Two Daves Racing
Get in touch & keep updated...
  • HOME
  • TEAM & RIDER OVERVIEW
  • RS660 TROFEO
  • KAWASAKI SUPERSPORT
  • RACE RESULTS
  • RECENT NEWS
  • USEFUL INFO
  • KAWASAKI SUPERTWIN
  • PHOTOS

Darley Moor Rounds 3 & 4 - Race Review

1/7/2014

2 Comments

 
Rounds 3 & 4 of the Darley Moor championship season welcomed us this weekend - but with the weather forecasts expecting thunderstorms it was bound to be an interesting weekend!

Darley Moor Round 3
Despite weather forecasts of thunderstorms, it wasn't until 8.30am on Saturday when light rain began to fall, so wet tyres were the obvious choice for our Formula Darley qualifying session. The slippery conditions made for a lot of traffic - some of which were on dry tyres, including the unfortunate Formula 125 rider who fell right in front of us on his first lap - but we managed to qualify in 2nd place. In the following Mini Sound of Thunder qualifying session we also qualified in 2nd place (and in 4th overall on the combined grid), meaning that we had front row starts for all of our races!
Picture
Formula Darley Race 1 was wet and we got a good start and were in 2nd place behind Ross Richards. Unfortunately, the race was stopped on first lap and restarted due to a crash. At the restart, we got another good start and were into 2nd position again, before moving back to 3rd position on lap 2. We continued to stay in touch with leaders until lap 5 when we got stuck behind a backmarker at the chicane. Then on the final lap, another Formula 125 rider crashed right in front of us, forcing us to take avoiding action and cementing our 3rd place finish.

The Mini Sound of Thunder Race 1 was less wet and more damp. We settled into 3rd position by the end of lap 1, with Paul Turner close behind us. We managed to pull a gap to finish clear in 3rd place.
Picture
With the Formula Darley Race 2 taking place after lunch, the track had a chance to dry but still looked damp so we (along with most of the grid) went out on wet tyres - but on the sighting lap it was apparent that there was a dry line everywhere except at the hairpin. We tried to take it easy on the wet tyres but killed the wet rear tyre on our way to a 4th place finish.

The final race of the Saturday, Mini Sound of Thunder Race 2, was completely dry. We finished in 5th place after struggling to carry speed into the corner. We managed a fastest lap of 1'02.72 on the final lap (our Personal Best lap is 1'02.42), so were up to speed but just took too long in getting there.
Picture
Darley Moor Round 4
Unlike Saturday, the light rain decided to wait until we were out on track before it began to fall on Sunday. With the light rain continuing to fall, we daringly put a single fast lap in to qualify in 3rd place for the Formula Darley grid. With the rain showers then stopping, we remained on dry tyres and qualified in 4th position in the Mini Sound of Thunder session (9th overall on the combined grid).

With the rain now starting to fall heavier, we decided to switch to wet tyres prior to the first Formula Darley race. But then the rain stopped and a dry line appeared on the track, so we quickly changed back to dry tyres (which was the correct choice). With the race started, we were running in 4th place when the bike started to misfire, which resulted in us moving back to 5th place. It was only when the bike finally coughed to a halt, on lap 4 of 6, that we realised what the problem was - we had ran out of fuel! With all of the rushing about to change wheels we had forgotten to check the fuel level... Doh!
Picture
The walk of shame...
With our Kawasaki Supertwin now featuring a filled fuel tank, we headed out to Mini Sound of Thunder Race 1, now desperate for a finish. At the start, a collision at the first corner had a rider fall in front of us once more (the third of the weekend!) which brought out the red flag. A 20-minute wait on the starting grid followed and when the circuit was reopened, we were only given a single warm-up lap before the race was restarted. Cautiously, we took the first couple of racing laps to warm our tyres before taking a 5th place finish to help settle us down, ready for the rest of the day.

Formula Darley Race 2 was entertaining with us slowly catching and then passing Ant Porter for 3rd place on the last lap of the race, but Ant managed to repass us, meaning that we secured 4th place. A lap time of 1'02.48 on the last lap was only 0.06 off our personal best lap time.

For the final race of the weekend, Mini Sound of Thunder Race 2, we got a good start and settled into 2nd place behind Paul Turner. Championship leader Brad Vicars passed us a couple of times but then ran wide, meaning that we were able to immediately make a repass. We managed to complete 6 of the 8 laps in the 1'02 second bracket (with our best lap only 0.02 off our personal best lap time), and finished in 2nd place with a race time of 8'30.05 - over 5 seconds faster than our previous best 8-lap race time which was a great result for us.
Picture
With four of seven rounds of the Darley Moor championship now complete, we currently stand 5th in Formula Darley championship and 5th in Mini Sound of Thunder championship.

The next round of the Darley Moor championships will take place on Bank Holiday Monday 25th August.

Prior to that, we have Rounds 8 & 9 of the NG Supertwins championship at Donington Park on 26th/27th July.

2 Comments
mark
5/7/2014 22:40:48

hi dave i was the rider who fell on sunday ,a triumph ppracing just wondering if you saw what happend and have you got any video footage ,i no there is a lot of gossip in the paddock about certain riders ,i got out of hospital on thursday ,had operation to repair collerbone ,shoulde blade +rib
cheers mark

Reply
David Jnr
6/7/2014 00:47:22

Hi Mark,
Sorry to hear about that - I've had shoulder injuries in the past (collorbone, soft tissue damage, etc) so feel your pain! Your injuries must have been bad to be in hospital for several days, so I wish you the best of luck in your recovery.
I did have some footage which I have uploaded as an unlisted video to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi3nl1cEtVM&feature=youtu.be (as Eddie doesn't like Darley crash videos to be searchable on YouTube). It looks like there was a bit of backup of riders where everyone slowed. A guy in a novice jacket seems to touch the back of Ant Porter's bike and the novice then sits up - you then hit the back of the novice.
I'm not sure what the paddock gossip is but feel free to get in touch via email ([email protected]) if you have any questions.
All the best, David

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    David Carson Jnr,
    the Racer!

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed