of the NG season. Although we were a lot luckier than the weather forecasters had predicted. It was supposed to be wall-to-wall wet, which (oddly) most riders an mechanics may have preferred !!! What we had was some decent racing with sunny spell interrupted by two or three heavy showers which soaked the 2.7 mile circuit in a matter of seconds. Tyre choices were a nightmare and several races were decided in the garages rather than out on track. Max Symonds and the J and C Symonds team made the right decisions at the right times to grab the 600 final lapping 1.5 seconds quicker than anyone else lap after lap in the very wet and taking a stunning runner up spot in the Open. 20 year old Joe Sheldon Shaw was a double winner with victories in both the Open and Powerbike in very sketchy conditions showing experience way beyond his years on the Via Moto Superstock ZX10. Several others though succumbed to the conditions most notably Dave Irons who crashed out of a race winning and potentially championship winning position in the Streetstocks and Grant Seymour who had set pole in the Mini Twins but crashed out of the race when up front. Often you can almost see accidents coming before they happen, and that was the case with Wayne Pither in the Sound of Thunder. He was lapping a full two seconds a lap faster than anyone else as he chased through the pack before reaching the limit of adhesion on his 675 Triumph and slipping off big style at Cascades. All in all despite the conditions the atmosphere for the season finale was great, and despite a few bent bikes that can be fixed over the winter smiles were abound at the end of the day. All the Oulton Action | Class by Class Formula 125 | Backed by Steve Lynham Motorcycles Oliver Sweet took the F125 win after Mason Johnson went out early doors despite setting a good qualifying time. Those 25 points for Sweet lifted him up into equal third place in the championship, putting him on the same tally as the unfortunate Johnson. Formula 400 | Backed by A and R Racing Spares Tim Bradley drew on all his years of racing experience to take a dominant win in the F400 on his A and Z Taylor Racing FZR400. Behind him though Oliver Morgan-Edwards was having a great run through to second with Richard Harrison getting the better of Joe Talbot in the latter stages to take the final podium position. 500cc Open | Backed EDP Photo News Who would have thought that a peaky TZ250 Yamaha would have beaten all the four-strokes in the 500cc open in some treacherous conditions…..well former Manx GP winner and 250 specialist Chris Moore did as he splashed his way around on the JL Exhausts/Silvester Services TZ taking the win by over 45 seconds, lapping 5 seconds faster than the rest lap after lap. Richard Harrison grabbed second despite some continuous pressure from 16 year old Joe Talbot on his KTM, albeit almost half a lap behind winner Moore who lapped everyone up to seventh place. 600cc Open | Backed by IMS Ltd 600 qualifying took place on a rapidly drying track after a short sharp shower, so tyre choices were a huge factor with Ricky Tarren’s team getting it spot on to set pole. 2019 champion elect Max Symonds got just one flying lap in and stared from row two, but come the race Max set a stunning pace on his J and C Symonds ZX6R to win by over fifteen seconds with Tarren second. Third went to Jordan Greenshilds who was tracked race long by Christopher Sinanan having his best outing of the year on the R6. Open | Backed by Phoenix Motorcycles Via Moto BSB Superstock runner Joe Sheldon-Shaw showed why he is one of the up and coming crop of young guns with a lights to flag win. Max Symonds rode well to take second on his 600 against all the superbikes around him. Sonny Martin was second on the road but a 10-second jump-start penalty dropped him down the timing sheets to finish fifth as Nico Mawhinney and Ricky Elder benefited from Martins indiscretion. Powerbike | Backed by Bluebell Lakes Joe Sheldon Shaw chalked up a double win adding the Powerbike victory to his Open one earlier in the day. The ZX10 rider was in great form floating the Via Moto Kawasaki over Oulton’s undulations and heading home Richard Wilson and Joe Holdsworth. AFB Team runners Chris Pope and Leigh Corfield grabbed sixth and ninth respectively in a strong field to grab the points they needed to take second and third in the 2019 championship behind the absent Josh Day. Mini Twins | Backed by Racebuykz.com Novice rider Grant Seymour stunned many by grabbing pole on the CS Racing SV, but come the race it was all about the two riders who have fought out this championship since early season. There has been a fair bit of elbow-elbow racing between the top pair of Olii Warren and Dan Harris and this weekend would be no different as they jostled on the way to turn one and continued to do so all race. Harris was in the driving seat in the title chase and Warren had to win to keep the pressure on. Win he did but Harris was there on his tail race-long crossing the line within half a bike length to take the 2019 title. Super Twins | Backed by Racebuykz.com With a lower entry list than we regularly see the way was open for a possible new winner in the Super Twins, especially after pre-race tip Paul Wardell ruled himself out with a spill in qualifying. Step forward Tim Sayers, who took his Priest-Bikepaint.co.uk SV to the win ahead of Richard Curtis and Dan James. James the regular Desmo Due runner was having his first foray in the Mini Twins on the Stuart Hamilton SV650. Sound of Thunder | Backed by 100% Suspension True Heroes Panigale pilot Dave Mackay took the Tri-Option Ducati to his eleventh win of the year to retain the Sound of Thunder title in fine style. He headed home Antony White who was having another good weekend on his 675 Triumph and Paul Willis on his KTM. Wayne Pither was a man on a mission after making a poor start carving though, and eventually coming through to second with a couple of laps to go on his 675. It looked with the times he was putting in that there was a chance that he could challenge for his first win but with just one lap to go he crashed out of a nailed on second place at Cascades….. but everyone loves a trier. Streetstock | Backed by DTR Racing Spares and Metzeler The 700 Streetstock battle for the title was one of the tightest with both Dave Irons and Simon Bastable in a head-to-head. Irons knew that if he won Bastable had to be second, so Irons set off at pace forcing his rival to push to stay with him, hoping that he would be forced into making a mistake. However with one lap to go it was Irons that cracked falling from the lead. Bastable then rolled it off to tick off the last two laps. Adam Grosch took the opportunity to pass Bastable to take his first win of the year on his ADS Racing R6. The 1300 category saw Chris Oliver take his Garage Trowbridge R1 to his fifth win of the year and continue his 100% finish record, never finishing out of the top four. Season rival Daniel Boucher took second with David Mitchell next. Pre Injections | Backed by Love Life and Ride Robert Mawby grabbed a hard fought win in the 700cc class as he went all out with NG regulars Daniel Jones and Daniel Nelmes. The three were separated by less that a second at the line but Mawbey drafted through on the last lap on his racing Lines Derby R6 for top honours. The 1300 class saw Jon Wright needing a win to keep his title hopes alive, and that is exactly what he did on his Controls and Safety R1. His title rival Daniel Boucher needed a top three to deny Wright a third pre-injection title, and that is exactly what he did trailing home Ryan Stafford for the points he needed to take the crown by just two points after 22 hard fought rounds. Wright was left ruing his one dnf of the year at Cadwell, but Boucher’s record of every race on the podium was always going to be tough to beat. Bandits and Formula Prostocks | Backed by Motul Oils The FPR racing Bandit challenge runs a BSB style Showdown and it was the perfect climax with defending champ James McHardy on the European Vacuum Drainage Suzuki and Harley Prebble with his Redneck Racing GSF left to duke it out. Prebble was 15 points adrift so needed both wins to keep his hopes alive and that is what he did, however to race in watching brief and second were mathematically enough for McHardy. Although it almost went horribly wrong for Mad Mac and the team as James was kicked up out of the seat of his Suzuki in race two. With a comfortable margin over third places David Greenwood McHardy rolled it off to take the 20 points he needed to take his second Bandit Challenge title. Also part of the Formula Prostock series are the FP1's (pre '81 Classic F1) where Nick Allison took his Katana to the win FP2's (pre '87 Production) where Mark Carels-Watson took another full compliment of points and FP3's (pre '95 Classic Superbikes) that saw Matthew Jones head home Andy Bailey, Andrew Howe and Tony Hart. Ducati Desmo | Backed by The Ducati Sporting Club Dan James continued his record of finishing every race in 2019 grabbing his third win of the year in the process on his Notohashi/Jim Rodger Ducati Monster, leaving Scott Wilson and Alan Ball in his wake…. literally, in some of the wettest conditions of the day. Those conditions took two of the pre-race favourites Simon Cox and Andy Blomfield out of the reckoning. Austin Lachlan was a welcome returnee in the 600cc “B” class to secure second in the 2019 championship that was already secured by Martin Tomkins. 125/250GP ACU National Championship | Backed by ACU, Dunlop and Hartsmere Logistics Jim Hind took his thirteenth win of the year on his DTR Racing TZ250 to end an impressive year for the teenager, taking the 250GP national title. Bruce Dunn the MCN test rider was still in with a shout of the tittle but needed to win here. Third was where he finished behind the experienced Chris Moore and Simon Hunt who pressured Dunn and Moore race long to end the year in good form after a torrid early season. Travis Vince took another win in the NG Cup ending the season with five wins from the last six races. Bryn Owen and Gary Arden were separated by just a tenth of a second at the flag in the 125GP National final with the nod just going to the Byrn Taff Racing runner, but Arden’s runner up spot secure second it the championship behind the absent Phil Atkinson. ACU/FSRA F2 British Sidecar Championship. This meeting saw NG host rounds of the prestigious national sidecar series. This weekend saw wins going to Peter Founds/Ben Binns and Sean Hegarty/James Neave. For the full story of this round check out : www.fsra.org.uk Wiz Sliders Performance of the Meeting. At every NG round one lucky rider is selected for the Wiz Sliders Performance award. The chosen one gets a special set of one-off sliders made by the Wiz guy's in Somerset. For this meeting it was Max Symonds for a pair of stunning rides in the 600 Open and the Phoenix Open finals. Words: Russ Gardner - NG Road Racing Media Officer Images: EDP Photo News - www.edpphoto.co.uk Web Info: www.ngroadracing.org