Monthly Review - October
Intro
With days shortening and the weather on the turn, we were into the last racing for the season (well ignoring the more sadistic winter rounds and those who like riding in dirt). The Classic Racing Motorcycle Club, No Limits Racing and Side Cars were all out so let’s see how they got on.
CRMC
The Classic Team bridged September and October with a first weekend final round at Croft circuit. Keeping with CRMC tradition, the Saturday would encompass the last championship racing of the season with Sunday dedicated to a single long “Race of the Year” for each class and the final ACU rounds.
Ben Murfin was out for his first time on Croft back on the David Williams Yamaha FZ600. Gavin Heggs was also out on a loan ride after taking the very generous offer of a Honda MT125 ride from Jerry Lodge. Symon Woodward joined son Joe on the superstock 750 grid with them both on Honda VFR750’s after a pre race faf ensured Symons Yamaha RD250 would not be back out again for 2023. Joe would also be out on the Kawasaki ZXR400 looking to secure both superstock championships as well as looking for a final good result on the Molnar Manx 500. Finally the teams other associate member Živilė ‘Ziv’ Žukauskaitė took out her Honda VFR400 NC30 with support from John Walton and Roy Dale.
The weekend promised rain with a soggy drive up on Friday and a damp, all be it almost sunny start to the day. First out was Heggs on one of Jerry Lodges Honda MT125’s in the post classic piston port 125 class. The first challenge for Heggs was getting the damn thing started. After much panting and puffing up the paddock he was late out for practice and now so stiff he couldn’t get his feet on the tiny bike's pegs. This was no bad thing as to get the bike off the start line you still have to paddle like hell as you clutch the poor little engine all the way to the top of that very tall first gear.
From practice through to the final race of the day, Heggs’s ride was mostly themed by struggling to keep the bike in gear, managing the narrow power band (mostly poorly) and enjoying brief moments of ecstasy when everything came together and all the riders in front started getting bigger rather than the usual smaller. Although mostly ensuring the back of the grid looked sufficiently untidy, Heggs did briefly manage to get in front of old 250 rival Graham Acott when he tried flying his own MT off of one of Crofts steeper curbs, but this was not to last. Two slow rides on Saturday and an early retirement on Sunday made for an interesting if a little disappointing end to Heggs’ season.
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| Gavin Heggs - PJM Photography |
The superstock 400 and production 600 saw Joe out with work still to do for the 400 championship. He didn’t need to win all of his races to keep the championship but it would certainly help as there weren’t a huge amount of points in it. A good start wasn’t enough to help Joe past the two front machines where some spirited riding didn’t get him much further either, holding his place till the end of the race. Further back Ziv fought in the midpack for a 15th place finish and further back still, Murfin found his feet on a new circuit chasing down Michael Jones. After 3 attempts Murfin managed to stick a pass on him only for the lapping Joe Woodward to distract him into taking in a little grass tracking. Now back behind Jones, Murfin caught him back up and managed to make another clean pass which he held to an 11th in his class finish.
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| Murfin on the drier Sat morning - Gavin Heggs |
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| Ziv leads the way - PJM Photography |
The second race came along with a lot of rain. Somehow, this was the first wet race of the year for the CRMC and first wet race ever for Murfin! This was a concern for him but the loan of a rain suit from Heggs and a gentle reminder that riding slow normally could translate to being comparatively quicker in the wet (so long as you don’t slow down) seemed to do the trick. With most riders quite rightly riding to survive Murfin found himself pushing up the grid. With many riders retiring, including our own Ziv, Murfin’s handful of passes were tripled to an 11 place improvement by the end of the race for a 7th overall.
Meanwhile up front, Joe got a brilliant start, taking the overall lead. Little did Joe know, he had a huge gap between himself and championship rival Graham Higlett who was struggling back in a distant 3rd. After 4 laps Nick Anderson got passed and comfortably pulled away. Joe settled in for another lonely race, crossed the line in second as a huge cheer erupted from the pit wall, the 400 superstock champion was in the bag.
The final race of the year saw Ziv finish 10th, back in with her mid pack. A drier track brought the racing pace back up which put Murfin back towards the back but finishing the longer race was an achievement in itself where many did not succeed. Joe set off with a stonking start again taking the lead only for Anderson to come flying past on the straight. A drier repeat of Saturday's last race was looking on the cards but a dead battery put an early end to Joe's race, good job there were no championship points for this one!
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Ziv on the VFR400 - Gavin Heggs
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| Joe pushing the damp limits - Gavin Heggs |
Joe Woodward already had this championship all but in the bag so he was mostly out for glory on his Honda VFR750 RC24 with dad Symon out on the reserve VFR which had seen little love beyond some fresh fuel and a blat round Blyton park the previous month. Joe started 1st in class, 4th on the grid behind the 3 fast superbikes of Joe Barton, John Dieterman & Ant Hart. All Joe had to do was hold his place but the temptation to get amongst the rather brisk pigeons was too much following a fantastic start, passing Hart into the first corner. Of course this wasn’t to last, dropping Joe a place overall and leaving him to a lonely 1st in class. Meanwhile Symon, who had only just realised that this was the largest capacity bike he had ever raced, was finding a heavy old under powered bike on rubbish tyres was not the sort of combination he enjoyed most. He did however manage to finish mid pack.
The second race came and conditions were soggy to say the least with puddles stretching across the track in places. Undeterred, Joe now starting 2nd on grid behind John Dieterman, thanks to the other two deciding a warm caravan and a brew was a better idea. A good start saw Joe follow Dieterman for the first 3 laps before a tidy out braking manoeuvre just after the back straight put Joe in the overall lead all the way to the end of the race and if you hadn’t guessed championship 2 was safely bagged. Again Symon found himself mid pack battling in horrid conditions with the bike squirming all over the place. Thankfully self preservation settled in and a 5th overall was his best result of the weekend.
The Sunday race of the year for the SS750 grid saw Symon retire early due to a failing battery after a few laps battling on a slightly drier track this time. Joe again made an attempt for the overall win on his increasingly unhappy sounding VFR but couldn't make it stick this time against Dieterman’s superbike, settling for 2nd overall, 1st in class.
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| Symon on a soggy first race - Gavin Heggs |
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| Joe kicking up spray - Gavin Heggs |
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| Symon dodging puddles - Gavin Heggs |
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| Symon in the drier first race - PJM Photography |
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| Roy gets busy cleaning - Gavin Heggs |
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| Rudd - PJM Photography |
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| Rudd leads the way - PJM Photography |
Joe was once again out on the Molnar Manx 500 in the classic 500 race. Starting 8th, a great start put Jamie, Jameo O'brien and Gary Long behind Joe into the first corner. This was soon followed by some late braking to get past teammate Richard Molnar and David Tetley to get in for 4th. Closing on Mike Cooper Joe eyed 3rd place but a snapped drive belt instead saw Joe roll into the pits for the first DNF of the weekend.
Much like the rest of the second races of the day, Joe's second outing was themed around the track resembling a pond. Starting from 8th again Joe got away well, easily moving up to 5th on the first lap. Nipping past O'brien before the last corner secured 4th till the end of the race.
The race of the year saw Joe get an amazing start, propelling him into 2nd on the first lap behind Joe Barton. Cronshaw however managed to get by with some late braking on the third lap. This was a short lived setback however as Cronshaws bike blew its engine on the start finish straight. By the 5th lay Mike Cooper was back battling for 3rd place with some spirited late braking. The two riders swapped positions nearly every lap but with two laps to go backmarkers didn’t play to Joe’s favour leaving him on the bottom step of the podium. Still beats a DNF!
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| Joe on the Molnar Manx - PJM Photography |
The final Classic ACU race of the year saw Joe start in 6th, again on the Molnar Manx. Another great start put him on the lead for lap 1. Lap 2 saw Joe Barton get by very late on the brakes at turn 3 and pulled away. A lap later Mike Cooper did the same thing but this time Joe was able to hang on. Try as he might, however he was not able to regain the position settling for another 3rd place.
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| Joe enjoying some space - PJM Photography |
The ACU post classic race featured Ziv on her VFR400 NC30 and Joe, again, on his Honda VFR750 RC24. Joe starting on pole of the split grid and got a good start with a 4 second lead after the first lap. A lonely race ensued with a brief play with a superbike that he had caught from the front grid, finally finishing 1st in class. Meanwhile Ziv on her much smaller machine battled on finishing 6th in class with a personal best laptime to top off her weekend.
Joe fast on the exit - PJM Photography
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| Ziv in the ACU - PJM Photography |
NLR
The No Limits Racing team also had their final round at Donington park’s GP circuit. Similarly to the Classic team, the weather was looking a lot less like summer with rain and heavy clouds promising for a damp weekend.
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| Camp set up for the weekends racing - Norton |
Brad BURN (Yamaha R6) and Kai Byford-Howard (Kawasaki ZX6R) were out in the 600 Newcomers with Chester Norton (Yamaha R6) out on the same grid in the pre injection class.
Burn had a superb weekend, often finding himself in the thick of a pack of riders yet finishing 9th, 7th and another 9th in class. Kai by contrast was having a stinker with gearbox issues limiting him to an uninspiring choice of 2nd, 4th or 5th gear. Despite this he didn’t let this stop him racing, bringing up the rear but at least getting some track time in preparation for the military round. Meanwhile Chester Norton was putting in another great performance on his older R6. a 4th was soon followed by a 3rd place in the second race. The third race showed promise with Norton managing to lap just 0.3 seconds off team mate Burn but an early retirement resulted in a DNF. This wasn’t all bad news for him however as he had done enough to secure 2nd place in the pre injection air cooled championship. Well done Chester!
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| Chester Norton |
Andrew Castle was back on his Suzuki SV650 in the standard twins race. His three races resulted in a steady improvement from 23rd to 22nd and finally peaking with a 21st. With no extra points from Donny, Castle managed around mid pack with 21st overall in the championship.
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| Andy Castles SV650 ready to go out |
James Leslie piloted his Yamaha R1 to a 19th place in class in the first Tamworth GYTR Pro Shop Cup 1000 race. A DNF after 6 laps of the second race however put an end to Leslies racing weekend.
Kenny Macleod was out in the Pirelli Super Series 600 on his Kawasaki ZX6R. Some close racing with 5-6 riders crossing the line in quick succession saw Kenny battle hard for a pair of 7th places and a final 6th in class.
13th overall in the championship puts Kenny, despite having missed a few rounds, in the top third of this highly competitive class. A superb result.
With Donington being a fast track and the Army fielding a large quantity of litre machines, this wasn’t going to be an easy interservices round for the RAF. Add to that how heavily outnumbered they were too, it was good news the RAF were going in with a commanding lead on the championship points.
David Langley put in a hell of an effort finishing 2nd overall and 1st in his class. Keny Maceod was next across the line for the RAF in 5th overall, 2nd to Langley and the first 600cc bike across the line. Brad Burn and Chester Norton again were hard to separate crossing in 10th and 11th (3rd & 4th) respectively. Alan Sharp, Kai Byford-Howard (beating a few Army riders despite that hammered gearbox) and Andy Castle also finished but most noteworthy was Liam Jordan finishing a respectable 24th on a Honda CB500!
Needless to say the RAF had made it a 4th year in a row landing the interservices championship and previous inter service challenge with Thundersport. A fantastic end to their season and course for some celebration.
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| The team celebrate another victory |
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| Final table |
Not wanting to miss out on more riding, the RAF side car outfit decided to end their season in style with the Brands BSB! Landing their second British Superbike Championship F1 wildcard of 2023 at one of their favourite circuits was a huge result so expectation were high for some great racing.
Practice had netted them a 17th place starting position against much stronger motorcycles and a sterling effort was made in the race with the pair finishing 14th, In a field full of F1s, the only other F2 machine finishing 17th, it just goes to show what can be achieved on an F2 outfit.
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| Making the best of the conditions - Simon Heath |
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| Lined up ready to go - Daisy |
A scary opening to the second race saw Rob and Josh take a trip into the gravel avoiding an incident. You would forgive them for limping home for a last place finish after a bit of ploughing but the lads battled back to finish 12th in an all action finale to this year's racing.
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| Sunset racing - Simon Heath |
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| Beautiful - ksg_racing_photography |
Closing
Look forward to next month
Anything else to look forward to.
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.
Finally special thanks go to the companies who continue to support us:
Classic Racing Green, EBC brakes UK, Forcefield body armour, HPE, Hel performance brakes, J&S Accessories, NGK spark plugs UK, PJMphotography, Royal Air Force Motorsports Association, Royal Air Force Central Fund, R-Tech Welding, Ragged edge racing, Stahlwille UK, Talon Engineering, Witham group and individual sponsors:
Symon Woodward: Mick Abbey tuning.
Andy Green: New Era Restorations
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