Excellent Racing at Darley Moor Before Rain Stops Play

Round 3 of the Darley Moor Motor Cycle Road Race Championship, on Sunday 18^th June, provided an almost full day of excellent racing, in near perfect conditions until the day was curtailed by a heavy thunderstorm that flooded the entire track within 10mins!  Unfortunately, after waiting for the return of anything close to racing conditions the 6pm curfew loomed and forced the Club to abandon any attempt at running the final two races, the Formula 600 and Classic and Forgotten Era classes.  Prior to the downpour spectators had been treated to some excellent racing with eight races being decided by just 1sec or less!

Opening the days race action this time around was one of the new classes of the season, the Wilson Trophy Championship, in memory of Allan & Joyce Wilson who were both lifelong supporters of Darley Moor and spent many years working for the betterment of the Club, for machines between 100cc – 500cc, plus Suzuki Bandit machines.  Other than the opening lap being headed by Darren Bellworthy (Derby), Peter Fell (Burton on Trent) hit the front on Lap2 and was able to stretch out a lead of almost 13sec on Bellworthy at the end of the 8lap race, with Matt Zschiesche (Stoke on Trent) a similar distance back in 3^rd place after battling with Championship leader Jordan Giddings (Derby) until he failed to finish Lap4.  The second race saw a similar outcome with Fell enjoying a larger advantage at the end of 10lap race, but with Zschiesche reducing the gap to his 2^nd place rival, Bellworthy, to just 3sec.  Current Runner-Up in the Championship, Aaron Howe (Derby) maintained his position with two 4^th place finishes, whilst Fell and Giddings swapped positions in the series, Fell moving to the head of the Championship.

Fell and Bellworthy continued with their dominance in the combined Lightweight/CB500 races, Fell recording two start-finish victories on his Lightweight machine and Bellworthy taking the CB500 class victory, with 2nd Overall, almost 7sec behind in the opening race, followed up with a 9sec gap in the second race.

Second race of the day was the combined 700cc Twins and Pre-Electronic 600 classes which saw Kaine Sheriff (Barnsley) take a flag-to-flag victory on his 600cc machine and David Carson (Northwich) following him home on the first of the Twins machine, once he had passed Kaine’s father, Adam, on the 2^nd of 8laps, who then settled for 3^rd place Overall.  After a race-long battle with fellow Pre-Electronic competitor Rich Chivers-Jarvis (Hucknall), Nick Clare (Winsford) recorded 4^th Overall, leaving Chivers-Jarvis in 5^th.  The second race saw Adam Sheriff, Carson and Clare in a three-way battle during the opening laps then, from Lap3, Sheriff was able to lead across the line each time with Carson chasing closely behind until the flag.  The winning margin just 0.5sec for Sheriff, with Clare down in 3^rd, Carson taking the Twins class victory.

Another of the new classes was next up in the programme, the Ben Godfrey Trophy, in memory of the former Stars at Darley winner, who lost his life in an accident at Donington Park in 2020.  This class is providing some fantastic racing each time out and whilst the lap chart shows that Matthew Bell (Sheffield) led across the line after each lap a closer look shows that Jordan Rushby (Hull) was in close contention throughout the 8lap race, finally crossing the line just 0.2sec behind at the chequered flag.  Sam Johnson (Minskip) and Daniel Stubbs (Derby) were able to get the better of multiple Stars at Darley winner, Richard Cooper (Hucknall) in their race-long dice for the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th places.  The second encounter saw Rushby turn the tables on Bell, lead across the line each time and finish with a 1sec advantage over his rival, whilst Cooper was able to make amends and finish ahead of Stubbs in 3^rd place, albeit 14sec back on the 2^nd placeman.

The Bell/Rushby ‘show’ continued in the first combined Open Solo and Pre-Injection Solo race and provided the closest finish of the day.  The opening three laps saw three different leaders; firstly, Sam Johnson was first across the line on the opening lap, then Bell crossed the line first after Lap2, then Rushby for Lap3, before Bell held onto a slight advantage from Lap4 onwards, but never more than 0.4sec, with the pair separated by just 0.03sec at the chequered flag, with Johnson just 1.2sec back in 3rd place.  The second race saw Bell have the advantage once more, but from Lap3 Rushby was within his slipstream and looking for a way through.  On Lap6 the pair were split by just 0.06sec across the line, but then a lap later it was 4.5sec then Rushby failed to finish the final Lap, leaving Stubbs to take 2^nd and Adam Walters (Derby) 3^rd, all on Open Solo machines.  Stuart Bradbury (Kilburn) took the Pre-Injection class victory each time with 9^th Overall in the first and 5^th in the second.

The third new class of 2023 saw David Carson return to winning ways with two start-finish victories in the Darley Cup Championship.  Behind him Matthew Rostron (Formby) and Stephen England (Burnley) shared a 2^nd and 3^rd place with Adam Green (Washington) following the pair home each time for 4^th place with the three split by less than 1sec in the opening race and 2sec in the second encounter.

There was a huge contrast between the two Sidecar races after the Dan Knight/Ben Hughes (Congleton/Northwold) pairing romped to a 38sec victory in the 600cc machine, over rivals Howard Baker/Mike Killingsworth (Sutton Coldfield/Lincoln).  A separate Open Class battle was taking place behind these two between Steve Thomas/Danny Lewis (Wirral) and Anthony Eades/Ash Gibson (Hyde/Stockport), the two outfits taking 3^rd and 4^th respectively and split by just 1sec at the flag, but a further 20sec behind the Overall 2^nd pairing.  After holding a comfortable margin of over 5sec through much of the race, a mistake on the penultimate lap by Knight/Hughes allowed Baker/Killingsworth to close-in and cross the line less than 1sec adrift of their rivals.  Open Class honours were once again taken by Thomas/Lewis, but this time around it was Keith Waddington/Ian Tennant (Barnsley/Runcorn) who took the battle to them, reducing the gap to just 0.4sec at the end of the 8lap race.

Joe Walton (Preston) took his first victory at Darley Moor in the Formula 600 race after leading Dave Grace (Derby) for the entire 8lap race. With an advantage that fluctuated between 0.5 – 1sec throughout the race Walton recorded the fastest lap of the race on his final lap to extend his advantage to 1.15sec at the flag.

Mark Brailsford (Chesterfield) suffered from a late charge from Adam Sheriff in the Classic and Forgotten Era race.  After battling for the entire race Brailsford was always first over the line, with around 0.5sec advantage, but after Sheriff recorded the Fastest Lap of the race on the final lap he changed a 0.4sec deficit to a 0.67sec victory margin.

Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier,  there was to be no second race for these two final classes, so they will have to wait until Round 4 on Sunday 13^th August 2023 before they can try and repeat their victories, or to turn the tables on their rivals.

As usual the action on track will begin at 10am, with the first race scheduled for 11.30am. 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.  

Championship Standings (after Round 3)