This meeting - held on Father's Day - was a race against the weather, with thunderstorms scheduled to roll in during the afternoon...
Our yellow van was poorly once again, so for the third Darley Moor meeting of the year we had our third different van! We had an early start and attended only on the Sunday. Due to the hire van needing to be returned promptly after the meeting we took the most basic of setups.
Our yellow van was poorly once again, so for the third Darley Moor meeting of the year we had our third different van! We had an early start and attended only on the Sunday. Due to the hire van needing to be returned promptly after the meeting we took the most basic of setups.
 The simplest setup possible! |  Who needs a caravan? |
This meeting was our first time back on a bike since the Round 2 crash four weeks earlier, so our aim was to try and get up to speed and to check that our Kawasaki ZX6R Supersport bike was behaving as expected. Oh, and leaving with some points this time would be a bonus too!
We were out in the first qualifying session of the day on the Aprilia RS660 Trofeo and settled into the groove quite well, setting Pole Position in class (3rd on the combined grid). We then headed out on the Kawasaki ZX6R to bed in some new brake pads and get in some more laps. Once the pads had bedded (after a couple of laps) we started to up the pace, however, on one lap the front brake lever came back further than expected so we pulled in to make sure that everything was OK. No leaks were found and the brake was fine for the remainder of the day so we assume that there was maybe some trapped air that found its way out. With the early end to the session, we would start the opening Formula 600 race from 7th and the opening Darley Cup race from 3rd.
Our first race of the day was Twins Race 1. It appears that we have finally figured out a repeatable way to launch the bike (yey!) but Anthony Thane still beat us into the Wilsons chicane, before we retook the lead on the opening lap. It was then a fairly lonely race so we managed to chip away at the lap times and build more confidence, putting in a fastest lap of 1'00.26 and taking a clear victory at the end of the 8-lap race.
We were out in the first qualifying session of the day on the Aprilia RS660 Trofeo and settled into the groove quite well, setting Pole Position in class (3rd on the combined grid). We then headed out on the Kawasaki ZX6R to bed in some new brake pads and get in some more laps. Once the pads had bedded (after a couple of laps) we started to up the pace, however, on one lap the front brake lever came back further than expected so we pulled in to make sure that everything was OK. No leaks were found and the brake was fine for the remainder of the day so we assume that there was maybe some trapped air that found its way out. With the early end to the session, we would start the opening Formula 600 race from 7th and the opening Darley Cup race from 3rd.
Our first race of the day was Twins Race 1. It appears that we have finally figured out a repeatable way to launch the bike (yey!) but Anthony Thane still beat us into the Wilsons chicane, before we retook the lead on the opening lap. It was then a fairly lonely race so we managed to chip away at the lap times and build more confidence, putting in a fastest lap of 1'00.26 and taking a clear victory at the end of the 8-lap race.
Photo by David Chapman
In Darley Cup Race 1 we got a great start, took the hole shot and led from start to finish, winning by 13.91 seconds with a fastest lap of 59.01. We were starting to get back in the groove with the Kawasaki ZX6R.
Photo by David Chapman
Formula 600 Race 1 had the strongest field of the classes we entered. As this was a qualifying race we were only really interested in getting a Top 4 finish so that we had a front row start for the final race in the afternoon. A good start saw us enter the Wilsons chicane in 5th place and then we managed to make our way into 4th position into Park corner on the opening lap. We circulated as a pack of four at the front until laps 6 and 7, when we caught some backmarkers at the chicanes and the leading pair of Joe Walton and Dave Grace got away. On the final lap we got a run on 3rd-placed Kaine Sheriff and made a move on the brakes into Paddock corner. Kaine tried to outbrake us but overshot and ran wide. What happened next was simply astonishing!
On the exit of the corner we kept a tight line and used less than half of the track width but Kaine continued to drift across the track until he eventually collided with our seat unit and fell from his machine as a result of the impact. On the return to the paddock we stopped to check with the officials that Kaine was OK. It was at this point that Kaine ran over in a fit of rage, broke our screen/GoPro and then proceeded to make numerous threats towards us. You can view all of this action in the onboard video below. As this breached the ACU National Sporting Code Section 11.01.7 (...any act which is of a violent, threatening or abusive nature to any Official, Rider or Passenger or any other person...) he was banned from competing in the remainder of the meeting.
On the exit of the corner we kept a tight line and used less than half of the track width but Kaine continued to drift across the track until he eventually collided with our seat unit and fell from his machine as a result of the impact. On the return to the paddock we stopped to check with the officials that Kaine was OK. It was at this point that Kaine ran over in a fit of rage, broke our screen/GoPro and then proceeded to make numerous threats towards us. You can view all of this action in the onboard video below. As this breached the ACU National Sporting Code Section 11.01.7 (...any act which is of a violent, threatening or abusive nature to any Official, Rider or Passenger or any other person...) he was banned from competing in the remainder of the meeting.
Photo by Allister Dickson
After the lunch break we headed out in Twins Race 2. We can now finally say that we have had a decent launch on the bike, as we managed to get a great start! With a little more practice (testing revs, clutch release timing, etc) then we may even be able to do a little better! Leading our class and third on track we moved ahead of Adam Sheriff (Kaine Sheriff's father) into the back esses to move into 2nd on track, before Adam made a lunge for the lead at the hairpin. Not wanting to take any part in the PreElectronic 600 class battle we then sat around half a second behind for the remainder of the race, setting the fastest overall lap of the race and winning the Twins class from Anthony Thane and Ben Wilkinson.
Photo by Allister Dickson
Prior to Darley Cup Race 2 we had been advised that we would not be able to compete with a broken screen - but we would be able to remove the screen and apply race numbers to the front fairing instead. Another great start saw us take another start-to-finish victory, this time by 10.39 seconds, with a fastest lap of 59.26.
The lack of screen made a massive difference to the riding experience - with the amount of air pushing back onto our shoulders when travelling fast in a crouching position and then the increased blast when sitting up for braking. The difference that the missing screen made was massive, so (as we needed a replacement screen anyway...) we have ordered a double-bubble screen like we started the season with.
The lack of screen made a massive difference to the riding experience - with the amount of air pushing back onto our shoulders when travelling fast in a crouching position and then the increased blast when sitting up for braking. The difference that the missing screen made was massive, so (as we needed a replacement screen anyway...) we have ordered a double-bubble screen like we started the season with.
Damaged screen removed & new seat unit damaged at the rear
Whilst we were waiting for Formula 600 Race 2 to begin, the rain came! At first there was just a shower which evaporated quite quickly, but as soon as we were called to the assembly area the heavens opened and everything got soaked! We managed to change the front tyre (but not the rear) prior to visiting the assembly area. Whilst in the assembly area the rain got even heavier so we turned around and quickly changed the rear wheel - hoping that we could do so before the riders had finished the sighting lap (so we could at least start from the back of the grid on the correct tyres). By the time we had changed the rear wheel and returned to the assembly area the organisers had decided to wait 15 minutes to see what the weather would do. So we hung around in the monsoon conditions until the meeting was eventually abandoned due to the amount of standing water on the circuit. Our decidedly soggy team then packed away the remainder of the items into the hire van for the trip home...
The results during this meeting mean that we have moved closer towards the top of the leaderboards:
Darley Cup Championship (Top 5)
Adam Green 35
David Carson 30
Stephen England 24
Matthew Rostron 20
Nick Clare 13
700cc Twins Championship (Top 5)
Anthony Thane 37
David Carson 30
Ben Wilkinson 24
Matthew Birks 20
Andy Whale 12
Formula 600 Championship (Top 5)
Adam Green 22
Matthew Rostron 18
Adam Mather 16
Mark Goodings 16
David Carson 15
The 4 victories from this round mean that our total victory tally has now surpassed "150 racing wins" (with 152 wins) so a special t-shirt was made to celebrate the achievement! :-)
The results during this meeting mean that we have moved closer towards the top of the leaderboards:
Darley Cup Championship (Top 5)
Adam Green 35
David Carson 30
Stephen England 24
Matthew Rostron 20
Nick Clare 13
700cc Twins Championship (Top 5)
Anthony Thane 37
David Carson 30
Ben Wilkinson 24
Matthew Birks 20
Andy Whale 12
Formula 600 Championship (Top 5)
Adam Green 22
Matthew Rostron 18
Adam Mather 16
Mark Goodings 16
David Carson 15
The 4 victories from this round mean that our total victory tally has now surpassed "150 racing wins" (with 152 wins) so a special t-shirt was made to celebrate the achievement! :-)
150 wins and counting! :-)
There isn't long to prep the bikes for the next meeting, as NG Pembrey is taking place this coming weekend - assuming that we have appropriate transport available. Fingers crossed that we can get there!
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