NG Castle Combe - Race Review (July 2023)

Round 5 of the NG Road Racing championships took us back to Castle Combe. It was a 3.5 hour drive to the circuit on the Thursday evening and when we arrived we discovered that someone had already parked in "our usual spot" - so we setup close-by on the grass. After getting setup we went for a walk (at around 10pm) but the paddock was very quiet so we retreated back to the caravan, only to have security knock on the door at 11.03pm to instruct us to switch off the generator.

​Friday Test Day
Our first challenge of the weekend was to pass a medical inspection following our crash at the NG Pembrey meeting - we passed and were deemed safe to ride for the weekend, which was expected but still a relief!

The Friday started wet but dried up, so by the time the afternoon sessions arrived we had some dry track to play with. The first session out was our first time riding again since the Pembrey crash, and we had some new riding gear to bed-in due to our previous gear being damaged. The toes on our new RST boots are differently shaped than the TCX boots we have used for the past decade and were causing some issues with the gearchange, but we managed to work around it. After getting in the groove we set a couple of 1:18 lap times.

In the following session we went out again and decided to push a bit harder for a single lap - just to prove that we still had some speed in us - and did a 1:15.7 lap time, which was 1.5 seconds from our PB time. We deemed that this was close enough to further close the gap during qualifying and the races, so called it a day and then treated both bike to new rear tyres...

Saturday Race Day
Saturday was the first time out for the weekend on the Aprilia RS660 and we were really struggling to do upshifts using the new boots! So much so that whilst out on track we decided that we'd swap the left boot back to our trusty TCXs - but then remembered that we had left them at home! Because of the troubles, we were surprised to see that we were fastest overall in the practice session - a good sign!

Photo by PulseFoto

Out into the Open 600 qualifying session, and lots of bikes on track meant that there was lots of traffic. We managed to put in a 1:16.7 on our third lap, then the red flag was shown and we were directed back to the paddock. We were 7th on the grid at that point. We decided that was good enough but they restarted the session for 3 minutes and in that time we dropped down to 11th position on the grid.

In the Supertwins qualifying session we managed to get some clear track and put in a 1:16.8 which put us on the front row of the grid in 3rd place.

With a big gap until the races began, we had a bite to eat and watched some WorldSBK racing on the laptop  :-)

Being a special weekend for NG Road Racing - with the weekend featuring bike parades as well as the "King of Combe" races - there were numerous special guests from the British Superbikes paddock, including Tommy Bridewell (featured doing some commentary below) and Charlie Nesbitt who took ~1.5 seconds off the circuit lap record during the weekend on his BSB Honda machine. Truly impressive!

Our first race was Open ​600 Race 1. A great start from our 11th place grid spot moved us into 6th position by the time we entered Quarry corner. During the race we managed to pass Bevan Plumley to take 5th place and then chased down Michael Rees. We gained a bit, then lost a bit, but eventually crossed the line in 5th position, just ahead of a chasing Jed Bird.

After a short break, we were out again into Supertwins Race 1. We got a decent start on the Aprilia for once and on the entrance to Quarry corner we were third on track, with the leaders right in front of us. We kept on their heels for a couple of laps before they slowly disappeared. We did a series of laps in the 1:16s and brought home a solid 3rd place finish - with our fastest lap just 0.2 of a second away from our PB lap.

With the bikes prepped for the Sunday races, we took a much-needed shower and then the girls took to the track themselves to do some roller skating.

A trophy...

...and some family time

Sunday Race Day
An early start saw official club photographer Colin Hill collect a bag of broken Kawasaki ZX6R parts from us - they will hopefully become part of one of his legendary handmade trophies. The overnight rain had cleared, but the weather forecast showed that further rain was due to appear - the only question was: When?

When we ventured out for Open 600 Race 2, there was rain drizzle falling. The drizzle was not enough to wet the track surface properly, but was enough to be constantly streaming across the helmet visor. We went as quick as we felt comfortable to, but for others it made no difference. At the chequered flag we finished in 7th place.

After a short 15-minute break it was time to head out again for Supertwin Race 2. By the time the race started the rain had got heavier and then on lap 2 the race was red flagged. After switching to wet tyres, the race was restarted. There was a lot of standing water but plenty of grip available around the circuit with the exception of one section of track (from Old Paddock to Tower). We were in 3rd place for almost the entirety of the race, but caught up to 2nd-placed Edward Giles halfway through the race. We thought about making a pass but had too many moments (which included some aquaplaning!) and decided to bring the bike home to the finish, crossing the line in 3rd place.

At that point we decided that there was too much standing water to continue, so called it a day. Before leaving, we watched Sunday's WorldSBK racing action on the laptop.

The afternoon races did continue to run, but with greatly diminished rider numbers - so it looks like we weren't the only ones to take that view. As we are not competing for the NG championships this season there seemed little point taking unnecessary risks, and after the last few meetings we felt happy just to be leaving in one piece!

But with a few more championship points gained this weekend, the tables have changed once again. We have moved up to 2nd position in the Supertwins championship and moved down to 5th in the Open 600 championship.

Open 600 Championship Standings (Top 10)
George Edwards  306
Ricky Elder          294
Michael Rees       168
Jed Bird              134
David Carson    122
Lewis Jones           75
Brandon Brinded    53
Aaron Matthews     53
Paul Messenger     50
Lucca Allen           46

Supertwins Championship Standings (Top 10)
Brody Crockford   243
David Carson    175
Steve Moody       166
Edward Giles       145
William Holland   124
Alex Sinclair         95
Jamie Ingham      87
Jamie Coward      75
Tony Parker         75
Luis Calado          54

In less than two weeks we will be back on track for Darley Moor Round 4 on Sunday 13th August, immediately followed by (our final NG race meeting of the season) NG Anglesey on Friday-Sunday 18th-20th August.
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