The first rounds of the NG Road Racing championship rolled into Oulton Park to be greeted by freezing cold winds and more changes in the weather that the Met Office could keep up with!!
The track was going to give noting back to the riders with the cold winds and sharp showers, plus a bit of hail for good measure.
With the one-day format it was a combination of last year’s championship positions and a lot of research by the NG Team to prepare the grids, with no time for the normal program of day one qualifying, except for the huge entry of 600 National and Clubman riders, who did have a timed qualifying session.
IMS National & HM Racing Limited Clubman 600 qualifying: Ricky Elder with the RE Performance R6 Yamaha was pole qualifier with top club runner Matt Walker 2nd and Gareth Roberts 3rd out of a field of 44 from the 50 entered who achieved time out on track, given the changeable weather.
Race one saw Elder take full advantage of pole getting off to an early lead from Roberts, Will Jones and Walker but lap 2 saw BSB runner Lewis Jones in second and putting Elder under pressure coming through on lap 3 to lead, but Elder was riding the long game and with tyres up to temperature stated to repay the compliment and push back. With only 0.3 on the last lap Elder put the decisive move on at lodge to win by 0.398 from Jones, Matt Walker 3rd and the leading Club runner.
Race 2: Elder ,Jones and Walker were the front row and again Elder was the pace setter followed by Will Jones and Lewis Jones plus Walker, lap 2 saw Jim Hind join the pair and lead on lap 3, Lewis Jones then took the lead in a 3 sided dice, Elder second and pushing 0.4 behind, then on lap 5 of 6 the race was red flagged as the leading duo crossed the line. Hind from Elder, but Hind was found to have a technical infringement on his machine so the result went to Elder from Lewis Jones and Will Jones ( too many Jones) Adam Perks being the leading club runner in 9th.
The Phoenix Open, the Trowbridge Yamaha Dealership now in their 20th year supporting this class, with NG Road Racing. This was going to be a class to watch and see if last year’s champion and pole sitter George Edwards was going to be tested on the new Honda Fireblade. Ricky Elder, Dave Mackay, Chris Pope all lining up to take shots at the number 1 plate.
A short sharp shower just before the start delayed the race and on the warmup several riders returned to the paddock not wanting to risk the machines so early in the year or maybe unsure of their tyre selection.
From the restart it was Dan Nelmes who had the opening lead from AFB Racing Chris Pope, Edwards, Elder and Mackay, plus 60 runner Lewis Jones coming up the order to lead by lap 3, but Edwards now had the Honda’s tyres up to speed and making strides to lead on lap 5 to win by 0.299 from Mackay and Elder.
The pre-injection 1300 also running with the Open, and was the property of Mike Smith Kawasaki ZXR 750 from similar mounted Anthony Redmond
Race 2: Edwards, Mackay, and Elder were the front row and now having the measure of the track Edwards put on a master class in riding by setting a blistering pace from the lights, he was never challenged and won by over 22 seconds from Joe Moore and Freddie Barnes, Mackay, Elder and Nelmes having to do homework before Cadwell to keep up with the champion.
Mike Smith was leading runner in Love Life and Ride PI 1300 class.
RE Performance Powerbike with NL Motor Services Sound of Thunder, the grid was set with 2023 champion Chris Pope on pole on the new AFB Motorcycles R1 with Edwards and Nelmes lining up alongside. At the light Edwards eased into a early lead and gradually increased lap by lap, Nelmes hanging onto second from Jonaton Perry and leading Sound of Thunder runner Charlie White on the True Heroes V2 Ducati, that was the finishing order Edwards some 17 seconds to the good.
Charlei White took the Sound of Thunder win from Finn Smart Weedon 675 Triumph and Chace Collymore 660 Aprilla.
Race 2 was yet another Edwards race class taking the win by over 22 seconds, Nelmes and Perry scraping out for the podium places this going the way of Perry this time.
White was Sound of Thunder victor again with Caleb Williams 2nd Finn Smart Weedon 3rd 675 Triumphs.
The new Rodgers Poultry Naked Streetbike and BMW F900 class had some great racing with Bobby Varey on his new BMW (prepped for a full BSB run) have a running battle with John Dudman and James Cleary moving up from Junior Supersport, who pushed Varey all the 6 laps for the win.
Race 2 enter Shaun Hennessy on the FP3 Evo class YZF 750 Yamaha who took the race to Varey and was leading the race in the latter stages only for back markers to become part of the equation allowing Varey to sneak through for the win.
Other classes saw Lewis Arrowsmith take 2 wins in Super Twins, Ducati Desmo Due was a double win for Dominic Cann and Carl Smalley runner up both times, Formula 400 saw the new Kawaski ZXRR show its performance in the hands of Ted Wilkinson and Calum Beach a win a piece. Joe Woodward carried on his winning ways in Mini twins, the champion from 23 with a perfect 2 wins.
A great start to the season, even though we had yet another way to hold up a race meeting, when a competitor making an early exit hit the bridge on the exit to the track with a caravan and dropped wood from the fence and some other debris on the track which was delt with swiftly by NG and Oulton Park staff.
Moving on quickly to the next rounds at Cadwell Park and hoping for better weather and no chance of caravan disasters.
Back to the normal 2 day format with practice day Friday 12th April and Race Days 13th & 14th April.
Report by Martin Bennett