The King of Combe is always one of the highlights of the NG season and with it being so open with no clear favourite the paddock gossip was thicker than treacle as to who was going to emerge the new King after 3 rounds of racing of the Phoenix Open?
Max Symonds was an obvious front runner, TJ Toms fresh from Thruxton BSB, Aaron Ridewood back with a BMW 1000, Dave Mackay 1000 Suzuki, True heroes Racing and any of the 600’s George Edwards, DCM Yamaha, James Bull , Dale Thomas 600 Suzuki, it was anybody’s game !!
The scene was set in qualifying when Symons was first out of pit lane and was on the pace straight away, the others trying to get up to speed, a 1.10.8 did the job for pole with the incredibly quick GSXR 600 of Dale Thomas 2nd ,Ridewood 3rd , TJ Toms posted no time as he tucked the front going into Quarry on the AFB Yamaha.
Race 1 was a blistering start from Dale Thomas with Max, Ricky Elder, Ridewood and Edwards close behind , Max hit the front in under a lap and just kept Thomas at bay for the win, Mackay in 3rd , TJ Toms from the back of the grid 4TH on dad Kevin’s Fireblade !!
Race 2 with Toms on the 2nd row was a cracker , Symonds made the jump and took Toms with him, for 6.5 laps the Honda was all over the Symonds BMW like a rash ! looking to outbreak Max at any point on the track, the run up to Quarry being the most likely move, but on the last lap tried that bit too hard and lost the front end leaving the win to Max and in the driving seat with one leg to go , Thomas ran another superb 2nd with Elder 3rd , Mackay 4th, Ridewood 5th
Race 3 was Symonds to lose, but Max was dialled into the Castle Combe circuit and with no TJ this time was pushed by Aaron Ridewood but again Quarry Bends claimed another victim on he last lap allowing Max to come home to claim his crown, Thomas was 2nd Mackay 3RD witch is how the final podium lined up for the King of Combe overall.
IMS 600 was a packed grid with Dale Thomas sitting on pole, Shane Faber R6 yamaha and George Edwards DCM R6, looking for a few more points to take the championship, completing the front row. Race 1 Thomas took control from the start with James Bull, Edwards and Faber scraping for the minor places, Thomas gradually open up a 3 second margin to win from Bull and Edwards. Race 2 despite Edwards great start Thomas stole the lead after lap one and pulled away to a win of over 10 seconds from Edwards and Faber another 10 seconds behind. Race 3 looked to be going the way of Thomas until the Suzuki expired on the final lap handing the win to Edwards just from Faber and Scott Key, Edwards confirming the 600 championship with one round to go.
Bluebell lakes Powerbikes was another clean sweep for Max Symonds but not without numerous challenges from TJ Toms , Aaron Ridewood and Ricky Elder in all 3 races the J&C Symonds BMW just proving too strong to be beaten.
Other notable events in the Suzuki UK Motul Oils Bandit Challenge saw the return of champion Harley Prebble but that was short lived as a fight with the Bybrook chicane barriers in qualifying went the way of the chicane and a trip to hospital, the races were 2 wins for Chris Edwards and almost the championship and 1 to Lee Marks.
The visiting formula, the Lansdown Classic’s, was a triple win for Michael Russell on his Manx Norton from a paddock of gorgeous looking machines which would have been seen at Castle Combe back when it first started racing in the 50’s
Dominic Cann was another 3 time winner in the Ducati Desmo Due class at his local circuit, Nick Williamson was yet again a 3 time winner in FP2 Honda SP1, HIS 3RD maximum score on the bounce now ! a late run at the championship maybe ? Finn Smart-Weeden dominated the Your Call, JSS again 3 times a winner.
The 2022 season moves to Anglesey for the final round hopefully with some good weather
Words: Martin Bennett , mb07818@gmail.com
Pics- Hairy Beast pics, hairybeastpix@hotmail.com