SUNSHINE AND FANTASTIC RACING AT ROUND 2, DARLEY MOOR

What a fantastic day, for the majority, when the Darley Moor Motor Cycle Road Race Club held Round 2 of their Championship at the Motor Sport Centre, near Ashbourne, on 21st May 2023, sunshine, close racing and a big crowd!

From twenty races held throughout the day, for seventeen classes, eight winners were decided by less than 1sec and one of those requiring the use of the photo finish equipment, after the timing equipment was unable to separate 1^st and 2^nd places!

Nothing like the starting day as ‘you’ mean to go on: Race 1, the Ben Godfrey Trophy, would normally have been the closest finish of any meeting as Matthew Bell (Sheffield) and Adrian Kershaw (Stockport) were never separated by anymore than 0.2sec throughout the entire race.  During the opening two laps it was a three-rider battle with Mark Goodings (Doncaster) involved, but, unfortunately, he failed to finish Lap3.  Despite this Bell led across the start-line on each Lap, except Lap4, when Kershaw had a 0.08sec advantage, but by the end of the 8-Lap race Bell’s race winning advantage was just 0.01sec, with 3^rd place finisher, Ben Dale (Warrington) almost 9sec behind.  Their second race could’ve been a timekeeper’s nightmare back in the days before electronic timing, with the same three riders involved in a race long battle this time.  Kershaw, #23, led across the line until Lap5, when Bell,  #123, found a way through and stayed in front through to the chequered flag.  This time Goodings, #1, was making up for a slightly slower start, being over 3sec behind on the opening lap, but with the help of the ‘Fastest Lap’ of the race on Lap6 he passed Kershaw on the final lap to secure 2^nd place, 0.8sec behind winner, Bell.

The second race of the day highlighted what could be a season long battle in the 1300cc Classic & Forgotten Era Championship.  Adam Sheriff (Barnsley) led across the line on the opening Lap, with Mark Brailsford (Chesterfield) chasing him down, less than 0.1sec behind, but successfully finding a way through on Lap2.  However, Sheriff certainly wasn’t giving up easily, but Brailsford was able to just stretch out a lead and crossed the finish line just 0.39sec ahead, after 8Laps.  Steve Price (Stockport), on a 400cc machine, circulated in 3rd place Overall throughout the race and therefore took the Class victory for the Classic & Forgotten Era 500 Championship.  Whilst Iain Davis (Ashbourne) finished 5^th Overall, taking the Class win for the 250cc machines.  Brailsford never gave Sheriff the chance of leading in the second encounter, securing a start-finish victory over his rival, with a 1sec advantage at the flag.  Martin Davis (Manchester), on another 1300cc Class machine, was 5^th on the opening lap, but fought through to 3^rd place on Lap5, finishing almost 1sec ahead of Price, in 4^th with Davis 6^th this time, both riders securing their respective Class victories.

Peter Fell (Burton on Trent) continued his dominance of the combined Lightweight class taking two start-finish victories in the races run alongside the Honda CB500/Suzuki Bandit class.  Behind Fell there was yet another close battle, this time for CB500 honours,  between Jordan Giddings (Derby) and Matt Zschiesche (Stoke on Trent).  The opening 3laps of the first race saw the pair in Overall 3^rd and 4^th respectively, until Rik Hughes (Wolverhampton) dropped from 2^nd to 4^th on Lap4.  Giddings and Zschiesche continued their battle with Zschiesche finding a way pass on Lap5 and holding the advantage to the flag, pipping his rival to the CB500 victory by just 0.25sec.  The second race saw a similar battle unfold with Giddings in an Overall 2^nd, behind Fell’s Lightweight machine, with Zschiesche in 3^rd after the Opening Lap.  Lap4 saw Zschiesche take the CB500 Class lead, with Giddings 2^nd, but dropping down to Overall 10^th on Lap5 and finally 14^th by the end of the race.  This left Aaron Howe (Derby) to claim the CB500 Runner-Up spot, 3^rd Overall and Matthew Wood (Chesterfield) 2^nd in the Lightweight class with 4^th Overall.

The first Formula 600 race saw David Carson record a start-finish victory, initially with Kaine Sheriff (Barnsley) in tow during the opening laps and Joe Walton (Preston) making up for a slower start after being 7^th on the opening lap.  By the end of Lap4 Walton had caught and passed Sheriff but the gap was too much to make any in-roads to Carson whose advantage at the chequered was 6.6sec.  Behind the leading pair Mark Goodings was 5^th on the opening Lap, dropping to 6^th on Lap2 & 3, then back to 5^th for a couple of laps moving into 3^rd on Lap6 and despite recording the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap was unable to close in on 2^nd place.   The second race proved to be an epic battle between Walton and Carson at the head of the field, with Walton having the advantage over the line after each lap was completed, the pair never split by anymore than 0.3sec, but Carson was building for a late challenge for the victory with the pair separated by less than 0.1 sec on each of the three final laps, however with a very rare mistake from Carson causing him to high-side on the final lap, taking both riders off track and allowing Goodings, who had been watching the action from a safe distance, pick up the victory with a 6sec advantage over Adam Green (Washington).

After the opening Formula 600 race Carson and Kaine Sheriff were immediately back out in the combined 700cc Twins and Pre-Electronic 600 race, albeit in separate classes.  Kaine, on a Pre-Electronic machine, enjoying a 2sec advantage over Carson for the opening two laps.  By Lap4 the pair were split by just 0.1sec, but with Sheriff finding the quicker way pass several backmarkers the gap was 0.5sec at the start of the final lap, but Carson was still able to close the gap and find a way through and take the overall victory, on his Twins machine, by just 0.27sec and Kaine Sheriff taking the Pre-Electronic 600 class victory, from father Adam, 22sec back and David Glossop (Wilmslow) taking the Runner-Up spot, with an Overall 5^th, in the 700 Twins class.   The second encounter, without Carson, saw a 1-2 for the Sheriff family, Kaine recording a start-finish victory over his father, finishing the 10Lap race with a 7.7sec advantage.  Glossop benefitted from Carson’s absence in this race, following the Sheriffs for the opening 4laps until Robin Newbold, on a Pre-Electronic machine passed him on the 5^th Lap and held the Overall 3^rd place to the flag with Glossop taking 4^th place Overall, but victory in the Twins class.

Fans of three-wheeled motorsport were treated to a fine display of racing by World Championship competitors Ben & Tom Birchall (Mansfield) who were finishing their preparations for the imminent Isle of Man TT but being true sportsmen, the pairing pulled out of both races so as not to ‘upset’ any points tally the regular Championship runners may have recorded.  The Formula 600 Sidecar Champions of 2022 of Howard Baker/Mike Killingsworth (Sutton Coldfield/Washingborough) recorded two comfortable victories over Open Sidecar Champions of 2022, the Wirral pairing of Steve Thomas/Danny Lewis.

The first combined Open Solo/Pre-Injection Solo race saw a start-finish victory for Adrian Kershaw, with Matt Bell ‘surviving’ a late charge from Mark Goodings, all on Open Solo machines.  However, a little further down it was the leaders of the Pre-Injection Solo class that were keeping the large crowd entertained with Iain McKenzie and Stuart Bradbury (Kilburn) that were locked in a battle from Lap5 onwards, circulating in 8^th and 9^th respectively the pair recorded identical race times at the end of the 8Lap race, requiring the use of the photo-finish equipment on the start-line to determine that McKenzie was the winner on this occasion.  The second race saw a race long battle between Bell and Kershaw, with Bell having the advantage this time around.  During the opening four laps literally hundredths of a second split them until Bell was able to put a minimal amount of daylight between him and 2^nd place.  By the end of the 10lap race the gap was just 0.35sec.  In the Pre-Injection class McKenzie was also able to turn the tables on rival, Bradbury.  The pair circulating in 8^th & 9^th Overall, but McKenzie finishing with a 1.5sec advantage over Bradbury this time around.

The first of the combined Wilson Trophy/Darley Cup races saw another dominant display by David Carson, finishing 15seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Mark Goodings, to take the victory in the Darley Cup, with Adam Green a further 8sec back in 3^rd place.  Once more Peter Fell showed his dominance on the Lightweight machine finishing in Overall 12^th place, but taking the first Wilson Trophy victory over Matt Zschiesche, 2^nd in class and 15^th Overall, with Jordan Giddings a further place back.  The second encounter, the final race of the day Goodings lead for the opening couple of laps, but then failed to finish Lap3 handing the lead to fellow Darley Cup competitor, Adam Green with Nick Clare (Winsford) hanging onto 2^nd place, but under threat from Stephen England (Burnley) making up for a slower start which saw him down in 7^th after the opening Lap.  By Lap5 England was in the slipstream of Clare and found his way pass on Lap7, but the pair continued their own battle to the end of the 10lap race.  The Wilson Trophy saw an identical top 3 as the first, with Fell finishing 7^th Overall with Zschiesche and Giddings, 10^th and 11^th respectively, but finishing the race with identical times and requiring the photo finish equipment to be used again.

 The Thunderfest event was open to any motorcycle, road or race, built before 1978, from 50cc through to 990cc.   After practice, the riders set their own target speed and attempt to lap the circuit for 20 minutes plus 2 laps, as close to this time as possible, the rider nearest to their target wins.  With the wide variety of machinery on track at the same time this requires a high degree of riding skill and concentration.  Amazingly Graham Ashley (Long Eaton) on his 500 Honda was able to lap the circuit within 0.05mph of his set time.  His nearest competitor, last year’s winner Colin Ellse (Buxton) who was able to improve on last year’s result, from 0.35mph, on his AJS A75R to 0.21mph from his set time.

Luckily, after an excellent race meeting like this it will only be another four weeks before having to wait for Round 3, scheduled for Sunday 18^th June 2023.  

Not too long, but Advance tickets at are available now, just visit www.darleymoorstore.com: Adults £13, Seniors £10 or On The Day prices of £16 and £12, respectively.  Camping can also be arranged at the circuit for just £7 per night, or £6 if booked in advance and take advantage of getting an early opportunity to claim their favoured vantage point. 

Championship Standings (after Round 2)