A Great Day for Wirral 100 at Oulton Park

The Wirral Hundred club’s traditional early-season outing at the iconic Oulton Park on Saturday 23^rd April did not disappoint. There was an excellent response from riders, many taking the opportunity to gain track-time ahead of the roads season and various national championship series, and there was an equally impressive number of marshals trackside. The weather also played its part – dry throughout, somewhat chilly at times. Three practice incidents resulted in 20 minutes being lost, but no further disruptions after that and the programme of sixteen 7-lap races was completed in full. The one and only reportable injury was a broken thumb! A good day all-round.

A feature of this meeting is always the marshals’ vote for the rider of the meeting and the award of the Paul Leonard Trophy; never before have so many riders been in contention but after a tie-break, the award went to Matt Waldron for his stylish performances in the Club Supersport races.                    

There was a full grid for the AS Racing Club Supersport races, which saw the Club’s 2021 F600 champion Barry Dimelow on his 600 Kawasaki and Matt Waldron on one of the new 765 Triumphs put on great shows at the front. Dimelow led race 1 from the start with Waldron right behind throughout, the pair eventually finishing 0.175secs apart. Jamie Coward, on TT preparation duty, was next, ahead of Chris Mort, a former W100 champion returning to the fold. In race 2, it was Waldron who got the hole-shot, with Dimelow back in 4^th place at the end of lap 1, but he was up to 2^nd at the end of lap 2, and there he remained, finishing just 0.5secs back. This time with Coward failing to finish, Mort moved up to 3^rd place.

An encouraging entry of 14 for the newly-introduced pre-2011 sub-class saw the wins going to Wilf Turner and John Marsh, with Joe Yeardsley and Josh Potts the best of the rest

The Carl Roberts / Emjess Racing Powerbikes races featured two magnificent scraps at the front between three riders, who have built their reputations on the roads. Mike Norbury and former Manx GP winner Michael Evans shared the wins, with Jamie Coward taking the two 3^rd places; 1.9secs separated the three in race 1, but only 0.5secs in race 2. Former Club champion John Robb had two 4^th’s, whilst Oliver Riley, fastest in practice, and Richard Wilson, another preparing for the TT, each had two finishes in the top six.

As expected Mike Bampton on his ZXR750 was the fastest in the pre-2012 sub-class.  

There was a wonderful hotch-potch of riders and machines that came to the grid in the 100 - 500cc Allcomers races, and in effect there were two rider-age categories – teenagers and not-teenagers! The comfortable winner of both races was the experienced Chris Moore (250 Yam) – he did the same last year – whilst the equally mature Andy Jackson (250 Yam) and Ian Mackman (250 Aprilia) were 3^rd and 5^th respectively. Dispensation to compete in this meeting had also been given to the youngsters on 250 Honda NSF’s competing in the British Talent Cup races at the circuit next weekend; Rhys Stephenson, 2^nd behind Chris Moore in both races, was the fastest of the BTC riders and claimed the specially-awarded Victoria House / Mortimer Racing Trophy; next best of the youngsters were Alex Rowan and Troy Jeffrey.    

The 700 Twins races saw the first real emergence at W100 events of the new generation of Aprilias and Suzukis; Louis Dawson, winner of the Club’s Anglesey Grand in 2019 on a 1000cc Aprilia, showed he is equally good on the 660cc Twin and impressively won both races ahead of Chris Barnes, also on a Twin after years on 1000cc fours. A special mention for Max Dixon, who finished 3^rd in race 1 aboard one of the older SV’s and then disappeared to a wedding, allowing Ryan Strafford to take 3^rd in race 2. Best of the rest were James Dickinson, Dave Hewson (another preparing for the TT), and the youngster Rhys Forrest, also on a standard SV.

In the Creation Campers Golden Era Supersport races, Tim Bradley repeated the domination he has shown for years, winning the races by 16secs and 13secs respectively. In race 1, Leon Donaghy was 2^nd, finishing 8secs ahead of Matt Sayle, but in race 2 after a great dice the positions were reversed, the gap in Sayle’s favour being just 0.3secs. The next three positions were filled by regular W100 riders Martin Clare and Matthew Jones, and by Richie Harrison on his Hornet.

Mike Bampton (750 Kawasaki) has been the man to beat in recent years in the Club’s Pre-Injection class, and was fastest in practice. However, in race 1 the experienced but new-to-the-class Barry Furber (750 Suzuki) took an early lead and was never headed, winning comfortably by 18secs from Andy Sailor, a twice winner at this meeting in 2021, with Bampton back in 3^rd place. In race 2 Bampton got his mojo (or something) back, and whilst never getting quite close enough to Furber to challenge for the lead, he was only 1.6secs back at the flag. Andy Sailor was relegated to 3^rd, whilst his son Jake was the best of the 600’s in both races, as had been the case last year.  

There was a disappointingly low entry for the Steve Dale M/Cycles Forgotten Era races and they shared track-time with Pre-Injection; Clive Emerson was a clear winner both times.

There was also disappointing support for the W100 Classic Bike races, including the David Swallow Memorial Race; the 2021 winner and race favourite Mark Cronshaw (500 Unity BSA) was always going to be difficult to beat, despite being distracted by a trespassing fox at the Shell Oils Hairpin during practice. During the race the fox had disappeared, there was no heading him and he was ahead of Alan Oversby (500 Honda) by 13secs at the flag with Andrew Taylor (350 Yamaha) 3^rd. The awards presentation in parc ferme, involving all of the riders and dad Bill, was a fitting tribute to the Swallow family and, in particular, to David’s memory. The second Classic race saw Cronshaw sit it out, and this allowed Alan Oversby and Steve Elliott, both Honda-mounted, to take the honours, with Loris Hunt (500 Suzuki) 3^rd.

The solos’ guest class was the nationwide GP Originals series for 2-stroke GP machines manufactured in the 1970’s and early 1980’s; this was their second championship round of the year. In the 350cc class the very experienced South African Phil Atkinson carried on from where he left off at Oulton Park in 2019 and in 2021 and at the first round at Brands Hatch this year, winning both races by comfortable margins. Chris Moore and Daniel Jackson were 2^nd and 3^rd in both races. In the 250cc category the race 1 win was taken by Phil Stead from Jamie O’Brien and Mark Linton, but it was all change in race two with Gary Vines taking the win from O’Brien with Colin Sleigh 3^rd. It was a pleasure to host this round of the championship and to see such a good entry and hopefully the GP Originals will be back with the Club again next year.

The other guest championship was the FSRA Wintec Pre-Injection Sidecars; this was their first round this year. The many times TT-winner Rob Fisher has dominated the F2 class in recent years and on this first-anniversary of teaming up with the experienced passenger Sarah Stokoe they again dominated proceedings, winning both races very comfortably. The novice pairing of Andrew Bingham & Steven Dalton had a very creditable 2^nd in race 1, ahead of Liam Saunders & Ben Stell; the latter pairing went one better in race 2, with Bob Dawson & Sarah Hulme 3^rd.

These P-I outfits shared track time with the Chris Forster Open Sidecars class, hence there was the wonderful sight of a full grid, hurtling into Old Hall on lap 1. The entry included many crews who will be competing in the British Sidecar Championships and the George Holden & Oscar Lawrence duo certainly made their intentions clear, winning race 1 by 27secs (after a 10sec jump-start penalty), and race 2 by 23secs. Likely rivals in the British series, Rob Biggs & Philip Hyde were a close 2^nd in race 1 before pulling out on the 6^th lap and Lewis Blackstock & Paddy Rosney seemed to have technical issues before finishing 2^nd. In race 2, Luke Williams & Anthony Hildige’s consistency saw them take 2^nd place, one better than in race 1. Best of the rest were W100 newcomers Paul & Tom Kirby and the evergreen locals Craig Hauxwell & Derek Taylor.             

Next race meeting – The next Wirral Hundred race meeting is scheduled to take place at Anglesey over the weekend of 25^th & 26^th June; this will include the third round of the W100 Championships, and also incorporate three guest classes, the Lansdowne Trophy (for single-cylinder racing machines from the late 1950’s and early 1960’s), British F2 Sidecars and FSRA Pre-Injection Sidecars.

Photos be Neil Lambert