How high can you wheelie a 650 Suzuki twin? Gary Arden knows the answer – vertical, followed rapidly by horizontal. Unfortunately the front row of the Minitwins race was not the perfect place to find this out,and although most of the field miraculously missed bike and rider, Jonathan Bream coming from row six was unlucky enough to hit the fallen bike and somersault his Kawasaki, which broke the headstock in the crash.
Neither rider was hurt, and amazingly Gary was able to sellotape the Suzuki back together well enough to win the second minitwins race, and both the Supertwins events as well - results which put him second in the minitwins and move him to the top of the Supertwins table.
That was the start of race one of the EMRA meeting at Mallory on Sunday, but thereafter the spectacle was confined to the actual racing for most of the day, which was enlivened by some real battles and spectacular rides through the field especially in the bigger classes.
The Morello Racing team brought their Superstock bikes for John Ingram and new signing Alex Heaton, the 2014 Thundersport GP1 champion, who is racing for the team at the Cadwell BSB meeting . With his pedigree of Buildbase titles, John Ingram would expect to start favourite in those races, but a surprising ninth place on the grid so it was Alex Heaton and Billy Mellor who fought for the lead initially but by lap four it was a three-way scrap with Mellor ahead of the two Morello bikes, and the Barnsley man managed to hold on for the win with Ingram closing the gap to 0.14 seconds by the flag. The second race saw Ingram lead from start to finish, but suffered a five second penalty for a slightly over-enthusiastic start, but still got the win over Mellor who was involved in a massive scrap with Dan Stamper and Dale Thomas.
After the first allcomers race went to Ingram with Billy Mellor just holding off the slow-starting Heaton, the front row all turned up on the back row of the grid for race two – not because there was £50 grand on it, as at Brands Hatch last month, but because they turned up late for the race and had to go on the back after the warm-up lap. It certainly made for a good race – Nick Williamson leading lap one, then Lee Wilson taking over for the next six until Alex Heaton got through on lap eight while Wilson battled with fellow- Barnsley racer Billy Mellor for second spot.
Alex Heaton won both Superstock races from Billy Mellor, with Dale Thomas just snatching the 600 win from Dan Stamper in race one, but Stamper taking the class win in race two. If Morello were trying to find out whether Alex can race a big Stocker, I think they’ve found the answer – roll on Cadwell.
On the subject of back –to-front rides, Ryan Oliver on the Revolution BMW started on the back of the grid for the second Roadstock race, passed half of the field on the first lap, was up to sixth at the end of lap two, but it took another four laps to get up to third, then it was a family battle with Arthur on the Triumph, eventually resolved in Ryan’s favour, but by this time Michael Leeson had taken his KTM into an invincible lead, his seventh win in the series. Brad Clarke won the earlier race by a second from Leeson to keep his championship hopes alive. Athur Oliver’s class win edged him to within two points of Ian Fairgrieve in the 600 class.
Paul Westerdale maintained his unbeaten record in the Lightweight class, but even ten wins out of ten have not given him the title yet, although Steve Cullen has 52 points to make up, with a possible sixty on the board in September.
The Rookie championship is very much a family affair – the Shaw twins, Matthew and William are well clear of Michael Leeson in third place, William being named Rider of the Day at Sunday’s meeting after a tremendous scrap with BMW-mounted Steve Bates in the first rookie race, and then leading the second race on his 600 Suzuki until the tyres finally started to cry enough after seven laps, and Matthew was able to take the win from Daniel Munday with William coming home third. Matthew has now moved into the lead of the Superstock 1000 class, and William is up to third in the 600 class behind Jamie Medhurst and Jed Bird. The Telford-based twins are both very pleased with their first season of racing, and wish they’d started earlier – Sunday was their dad’s birthday, so the trophies and garland were a good present.
John Lea dominated the Supersport races as he has done all year, beating the battling duo of Jonny Towers and Dylan Roberts by eighteen seconds in race one, but taking his time a bit in race two to finish a mere twelve seconds ahead of Roberts.
For the first time, EMRA ran two CB500 races, and Richard Blunt and Jack Tynan raced wheel to wheel throughout the first race, with Blunt taking the win by half a second; race two was more of the same, with Peter Bardell joining the battle, and in the end it was Tynan by 0.15 seconds from Blunt with Bardell 0.7 further back. There will be more of the same next month.
John Lowther won both sidecar races, the first by three seconds from Andy King, while the second was much closer with Lowther, Greg Lambert and Lee Crawford separated by a fifth of a second going into the last lap, but after everyone tried to be in the same place at the same time on the last lap, Lowther came out two seconds up on Lambert with Crawford a close third. In the first race Steve Noble and Horst Walczak had been conducting a whhel to wheel scrap for fifth which ended up with a coming together at the hairpin, and Walczak’s outfit appeared for race two with rather less fibreglass than it began – must have been pretty windy in race two, and it did nothing for the aerodynamics – three seconds a lap slower.
The final round of the EMRA championships is on 13th September at Mallory, and, with double points for the finals, every championship is still to be decided on that day.
East Midlands Racing Association (EMRA), Round 5,
Mallory Park, 16th August 2015
REVE Racing Lightweight and Minitwins
Race 1 - 9 Laps:
1 J Towers (Kawasaki) 8m 29.813s, 2 P
Westerdale, 3 S Edmondson, 4 J Wells, 5 R Blunt,
6 P Bardell, 7 J Tynan, 8 N Reading, 9 C
Wilson, 10 R Rout, 11 S Cullen, 12 A Matthews,
13 A Bailey, 14 R Vickers, 15 M Marshall, 16 O
Dean, 17 O Kelly, 18 J Kent, K Rose.
Race 10 – 10 Laps:
1 J Towers (Kawasaki) 9m 23.254s, 2 P
Westerdale, 3 G Arden, 4 S Edmondson, 5 R Blunt,
6 J Wells, 7 J Tynan, 8 N Reading, 9 P Bardell,
10 C Wilson, 11 A Matthews, 12 S Cullen,
13 C Ridealgh, 14 R Vickers, 15 A Bailey, 16 O
Dean, 17 J Kent.
Revolution Superstock 600 & Bitubo Hawk Superstock 1000
Race 2 – 10 Laps:
1 A Heaton (Morello Racing) 8m 56.820s, 2 B
Mellor, 3 D Thomas, 4 D Stamper, 5 J Ingram,
6 A Clarke, 7 D Roberts, 8 J White, 9 L Dawson,
10 M Shaw, 11 W Shaw, 12 S Gillings,
13 J Thompson, 14 D Bliss, 15 J Bird, 16 S
Bates, 17 A Gilnicz, 18 L Vledder, 19 R Heritage,
20 M Taylor, 21 B Brown, 22 M Plunkett.
Race 11 – 10 Laps:
1 A Heaton (Morello Racing) 8m 54.420s, 2 B
Mellor, 3 D Stamper, 4 D Thomas, 5 L Dawson,
6 A Clarke, 7 D Roberts, 8 M Shaw, 9 W Shaw, 10
D Bliss, 11 J Bird, 12 J Thompson,
13 S Bates, 14 A Gilnicz, 15 L Vledder, 16 B
Brown, 17 M Bell, 18 M Taylor, 19 M Plunkett.
Allied Automotive & MRCUK Roadstocks & Preinjection Steel
Frames
Race 3 – 10 Laps:
1 B Clarke (Kawasaki) 9m 41.613s, 2 M Leeson, 3
A Oliver, 4 I Fairgrieve, 5 C Walton,
6 I Webster, 7 J Ingham, 8 R Heritage, 9 D
Corkery, 10 L Whitelam, 11 N Sweet, 12 R Lawton, 13 R Barnett, 14 S Hood, 15 R
Sabin, 16 H James, 17 S McDevitt, 18 M Newbold, 19 A Booth.
Race 3 – 10 Laps:
1 M Leeson (KTM) 9m 41.539s, 2
R Oliver, 3 A Oliver, 4 L Whitelam, 5 B Clarke, 6 I Fairgrieve, 7 J Ingham, 8 I
Webster, 9 C Walton, 10 R Lawton, 11 R Heritage, 12 S Hood, 13 D Corkery,
14 H James, 15 R Barnett, 16 R Sabin, 17 S
McDevitt, 18 A Booth.
Real Motorsport Allcomers
Race 4 – 10 Laps:
1 J Ingram (Morello Racing) 8m 55.914s, 2 B
Mellor, 3 A Heaton, 4 J Towers, 5 A Clarke,
6 N Williamson, 7 L Wilson, 8 A Carpenter, 9 P
Shook, 10 J Thompson, 11 S Bowyer,
12 L Vledder, 13 S Brittain, 14 M Taylor, 15 D
Bliss, 16 M Plunkett.
Race 13 – 10 Laps:
1 A Heaton (Morello Racing) 9m 06.642s, 2 L
Wilson, 3 B Mellor, 4 N Williamson, 5 A Clarke,
6 P Shook, 7 A Carpenter, 8 D Bliss, 9 J
Towers, 10 S Bowyer, 11 S Brittain, 12 M Taylor,
13 M Plunkett.
W.A.S. Auto Centre Trophy Sidecars
Race 5 – 10 Laps:
1 Lowther/Christy (Honda LCR 600) 9m 51.386s, 2
King/Skinner, 3 Hawkins/Payne, 4 Lambert/ O’Conner, 5 Roberts/Roberts, 6
Carter/Fox, 7 Noble/Chandler.
Race 15 – 10 Laps:
1 Lowther/Christy (Honda LCR 600) 9m 43.735s, 2
Lambert/O’Conner, 3 Crawford/Moore,
4 Hawkins/Payne, 5 Noble/Chandler, 6
Roberts/Roberts, 7 Carter/Fox, 8 Walczak/Miller.
Marine Fabrications Supersport & Supertwins
Race 6 – 10 Laps:
1 J Lea (Triumph) 8m 56.077s, 2 J Towers, 3 D
Roberts, 4 P Shook, 5 J Bird, 6 N Ross,
7 O Perry, 8 G Arden, 9 S Hood, 10 D Coaster,
11 J Wells, 12 W Martin, 13 A Matthews,
14 C Warner, 15 N Gauden.
Race 14 – 10 Laps:
1 J Lea (Triumph) 8m 59.303s, 2 D Roberts, 3 P
Shook, 4 J Bird, 5 N Ross, 6 G Arden,
7 O Perry, 8 J Wells, 9 S Hood, 10 A Matthews, 11
W Martin, 12 C Warner, 13 N Gauden.
Buildbase Mallory Trophy
Race 7 – 10 Laps:
1 B Mellor (BMW) 8m 55.368s, 2 J Ingram, 3 A
Heaton, 4 D Stamper, 5 D Thomas, 6 L Wilson,
7 A Carpenter, 8 S Bowyer, 9 S Brittain, 10 N
Ross, 11 A Booth.
Race 16 – 10 Laps:
1 J Ingram (Morello Racing) 8m 59.680s, 2 B
Mellor, 3 D Stamper, 4 D Thomas, 5 L Wilson,
6 N Williamson, 7 A Carpenter, 8 S Brittain, 9
N Ross, 10 A Booth.
Ducati Coventry JHP Rookie Championship
Race 8 – 10 Laps:
1 S Bates (BMW) 9m 26.715s, 2 W Shaw, 3 D
Munday, 4 M Shaw, 5 M Leeson, 6 M Daines,
7 J Grinling, 8 M Bell, 9 D Coaster, 10 N
Reading, 11 D Ferrimond, 12 A Kiljanski, 13 N Moore,
14 M Newbold, 15 N Gauden.
Race 17 – 10 Laps:
1 M Shaw (Suzuki) 9m 24.931s, 2 D Munday, 3 W
Shaw, 4 S Bates, 5 M Leeson, 6 M Daines,
7 J Grinling, 8 M Bell, 9 N Reading, 10 D
Ferrimond, 11 D Coaster, 12 A Kiljanski, 13 N Moore.
Radium Lamps Formula 125 & GP125 & CB500
Race 9 – 10 Laps:
1 R Blunt (Honda) 9m 56.903s, 2 J Tynan, 3 P
Bardell, 4 R Gothard, 5 C Ridealgh, 6 R Vickers, 7 B Brown, 8 P Sawyer, 9 E
Franklin, 10 E Machado, 11 D Faulkner, 12 M Marshall,
13 O Dean, 14 P Stevens, 15 H Phillips, 16 M
Steven, 17 O Kelly, 18 D Ince, 19 M Sawyer,
20 S Constant, 21 R Quayle, 22 N Breeze, 23 G
Pidcock.
Race 18 – 10 Laps:
1 J Tynan (Honda) 9m 59.017s, 2 R Blunt, 3 P
Bardell, 4 R Gothard, 5 E Machado, 6 E Franklin 7 B Brown, 8 P Sawyer, 9 O
Dean, 10 D Faulkner, 11 R Vickers, 12 M Marshall, 13 P Stevens, 14 H Phillips,
15 R Bloxham, 16 O Kelly, 17 D Ince, 18 M Sawyer, 19 S Constant, 20 N Breeze,
21 G Pidcock.
