Anglesey. Ah, Anglesey. Yes. Saturday dawned at the circuit, it was warmish, breezyish and sunnyish. The mountains of Snowdonia were visible across the Menai Straits, a few of them topped with light cloud and looking very pretty.
And qualifying came upon us. It was pretty much an “as you were” situation, with the added spice of Chris Martin into the mix. But what a qualifying it was! Dan Jackson tipped Martin into second spot on the grid by 0.01 of a second. Yup, you read that right. Thomas Lawlor took third place. Dave Hampton, Ant Hodson and Mark Linton filled the second row, with Simon Hunt, John Lewis and Paul Metcalf behind them. Phil Atkinson, riding a TZ350 was relegated to the fourth row.
Come race time, all went well from the start, Martin stomped off the line and took a commanding lead. However, on the final bend of lap 5, Atkinson took a heavy tumble and lay motionless on the grass. The race was subsequently red flagged while he received medical attention. Luckily he was only winded, albeit quite heavily bruised and thus took no part in the restart.
The restart was a six lap dash. Martin took off as if he had a firework up his tail, with a fastest lap of 1.10.75 on his second lap. Jackson had a dreadful re-start and had to settle for third behind Hodson. Hampton took fourth ahead of Linton and that was the way they finished. Henry Cox took the sole top spot in the NG cup.
Sunday came. The day started a little overcast, but much less breezy and the track was dry. There were two races for the 250’s and 125’s, one being held over from Oulton Park.
The first race in the morning was the Oulton Park one, and reasonably predictably, Chris Martin stormed away from the start. Phil Atkinson took no part. Jackson had a reasonable start and snaffled third spot behind Thomas Lawlor. The two of them enjoyed a bit of a scrap until Jackson grabbed second by the end of lap 5. Linton and Lawlor swapped places a couple of times with Lawlor eventually winning out to finish third. Hodson had a fairly lonesome time in fifth before claiming fourth on the final lap. Cox, the lone NG Cup rider in the race, triumphed yet again.
The afternoon saw the second “Anglesey” race. Pretty much perfect conditions for the race, a 13 lap affair. Atkinson didn’t appear on the grid. Once again, Martin flew away from the start, with Jackson having a fairly mediocre one, being fourth into the first bend. Lawlor, Hodson and Jackson scrapped away, watched by Hampton in fifth, until Jackson came past Lawlor into third and set about chasing Hodson, failing by a little over a second to catch him on the line. So the podium was topped by Martin, with Hodson second and Jackson third. Henry Cox had an unexpected DNF.
Jackson and Atkinson are now tied on 175 points at the top of the table with Hampton in third on 135, Hodson on 133 and Martin on 111, though he’s not expecting to be at Pembrey. In the NG Cup, Henry Cox has it sewn up already.
Bring on Pembrey!
Images by EDP Photo News
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