Navy Veteran, "Salty" Sellers becomes a True Hero
Despite it technically being springtime, Snetterton saw the NG Road Racing runners contend with sub-zero temperatures overnight and biting winds, with the occasional flurry of snow and hail during Saturday despite the sunny skies. Luckily Sunday was a little more predictable but was still a bit on the chilly side with the odd five-minute shower. Not enough to normally worry a racer, but that allied to the low track temperature saw riders skittling out left right and centre.
Even NG's top man Josh Day was not able to get within three seconds of what he is capable of, so that showed how testing the track conditions were. Bearing that in mind it was astonishing then that Tim Bradley set a new F400 class lap record on his way to a hat trick of victories with the FZR400 Yamaha, and David Sellers in the Sound of Thunder was another who took three and a lap record on his Panigale in the Sound of Thunder
Several others grabbed a hat-trick of wins and a maximum points haul for the season long championships, including Chris Oliver and David Irons in the Streetstocks, Paul Wardell in the Super Twins, Josh Day in both the Powerbike and Open (....greedy !!) and Bradley Richman in the Open 500 on his last weekend with the ZXR400 before moving into the 600 class.
The meeting also hosted the first rounds of the ACU FSRA F2 Sidecar series where even the returning Dave Molyneux/Harry Payne pairing could not prevent reigning champions Peter Founds and birthday-boy Jevan Walmsley taking both wins in the Super Class to set up a perfect start to going for title number four !!!
All the Snetterton Action | Class by Class Formula 125 | Backed by Steve Lynham Motorcycles
Sean Able took three took three wins over the weekend on his immaculately turned out Hire Standards Aprilia RS125 to take himself to the top of the points table over rival James Chapman who this weekend had to settle for the lesser pickings.
Formula 400 | Backed by A and R Racing Spares
Tim Bradley was in his usual dominant form despite being piped for pole in qualifying by Bradley Richman. Richman could not turn that early pace in to race winning results as despite pressuring early on, once Tim was in his stride, he stretched out a comfortable lead on the A and Z Taylor FZR. Young Richman pulled out of the third outing on lap one after he heard a few rattles from his ZXR, and not wanting it to end in an expensive repair bill as the bike us up for sale. That left the way for Dan Hanby to take his best result of the year grabbing runner-up spot.
500cc Open | Backed EDP Photo News
15-year-old Bradley Richman not only campaigns the F400’s but also the 500 open…… well he does at the moment, as for the next round he will have a 600 to race, but until then the ZXR is his focus. He signed off the last outing for the Hel Performance 400 Kawasaki with an immaculate three wins from three starts over Elwyn Fryer, and Roger Marsh. Bradley, who was the 2018 500 newcomers champ is really looking forward to getting his hands on the new 600 will his all action style transfer to the bigger bike?...... we will find out at Donington.
600cc Open | Backed by IMS Ltd
The 600’s saw a win apiece for Philip Wakefield on the Sandbach Scrap Metals R6, Ross Walker on his R6 and Owen Hunt on the rapid Paul Bland CBR 600. Each of them had issues though. After his race one win Wakefield was a no show for the next race…. Hunt was in a strong third in the second race before his CBR hit trouble and he nursed it across the line eventually ending up 13
th. However, Walker kept his head to grab a point’s haul that sees the Lincolnshire man now take over the series lead. Former champ Max Symonds looked like his championship was getting back on track after two podiums, but in the other his ZX6R came to a halt whilst pressing for another podium. Surely his luck will change soon.
Open | Backed by Phoenix Motorcycles
It was a Josh Day demonstration again in the Open on his immaculate Dayo Racing R1, each time heading home True Heroes 959 Panigale runner Dave Sellers. Behind these two though there was very little to choose between Chris Pope, Rob Hodson, Dave Mackay and Leigh Corfield who all showed good pace but not enough to trouble the Josh Day winning machine. Josh is still hoping to get the funds together to run a few National Superstock rounds but has recently had some great news that he will be on the Ducati TriOptions grid (alongside Sellers !!) on the Host-it.co.uk 959 Panigale.
Powerbike | Backed by Bluebell Lakes
Championship leader going into this round was Chris Pope on the AFB Motorcycles R1, but he knew it would be tough to hang onto that table topping position with reigning champion Josh Day in his current form. Popey grabbed a running flush of a second…third and fourth as Day predictably took all three wins. Rob Hodson, Chris Green and Leigh Corfield all mounted the podium, but no one had a real answer to Josh on his ex-Adam Jenkinson 2015 Dayo Racing R1 Yamaha.
Super Twins and Mini Twins | Backed by Racebuykz.com
Paul Wardell the reigning Mini Twins champion has a new ER650 Super Twin this year in his traditional Bee Lighting team colours, and the switch from his old SV is going well. Despite a thinner grid than usual Paul stamped his authority on proceeding taking all three wins and setting a new Super Twins lap record. Another class new boy Michael Rees and Edward Giles had no choice but to watch Wardell disappear into the distance.
The Mini Twins saw fast newcomer Olii Warren take the first two outings on his SV, and looked odds-on to make in a hat-trick, but in the third race Warren made a couple of mistakes and Dan Harris upped his pace as the two went head to head and elbow to elbow. Harris lead into Murrays on the last lap on his SV but Warren was in no mood to possibly miss out on a treble. From a distance the outcome was obvious as the two riders racing lines converged at the apex…… they both went down, and Charlie Crawt snatched his first win in the series over Grant Seymour and Alan Stevens that’s racing!!!
Sound of Thunder | Backed by 100% Suspension
Returning to racing after a layoff can prove difficult but Dave Sellers, a former star at the Manx Grand Prix as well as short circuits has teamed up with the True Heroes outfit for 2019. The Royal Navy Veteran will run the season for the team in the Ducati TriOptions series at BSB alongside Dave Mackay. Proving he has lost none of his will to win Sellers swept to three dominant wins and set a new class lap record, each time heading home teamster Mackay on a similar 959 Panigale who fought with Ben Broadway all weekend. Mackay the defending NG Thunder champ is relishing having Sellers in the garage as he says it will spur him on to go quicker.
Streetstock | Backed by DTR Racing Spares and Metzeler
As ever two classes for the road based Streetstockers, 700cc and 1300cc. The 700 series had three wins for defending champ Dave Irons on his Tom Warner Racing R6, each time over 2017 champ Simon Bastable who is getting back to full fitness after his Anglesey smash last year. Bastable was happy in the wet at Brands but said he was defiantly lacking dry weather pace, however, still leads the championship after Irons had a difficult time in the wet and cold at Brands.
The 1300 division saw class new-boy Chris Oliver take three impressive and hard-fought wins on his Garage Trowbridge R1 over Jason Hill, John Wright and Daniel Boucher. Oliver who is getting some guidance from former Streetstock and 600 runner Stuart Holloway along with Joe Symonds is obviously taking all the advice onboard and deservedly was awarded the Wiz Sliders Performance of the meeting.
Pre-Injections | Backed by Love Life and Ride
The older pre-2001 pre-injection machines have two classes 700cc and 1300cc. The 700 class is the tale of two Daniels Jones and Nelmes. At each meeting there is little to choose between them. This weekend it was Daniel Jones on his Emlyn Garages R6 that had the upper hand with two wins to Daniel Nelmes’ one. Jones needed those wins as he was on the back foot after a couple of non-finishes at Brands first time out.
For the 1300’s it was newcomer and another Daniel (…!!!) Boucher, who took first blood on his LDW R1 with Wayne Pither in close company and former 700 class multiple champ Jon Wright in third. Wright was struggling in the early laps but storming through as the race went on. It was discovered that his tyre warmers were not heating efficiently, and he borrowed another set for Sunday in the cold conditions his races were transformed taking both wins on Sunday on his Controls and Safety R1, setting the fastest lap each time.
Bandits and Formula Prostocks | Backed by Motul Oils
Harley Prebble took all four Suzuki Bandit races as he clicked with the Snetterton 200 circuit immediately. Harley and his Redneck Racing Suzuki saw pressure each time from reigning champion James McHardy who was struggling with the pain of some cracked ribs after a crash in testing on Friday. Even a fully fit McHardy would have struggled against the on-form and dominant Prebble this weekend though. Carl Smalley had three good podiums to pull himself up in the championship table but to be brutal this year looks to be about the top two at the moment, with the rest squabbling over the third step of the podium.
Also part of the Formula Prostock series are the FP1's (pre '81 Classic F1) where John Tatham was again in charge on his Harris Magnum Suzuki, FP2's (pre '87 Production) and FP3's (pre '95 Classic Superbikes) that saw Nigel Manning-Morton take Saturdays race on his Bike Torque RC30 and Lewis Rees mop up Sundays races on the Performance Self Drive CBR Honda.
Ducati Desmo | Backed by The Ducati Sporting Club
The A class Desmo battle saw Duncan Baillie and Scott Wilson the pick of the field with a win each, but in the third outing the surface change at Nelsons caught out Scott Wilson on his Ducati during a light shower allowing rival Baillie to grab a bonus set of points in the 620cc class. Jim Weatherald, Dan James and Brands winner Steven Colville were left to fight it out for the lesser points with some close and entertaining racing. The B category for the 600 carby Ducati’s had a dominant Austin Lachlan continue in his winning ways taking what looked like comfortable wins over James Topliss, and Martin Tomkins to extend his championship lead
Newcomers | Backed by Protect my Income.com
Three classes for the newcomers at all NG two-day meetings and this time it was recent convert from track days to racing Chris Oliver on the Garage Trowbridge R1 that took the Open class over Daniel Boucher. The Mini Twins saw round one winner Olii Warren take another win on his Boutiqueolii SV650 ahead of Grant Seymour and Hayden Rushton, whilst the sparse 500 field saw some easy pickings for Joe Talbot on his WMC 450 Aprilia.
125/250GP ACU National Championship | Backed by ACU, Dunlop and Hartsmere Logistics
After taking a full house at Brands Jim Hind continued his run of form here on his Bass Tyres/North Lincs Components TZ taking the first two outing each time over Andrew Sawford with Bruce Dunn and John Lea sharing a podium each. The third race however had all the action and drama you could possibly need from a race. Asher Durham took the flag first on his Microlise/Cresswell Mahindra but was disqualified in pit lane as the podium presentations were underway as his Moto3 machine failed a random noise test. But all this was after John Lea fell from his TZ whilst in third and Jim Hind retired his TZ in pit lane from second. That meant that local hero Andrew Sawford inherited the win and Bruce Dunn claimed second after starting from the back of the grid, James Hobson then snatched third with his first ever National championship final.
Reigning 125 champ Gavin Mills took two wins on his Mills racing RS125 and Phil Atkinson take one. Mills was expected to step up to the 250’s this year but clearly still loves racing the little Honda.
ACU/FSRA F2 British Sidecar Championship.
NG hosted the first rounds of the prestigious national sidecar series at Snetterton. We saw two wins going to defending champions Peter Founds and Jevan Walmsley who kicked off their campaign for a fourth consecutive title in perfect style on the Gleave Lift Engineers LCR 600 Suzuki.
For the full story of this round check out:
www.fsra.org.uk Wiz Sliders Performance of the Meeting.
At every NG round one lucky rider is selected for the Wiz Sliders Performance award. The chosen one gets a special set of one-off sliders made by the Wiz guy's in Somerset. For this meeting it was Chris Oliver who has just turned to racing after enjoying a fast group track days. He took the Newcomers class in style and all three wins in the competitive 1300 Streetstock on his The Garage Trowbridge R1 Yamaha.
Words : Russ Gardner - NG Road Racing Media Officer
Images : EDP Photo News - www.edpphoto.co.uk