Hottrax Motorsport Racing Club Motorcycle Endurance Championship
words by Alfonso Lygo, Photos by British Sport Photography

Start of Race 1	Start of Race 2

3 hour National, Senior & Masters Race

The Hottrax Motorsport regulars would have to review strategies to manage a race only half distance compared with the normal six hour bash. Following on from morning practice it was newcomers Steptoe & Son Racing (Sam Smithson/Jonty Dixon) who stole pole by more than a second and a half from championship leading crews - Sweatshop Racing (Hugh Brasher/Mick Godfrey/Rod Lynn/R1) and Trackcraft (Mark Linscott/Mike Dickenson). Also, new to series were Elite Racing (Chris Norris/Phillip Corless) on a brace of Ducati 1098s.

At the fall of the cloth Sweatshop took off like a scalded cat with Trackcraft and the rag `n bone men in hot pursuit. Left on the grid and on the deck was Costello Redmond Racing (Jon Leach/Craig Allemby/Drew Tommons) after a fracas at the tail end of the field . First to pit was the Kapital Moto Ducati to investigate engine gremlins after the team had worked during the night to improve things after the previous day‘s trackday. At the same time Trackcraft passed the startline in front of Sweatshop, Steptoes, Extreme Bykesportz (Ian Walker/Kevin Tait), newcomers Elite Racing and First Form Endurance (Paul Robey/Jay Smith). The order of the day was to be changed by the inaugural appearance of the pace car as a result of Pit Stop Racing visiting the greenery at Chris Curve, teams dived for the pitlane but this worked against Trackcraft and other teams dumping the #1 liveried bike down to ninth spot out of the 27 bike field.

Moments before the one hour mark Freaks of Nature (Dave Stewardson/Mark Whiston) pilot Bones slipped off after Charlie’s and ran back to pitlane with the ever important transponder collapsing in the high temperatures wearing leathers and helmet - this left Mark the rest of the race to complete on his own with regular rider breaks, hoping to grab some all important points

Half way point of this uncharacteristically short race, the timing screen showed Sweatshop and Steptoes one lap in front of Trackcraft, top 600 outfit Ducks Cross Racing (Mike Eglington/Grant Wagstaff/Martin Landmann/R6) , TM72 Racing (Andy McKnight/Mike Chappell), East Coast (Phill Reed/Paul Hobson/Carl Hudson/R1), First Form and Too Old, Too Fat Racing (Paul Noble/Nigel Rae). Down in the pitlane Jon Leach did 10 minutes of his first stint before feeling unwell and gladly handing on the rest of the day’s riding to team mates Tommons & Allemby. Feeling the wrath of the pitlane police the was many teams falling foul of the pitlane speed limit or staying out longer on the track than regulations allow - this included the Bob Farnham Power Racing entry of 16 year old chargers Tom Dale and Alex Olsen on a pair of Triumph 675s.

With half an hour to go Sweatshop, who have won all 2009 races to date, were still leading from the front with a lap in hand over Masters 1000 leaders - Trackcraft who have a clean sheet so far this season. Extreme and Steptoes were on the same lap ahead of TM72.

Most riders were delighted to see the end of the race, held in sweltering conditions with Sweatshop winning by less than 30 seconds from Trackcraft, Extreme and TM72 were a slender lap down on the winners with Steptoes in a creditable class winning fifth over Too Old Too Fat and class winner’s Profibre rounding off the top six. Ducks X won the Supersport division on the same lap as Bob Farnham’s Triumphs and Rebels Racing (Simon Bland/Joan McIntosh) took the Senior 600 race.

Fastest Lap Trackcraft 1m 36.154s

3 hour Junior Endurance Race

After a massively hot, humid and oppressive morning race the Juniors took their place on the grid in even greater heat. Pole setters were Junior 1000 leaders Graphic UK Racing (Dean Skipper/Basil Bannayi) only a smidge quicker than the 600 of Project 39 (Andy Rouse/Colin Norris) - both teams having a couple of seconds in hand over the rest of the chasing pack. After a false start caused by rider’s eagerness to start racing the riders were away leaving MC Racing (Jason McKinnon/Mark Wadeson) to start from pitlane and Junior 600 three times race winners NR Racing (Nathan Horsfield/Ryan Peters) to be pushed off the grid in dead last spot. Piston Broke Racing (Greg Allsop/Tom Rutherford) got a stonking start to lead Graphic UK, Project 39, Tango and Crash Racing (John Blundell/Ryan Myler) and Team Banzai (Rupert Thompson/Ben Jenkins).

Early on we were missing Keith Dickie who fell at the chicane, team mate Brian O’Sullivan sprinting to retrieve the transponder to carry on racing his Hornet, Keith unable to continue racing with a ‘stranded’ machine. Around the 30 minute mark MC Racing were in and out the pits with brake problems and Roundall Racing (Pete Gibson/Simon Allen) reported a dead transponder which was quickly swapped with Throttlemonkey’s spare. One of the Rawlings brothers look awful as he came in after his first stint in the heat. At the one hour mark the pace care made it’s first unwelcome but necessary appearance to enable the paramedics to retrieve a faller at the Hairpin - this prompted a rash of pitstops followed by the quick reappearance of the pace car to allow the ambulance a hasty exit to Louth Hospital. Depending on how the riders played these two white flag periods there was a re writing of the leader board which saw Speed n Spares Racing (David Etherington/Richard Walker) leading on the same lap as NR Racing, Tango, Signs Express (Lloyd Magruder/Richard Howes), Spellfame Racing (Andrew Main/Richard Lloyd) and the Graphics. Once the pace car cleared the circuit it was open season and the pack quickly reshuffled and Tango lead at the front from Graphics, Spellfame, NR Racing, Speed n Spares and Signs Express. Just after the middle point of the race Graphics lead with six other machines all on the same lap - close or what? At 2 hours Graphics lead on the road from last starters NR Racing, Tango and Signs Express at the same time as the leading crew were given a one minute penalty for leaving a rider out for too long before their pitstop, drama occurred when the leader dropped his machine at the bottom of the mountain damaging the gear change - transponder was recovered, fitted to the team’s other bike and rejoined the race before pitting for the penalty period.

This saw early leaders Piston Broke return to the head of the field with a whole lap over seven other teams, following their recent dramas Graphic UK was dumped back in 14th spot - so far we had a different leader on every half hour mark of the race. A final rash of pitstops around the two and a half hour mark confirmed Piston Broke maintaining a lap over NR Racing, Spellfame, Tango, Signs Express and Project 39. The status quo was almost maintained after Shelley Pike, recovering from a spill earlier this season, dropped the flag to see Piston Broke leading on the same lap as NR Racing, one lap ahead of Spellfame, Signs Express, Tango, Project 39, TM72 Juniors (Claire Bowyer/Eric Chitty), Speed n Spares, GT Racing (Keith Tribe/Brad Patras) and Team Banzai - early leaders Graphic UK polled up in 12th place after their dramas.

Fastest Lap Piston Broke Racing            1m 37.320s