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

Junior race start with National and Seniors	NR Racing on their way to winning the Championship

Following a cool and incident packed test day on the Friday it was near perfect conditions for the final round of the 2009 Hottrax Motorsport Motorcycle Endurance Championship. Qualifying was fast and furious for the near capacity grids and pole for the National/Seniors and Masters was captured by the on form East Coast Racing (Dominic Usher/James McBride/Pat McDougall) by over a second from 120+ (Richie Cunningham/Andy Weymouth) with series newcomers Ride in Bike Tyres (Mark Wilson/Malcolm Bate) emerging third fastest. Real drama for the Moores Racing dream team (Tony Jimenez/Mark Smith Halvorsen/Paul Smythe/R6) as returning 2008 champ MSH dumped the R6 National bike out in the circuit giving the team a big job to do on the machine in under an hour which would start from the pit lane. For the first few laps the R6 of Ducks Cross Racing (Mike Eglington/Grant Wagstaff/Martin Landmann) led the marauding pack with Moores starting two laps adrift with Macca at the wheel.

On lap four, pole people East Coast got to the front with migrating British Supersport rider McDougall leading the way from 120+, Ducks X, TM72 (Andy McKnight/Eric Chitty), Team RHR (Robin Hooker/Paul Evans) and Freaks of Nature Too (Mark Whiston/Kevin Tait). By the 45 minute mark East Coast and Sweatshop (Hugh Brasher/Mick Godfrey/Rod Lynn) shared the same lap, an advantage held after a raft of first pit stops which welcomed Freaks into second ahead of RHR, Sweatshop, Ducks X, Ride in and TM72 on the hour mark.

Veteran journeyman Richie Cunningham pitted with an evil handling R1 which was quickly sorted by BSB suspension guru Pete Clifford and Pit Stop Racing (Peter + Mark Dilks) ended their Masters 600 title charge when Mark’s bike went sick and there was too much to do with too little time left. Just before 90 minutes RHR rider Paul Evans crashed his big Suzuki causing Mike Eglington to choose the gravel rather than hitting man or machine. The pace car was out for 30 minutes whilst the Ducks X machine was checked over and Evans was transferred to hospital. After two hours the status quo was resumed on track with Sweatshop two laps ahead of Freaks with East Coast and TM72 all on the same circuit, a hard charging 120+ and the Ride in team were there or there abouts.

Towards the end of the three hour mark, and the most important time for the Masters, it was notable that whilst Sweatshop were leading, TM72 and Freaks were nip and tuck for the final ten laps with the time difference hardly discernable but in conclusion it was Freaks with Tait replacing a sick Dave Stewardson for this race only and TM72 who separated the two ProSuperbikes of Sweatshop and East Coast albeit a mere half second apart after 180 minutes of cut and thrust. If they were the first and second place in the Masters 1000 it was 120+ in third and all three outfits completed 150 laps and were separated by a sparse 71 seconds - newbies Ride In were racing for the first time in 3 years to nail fourth in front of title battlers Extreme Bykesportz (Dave + Rob Wardle) and First Form Endurance (Paul Robey/Andrew Smith).

Teenagers Tom Dale and Alex Olson took the Masters 600 Race on their brace of Farnham/Power Racing tuned Triumphs finishing a slim 50 seconds ahead of title winners Profibre (Richards Durber and Gothard) with A & G Racing (Mark Affleck/Adrian Allsopp), Snails Pace Racing (Sean Moss/Sam Smithson) and the unlucky Pit Stop Racing finishing last in class.

At the halfway point for the Nationals and Seniors; Sweatshop had a hardly noticeable lead of 14s over East Coast, Moores had scrambled up to third ahead of Ducks X, TAG 1000 Senior champ leaders Well Oiled Racing (Hazel Drury/Michael Naylor/Steve Griffiths), TAG 600 Senior leaders Gasi Racing (Grant & Helen Gaskins/Sam Godfrey), Costello Redmond Racing (Derek Redmond/Neil Garnham/Pete Douglas), Apex (Adam Woby/Lee Morris/Nick Matthews), AMR Endurance (Bob Robson/Simon Taylor/Justin Stephenson) and the renamed Sorrymate.com team of Richard Slater Racing (Fergus Dalgarno/Mark Cooper/Craig Sproston) appropriately racing at Silverstone as a tribute to Richard who lost his life at Snetterton last month.

After 45 minutes of the bikes clicking as they cooled down in Parc Ferme the Masters and Seniors were joined on the second grid and Le Mans start of the day by the Juniors making a massively packed grid of 48 bikes in all. In morning timed practice S & P Racing (Scott Adam/Peter Carr) were just under a second faster than Sherwood Suzuki (Carl Dodwell/Peter Symes) with TM72 Juniors (Ash Rothwell/Garry Buck) third quickest, rounding off the top four Juniors were the identical Kawasakis of GT Racing (Keith Tribe/Brad Patras).

Ten minutes into Part 2 of the days racing and the ex Phase One R1 of East Coast had pitted with high temperature problems, expert advice from Phase One's Phill Haynes saw the R1 resume with caution and the team continued. In the Juniors, S & P Racing were performing well as were PistonBroke (Dion Robinson/Tom Rutherford), Graphic UK (Dean Skipper/Basil Bannayi), Project 39 (Andy Rouse/Colin Norris) and TM72Juniors. After sixty minutes of their race S & P lead on the road from PistonBroke on the same lap a single circuit ahead of Banzai (Rupert Thompson/Ben Jenkins), P39, Rawlings (Lee + Matt Rawlings), TM72J, Graphic, Sherwood, AV-IT Racing (Andy Carpenter/Marcus Langford) and NR Racing (Nathan Horsfield/Ryan Peters) all just a lap down. With an eye on the championship; NR had already wrapped up the 600 TAG from P39 who could loose runner up spot to Tango and Crash (John Blundell/Ryan Myler) - in the litre brigade Graphics would want to finish in front of Spellfame (Paul Burbage/Richard Lloyd) and GT Racing.

On the four hour mark S & P lead PistonBroke by twenty odd seconds with no less than nine riders only a lap back and chasing in the Juniors. In the six hour division Moores were now up to third on the road and chasing down Ducks X with the well ridden Sweatshop R1 at the head of the field. Moores had changed gearing when they replaced the rear rubber and were going backwards until they changed the set up back, costing them time in the pits. East Coast were back out but riders and team were not happy so were still being careful.

For the half way point of the afternoon session Mike Eglington graciously parted company with the blue and yellow R6 at the Chicane for the second time in the race, not Mike’s fault and thankfully the rider was OK but the bike was not well enough to continue without substantial work so this moved Moores into second place. As a result of this incident the pace car was let loose causing a rash of pitstops to occur, shortly after the East Coast team pulled the R1 citing another retirement. Clever teams were able to capitalize on the pit car period and this included PistonBroke, TM72J and P39, reinforcing that endurance racing is more than just being fast on the track.

As we entered the closing stages, PistonBroke led the J1000s by one lap from P39, TM72J, Rawlings and 121 Ride (Brendan Roberts/Dave Toombes) and title aspirants Graphics. The 600s were now the domain of NR Racing one lap ahead of Tango & Crash and S and P. Sweatshop were heading towards their seventh consecutive win for 2009, from the same stable Moores were second on the road and the leading Supersport, Well Oiled and Gasi were both leading their classes and on their way to sealing the titles for this season, all they had to do was finish to secure their championships but with such a large field nothing was guaranteed and all riders would have to be vigilant until the drop of the flag.

With around twenty minutes to go till the end of a full days racing P39 had a lap over PistonBroke who held the same gap over TM72J ahead of the Rawlings brothers, TANC Racing (Chris Mason/Ash Joyce), 121 Ride and Graphics. With the autumnal light beginning to fade and the temperature dropping the flag came out to mark the end of the 2009 Hottrax Motorsport season. Throwing the cloth was the daughter of winners P39 Colin Norris who took the 3 hour race win as well as Junior 600 class by a slim 44 seconds over Junior 1000 victors PistonBroke, a lap down we had TM72J, Rawlings and TANC a whole lap over NR and 121, no less than 34 teams had finished the three hour Junior race.

Graphic UK Racing had done enough to take the Junior 1000 class over Spellfame and GT Racing being joined by the Rawlings brothers who delivered an excellent third in class. In the Junior 600 Project 39 had done more than enough to nail second place to confirmed champs NR with Tango and Crash rounding off the top trio.

For the teams who completed their six hour campaign it was no surprise that Sweatshop made it seven wins from seven rounds to be 2009 ProSuperbike champions, despite their non classified retirement East Coast had done enough to seal the runner up spot ahead of non appearing Kapital Moto and 120+ who were running in the Masters at Silverstone. Despite their two crashes and a DNF at Silverstone Ducks Cross Racing took the Supersport with P93 in second spot. In the Senior 1000 class Well Oiled Racing, dogged with various mechanical issues throughout the season took a much deserved title finishing ahead of the Costello Redmond Racing trio with AMR Endurance topping out the top three over Yorkshire Racing, Sorrymate.com and TM72 Racing. Another much deserved championship win went to the Senior TAG 600 runners Gasi Racing who won their class at Silverstone underlining their consistency and speed over the season, Apex Racing could do nothing in Northamptonshire but took second in the table from Black Flag and RJS.

In the post race awards presentation the newly created Richard Slater Award - to be given annually for a team that demonstrates outstanding commitment and achievement - was rightly awarded to the Richard Slater Racing crew (nee Sorrymate.com) including riders Fergus Delgarno, Mark Cooper and Craig Sproston plus their valuable helpers and supporters.

After a terrific third season of Hottrax Motorsport racing, Karen and Dave Mabbutt are already planning the next season which will include a refresh of the class system and a major injection of prize money and support of which details are currently being finalised. Provisional dates for seven rounds, including Anglesey, Snetterton, Cadwell, Silverstone and a mouth watering Oulton Park are on the website - watch this space.