Rounds 15,16 and 17 of the NG Road Racing Club 2024 season took place at the fast and flowing Donington Park circuit at the end of August. Desmodue once again shared the mixed grid with junior Supersport and GP1. Dominic Cann (1) qualified at the front of Class A (injection) on row 2 with Dan James (12) and Paul Garner (47) assuming the second and third positions on row 3. In B class (Pre-Injection) Sean Coyle (57) outqualified his championship rival Jim Robinson (55) to put himself a row ahead with three bikes in between Steve Baden (95) qualified on row 9 in 3rd.
From the start Cann (1) was the highest placed A class rider with just one person in between himself James (12) in second. Mike Condliffe (18) made a great start to third at the end of lap one, but the end of lap two saw Garner (47) assume third position and Enrico Belsito (13) who had started 35th on the grid was up to 9th on the road and just fifth placed a class bike. By lap 3 Belsito (13) had overtaken Condliffe (18) and now had James (12) and Garner (47) in his sights, by lap 5 he'd overtaken both of them to begin closing the gap to championship rival Cann (1). At the end of lap six he was 2 seconds behind and by the end of lap 7 he was 2 seconds ahead to take an incredible victory in A class having fully recovered from his mechanical woes in qualifying. In B class Coyle (57) took full advantage of his superior qualifying position to lead from start to finish with Robinson (55) in second and Baden (95) in third.
Sunday's morning race was red flagged on the opening lap after an incident in Craner curves saw Steve Bayden (95) go down mid pack. At the restart Belsito (13) lined up on the front row with Cann (1) and James (12) on the second row off the grid. Cann (1) got off to a flying start to lead after the first lap with Belsito (13) in second and James (12) in third, however a chain breakage saw Belsito (13) drop out before crossing the line on lap 2 leaving Cann (1) to take the win uncontested. For periods of the rice Condliffe (18) was running in second position but was overtaken on lap 6 by James (12) who crossed the line in second with Condliffe (18) taking his second DD trophy in third position. In B class Coyle (57) once again got the better start thanks to his higher grid position with Robinson (55) in 2nd and Will Pugh (71) in 3rd across the line.
For the afternoon race Belsito (13) would again start at the back of the grid as a result of his DNF in the morning race. Cann (1) started on pole with James (12) in the 2nd row and Conliffe (18) on the 3rd row. Cann (1) got a good start, but Belsito (13) made it from dead last to 10th position by the end of the first lap having overtaken 22 people to get there! In second place James (12) and in 3rd place Condliffe (18) didn't have long to wait before they were overtaken by the 13 bike prior to the end of lap 2. At this point Belsito was several seconds behind Cann (1) but over the course of the next four laps closed the gap and eventually overtook Cann (1) on lap 7for it to finish Beslisto (13) first, Cann (1) second and Condliffe (18) in third.
In B class Sean Coyle (57) made it the perfect weekend with an unchallenged win to support his two earlier wins and top qualifier. Both championships can still be one or lost at the final round of the season in Anglesey.
As always, the Ducati Sporting Club would like to express their thanks to all of those at NGRRC for organising the event and especially the marshals and circuit staff who once again put on a great show for the crowds. To the medical teams who looked out for our fallen riders, thanks again for keeping us all safe. 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.
WORDS: Andy Hind, Pictures: Colin Hill hairybeastpix@hotmail.com