The Pembrey round saw just 10 Class A riders and 5 Class B riders make the long journey to the south of Wales meaning all finishers would score points in their respective championships. In timed qualifying reigning A class champion Dominic Cann (1) posted a time of 1:07.07 with Enrico Belsito (13) following on closely behind with a time of 1:07.19. Brian Tipple (2) kept his machine upright after a run of bad luck to post a time of 1:10.4. In B class close competition continued with Jim Robinson (55) and Sean Coyle (57) with Robinson (55) posting the fastest time of 1:12.04 and Coyle (57) a 1:12.19 taking the second spot.
For race one on Saturday afternoon Cann (1) got a flying start from the front row, in fact so good he was awarded a 10 second jumpstart penalty that actually came to nothing as he unfortunately crashed out after completing just one flying lap with Belsito (13) assuming the lead and Tipple (2) in second place and Andy Taylor (21) taking third (and his first DD podium). In B class Coyle (57) overhauled Robinson (55) on lap 9 of 10 to take the class win with Will Pugh (71) claiming the third spot. For race 2 on Sunday morning Cann (1) had to start from the back of the grid but was sixth overall on the mixed grid by the end of lap one with just Belsito (13) Tipple (2) Taylor (21) and Payne (68) ahead of him. Ultimately Belsito (13) took the win with a gap of two seconds to Cann(1) in second and Tipple (2) a further 21 seconds down the road. In B class Robinson (55) and Coyle (57) again took turns on the top step with Robinson (55) this time taking the win by skilfully placing a junior SuperSport rider in between himself and Coyle (57) by the flag. Pugh (71) took the flag in at third place. Fastest lap of the weekend was secured by Belsito in this race with a time of 1:06.7 on lap on lap 9 of 10.
For the final race of the weekend Cann (1) reasserted his dominance having started from the front row with only Belsito (13) ahead of him. Cann (1) taking the win 2.5 seconds ahead of Belsito (13) with Tipple (2) proving he can complete a whole weekend on an A class machine assuming the final podium position. In B class Robinson (55) took the win with Steve Baden (95) taking second place and Pugh (1) taking third. Sean Coyle was not classified despite coming into the pits midway through the race to resolve electrical gremlins and re-joining in an effort to reduce the points impact.
As always, the Ducati Sporting Club would like to express their thanks to all of those at NGRRC for organising the event and permitting us to use the garages and especially the marshals and medical teams who looked out for our fallen riders. For the continued tyre support we are also eternally grateful to both Dunlop and Clinton Howe for providing a control tyre that is perfectly suited to our machines and that doesn’t require tyre warmers making us eligible to use the garages at Pembrey!
Words: Andy Hind
Photos: Christopher Price chris@pulsepm.com