Our final race meeting of the season took place at the picturesque Anglesey circuit. With it being October - and with the weather likely to be a gamble - we elected to leave the awning at home and booked into a garage for this meeting.
We took a half-day holiday from work and arrived nice and early, but when we arrived were advised that we wouldn't be allowed into the paddock for a while - so we parked up and made a brew to pass the time. Once we were let into the paddock we abandoned the caravan at the first mains hook-up point that we saw and then parked the van behind our main home for the weekend - Garage 12.
We took a half-day holiday from work and arrived nice and early, but when we arrived were advised that we wouldn't be allowed into the paddock for a while - so we parked up and made a brew to pass the time. Once we were let into the paddock we abandoned the caravan at the first mains hook-up point that we saw and then parked the van behind our main home for the weekend - Garage 12.
Once we had setup in the garage we noticed that there was a vacant space in-between the race vans, so we decided to manually move the caravan to take advantage of that space and have everything closer together. With that done, we got scrutineered and then fit some low-lap 600 tyres (well... low-lap for us, they'd only done 57-laps compared to the 134-lap-old tyres that were currently fit) onto the Aprilia RS660 wheels. With all jobs done, we popped to the bar for a quick pint and then took advantage of the new heater setup that the "Weekend Warriors" (Andy Barber and Dean Ephgrave) had before retiring to the caravan.
 A long queue... |  ...but Dave Snr was happy enough! |
Saturday Race Day
Our garage was shared with fellow-600-racers and thoroughly nice chaps Max Ainscough and Caleb Williams, along with Aintree-champion (and "Stars at Darley" racer) Danny Lewis. It made for a delightful place to be for the weekend.
We were out in the first two sessions of the day, which gave us a chance to reacquaint ourselves with the "International" circuit layout, which we'd last ridden 15 year ago. In the first session we did a best lap of 1'52.7, followed by a 1'46.5 in the second session. For whatever reason - the cooler weather, etc - we seemed to be struggling to get into the swing of things.
Out into the qualifying sessions and we set a 1'41.2 on the Aprilia which qualified us 11th in the Twins class (21st on the combined grid), then we set a 1'38.3 on the Kawasaki which qualified us 5th in the Pre-2011 class (26th on the overall grid).
Just before the races began, light rain began to fall. After a short wait by the organisers, we headed out onto track for 820cc Twins Race 1 with a wet front tyre and a rear dry tyre. This was probably the best choice for us and we finished the race in 9th position.
Photo by George Franks
We were then out in Club Supersport 600 Race 1, so we decided on the same wet-front/dry-rear setup. In the assembly area there was a wide range of tyre options - from full wet to full dry. This was a drier race and the sunshine even made an appearance during the race. We finished the race 4th in class (19th overall).
After the lunch break we headed back on track for 820cc Twins Race 2 on a fully-dry setup. We completed the warm-up lap and formed up on the grid - then were sent back to the paddock. It turned out that there was a power cut across Anglesey and all mains power was out. Luckily we brought the generator with us, so pulled that out of the van to keep the tyres warmers on.
With no resolution in sight, the organisers decided to continue running the meeting using a flag to start the race. After a fairly lonely race we finished 10th in class (14th overall) and set a new Personal Best lap of 1'39.1 along the way.
With no resolution in sight, the organisers decided to continue running the meeting using a flag to start the race. After a fairly lonely race we finished 10th in class (14th overall) and set a new Personal Best lap of 1'39.1 along the way.
Our final race of the day was Club Supersport 600 Race 2, which was extremely windy! Once onto the grid, the flag was shown and four riders went! The start was aborted and after completing a total of three warm-up laps we eventually got going for our race. Despite the challenges we managed to finish 3rd in class (17th overall) and captured our first trophy of the weekend!
With the power out, the cafe/bar unfortunately was closed too which meant that the planned party and entertainment never happened - so we treated the kids to a DVD-night in the caravan instead. Then just before 10pm the paddock electricity came back online.
Sunday Race Day
We took part in the optional warm-up session on the Kawasaki, just to get back in the swing of things. We were feeling a bit more comfortable on the bike today which was promising - as the lap times from the Sunday-morning races would determine entry into the various Anglesey Grand races.
Our first race was 820cc Twins Race 3. We had been moved up to 13th on the grid based on our Saturday race results. During the race there were no Twin-class competitors near us but we did managed to have a battle with some Golden Era Supersport riders which was entertaining. We finished 8th in class (13th overall) with a best lap of 1'39.4.
Sunday Race Day
We took part in the optional warm-up session on the Kawasaki, just to get back in the swing of things. We were feeling a bit more comfortable on the bike today which was promising - as the lap times from the Sunday-morning races would determine entry into the various Anglesey Grand races.
Our first race was 820cc Twins Race 3. We had been moved up to 13th on the grid based on our Saturday race results. During the race there were no Twin-class competitors near us but we did managed to have a battle with some Golden Era Supersport riders which was entertaining. We finished 8th in class (13th overall) with a best lap of 1'39.4.
After a short break we headed out for Club Supersport 600 Race 3. Again, we had been moved forward on the grid, this time from 26th to 20th. From the start we managed to tag onto the back of the group ahead which allowed us to set a new Personal Best lap time of 1'36.6 on our way to finishing 4th in class (19th overall). This result secured us 2nd place in the Pre-2011 championship, and Tom Harrison was also confirmed as the championship winner.
With our lap times, we had qualified for the Anglesey Grand races in both the "A" final on the Kawasaki and the "C" final on the Aprilia. We were the 26th qualifier for the "A" final (out of a possible 26 starters) but decided to let a quicker racer (who had crashed in one of the morning races) to join the grid instead of us, which entered us into the "Anglesey Grand Frolic" race instead.
Our first Anglesey Grand race was the "C" final. We made a decent start but lost the tow to the group ahead. With back-to-back races we decided to leave the race early as we were just circulating on our own - which scared a few people into thinking we had crashed as they couldn't see the track exit road from their vantage point (sorry for the scare!).
Our first Anglesey Grand race was the "C" final. We made a decent start but lost the tow to the group ahead. With back-to-back races we decided to leave the race early as we were just circulating on our own - which scared a few people into thinking we had crashed as they couldn't see the track exit road from their vantage point (sorry for the scare!).
Starting from pole position? That's a thumbs-up from me!
We lined up on the Anglesey Grand Frolic grid in Pole Position. After a decent start we managed to hold onto the race lead for the first part of the lap, before falling back to 3rd place by the middle of the opening lap. As the race developed there was a 3-rider battle for 2nd position. We managed to set a new Personal Best lap of 1'35.885 on our way to finishing 3rd place in the race, just 0.502 of a second behind Adam Perks at the flag. Once into the 'parc ferme' we were asked to join a podium celebration - which was nice.
 Receiving our award... |  ...and stepping on the podium |
820cc Twins Race 4 would be our final race of the weekend. After a good result on the Kawasaki in the Anglesey Grand race and with the championship positions cemented we decided to park that bike.
After a decent start we ended up in open space that allowed us to concentrate on just riding, which helped us to set a new Personal Best lap of 1'38.486 on the Aprilia on our way to a 5th place finish (8th overall).
The result also meant that our championship points tally matched with that of 2nd placed Scott McCrory - but based on the countback rules (i.e. most number of wins, then most number of 2nds, etc) Scott retains 2nd and we have finished 3rd in the Twins championship!
After a decent start we ended up in open space that allowed us to concentrate on just riding, which helped us to set a new Personal Best lap of 1'38.486 on the Aprilia on our way to a 5th place finish (8th overall).
The result also meant that our championship points tally matched with that of 2nd placed Scott McCrory - but based on the countback rules (i.e. most number of wins, then most number of 2nds, etc) Scott retains 2nd and we have finished 3rd in the Twins championship!
Waving to an adoring crowd!
With all championship points now allocated, the final point standings look as follows.
Pre-2011 Supersport 600 Championship Standings (Top 5)
Tom Harrison 170
David Carson 131
Matthew Perry 93
Caleb Williams 91
Max Ainscough 42
820cc Twins Championship Standings (Top 5)
Louis Dawson 155
Scott McCrory 103
David Carson 103
Sean Seddon 75
Oliver Morgan-Edwards 67
With the season now finished, we will gather together some stats regarding the season to produce another "Season Summary" blog. But in the meantime we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters (if you're reading this - then that's you!), Dave Carson Snr, Steph Carson, Lorna Carson & I would particularly like to thank Pomerol Partners, Peraison and Rock Oil for their support. Thank you all for making 2024 another very special year! :-)
Pre-2011 Supersport 600 Championship Standings (Top 5)
Tom Harrison 170
David Carson 131
Matthew Perry 93
Caleb Williams 91
Max Ainscough 42
820cc Twins Championship Standings (Top 5)
Louis Dawson 155
Scott McCrory 103
David Carson 103
Sean Seddon 75
Oliver Morgan-Edwards 67
With the season now finished, we will gather together some stats regarding the season to produce another "Season Summary" blog. But in the meantime we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters (if you're reading this - then that's you!), Dave Carson Snr, Steph Carson, Lorna Carson & I would particularly like to thank Pomerol Partners, Peraison and Rock Oil for their support. Thank you all for making 2024 another very special year! :-)
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