Here are some photos from Darley Moor Round 6, taken by official Darley photographer Tony Else...

We had a long summer break spanning 9 weeks where we kept ourselves busy - but it was great to be back in the paddock once again. We arrived on Saturday, caught up with lots of people in the paddock, then watched the F1 qualifying followed by Emma Raducanu's magnificent victory in the US Open tennis.

​With full grids shown in the programme, we had concerns about finding clear space in qualifying - but these were unfounded and we managed to qualify 2nd in the Twins class and 5th in Formula 600, whilst multiple British champion (and multiple "Stars at Darley" winner) Richard Cooper took the pole position by over a second.

Our first race was the Allcomers, where we picked grid position 16 out of the hat. After working our way up to 2nd position by the end of lap 2, we remained there for the rest of the race.

Due to a incident in the Classic & Forgotten Era race, all of our other races took place after the lunch break.

The first of which was Formula 600 Race 1. A fairly average start saw us enter the Wilsons Chicane in 7th position, before we fell back to 8th position on lap 2. For whatever reason - be it not riding for a while, getting out of bed on the wrong side, etc - we struggled to get in the groove at this meeting and felt quite wooden on the bike. We were also making a series of small mistakes that seemed to get worse when we tried to push harder. But by the end of lap 5 we had managed to move up to 6th position, but then a mistake exiting Park on the final lap cost us a position and we eventually crossed the line in 7th position.

​The Twins race was directly after the Formula 600 race, so Dave Snr was tasked with wheeling the Supertwin machine through the assembly area and onto the back of the starting grid, where we performed a MotoGP-style bike swap (albeit a lot slower!).

​A poor start meant that we dropped from our 2nd-place grid spot to 5th place into the chicane. From here we worked our way through the pack to finish in 2nd place. By the end of the race we were exhausted!

​Our last set of back-to-back races were at the end of the day. By this time, very light rain showers had sprinkled but it didn't look like much to worry about. When we headed off on our warm-up lap, the "diminished adhesion" flag was flying as Park corner was visually wet. On the return to the grid Richard Cooper and Daz Bellworthy decided not to race, and during the race Joe Walton retired.

​A decent start from our 7th-place grid spot saw us enter the chicane in 6th place, before we moved up to 5th position at Park corner on the opening lap. On lap 2 we moved up to 4th position, where we stayed for four laps before being relegated to 5th. The rain showers continued to fall but we managed to finish in 5th place. A special mention must go to Joshua Potts, who actually went faster in the dodgy Race 2 conditions than in the dry Race 1 - giving him a well-deserved 3rd place finish.

​A quick MotoGP-esq bike swap and we were ready for Twins Race 2. Another lacklustre start meant that we dropped to 4th position at the chicane, but our up-to-date knowledge of the track conditions meant that we felt comfortable on the bike and were able to move up to 2nd place in class on lap 2. We then spent the remainder of the race fighting off the lightweight-class machine of Ian Perks. On the final lap, Ian made a move into the back esses which stuck to the flag - but we crossed the line to take 2nd position in the Twins race.

​There is now only one weekend of racing left in our 2021 season - the "Stars at Darley" weekend on 9th/10th October. Each day will host a single (but extended length) race for the club championships, along with a 15-lap race for the "Stars" - which we always enjoy watching. In preparation, some new dry tyres have been ordered for the Supersport 600 machine  :-)

FORMULA 600 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (TOP 10)
Albert Walker    51
Tom Fisher       30
David Carson  29
Liam Weston     23
David Glossop   14
Ben Handley     12
Richard Wardle 10
Jordan Bannon 10
Joshua Potts     10
Richard Baker    8

TWINS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (TOP 10)
David Carson  49
Jim Hodson       45
Richard Hunt     28
Anthony Thane  24
Sean Seddon     12
Patrick Lord      11
James Barnett   10
Andrew Herd     8
Kieran Jackson  8
Martin Kelly       7
​

With a break in our racing calendar over the summer months, the Two Daves have found some other activities to keep themselves busy!

First Trackday for Dave Snr
What do you buy the "man who has everything" for his 66th birthday present? For us, the answer was to get Dave Snr out on track for the first time ever! Mike Gittings provided some of his old race leathers and we prepped Dave Snr's Aprilia Tuono with some of Dave Jnr's race scrubs, along with new brake pads and an oil/filter change. The circuit of choice was, of course, Darley Moor!

Dave Snr had a blast during the day and had his family in attendance to cheer him on. We even installed the Aim Solo lap timer (out of his view of course!) so that we could capture a GPS-certified maximum speed from the day - he ran 121mph and achieved a best lap time of 1'18.8 - taking roughly 10 seconds off his lap times through the day.

Jason & Donna's Wedding
Summertime is usually wedding-time and this year proved no exception. Former Darley racer (and 2017 Formula Darley championship runner-up) Jason Wilkes got married to his beautiful wife Donna at the end of July, with a selection of racers invited to the very posh doo! We had a brilliant day and wish Jason and Donna all the very best for their future together.

Workshop Explosion
We had a nearby scare when a neighbour's workshop set alight and then exploded. Fortunately, the fire department's quick response swiftly dealt with the situation - which could have been a lot worse! We captured a video of some of the incident which made it to the news.

Dave Jnr went Wingwalking
Not content with racing around various UK tracks, Dave Jnr took to the skies for a couple of wingwalking flights...

The second wingwalk was a "Advanced Level" flight - where loop the loops, stall turns, and rolls were performed. If was an absolutely fantastic experience and is highly recommended. We flew with AeroSuperBatics in Cirencester.

Supertwin Exhaust Repair
And finally, we have done some stuff relating to the race bikes... With the Kawasaki Supertwin exhaust sounding louder than usual at the end of Darley Moor Round 5 we investigated and found that the internal pipe had become disconnected, so have shipped the exhaust off to MHP Exhausts for repair and repacking. Hopefully this will make the bike quieter (and maybe even faster?) at the next race meeting.

Here are some photos from Darley Moor Round 5, taken by official Darley photographer Tony Else...

Following some issues with 3rd gear on the Kawasaki ER650 Supertwin at Round 4, the gearbox from our spare engine was installed for this meeting. A relaxation in COVID restrictions meant that Lorna and the kids could enter the paddock at this meeting, and it was nice to have them around - as Darley Moor Round 5 finally delivered the dry summer's day that we were all hoping for..

We headed up to the circuit on Saturday afternoon, and watched some BSB racing on the Quest freeview channel, before getting the usual scrutineering and signon tasks out of the way. We then headed out for a track walk with Stephen Degnan and Nigel Race. Hopefully Dave Snr was listening carefully as he will be taking part in his first-ever track day at Darley Moor on Monday 19th July as part of the "Peter Hood 'Lofty' Track Day" - we'll let you know how he gets on!

​Onto Sunday and it looked like the showers forecast earlier in the week would be avoided. We headed out into the Twins qualifying session and qualified in 2nd position, then headed out into the Formula 600 session where we qualified in 4th position. During the day we experienced some issues with both the cameras and the lap timer, so we don't have a full selection of videos and/or overlays for the meeting like we usually do.

All races in this meeting were scheduled as 10-laps. Our first race of the day was the Allcomers Cup. We drew a 15th grid position "out of the hat" and as soon as we headed onto track some 'mental rain' landed on our visors and screens. We got a great start, entering the Wilsons chicane in 4th position, and by the end of the opening lap we managed to move up to the lead. On lap 2 we were passed by both Chris Moore and Jim Hodson. We kept on going at our pace and then on lap 5 the rain shower got a little heavier - as we couldn't catch the leaders and had a large gap behind, we just managed the race to finish in a comfortable 3rd position.

​Next was Formula 600 Race 1 and we managed to retain our 4th place position from the grid to the chicane. We circulated in 4th position for a couple of laps and then got a bit impatient and tried some optimistic (and unsuccessful) moves on lap 3 to try to get into 3rd position - one at Park corner and another at the hairpin (circa 2:20 and 2:45 on the onboard video). These failed attempts moved us back into 5th position, so we regrouped and then tried to progress again. By the end of lap 4 we had managed to move up into 3rd position, but were 2.60 seconds behind the race leader. We put in some clean fast laps and closed the gap until we caught a backmarker at Townleys on lap 9. At the chequered flag we were 0.92 of a second behind race winner Ben Handley, Albert Walker finished in 2nd place and we finished in 3rd place.

​There was now a lunch break, so we took the time to relax - safe in the knowledge that we were ready for the 'important' afternoon races (which give points and trophies). Twins Race 2 was called so we started final preparations - and it was at this point that we noticed that the tyres on both bikes were stone cold. It transpired that "one of the children" had switched off the tyre warmer extension lead at the plug socket in the caravan... So we switched them back on and waited until the very last moment to head to the assembly area, which gave the tyres around 5 minutes on the warmers.

Knowing that we couldn't attack from the off, we made a plan to spend several laps warming the tyres and then to ride as hard as possible to capture as many championship points as possible. We felt lucky that today's races were 10 laps!

At the end of the warm-up lap, the ever-quick Jim Hodson was forced to pull out of the race with a mechanical issue and didn't take the start. When the lights went out we cautiously pulled away and entered the chicane in 4th position - carrying as little speed as possible in order to not crash on our cold tyres. We continued to ride steadily and dropped to 5th place by the end of the lap. Each lap we got a little quicker but by the end of lap 3 we had already dropped to 6.14 seconds behind the leader, so decided to chance upping the pace. By the end of lap 5, we had moved up to 2nd place and were less than 4 seconds behind leader Richard Hunt. We managed to bridge the gap and took the lead on lap 7. At the chequered flag we took the win, with Richard Hunt taking 2nd position and Anthony Thane taking the final podium spot.

​A special mention goes out to 5th-place finisher Matthew Birks who had a brush with the barrier at Townleys (circa 3:02 on the onboard video) and managed to keep upright across the grass and rejoin at the middle of the hairpin!

​The final race of our day was Formula 600 Race 2. A decent start saw us enter the chicane in 4th position. The laptimes for the top 4 were very similar, so making a pass was tough, but we managed to force a pass through to 3rd place at Park corner on lap 5 - we ran wide but managed to just stay ahead into the back esses.

We then rode hard to close the gap to the leader and at the end of lap 8 the Top 3 in the race were covered by just 0.90 of a second. But at Park corner on lap 9 we got caught up with a backmarker (circa 8:22 on the onboard video) which broke the tow and we unfortunately lost touch with the leading group. Albert Walker took the race win, with Ben Handley taking 2nd place, and we took the final podium spot! Although we were disappointed that we couldn't keep the fight going until the chequered flag, we were happy with our overall performance.

After Round 5 (of 8) of the 2021 Darley Moor season, the championship tables currently look as follows.

FORMULA 600 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (TOP 10)
Albert Walker       39
Tom Fisher          30
David Carson     23
David Glossop      14
Ben Handley        12
Richard Wardle    10
Jordan Bannon     10
Richard Baker       8
Liam Weston         8
Tim Walsh            6

TWINS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (TOP 10)
David Carson     37
Jim Hodson          30
Anthony Thane     18
Richard Hunt        18
Sean Seddon        12
James Barnett      10
Andrew Herd         8
Kieran Jackson      8
Martin Kelly           7
Steven Pritchard    6

​Whilst packing up after this hectic day we noticed that the titanium Arata exhaust on the Supertwin had cracked, so that will need to be sent away for repair prior to our next race meeting. Our next race meeting will be Darley Moor Round 6 on Sunday 12th September - but before then, Dave Jnr will be doing some wingwalking, which includes a 'loop the loop' along with other aerial feats!  We'll see you soon :-)
​

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