Coming into the next rounds of the ACU Championship the championship points had a very different look to them with the reigning champion Bobby Varey after an awful Cadwell park sitting in 5th place and Jim Hind leading after dominant series of Cadwell races.
But it was the time of the racing season that the TT RACES take centre stage for several riders, Hind being one of them! Leaving the door open for the other 250 runners to close the points gap.
Qualifying:
straight out of the gate Varey was setting the pace on the Fastline Superbikes TZ 250 Yamaha only taking 5 laps to work down to a pole sitting 1:01.616 lap in front of Mike Smith, Mr consistent, finishing in the points every round 1:03.261, Simon Hunt 3rd 1:03.641 , 125s was again Mac Parsons 1:07.302 from Sian Brooks 1:08.886 and Spencer Hunt 1:10.254 , Sean Morrison was the lead cup bike at 1:03.785.
Race 1:
Varey was away from the start to Hatchets Hairpin with the intent of building a lead over the charging field which he did with a series of consistent laps in the low 1minute zone leading for all 10 laps towing in Mike Smith for another top 3 finish and Simon Hunt in third , Mac Parsons was leading 125 yet again from Spencer Hunt and Dave Fearnley , top club machine was Alex Penrice in 4th overall.
Race 2:
The Honda of Nick Sansome got off to a flying start and the rest of the pack held up by Sean Morrison having the front of the RS Honda wash out on the exit to Spitfires and just checking the field up, but the dayglo yellow machine then got into its stride and pass the Double Take racing machine on the second lap, Sansome hung on to second with Mike Smith making up places after an awful start from the front row dropping to 10th on lap one but had far too much ground to make up for second. Varey took victory by 8.5 seconds, Smith in 3rd 15.2 seconds adrift of the winner.125 was Mac Parsons seemingly on his way to the title even this early in the year, Sian Brooks 2nd and Dave Fearnley 3rd, Neil Smith took cup Honours
Race 3:
Sansome aced the start again and had both Varey and smith in his tyre tracks and forcing their way past on lap 2, both lapping 1 to 2 seconds a lap quicker and Varey then took control of the race pulling out a 10 second lead by the flag and having a maximum points weekend, Smith another second but again more points and a back on form Sansome 3rd. Mac Parsons could not pull off a treble race win and retired on lap 1 leaving Sian Brooks for her first win in the 125’s, Spencer Hunt next home and Dave Fearnley 3RD again. Cup was Alex Penrice from and recovered and repaired Sean Morrision from his race 2 exploits.
Championship wise Mr Consistent Mike Smith is leading the 250’s with 133 having scored points in every round but no wins yet, Varey and Hind are tied on 120.
125’s Mac Parsons has a very healthy lead of 160 over Spencer Hunt on 115 and Sian Brooks 93DTR Cup is lead by Alex Penrice on 180 from Sean Morrison 123 , Roy Chapman 93.
Words: Martin Bennett, Race commentator
Photos: Christopher Price: chris@pulsepm.com