Hottrax Motorsport Racing Club Motorcycle Championship Race Reports
words by Alfonso Lygo

Pictures by RyanWildman at British Sport Photography

National and Junior Endurance

After Saturday morning qualifying the grid formed up for the Superpole race in brilliant sunshine with Rawlings Racing (Lee + Matt Rawlings) starting from pole ahead of Brands winners M&M Racing (Robbie Moore/Lewis Mason), the proficient Sherwood Motorcycles (Carl Dodwell/Mark Hornett), Round 1 runners up Brand Brothers (Martin and Peter) occupying the front row. Jonty Dixon, the 2010 champion, stole the lead after a few corners from M&M, Banzai (Ben Jenkins/Rupert Thompson) living up to their name, Pit Stop Racing (Peter and Marc Dilks) and Sweatshop (Mick Godfrey/Mark Smith-Halvorsen). The race inherited a pace car at the front of the field after Rob Knoyle lost the Spark Endurance R6 at Gerrards. This persisted for ten minutes just before the mid way point when most of the teams dived into pitlane for their single planned pit stop in the 40 minute race that would determine the line up for the three hour encounter on Sunday, which would be; Sweatshop, M&M, TANC, Council, Blujets, Pit Stop, BLDS and Banzai.

The paddock showed respect for Steve 'Raptorman' Wilson who sadly lost his life at the end of March, preceding the race with a minute's silence, hence the name change of Derek Redmond’s raft of teams to Redmond Raptor .

In the big race on Sunday, not getting off the grid in any hurry was Si Allen on the Roundall Racing R6 which didn't like starting when hot and, disqualified from Brands, In the Doghouse with Garry Janes at the wheel of the non cooperative Ducati 1098S. Si pushed his R6 back to base and teammate Al Waring shot off to make up some ground, whilst Garry's partner Arron Bird offered words of encouragement to Garry to get going. Council Racing (Danny Lister/Larry Halliday) were another slow coach dropping from the front row to 15th on the opening lap which saw M&M shoot off being pursued by TANC, Banzai, Sweatshop, Pit Stop and Blujets. Sweatshop grabbed second at the expense of M&M who lost P1 to TANC - the leading trio quickly pulling out a small lead over the next bunch. Sweatshop were leading by the fourth lap, losing it to TANC again a lap later, this was short circuit stuff underlined by Mick Godfrey setting the fastest lap of the race on the seventh tour.

As Blujets’ Ask Rothwell went off at the Devils Elbow, Sweatshop were back up in the lead and held a 30 second lead over TANC followed by M&M, Pit Stop, Banzai, BLDS, Council Sorrymate.com (Richard Dilks/Colin Norris), Sherwoods, Brand Brothers (Martin and Peter) and the boys in blue - Initiatec Racing (John Burr/Mark Roxbrough), late starters Doghouse were now up to an impressive 14th after 60 minutes of action. Before midpoint of the race leaders Sweatshop had a lap cushion over Pit Stop, M&M, TANC, it was shuffle time with pit stops around the 90 minute mark and we had Pit Stop leading from BLDS - Jonty Dixon was flying, TANC, M&M and Sweatshop who had changed rear rubber, all covered by a scant 22 seconds on the road. As we approached the two hour mark 600 classmates; Pit Stop and M&M were separated by a smidge over one second before swapping positions a lap later. The keen ears could detect the leading ZX10 of Sweatshop had picked up a misfire or similar, pit chief Phill Haynes confirmed they were struggling with fuel starvation and the bike was eating rear tyres. The pace car made its first appearance as Pit Stop's Mark Affleck fell off at the hairpin citing cold tyres and over eagerness as the problem, the one time class and on the road leaders had to wait a while before team mate Marc Dilks could get back out there and chase the 75% distance that would yield some points towards their 2011 title aspirations. On the road M&M were looking for back to back wins and were 20 seconds ahead of big boys TANC with Sweatshop 11 seconds further away. Tacticians had worked out that in the final 45 minutes, Sweatshop had done their final stop and the two teams ahead of them would need to stop in the final 30 minutes or so causing Sweatshop to leapfrog into the lead. After 2 hours 40 minutes of racing Pit Stop were back out, Sweatshop led from class mates TANC and M&M the leading 600, third on the road. Whilst all this is going on; Banzai were top Junior 1000s and fifth overall and leading Junior 600s were Sorrymate a place down - close stuff! In the closing stages Sweatshop and TANC were separated by around half a minute as the Sweatshop Kawasaki was getting slower and more difficult to ride for multiple champ Mark Smith-Halvorsen.

Macca was delighted to see the chequer as the winning margin was down to a miniscule 12 seconds over Michelin Man Chris Mason and 2010 Michelin Power Cup champ Jon Otter enjoying his first endurance outing and finding it very demanding. In the National 1000s; BLDS were only a couple of laps away from the winners and were comfortable over Council and Insignia, separated by 15 seconds only. M&M did make it two in a row and luxuriated in a six lap winning gap over 1491 (Ian Cooper/Andy Pulling), Handbags & Shoes (Emmett Burke/Richie Cunningham) – so named to celebrate Karen Mabbutt missing Mallory for a shopping trip in Barcelona (close call!) were third in the National 600 class ahead of Spark Endurance (Shelley Pike/Rob Knoyle), garage mates and final race starter Roundall - Pit Stop picking up a much appreciated sixth in class.

The Junior 1000s went to a dominant Banzai, who never lost the plot over the whole race to finish ahead of Sherwood, Dog House who almost started dog last, Redmond 4 (Neil Garnham/Pete Douglas), Extreme Wraps (Jamie Loveday/Del Saunders), Ipswichians Roofix Racing (Dean Smith/Andrew Whythe), Redmond Raptor (Andy Dix/Jonathon Garnett) , Blujets (Carl Hodgkins/Ash Rothwell), Old and Bold (Paul Burbage/Andrew Main), Redmond Raptor 400 (Keeling Hutton/Derek Redmond) who were unclassified.

In the smaller Junior class, Sorrymate.com were delighted with a class win after Colin Morris replaced team boss Fergus Delgarno, who was under the weather to join Richard Dilks, cousin of Peter and Marc in the line up. They were a mere 12 seconds in front of the Brand Brothers with Initiatec in a solid third and only a lap down on the class winners. Completing the J600 leader board were J & B Racing father and son combo – Brad and Jason Bradshaw.

Michelin Power Cup 1000
After a frustrating slog getting to know his new machine at Brands, Mike Dickinson was back on song in Michelin Power Cup qualifying in almost perfect track conditions - the only man to outgun ‘getfaster’ Mike was Brands winner Daz Bellworthy on another BMW 1000RR dipping into the 53s zone. In the first race we saw no less than five of Germany's best in the top ten, showing Bellworthy get the better of Dickinson by 3.5 seconds, James Cox, another star at Brands, was third ten seconds further down the road. Gaz Evans earned fourth ahead of the consistently quick Greg Allsopp on his 12 year old R1. Steve Sarson posted sixth spot being shadowed by SBK City man Rhalf Lo Turco and Andy Rouse whose Fireblade was a box of bits after the Thursday trackday, only managing 15 laps on the Friday test day. Matt Bishop and Stephenson Harrison showed they still had some more to come at the blunt end of the top ten. Dickinson showed his potential by dipping into the 53s to match Daz's qualifying performance in a very close encounter, affected by the heavy traffic on the short Mallory oval circuit.

Race Two
Race Two saw Daz, Dickinson, Cox and Evans take up residence on the front row in hot conditions. Paul O'Connor jumped the start which showed Dickinson take the lead from Bellworthy, Cox and Greg Allsop who was having a mare with his 1998/9 hybrid R1. After a few laps Bellworthy displaced Dicko who dropped down to fourth as Cox posted a fastest lap, Bellworthy used skill and traffic to maintain a 2s lead over a chasing Cox with Dickinson back into third but 10s down on the leader sandwiching Cox in second, Alsopp was hanging onto fourth ahead of Rhalf Lo Turco, Evans, Steve Sarson, Toby Simpson etc. Daz underlined his strong performance by posting the fastest lap of the race two laps before the end.

Race Three
Towards the end of what had been a brilliant day’s racing, Darren Bellworthy led from the front to make it three in a row at Mallory, Mike Dickinson looked as if he could secure his first Michelin Power Cup 1000 win of the season but was never able to scratch passed Daz, as the raced entered its second half, traffic came into play and the gap between first and second became elastic. Cox posted another third place and Allsop was delighted with another fourth place, keeping his points tally healthy. Evans went home with three top six places from the weekend and Tm Keilty broke into the top six at last in front of Rhalf Lo Turco.

Michelin Power Cup 600
It would be hard not to say that the 2011 Michelin Power Cup 600 could all be about the two men who dominated Brands - Grant Wagstaff and Danny Imberg. In Saturday qualifying the two were split by a shallow 7 - thousandths if a second, Peter Dilks, Anthony Park, dark horse Adrian Allsopp on the Hickling & Squires R6 and Mr Consistent Sean Moore (three thirds in varied weather conditions during the weekend in Kent). Imberg kept up the pressure on Wag in Race 1 to almost mirror the qualifying positions, only loosing Allsopp from the pack at two thirds distance with a low side. Endurance man Peter Dilks claimed the final podium place in front of Anthony Park, Moore and Richard Charlton making the top six ahead of the other Dilks brother, Marc. Apex Racing man Adam Woby was a handy eighth in front of Mark Affleck and the rapid George Harvey.

Race Two
Predictably it was Imberg who lead from pole to overshadow Wagstaff and Peter Dilks from the front row, more fortunate than Adam Woby who retired on the warm up laps. Early on in the race we had a couple of fallers including Mahmood which bought out the yellow flags. Imberg and Wag set about trading fastest laps as the race progressed and at half distance these two lead Perennial third spot man Sean Moore, Dilks, Parks, Charlton and Ady Allsopp. Moore slid off at Gerrards and Wagstaff was handed a 20s penalty for Passing under yellows which changed the leader board significantly, a win confirmed for Imberg, Dilks was runner up from Parks, Charlton, Allsopp and Marc Dilks with Grant W coming seventh.

Race 3
Whilst Grant Wagstaff made a terrific start to grab the lead, Imberg was back at the head of the field by the third lap and these two riders made it close and personal for the remainder of the race, at half distance less than a second separated the men who really want the 2011 Michelin Power Cup 600 championship, however a lot can happen before Snetterton at the end of October. At the conclusion of the 15 laps Danny had stretched the lead to just over seven seconds and Peter Dilks had another podium finish, Charlton was a healthy fourth in front of Park. Nottingham men Mark Dilks and Adrian Allsopp made up the last two places of the top seven after Ady worked hard on his front end suspension settings to try and stop his R6 from crashing. Imberg could not do more than score three perfect wins and Wagstaff must be wandering what he has to do to get closer and get past the talented Imberg.

MotoGrande 1000
In 2010 Phil Brooks took a triple in the MotoGrande and he aimed to mirror that in 2011. Brooks smashed pole from Julian Hughes, fellow 2010 triple winner Gary Beardsley on the Slater’s Kawasaki. Making a welcome return to the series was Robin Hooker, responsible for preparing high spec superbikes under the Team RHR banner, following a pre season testing accident in Spain. Brooks was emphatic in his win on Saturday afternoon with a ten second cushion over Hughes, a sliver ahead of the tall and amiable Beardsley with Paul Green in fourth. The next four places was a double ZX10 sandwich with Ducati 1098 bread in the form of Chris Matthews, Adrian Beevor, Michael Elliott and Hooker in eighth. Ross Bates and Brands hero Ash Daughtrey completed the top Ten, absent from the action was Adam Sherriff after a qualifying ding which left him a stack of work to do before the Firebalde behaves.

Race Two
It was intimidating to see Brooks and Beardsley zap off into the lead leaving in their wake Hughes, Green; Andy Carpenter received a jump start penalty which was topped by a spill and retirement at the Hairpin. At half distance Brooks led Beardsley, Hughes and Robin Hooker was down in eighth and making up ground. Top performing Rookie Adrian Beevor went down at Gerrards losing his well earned fifth on the road and after the end of the 15 laps a much improving Hooker had nailed fourth behind Brooks, Beardsley & Hughes. Hooker had cruised by Paul Green and Chris Matthews on another Ducati 1098, followed home by a pair of ZX10s in the capable hands of Elliott and Bates, Adam Reeve and Kris Sanders made up the top 10.

Race Three

Gary Beardsley gave the final MotoGrande 1000 race a miss to sensibly save his engine for the opening BSB round next weekend, predictably Brooks shot off like a rocket never to be heeded, by third distance there was a healthy lead over Green, Hughes and Elliott with Hooker in sixth. This formation was maintained up until the closing stages of the race when the red flag was shown after two riders went off at the Hairpin including P2 man Paul Green; confirming a seven second win for Brooks from Hughes, Elliott, Shook, Hooker and Matthews, top rookie went to Ross Bates who finished in eleventh overall.

MotoGrande 600

Race One
Rookie Shaun Champion who went so well at Brands was delighted to take pole by over a second from Jake Kay, ex endurance ace and Preston & DMCC 600 champ John 'Bongo' Blundell with Andrew Nicholson completing Row One. For the 15 lap race Champion built up A twenty second lead over eventual runner up Martin Stanier with Kay in third. Nicholson was fourth ahead of Lee Smith, Roger Slater, endurance man Martin Landmann on the Ducks Cross R6 and Redmond Racing's Wayne Crossman in a healthy eights spot. Next two up were John Lawrence and Nino Catalado, Bongo bit the dust on lap 13 after a racing incident at the Hairpin with another quick lad Lee Weston as they battled for second spot, both but will be back for more on the Sunday.

Race 2
Saturday fallers Les Weston and John Blundell found themselves on the front row and joined by Sam Ludgate, who started from the back row having not qualified on the Saturday, to spearhead the front of the pack. Rookie Shaun Champion was fastest on the road and displacing people on the way to the front. By lap 8 Ludgate was up to second when third placed Blundell started seeing an oil mist appearing on his visor confirmed when Sam retired at Edwinas. Weston took an emphatic win from Champion, Bongo, Mark Stainer, Cataldo, and Jake Kay who was given a ten second penalty from Colin Norris with Crossman in 8th

Race 3
Early winner in the day Weston pushed for the lead early on and was followed by very quick out of the box, Champion, Nicholson, Stanier and Kay, it was inevitable that Champion overhauled Weston for the lead to win by a substantial 10 seconds, Weston was farther afield to third [places Nicholson, Kay was fourth ahead of Cataldo, Stanier dropping back to sixth with Smith, Landmann, Crossman and Slater making up the first ten riders past the flag.

Ducati Desmo Due

After dominating the first couple of raves at Brands it was Neil Appleby who was fastest in qualifying and took the first Ducati win of the weekend in front of a chasing Matthew Lawson, Steve Mason, local man Andy Pike, Andy Challis ad Paul Belata, in seventh was Dallas Horn blow.

Race Two was a win for Steve Mason with Andy Pike crossing the line just over half a second behind. Andy Challis rode well to match his Brands score of third place with William Charters, Phil Wilcock and Hornblow completing the half dozen,