Monthly review - May
Intro
This month we see the return of many familiar faces as clubs met at top racing circuits all over the UK. We are also getting, not just our first, but the first three road races of the year both in Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. So grab yourself a brew, get comfy and get ready to read about some fantastic racing from the Royal Air Force Motorsports Association’s Motorcycle Road Racers.
CRMC
When you think of racing in Wales, most will think of Anglesey, North Wales’ very own Phillip island. Wales however has another, surprisingly good race circuit built on the former RAF Pembrey airfield. Pembrey circuit has been used for Formula 1 testing in the past but now it has the honor of the return of the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club for its second round.
With Gavin Heggs deployed and Simon Allen otherwise engaged, it was left to Andrew Green, David Williams and Symon Woodward to fly the flag for the RAFMSA along with associate members Joe Woodward and Živilė ‘Ziv’ Žukauskaitė, not forgetting Roy Dale and John Walton in support.
David Williams and Joe Woodward had a superb weekend out on the Honda VFR750 RC24s. Woodward nursed an old rear tyre round, consistently snatching second place for the three races he finished whilst Williams flirted with the bottom step managing a very respectable 4th in a highly competitive class.
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| Williams lads the way - PJM Photography |
Andrew Green decided to buck the team's trend of racing post classic machines and actually bring a classic bike to a classic club. This was really a bit of a shakedown for a Drixton Honda CB350 K4 that he has been loaned to enter the Isle of Man Southern 100 Classic (more on that later). The little K4 was a bit down on power thanks to a new exhaust which was needed to meet noise regulations for this circuit. Through the weekend Green and Roy Dale fettled the bike to get the best out of it, which did not go unrewarded as Green achieved two 3rd places in class.
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| Green making a move - PJM Photography |
The ever growing superstock 400 grid was attended by Joe Woodward on a Kawasaki ZXR400 and Ziv astride her Honda VFR400 RC30. Ziv battled at the back, learning the track and in doing so finished the weekend 2 seconds quicker and three places better off. Woodward meanwhile had a tough challenge beating Graham Higlett on a much faster machine. Somehow Woodward managed to lap just 0.250 seconds slower than Higlett despite this handicap, landing second places all weekend with one first thanks to a penalty on Higlett.
Joe Woodward ZXR400 - PJM Photography
This is all great stuff but the authors bias brings us to the highlight of the month, the PC250 air cooled race. Championship leader Symon Woodward was joined by Andrew Green on a pair of Yamaha RD250s. The pair quickly dispatched raining champion Jerry Longland and set off to prove a point to one another, or fall off trying. Woodward led for most of the race but Green managed to “hold superior corner speed” through Honda curves into the start finish straight and passed Woodward for a win by 0.059 seconds earning him first place and rider of the weekend awards.
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| RAF coming through! - PJM photography |
The second race looked like it would be a repeat of the first but a stuck clutch caused Green to flip his bike on the start grid which let Woodward take a more sedate first place with Longland a short distance behind. The subsequent two races on Sunday had Green on a patched up RD which wasn’t quite the same as it was on the Saturday morning. Despite this he still managed to give Woodward a reason to get a wriggle on but was unable to get close enough for a repeat performance of race 1. A pair of 1st and 2nd places to finish off the weekend was a fantastic end to the weekend, ensuring Woodward is now holding a strong position at the top of the championship above Longland.
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| Sy Woodward on it - PJM Photography |
GP Originals
Andrew Green headed to Donington park on his Yamaha TZ350 with Roy Dale in support. With a very busy month (yup even more Green to come) it was a tight squeeze to get this race in with the TZ needing a gearbox rebuild from the last meeting.
Donington being a pretty fast circuit is exactly what Green's older, lower power TZ didn’t need so Dale was busy swapping rear sprockets and tyres to make the best of the performance they had. Green did his best, putting in consistent laps finishing around 9-10th in class throughout the weekend.
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| Roy hard at work |
NLR
No Limits were at Donington park this month with a large contingent of the RAFMSA and their support.
The Newcomer 600 pre injection class was entered by Chester Norton and Kim Lawton. The first race was in less than ideal conditions which held Norton back a bit for a safe 6th place whilst Lawtons was rewarded for smooth riding with an 18 in class. Conditions improved for the second race with Norton climbing up to 2nd in class but improved pace saw Lawton drop to 22nd. This was a short lived setback however as renewed vigor saw Lawton get her best result of the weekend with a 17th in class and Norton not wanting to be outdone finished in first.
Dave Langley was out on his Aprilia in the Pirelli Super Series 1000. A race 1 DNF did not put him off, bringing home a pair of 7th place in class.
The highlight of this weekend came in the form of the GB racing UK Armed Forces Inter Service Championship. A soggy saturday meant a damp Sunday morning qualifying. The Army and Royal Navy put in a very strong performance leaving the team with only 1 bike on the front row and only 3 in the top 10.
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| RAFMSA dominating the top |
NGRRC
The ACU FSRA F2 side cars were out with the North Gloucester club (and GP Originals for that matter) and the RAFMSA sponsored outfit put in a superb show.
FSRA Round 2 Donington Park
Shane Colbrook was standing in for Sparky in a much modified machine post a less than ideal Croft (Ed.which we shamefully didn’t cover) last month. A new gearbox had gone into the race engine along with some chassis mods whilst they were there. Practice quickly showed that the gearbox wasn’t the issue in the first place causing them to struggle to downshift, an issue that would plague the weekend despite the team's best efforts to rectify the issue.
After a good start from 9th on the grid, the team were in the mix on lap 1 but with the gearbox issues giving them no engine braking to slow them down and not being able to select the correct gears for the corners, the guys fell back into the pack. By lap 5 a fairing issue meant they had to retire. At this time the decision was made to swap the engine to rule out any engine issues causing their problems.
Sunday came and with the spare engine in the bike, the team headed out for the morning warm up. Whilst fitting the second engine the team noticed a problem with the gear linkage which had been missed before. With this rectified and the second engine performing well, things would have been looking well for the Sunday racing, if it wasn’t for the fact that they were starting from the back of the grid.
A lightning start for race two saw the team take a handful of positions into turn 1. Coming down the craner curves an outfit a few positions ahead of the guys began to expel a lot of fluid (Ed. perfectly normal for a sidecar), unsure if this was oil or water (it turned out to be water) and with all the surrounding bikes throwing their hands in the air Rob rolled back the throttle expecting the race to be stopped, it wasn't! Now around 6 seconds back of the pack, the team had some work to do. This unfortunately took the majority of the race and with just 2 laps to go they managed to make their first move up into 12th position, the fighting for that position had cost both teams some time so we're unable to progress any further.
Not the result the team were after but on the bright side; this was a very good shake down ready for the next round at Oulton Park.
NW200
Rad Hughes was joined by Andy Castle for a sunny and warm North West 200.
Rad was out on the supersport race on his Kawasaki ZXR. Two rounds of qualifying were passed with everyone remaining lapping at over a 100mph average. When you peer down the grid and see the likes of Michael Dunlopp, you know this is going to be a challenge to not get lapped let alone even dream of a podium. This would never put off Rad however who is no stranger to the NW200. Putting in a strong performance, Rad finished 37 seconds in front of Royal Navy Marines RRT rider Brian Fuidge for a 29th place.
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| Rad getting ready to go. |
Southern 100 pre TT classic
Andrew Green and Rad Hughs (who clearly really likes the Irish sea) popped on the ferry to a small island called the Isle of Man. Sunshine and fair weather are not to be expected here but the forecast was looking very good for the whole weekend.
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| Camp set up for the weekend - Dale |
This was a first time racing here for Andrew Green although clearly not for this month. With prior experience at the Belgian TT, he was reasonably experienced whizzing past telephone poles padded by not very soft looking hay bails. They still looked more inviting than the stone walls that all the really fast boys liked to scratch their shoulders with however. Joining him on the tools was Roy Dale and Tom Flynn. Flynn was a very welcome return having not raced for a few years now, the team hopes to see more of him in the future. Green was out on the Drixton Honda CB350 K4 loaned to him by Jeff ClassicRacing. The bike had its original megaphone exhaust back on and was feeling a lot better for it since the CRMC meet a couple of weeks prior.
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| Cracked exhaust q2 |
Practice was, sensibly, taken with more caution than Green was used to. Gradually ramping up the pace on an unfamiliar track, Green came out of both practice sessions with a 6 second improvement which was enough to make the cut for the race. This was a curse and a blessing as it meant he was on the back of the grid for the race giving Green a lot of work to do among some fast riders.
Green found himself in a 4 way tussle, trading places and making the absolute best that the k4 could offer. The 7 laps were over before he knew it, being rewarded with an 18th place and knocking off a huge 8 seconds from his best practice time.
Meanwhile, the much more experienced Rad was out in the pre-TT UGGLY senior superbike aboard his Kawasaki ZXR750 and also being supported by Tom Flynn. Rad had also qualified for his race in a strong crowd. Pushing hard he managed a 90mph+ average speed and brought home 17th place.
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| Andrew Green |
Closing
We now look forward to June with the classic team packing their bags for Cadwell as you read this and much more racing to come. Please do check the individual clubs out for their calendars and come say hello.
The Royal Air Force MotorSport Association supports tens of disciplines both two and four wheeled. More information on the RAFMSA can be found on Facebook, the Sports federation home page, Twitter and can be found with a quick search on MODNet.
For more from the RAF Classic racing team race in the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club (CRMC) offer live timing and have race results going back years, you can find more the team on Facebook Twitter Blogger and YouTube.
There is a strong contingent of the RAFMSA MCRR in the MSV, they can be found on Instagram with some fantastic video shared by competitor James on his YouTube channel. The Tri-service challenge is also held at MSV meetings with an Instagram page of its own.
All serving RAF team members race under the banner of the Royal Air Force Motorsports Association (RAFMSA) alongside our veteran former members and associate members. If you are serving and wish to get involved with motorsports you can find all the contact details you will need on the RAFMSA website or get in contact directly with us.
This blog post was written by Royal Air Force Motorsports Association Motorcycle Road Racing members whose names are featured above then compiled and edited by Gavin Heggs.
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