On Friday 24th June 2022, the rescheduled awards presentation evening for the 2021 Darley Moor club championships took place. As usual, the room was packed with attendees and it was a fantastic evening that everyone enjoyed.

​A special gift photo (from Tony Else) was waiting for us on the table when we arrived. Having finished championship runner-up in both the Formula 600 and Twins championships in 2021, we were called up twice to collect trophies from Miles Brough and Don Ryder.

​With celebrations carrying on beyond 4am on the Saturday morning, a bit of recovery time was required over the weekend... There isn't too much time to rest though - as this coming weekend hosts a 2-day meeting at Darley Moor, with the NG Cadwell Park meeting taking place the following weekend!

After these upcoming meetings we will then have a lengthy break until late August - when there will only be two weekends of racing left at each club! The season is flying by...  :-o

Here are some photos from the Pembrey round of the NG Road Racing championships, taken by official photographer Colin Hill...

After a leisurely 5 hour drive, we arrived at Pembrey for event 4 of the NG Road Racing championships. We had not visited Pembrey since 2014 and due to work commitments could not partake in the Friday test day. Due to a calendar clash, attending this meeting meant that we would be missing Darley Moor Round 3 - the first Darley Moor round that we had voluntarily missed since March 2009!

Arriving into a full paddock we managed to setup on the grass nearby to the toilets, bar and viewing spots - it turned out to be a nice location which we would happily repeat if we return in the future. After the usual bout of scrutineering and signing-on, we took part in a track walk and visited the paddock Formula One pub for some refreshments.

​On Saturday morning we rose fresh and early, and as we were ready for practice (and the sun was shining brightly) we took a walk around the paddock to scope out where everything was and managed to find fellow Supertwin competitor Steve Moody for a friendly chat. We were in the 9am opening practice session on the RS660 Trofeo (on some brand new slicks) and at 08:58 it started to spit with rain. We continued to the assembly area but by the time we had got out on track the track surface was completely wet, so we headed back to the paddock without completing a single lap!

We were due out in session 4 on the Supersport machine, so hastily swapped the ZX6R front wheel to a wet tyre and then nipped to the race office to see whether we could get out in another session on the Supertwin - fortunately they gave us a pass for session 5. On our walk back to base, the sun came out strongly and everything started to dry! So we popped the dry front tyre back into the ZX6R...

Our Personal Best lap time on the ER650 Supertwin was a 1:05.9. After completing the practice sessions we had put in a 1:06.6 on the ZX6R and a 1:07.1 on the RS660 Trofeo, and were becoming more familiar with the circuit layout and gears to use at each corner.

Qualifying sessions were up next - and 20 mins before our session another rain shower arrived! We left the dry tyres in - which turned out to be the right choice - and qualified in 13th place on the Open 600 grid with a 1:03.5, followed by setting pole position (3rd on the combined grid) in the Supertwins class with a 1:03.2.

During the lunch break, Lorna and the girls arrived at the circuit - ready to watch the first round of races for the weekend!

Our first race was Open 600 Race 1. We got a good start but were conservative into the tight first corner, but kept our 13th position on track. From here we learned more about the track, got into a rhythm and reduced our lap time to a 1:02.1. We caught and passed a few people and managed to finish the 12-lap race in 10th position.

​Our final race of Saturday was Supertwins Race 1. Our front row starting position was wasted when we backed off for turn 1 too soon and were swamped by bikes! By the end of the opening lap we had been pushed back to 8th on track (2nd in class), so set about settling into a rhythm just like we did in the Open 600 race - this worked and we managed to set a new Personal Best Supertwin lap time of 1:02.981 and managed to take the lead of the Supertwins race from Steve Moody on lap 3. From here we kept pushing and managed to work our way up to 4th on track (just 0.2 of a second from 3rd) and cross the line to win the Supertwin race!

​With racing finished for the day, we prepared the bikes for Sunday and then did another track walk. During the walk - whilst hopping along like a bunny - Lucy commented that the track surface was really warm. Having a feel for ourselves, we were surprised that the track had actually retained a lot of heat from the days racing - this information would come into play later in the weekend... But before then we popped into the paddock Formula One bar once again to recover from probably the slowest lap we did all weekend.

Just before we headed to bed, official club photographer Colin Hill presented us with a "Rider of the Round" award for Brands Hatch. Apparently we were supposed to have received this award at Donington Park - but when he came to find us, we had already packed up and left for Darley Moor Round 2...

On the Sunday morning we took part in a practice session on the ZX6R to get up to speed, before it was time for Open 600 Race 2. Finishing in 10th place in Race 1 gave us grid slot 10 for this race, which was a decent improvement.

A decent start saw us move up into 9th position by the end of the opening lap, before moving forward another place on lap 2. We circulated at the head of a mini-group until Blake Shaw came passed on lap 7. We held our place until the final lap when Blake unfortunately crashed on the exit of the first corner, then held off a hard-charging Mark Walker to finish the race in a Personal Best 8th position!

After a short wait it was time for Supertwins Race 2. Once again we failed to take benefit from our good grid position and dropped to 10th position on the opening lap. Joe Thomas took to the grass at 100+mph at the end of the opening lap, which put us into the lead of the Supertwin class. From here we again worked hard to move through the field and got to 5th on track - but importantly we had taken the Supertwin win, with Steve Moody behind us and Edward Giles taking the final podium spot.

After what felt like an age of waiting, it was time for the final couple of races. The weather all day was sunny and we measured the (paddock) track temperature at 41C. We thought that this would be a good scenario, but once out onto track for Open 600 Race 3 it turned out that the high temperature made the track feel greasy (or the tyres feel loose).

We spent the majority of the race in 9th position, before moving up to 8th position on lap 10 of 12. We were in the middle of a 3-rider battle with Ross Walker just in front and Pete Wyatt just behind. We didn't notice the last lap flag, so before we knew it the chequered flag was out and we finished the race in another fabulous 8th position! We even managed to set a new outright PB laptime of 1:02.041. If we had spotted the last-lap flag we may have attempted a manoeuvre, but as we were struggling for grip near the end of the race we were happy that we secured another good result.

​The final race of the weekend was Supertwins Race 3. With Supertwin pole position, two Supertwin wins and two fastest laps, the pressure was mounting for another good result.

To keep up with tradition, we had another poor start - this time relegating us to 11th on track (and 3rd in class) at the end of the opening lap. Despite using different tyres, the track conditions felt very similar to the 600 race and the Traction Control was continually kicking in - even on Setting 2. We managed to move up to 2nd in class and then bridged the gap to Steve Moody, who was running quicker than he had all weekend. After following Steve for nearly 5 laps, we made a pass on lap 7 of 12 and then managed to move up to 6th on track by the end of the race - making it 3 wins from 3 starts in the Supertwin class!

​Feeling hot, sweaty and generally knackered we packed up and drove home - before watching a bit of WorldSBK and IOM TT on TV.

​We are now at the midway point of the NG Road Racing season and the NG championship standings look as follows:

NG Supertwin Championship Standings (Top 5)
1st - David Carson  181
2nd - Steve Moody     161
3rd - Edward Giles      124
4th - Craig Neve          50
5th - Louis Dawson      50

NG Open 600 Championship Standings (Nearest)
10th - Bevan Plumley       53
11th - Cameron Hall        50
12th - David Carson     44
13th - Fabio Dalle Fratte  43
14th - Mark Walker         38


It is also the halfway point of the season for Darley Moor (in terms of race weekends - 3 down, 3 to go - but only 3 of 8 rounds have been completed so far), the Darley Moor championship standings look as follows:

Twins Championship Standings (Top 5)
1st - David Carson    30
2nd - Chris Barton        22
3rd - Richard Saville     20
4th - Andy Whale         15
5th - Jim Barnett          12

Formula 600 Championship Standings (Top 5)
1st - Ben Dale              31
2nd - Richard Cooper    30
3rd - Albert Walker       22
4th - David Carson    18
5th - James Ford          13

There are no further conflicts in our 2022 racing calendar, so fortunately we don't need to make any more difficult choices. Our next race meeting will be back at Darley Moor, at the Round 4/5 double-header on 2nd/3rd July. Before then we have the delayed Darley Moor 2021 Awards Doo to attend, where we will collect our two "vice-champion" runner-up trophies!  :-)
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