The Wirral Hundred club’s race meeting on 28th & 29
th July on the Anglesey 1.55 mile coastal circuit was its fourth championship meeting of the year, with one now remaining. The meeting also included rounds of the ACU British Formula 2 Sidecar championship and of the International Classic Grand Prix (‘ICGP’) series.
It was the weather, however, which was the main talking point for much of the weekend. Gale-force winds and heavy squalls meant that Saturday was almost a wipe-out. The winds abated just enough for some exploratory laps by a few of the more experienced riders and ultimately for some untimed practice sessions to start at 3pm; by 5pm it was deemed safe enough to run the timed practice sessions for the ACU/FSRA British F2 Sidecars and ICGP, and the day ended amazingly in bright sunshine for the first of the F2 races. Sunday dawned wet and windy again, but with gradually improving weather throughout the day, the day’s full race programme was completed satisfactorily.
Solo riders also took part in a slow
Tribute Lap in memory of Craig Bell, with all of the marshals trackside; the turnout was excellent and the spectacle something special. The Club thanks all who took part.
There is a separate detailed report on the
British F2 Sidecar races on the FSRA website; it is enough to say here that the two entertaining races were won by Steve & Matty Ramsden and Pete Founds & Jevan Walmsley, and it is the latter who now lead the championship by 50 points, the equivalent of two race wins.
It was a nervous wait for the visiting
ICGP riders, particularly those from overseas, before the go-ahead was given for the meeting to start. In the 350cc class, both races were won by the South African wild-card rider Phil Atkinson, and it was left to the hugely experienced Mike Edwards, with two 2
nd’s, to move himself to within 6 points of the championship leader Ant Hart with two rounds - at Hockenheim and Interlagos – remaining. Ian Simpson had a 3
rd place in race one but a technical problem saw him retire to the pit-lane before the start of race two. Nigel Palmer had two comfortable wins in the 250cc class from the Belgian Yves Hecq.
In the
W100 championship races, reduced from four to two races, Adrian Kershaw (100-500cc Allcomers) and Paul Tye (Forgotten Era) clinched their respective championships, with one round to go, whilst it now seems highly unlikely that anyone will be able to catch Tim Bradley (G/Era Supersport) and John Shipley & Jon Saidi (Open Sidecars).
In the
Paul Bland Motorsport Formula 600 class Jamie Harris took the two wins just ahead of David Jones, and they are now equal on points going into the final round. Chris Eden also had a good day with two 3
rd places, and the best of the rest were Chris Jones and Glenn Walker.
Johnny Blackshaw, the leader of the
AS Racing Powerbikes class, took time off this weekend to contend the Donington 8-Hours Endurance Race; his absence and the mixed weather conditions contributed to some interesting results. In the wet first race Adrian Williams showed that a few years out of the sport had not dimmed his abilities and he was a comfortable winner ahead of Graham Hornby and a visitor from Scotland, Max Alexander. The conditions were much better for the second race, and it was no surprise to see Jamie Harris and David Jones at the front but Williams and Alexander showed that they could also compete in the dry in 3
rd and 4
th place respectively. Blackshaw retains the championship lead but he is now just 7 points clear of Harris. In the Pre-2009/Pre-Electronics Powerbikes category there was a first W100 win for Ulsterman Philip Kerr and a first class win for Jason Edwards. John Jackson and Neil Percival both scored useful points and will go into the final round separated at the top by just 4 points.
The
Pre-Injection races had somewhat depleted numbers this time and the wins were taken by Gethin Edwards and Jason Edwards, with Geoffrey Lunn and Liam Weston the best of the rest.
Tim Bradley was his usual class-act in the
Golden Era Supersport races and won both the wet race and the dry race convincingly. Damian Davis and Jake Wall filled the next two places in the wet race, the latter achieving his first-ever W100 top-three position. In race two Bradley and Davis were separated by a back-to-form Ray Stevenson, the 2017 champion. The
650 Twins raced alongside G/E Supersport and Mike Bampton was again impressive, winning both races comfortably from his nearest rivals, David Evans and Tim Sayers.
For this meeting the
100-500cc Allcomers and
Forgotten Era races were combined, but this did not phase Paul Tye, who remains unbeaten this season in the F/E class. Michael Cash finished 2
nd twice, whilst Dan Hanby and Adrian Kershaw each finished 3
rd, this being sufficient for Kershaw, the winner at the recent Southern 100, to claim the 100-500cc Allcomers championship again.
The first of the two
W100 Open Sidecar races was held in wet conditions and it was the 675 Triumph of Ryan & Callum Crowe, which ‘triumphed’ ahead of the big worm of Gary Knight & Daniel Evanson, such a handful in the difficult conditions. Predictably, the positions were reversed in the dry second race. However John Shipley and Jon Saidi, with a 5
th and a 3
rd, scored good points, which should be sufficient to claim the club championship at the final round.
At the end of the day, the
Anglesey Senior and
Junior Open races took place. Jamie Harris took his fourth win of the day in the Senior ahead of David Jones, Chris Eden and Max Alexander and now has a 9 point lead in that championship. Spots of rain returned for the Junior and these brought out the red-flags after two-thirds distance with the three Twins of David Evans, Mike Bampton and Phil Morris at the front. Evans and Bampton are separated now by just 2 points with all to play for in the final round
The Club’s season ends with the iconic
Anglesey Grand meeting on the International circuit over the weekend of 29
th & 30
th September, with the 25
th running of the Grand and a full complement of W100 championship races.
Report by David Francis
Photos by Neil Lambert