Here are some photos from Round 4 of the Darley Moor championships, taken by official Darley photographer Tony Else...

As you can tell from the title, we have once again been crowned as a Darley Moor champion (for the 12th time if you were counting!) as we successfully retained the Darley Moor Twins championship to add to the Aintree championships previously secured.

​With Dave Snr away on holiday in the USA, the girls travelled down with Dave Jnr on the Saturday for a relaxed day which consisted of... Three trips to the scrutineering bay (which seems to get further away every time!), the return of the perpetual championship trophies, a track walk with the "Skating Sisters" and then some viewing of the day's MotoGP and WorldSBK action - along with a quiet beer with the returning Daniel Nurrish.

The weather forecast was for some overnight rain that would have dried up before the qualifying sessions - but that forecast was far from accurate!

We were out in the first session of day - 700cc Twins and Darley Cup qualifying - which was (just on the right side of) borderline safe to ride on due to the vast amount of standing water on the track surface. We went as quickly as we felt comfortable but when we came in and saw that our best lap was a 1:15 we felt a little dejected - but it turned out that we were actually the fourth quickest rider on track during the session!

Shortly after our session the rain stopped and the conditions began to improve, but as we headed out for the Open 600 qualifying session the heavens opened once again. We managed a 1:10 lap on the Kawasaki which put us 6th on the starting grid. The Kawasaki felt a lot more supple in the wet conditions than the Aprilia, so we made some suspension adjustments on the Aprilia. Despite backing out all compression damping the rear end was still very solid - so the fitment of a softer spring (that we don't own) would be required for further improvement...

Our first race was also the first race of the day, 700cc Twins Race 1. The Aprilia was still very firm and unforgiving but fortunately the weather conditions had also greatly improved and the harder we pushed the better the bike responded. After a steady start to the race we got quicker on each and every lap until the chequered flag, eventually setting the fastest lap in our class and taking the win - and with it we secured the 2024 Darley Moor 700cc Twins championship!

The Open 600 and Darley Cup races were scheduled to be back-to-back. As we were riding different machines in each race we decided to take the Aprilia up to the assembly area early, as the wet tyres did not require tyre warmers.

A good start in Open 600 Race 1 saw us enter the Wilson chicane in 5th position before we moved into 4th position at Park corner on the opening lap, just behind championship leader Mark Goodings. We remained in 4th position all race until on the final lap Adam Green came past us on the Pope Straight - but we managed to regain the position into Paddock corner and crossed the line just 0.06 of a second ahead of Adam and 1.57 behind 3rd-placed Mark Goodings. Out front, Joe Holdsworth won the race from Adam Mather.

We rushed around the cooldown lap, quickly swapped over the transponder and rejoined the grid for the next race. The track was beginning to dry which made our firm setup and soft tyre combination a little unnerving. On lap 3 our closest championship contender, Nick Clare, lost the front end and crashed at the hairpin - reinforcing our belief that we just needed to get to the finishing line. After what seemed like a very long race we crossed the line 2nd in class (5th on the combined grid).

During the break between the Darley Cup race ending and the (shortened) lunch break beginning, the circuit had dried so much that it was destroying wet tyres. As we did not have the dry tyres on warmers (due to some generator issues we are still investigating) and there was not enough time for the tyres to be fully up to temperature by Twins Race 2, we made the decision that we would focus on preparing the bikes for the two remaining races rather than knowingly destroy a low-mileage set of wets tyres. The prep involved changing the wheels, updating the suspension settings and removing the fairing bellypans to empty out the water.

With the conditions now dry - but the remaining two races being back-to-back - we decided to chance leaving the Aprilia in the awning and plugged into tyre warmers. We just hoped that we could perform the changeover before the warm-up lap began.

We were first out in Open 600 Race 2 and another solid start saw us enter the Wilson chicane in 5th position once again. From here we remained in 5th position throughout the race, struggling to break the 1-minute lap with a best of a 1:00.29. At the end of the 8-lap race Mark Goodings took a narrow 0.20 of a second victory from Joe Holdsworth with Adam Green taking the final podium position by just 0.24 of a second from Adam Mather.

After another speedy cooldown lap, we quickly swapped bikes and headed out for Darley Cup Race 2. We just made the grid!

From our 8th place grid spot we retained our position into the Wilson chicane - but the quickshifter was not working so we had to revert to manual shifts instead... By the end of the opening lap we were up to 6th position on track (3rd in class) and had moved behind Nick Clare. On lap 3 Nick moved past Forgotten Era rider Tom Hodge so we followed suit. Then on lap 5 we made a move at Park corner and passed Nick to move up to 4th position on track (2nd in class). With the track ahead clear we managed to set the fastest overall lap of the race and were catching the leading trio. At the end of the race, Daniel Pearson took the class win and we finished in 2nd position with Nick Clare taking the final podium position.

Despite not winning any of the Darley Cup races we managed to extend our championship lead from 12 points to 26 points at this meeting.

After this meeting, the updated Darley Moor championship standings are as follows. There are 60 championship points still available for each class.

700cc Twins Championship (Top 5)
David Carson    99
Tom Hodge         35
Josh Froggatt      30
Sean Seddon       24
Aron Redmond    20

Darley Cup Championship (Top 5)
David Carson   106
Nick Clare           80
Mark Pattinson    30
Daniel Pearson    30
Aron Redmond    20

Open 600 Championship (Top 5)
Mark Goodings    102
Joe Holdsworth    81
David Carson    77
Adam Mather      61
Adam Green       48

Our next time out on track will be back at Darley Moor for the prestigious "Stars at Darley" event on Saturday/Sunday 5th/6th October, which will also be the Darley Moor season finale. Then a week later we will bring our season to a close at the Wirral 100 "Anglesey Grand" meeting.

​Here are some photos from Round 3 of the Darley Moor championships, taken by official Darley photographer Tony Else...

Here are some photos from the second Oulton Park round of the 2024 Wirral 100 championships, taken by the talented Malc Brunt...

We arrived at Darley Moor Round 3 straight from the Wirral 100 meeting at Oulton Park which meant a late setup in the paddock. After a quick snack we settled in for the night and had a lengthy sleep!

Upon waking we needed to get the scrutineering and sing-on activities out of the way. We still felt achy and exhausted from the Oulton Park meeting despite a good night's sleep - but had no choice but to soldier on during the beautifully sunny summer day...

During the journey to the circuit we had googled possible reasons for the Aprilia engine management light that had shown during the Oulton Park meeting. The display of the engine light indicated a minor issue somewhere, which was somewhat reassuring. A loose battery connection was cited by several websites as a possible cause, so on the Sunday morning we checked the connections and then decided to disconnect the battery and reinstall. Afterwards, the engine light icon disappeared - and never reappeared!

Our first on-track session was Open 600 Qualifying. There was a lot of traffic to content with but we found a clear lap and posted a 1:01.27 lap time which put us 4th in the qualifying standings.

Shortly after we headed out for the combined Darley Cup & 700cc Twins Qualifying. We made a few mistakes during the session by using the 600 gear pattern - whereby we came out of the hairpin in 1st gear and when we snapped opened the throttle the front wheel went skyward! After calming down we managed a 1:01.49 which set Pole Position for both classes.

Our first race was Darley Cup Race 1. After an OK start we settled into 3rd place. On lap 2 Jim Hodson appeared to miss a gear coming out of the hairpin which allowed us to take the position and move behind race-leader Nick Clare. At Park corner we attempted an ultimately-unsuccessful move around the outside, followed by an unsuccessful attempt at Townleys. But at Park corner on lap 4 we managed to successfully make the move and then retained the lead until the flag to take the win! Along the way we set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:00.36.

For Open 600 Race 1, championship leader Mark Goodings was made to start from the back of the grid following a policy/rule infringement. This elevated us to the front row of the grid in 3rd position. An OK start saw us fall to 5th place by the end of the opening lap and then be relegated to 6th position by the end of lap 2 when Mark Goodings came passed. A large group had formed from 2nd-6th positions and on lap 4 Chris Stuart tried to highside out of Park corner which allowed us to move up to 5th position in the group. We tried to make further progress but couldn't and eventually crossed the line in 5th position, having set a best lap time of 59.48 along the way.

A word of warning regarding the 600 onboard videos - they are very shakey at times which isn't great. We'll try to resolve for the next meeting!

The final race before the lunch break was 700cc Twins Race 1. The grid numbers were low again at this meeting but the appearance of Jim Hodson provided a challenge - even though he was racing in the 650cc Twins class. Jim got the jump on us and with his bike being a very similar speed along the straights he kept us behind until lap 4. Once in the overall race lead we set some solid laps to stretch an advantage and won the race and set the fastest lap of 1:00.79 along the way.

Darley Cup Race 2 was similar to the opening Twins race, with us following Jim Hodson for a few laps again before taking the lead. At the end of the 10-lap race we took the win by 12.86 seconds from Nick Clare, with Jim coming home in third place. We set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:00.95.

In Open 600 Race 2 a good start saw us enter the Wilsons chicane in 2nd position, just behind Adam Mather. We tailed Adam for the first half of the race, looking for a way through, and eventually managed to move into the lead on lap 5 and then just tried to put in consistent laps. On lap 8 we approached Mike Hanrahan and narrowly managed to sneak passed him into the back esses (apologies if it was a bit close Mikey! See around 08:30 in the onboard video).

At the end of the 10-lap race we had WON THE RACE! For us nowadays, overall 600 race wins are quite scarce and are highly valued by us, so by the time we returned to the paddock we were quite emotional and extremely happy that we had managed to secure this result.

The final race of the weekend was 700cc Twins Race 2. The race was very quiet with a number of starters missing from the grid. After passing the quick-starting Anthony Thane on the opening lap we barely saw anyone else during the 10-lap race, circulating in consistent 1:02s laps, to secure the fifth win of the day for us!

The end of this meeting marks the halfway point in the Darley Moor championships. The tables currently look as follows.

700cc Twins Championship (Top 5)
David Carson     84
Josh Froggatt       30
Sean Seddon        24
Aron Redmond     20
Fraser Heginson   12

Darley Cup Championship (Top 5)
David Carson     82
Nick Clare            70
Mark Pattinson     30
Aron Redmond     20
Jim Hodson          20

Open 600 Championship (Top 5)
Mark Goodings     77
David Carson     63
Joe Holdsworth    54
Adam Mather       41
Chris Stuart         33

Our next time out on track will be back at Darley Moor on Sunday 8th September for Round 4 of their championships.
​

This weekend marked the final time during the 2024 season that we would compete at two different circuits on two consecutive days. We had the Wirral 100 meeting at Oulton Park on the Saturday followed by Darley Moor Round 3 on the Sunday.

We left Two Daves Racing HQ straight after work on Friday evening and arrived at Oulton Park slightly earlier than the quoted arrival time, which meant that we were asked to queue with the other early arrivals on the internal rally course. As we had time to kill we decided to take the van and caravan for a lap around the tarmac section - no lap records (or plates/mugs/etc) were harmed during our first run around the section!  :-)

We setup in "our usual spot" before doing scrutineering and sign-on and then had a relaxed evening prior to our early start on Saturday.

Noise testing began at 7.45am and bikes were on track for 8.45am. We had a warm-up session on each bike prior to the qualifying session. Some light rain drizzle made things interesting but it quickly dried up. We used the warm-up sessions to bed in tyres/pads and to refresh our memory of this wonderful circuit layout. Unfortunately - just like the Oulton meeting earlier this season - the final instructions forbid cameras being carried so we don't have any video coverage from this event...

Our first qualifying session was for the Supersport 600 class. During the session some light (mental) rain made an appearance, but our lap time of 1:51.695 put us 2nd in the Pre-2011 class and 13th on the overall grid.

In the 820cc Twins qualifying session our 1:51.873 lap time put us 6th in class (10th on the combined grid). We were circulating nicely in this session until we almost crashed at Hislops Chicane on our final lap - when we ran over some spilled fluids and subsequently lost the rear end! After being ejected from the seat we fortunately landed back on the seat, so merrily made our way to the chequered flag...

​Onto the races and our first race was Supersport 600 Race 1. The race started as dry but there was light rain during race. We ended up chasing Tom Harrison for the Pre-2011 class lead, eventually finishing 2nd in class (8th overall) with a fastest lap of 1:49.660. When the rain fell we were actually the quickest on track, with the overall race leaders in the 1'58s whilst we were in the 1'54s - so we got a special mention on the commentary!

​Out into 820cc Twins Race 1 and we set a new Personal Best lap time of 1:49.805 on our way to 7th in class (10th overall). During the race start we got boxed to the outside of the track and were at the back of a pack of twin-machines. Coming into Shell Oils hairpin we lost some time when a Kawasaki ER6 broke down in front of us and couldn't decide where to go. We tried to close the gap to the pack but kept making mistakes, which made the gap even bigger! When we finally stopped trying to push then we managed to put in our new PB lap.

After the lunch break we started Supersport 600 Race 2. The race assembly caught out some of the front-runners as the entire front row was absent from the start - they were late to the assembly area and had to start from the back of the grid, but they soon made their way back through the pack. As the race developed there was a big battle between 8th-14th places on track which we were a part of. We kept looking for ways to move through the pack but never made a pass. We put in a best lap of 1:49.773 and finished 14th overall, which was 3rd in the Pre-2011 class. Tom Harrison took the Pre-2011 class win to extend his championship lead.

Our final race, 820cc Twins Race 2, was the penultimate race of the day and started close to 6pm. As we moved onto the starting grid the engine management light lit up on the dash. Being an Aprilia we tried a key-off/key-on to reset the electronics but the light persisted. We set off on the warm-up lap and the bike was running fine so we decided to start the race. We got a great start and moved into 6th position overall (3rd in class) at the first corner. Then on the opening lap Mike Bampton's Calon Racing Aprilia suffered a catastrophic engine failure which elevated us to 2nd position in class. After a few laps some additional warning lights regarding the ABS/TC appeared on the dash. We tried our best to ignore them and managed to finish the race in 2nd place in class (5th overall) and set a best lap of 1:51.097 - which indicated to us that there wasn't much wrong mechanically with the bike.

At the end of a long and tiring day, the championship point standings now look as follows.

Pre-2011 Supersport 600 Championship Standings (Top 5)
Tom Harrison      116
David Carson    103
Caleb Williams     79
Matthew Perry     59
Rhys Forrest        42

820cc Twins Championship Standings (Top 5)
Louis Dawson      125
Scott McCrory      103
David Carson     83
Andy Herd           44
Robert Williams    43

There is one more weekend of racing (two race days) left in the Wirral 100 championship. The final round will take place in October at the Anglesey circuit.

But for now we had a more pressing matter to deal with - another race meeting to attend! So we packed up and headed straight to Darley Moor for Round 3 of their championships - you can read that race report here!