Here are some photos from the opening round of the 2026 Darley Moor championships, taken by official Darley photographer Tony Else...

Darley Moor was the host of our first outing of the 2026 racing season. We travelled up on the Friday evening and found a paddock packed full of eager racers looking for a weekend of fun. With space at a premium, we setup with a slightly different configuration before heading up to the race office to leave some Rock Oil gifts for the other racers. To our surprise, we also found out that we feature of the side of Denis Gregory's camper - alongside a number of other "legends" ;-)

Saturday Test Day
Our aims for the Saturday test day were fairly straightforward - scrub in the new Bridgestone V02 slick tyres, check both bikes were still working OK after winter, knock off some winter cobwebs, and feel like we're ready to head out for qualifying.

First up on Saturday morning was noise testing - which highlighted a weak/dying battery on our Kawasaki ZX6R. We managed to get her running (and she was no trouble all weekend), but a new battery will be acquired to avoid any future issues. As the circuit was wet from overnight rain we skipped the first couple of sessions to allow the circuit to dry - and get some heat into it - because after the wet start, it was supposed to be dry all day...

​Session 3 was our first time riding in 2026 and we headed out on the Kawasaki ZX6R. We had some new rearsets fitted and the gear shift was slightly rubbing on the head of a bolt on certain corner exit upshifts (it was fine on straights however). Back in the paddock we could see the problem so applied a bit of "strategic filing" to resolve the interference issue...

Around lunchtime some huge gusts of winds arrived and sent a competitor's awning flying across the paddock! It slammed into our caravan roof (leaving an almighty dent) before flying off to hit a pole near the assembly area with enough force to bend it! Fortunately no-one was injured during the event, so we left it at that.

With the winds continuing, we decided to take our awning sides down and lowered it as much as possible. After ~20 minutes the wind calmed down and then the rain arrived  :-(

Fortunately, the rain didn't last too long and we were able to get out on a fairly dry circuit for Session 5 on the Aprilia RS660 and then Session 6 to check that our ZX6R gearshift fix was successful. By the end of the day, there was both sunshine and rain - which made for some pretty rainbows.

​After riding down to scrutineering (the joy of having a Saturday test day!), we packed everything but the bikes away - but by 9pm the wind picked up again so we decided to take the awning down and put the bikes into the van.  "Won't be a problem" we thought, as Sunday is supposed to be dry...

Sunday Race Day
Heavy winds and rain landed overnight and we awoke to a wet paddock, but with wind gusts that were helping to dry the circuit.

​We were the very first session out on track for the Open 600 Qualifying. There were only a few damp patches on corners so we were able to ride quite normally (albeit safely in sections). We managed to qualify 6th on the 19-rider grid.

With the track being dry it was the first real opportunity to test out our new leathers in anger. After 8 laps our left forearm was starting to feel a little constricted so we decided to swap to the second set of leathers before the next qualifying session, just in case there was a minor difference in the cut of the suit.

Out onto track, which was now dry, we managed to find a clear lap and put in a single clear lap which was enough to qualify us 2nd on the Darley Cup grid and in Pole Position for the Supertwins races. Chris Little managed to capture our qualifying lap at the hairpin (video below) and the onboard of that lap is also shown below. The change of leathers made little difference, so we swapped back to the initial set.

Our first race was Open 600 Race 1. As soon as we started, so did some rain showers... A great start saw us move into 3rd position into the Wilsons chicane, before the red flag was shown on the opening lap.

The race was then restarted and we entered the chicane in 6th position this time, moving back to 7th position before Park corner on the opening lap. We decided to push as hard as we dared, with the intermittent rain showers testing our confidence. During the race we fell back to 8th position, then advanced back up to 7th position where we finished at the flag. With the showers easing on the last few laps, we set a fastest lap of 1:02.60.

Back in the paddock, we only had a one-race-gap before the Supertwins race began. But during the gap the hail came down sideways! With the short time available to swap wheels, we decided not to - one of the benefits of not chasing championships I suppose!

​With the weather easing and the wet tyres now fitted, we headed out for Darley Cup Race 1 which was very wet. A good start saw us enter the chicane in 2nd position - but with being unsure how much grip was available we were overly cautious for the opening half of the race. So much so that we were actually overtaken around the outside on the opening lap at the hairpin. We settled into the conditions and around half-race-distance we looked behind us and saw another bike - so decided that it was time to pull our finger out! We managed to lap faster and faster - and even went the fastest we've ever been on the Aprilia in wet - and managed to close up the gap to the 2nd-placed man, but we ran out of laps so crossed the line in 3rd place. Our best lap was a 1:08.50.

We chose to skip Open 600 Race 2 and decided that Supertwins Race 2 would be our final race of a tiring and difficult weekend. With all of the pre-race-child-entertainment, we actually forgot to record this race...

The racing line was practically dry but the entire grid was out on wet tyres (including us). We got a great start and entered the chicane in the lead. We decided to go as quick as we could before the tyres started overheating. After 4 laps the tyres started moving so we took a peek behind us to see if we had made a gap - it turned out that we had a 23-second lead by this point. We then backed off and brought the bike home to take our first win since the 2024 season. Coming around the last corner I could see little Kate jumping up and down, so decided to give her a wave - as captured in Lorna's video below.

​After the race we packed up and collected our shiny trophies. Just as we were about to climb into the van the rain started again... 

The weekend was challenging but in a way strangely satisfying. We really enjoyed the weekend overall, despite the many challenges during the weekend itself. Sitting here, it's surprising just how easily my mind has already chosen to forget a lot of the less-enjoyable parts.

Our next planned event is Darley Moor Round 2 on Sunday 10th May. Our new leathers are already away being modified on the left arms and we have a number of other parts yet to order to keep our aging machinery (and rider) out on track. We'll let you know how we get on!
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