BMCRC - Sidecar Revival - Cadwell Park

As part of the British Motorcycle Racing Club’s Sidecar Revival festival at Cadwell Park, which featured classes including the Molson Group British Championship and ACU F2 British Championship, the FSRA Wintec Pre-Injection Sidecars, and British Historic Bears Sidecars, a number of the club’s classes were also in action, including the RKB-F1 and F2 sidecars and solo classes such as the DFDS Yamaha Past Masters and the Blue Haze GP and GPF.

RKB Motorsport and Breitenbach Rennsport F1 and F2 Sidecars

All four races for the Bemsee sidecars, sponsored by RKB Motorsport and Breitenbach Rennsport, saw the overall wins go the way of an F2 outfit, with Carl Fenwick and Phil Knapton taking a brace of wins on Saturday, followed by a double victory for Greg Lambert and Andy Javens on Sunday.

Fenwick and Knapton qualified quickest overall, and raced their Shelbourne Yamaha to victory in race one. After sitting behind the RVISA CES Suzuki of Gary Gibson and Rhys Gibbons for a lap, the pair hit the front and pulled a comfortable lead.

The race was red-flagged on lap five, following an incident involving John and James Saunders and Allison Lawrence and Kez Hughes. As the results were classified, Fenwick and Knapton were slapped with a 10-second jump start penalty. However, with a lead of over 14 seconds, they were still credited with the win.

It was an all-F2 overall podium, as Gibson and Gibbons took second, in front of the Rowtec Limited LCR of Craig Goodier and Mark Stone.

The F1 victor took the chequered flag in eighth place overall, with the spoils going to Chris Wright and Paul Bailey. Alun Thomas and Adam Nix were second in class, with James Faiers and Tony Pluckrose completing the podium.

Race two and Fenwick and Knapton led from the off to take a second win in dominant fashion, taking the chequered flag by 10 seconds.

Behind, Gibson and Gibbons held second for the duration of the race, closely shadowed by Greg Lambert, with Andy Haynes in the chair, in third. On the final lap, Lambert and Haynes made the pass on their LCR Honda to take second at the flag, with Gibson and Gibbons third.

With another all-F2 podium, Wright and Bailey took the F1 win in fifth overall on their Stainless Steel Designs Limited Ryde Yamaha. Thomas and Nix and Faiers and Pluckrose again completed the top three.

After two commanding wins on Saturday, Fenwick and Knapton were in a race on Sunday morning, and eventually lost out on the win by two tenths of a second as Lambert and Javens took victory.

Fenwick and Knapton led the opening half of the race, before Lambert and Javens made the pass and held the position to the flag. Gibson and Gibbons were in a lonely third.

Continuing to climb the overall standings, Wright and Bailey’s fourth handed them the F1 win, with Gordon Pottinger and David Dodd second in class in ninth overall. Third went to Faiers and Pluckrose.

As Lambert and Haynes led race four from start to finish, the battle for second was between two F2 outfits - Fenwick and Knapton and Gibson and Gibbons - and the F1 pairing of Pottinger and Dodd.

The nine-wheel train became a six-wheeler with two and a half laps to go, as Gibson and Gibbons retired, before Pottinger and Dodd claimed the runner-up spot by half a second. The result also gave them the F1 win.

Fenwick and Knapton were third overall and second in class, with the F2 podium completed by Andy and Ruth Laidlow on their Shelbourne Suzuki.

Keith Forrest and Anthony Hildige were second in the F1 category, with Faiers and Pluckrose again third in class. Wright and Bailey, sadly, failed to complete a lap.

DFDS Yamaha Past Masters

There were three winners from three races for the DFDS Yamaha Past Masters over the weekend, with Kevin Wholey, Jamie Kelman, and Alan Cooper taking one win apiece.

Wholey drew first blood, after setting the quickest time in qualifying on his Twistgrip Motorcycles TZR250. After trading the lead with teammate Cooper and Peter Branton, on the Exactweld Yamaha, he led when it mattered to win race one by a little over half a second, with Cooper second and Branton third.

Just two seconds adrift of the podium fight Doug Edmondson and Richard Hayward fought over fourth, with two tenths of a second the gap that saw it go Edmondson’s way.

In 13th Damian Lee took the Clubman class win, with top rookie Adam Carson in 18th.

After half a second covered the winner and the runner-up in race one, it covered the entire podium in race two.

Wholey led the opening lap, but was eventually shuffled back to fourth by the midway stage, a position he would hold until the end, finishing a second back of the podium scrap.

Cooper and Branton took turns at leading, before Kelman took over with two laps to go. He took the win, with Cooper second and Branton third.

Neil Grant, in 10th, was the Clubman victor, with Carson in 16th as lead rookie.

In the final feature race of the weekend, Wholey, Kelman, and Branton duked it out for the lead, which changed hands regularly. Cooper sat in fourth, before choosing his moment to join in the fray.

He climbed to third on lap five, and held station before capitalising on a clash between Wholey and Branton to take the lead on lap eight. From there he was never headed and took the win by one and a half seconds.

Wholey salvaged second place, with Kelman third after Branton dropped to fourth, and took the flag 10 seconds down on the winner.

10th, this time, went to Andrew Mook, which saw him take the Clubman victory, with Adam Collins the rookie winner.

INTA Motorcycles Blue Haze GP and Taymar Motorcycles Blue Haze GPF

There were more two-strokes in action with the Blue Haze GP an GPF (for production bikes) races at Cadwell Park.

Out of the four races Bruce Dunn took a trio of wins on his Blistein UK Yamaha TZ250. The other victory went to Scott Carson aboard a Tenpin Racing TZ350.

Carson set pole, but after battling for the lead in the opening laps, he could only watch on from the best seat in the house as Phil Atkinson gave chase and pushed Dunn at the very front.

Ultimately he was unable to overturn Dunn’s lead, and followed him home, three tenths of a second adrift.

David Abraham took the GPF win in fifth, ahead of Geoff Mook in sixth and Rick Ballerini in eighth.

Dunn and Atkinson were the class of the field again in race two, and again Atkinson, on his Q Oil Treatments Yamaha TZ350, could only follow Dunn to the chequered flag, just half a second down on his rival.

After a podium in race one, Carson only managed a lap of race two, allowing Abraham to take the final rostrum spot and the GPF win, after coming out on top in his battle with GP runner Phil Ellis.

Mook in fifth and Ballerini in seventh completed the GPF top three.

It was three from three for Dunn after Sunday’s opener, though the result sheets don’t tell the story of the race.

Though he led the opening lap, Atkinson hit the front on lap two, though he cut the chicane in the process. Deemed to have gained an advantage, he was handed a 10-second penalty, and after taking the flag five seconds up on Dunn, he was dropped to second after his penalty was applied.

Dunn claimed the victory, with Carson third. Abraham took another GPF win, finishing fourth overall on his Cambridge Motorcycles Suzuki RG, with Jamie Kelman second in class in fifth. Third went to Ballerini, in seventh overall.

After the weekend promised so much for Carson, he finally tasted victory in race three. He hit the front on lap one, with Dunn in second.

A quick second lap and Carson broke the tow, with Dunn never able to bridge the gap, allowing Carson to take a comfortable win.

Dunn was second and third went to Kelman, who also took the GPF win, on his Yamaha TZR250. Phill Ellis co