Race Report: Pembrey 2017 Round 2

2017 Round 2 - PEMBREY

Easter saw the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club at their usual venue of Pembrey at this time of year. It was intended for 7 RAF racers to make the journey to what I consider is one of the best circuits in the country, always offering close racing. Unfortunately only 4 of the Team made it to the track with Sergeant Andy Green attending but being unable to race and Sergeant Tom Flynn and Corporal Chris Bartlett failing to leave Lincolnshire due to van issues. Or so they say, the rest of the Team think they just “bottled it”.

Squadron Leader Symon Woodward was on his 250 and 400 and a borrowed Honda MT125, Corporal Gav Heggs was on his “in development” 250 and Flight Lieutenant Jim Dickinson and Chief Technician Mick Rudd made their first appearances of the season on their 250s. Heggs continued his “season of despair” with only managing to make it to the finish line once.

Rudd arrived at Pembrey for his first race of the season optimistic that developments to his bike over the winter would have a positive effect. This did not last long as the bike developed a mechanical fault 2 laps into Saturday morning practice. Investigation of the fault showed that both pistons had been destroyed and he was fortunate not to completely seize the engine. Rudd, with the help of ex-Chief Technician Roy Dale spent the rest of Saturday stripping and rebuilding the motor. This gave Jim Dickinson some extra track time in comparison. His bike ran faultlessly (makes a change after last year’s teething problems) gaining a 6th and 5th on the Saturday, with Jim raving about his impressive front brake since fitting EBC pads to his Lockhead calliper.

Woodward enjoyed some close racing on the 250, battling within the top 3 he finished 2nd in both Saturday races, the second race saw him only 0.064 seconds behind the winner and only 0.2 seconds in front of third. The close results continued on the Sunday with Woodward being edged into 3rd in race 3 by 0.05 seconds and beaten into 2nd by ½ second in the last race.

Rudd was able to test his bike on the Sunday morning and managed to make the grid for race 3 of the weekend. Starting from 26th on the grid Rudd made a good start and by the end of the first lap he was chasing Dickinson. Unfortunately the gap was too great to bridge and he finished 7th but happy the bike had completed a race. Race 4 saw Rudd start 10th one place ahead of Dickinson, (slightly faster lap time). With similar lap times this set up a great race for the two team members and also two other competitors. With positions changing every lap it was a good even battle. Rudd was unable to secure 5th place on the last lap but managed to beat Dickinson by 0.2 of a second for 6th. So much for Jim’s extra track time on the Sunday.

Woodward experienced some teething problems with the borrowed 125 failing to finish on the Saturday but gaining a couple of podium finishes on the Sunday. These results were still better than his 400 which suffered terminal engine failure. A result from damage sustained from the issues he experienced at Snetterton, oh the joys of racing 40 year old 2-strokes!!!!

The next round at Mallory should see all 9 250 riders out on the track, with 13 machines in total entered. What could possibly go wrong???