Race review - Pembrey round 3 2021

 

Kirkby early and ready to race.

It’s On, It’s Off, it’s On again, the lead up to the CRMC’s 2nd meeting of the year was far from desirable.  

Initially the meeting received the “Go-Ahead” from the Welsh Assembly and entries were submitted.  

Then, due to ever changing COVID restrictions, the meeting was cancelled to great disappointment. We made other plans and lamented not going to Pembrey this year (we all kind of like it there).

Suddenly, with two weeks notice, Pembrey was back on and a mad scramble to attend ensued. Unfortunately this meant that only a limited quantity of the Team were able to take the trip down to the Welsh south coast, Kirkby (Honda VFR750 RC24), Hannaford (Yamaha TZ350 and FZ600) and “The Woodwards”. Andy Green meanwhile; had already booked himself into a 1-day meet at Darley Moor to test out the Aermacchi before a planned trip to Oliver’s Mount the following weekend (This was also cancelled due to building regulations of all things).

Symon Woodward had teased us by entering the Kawasaki ZXR400L into the new for 2021 SS400 class with the additional possibility of giving the VFR750 its first outing in the ACU race. Unfortunately a particularly nasty mouth infection in the run up to racing prevented much needed maintenance from taking place so he had to pull his race entries to focus on his son Joe’s racing.

So here we are, one weekend, two racing events and no two bikes the same. Lets go...

Hannaford aboard the TZ350

Sunday came and we were all a bit surprised to be greeted by a dry and sunny day.

Qualifying/Practice was uneventful for our riders, putting down good times and coming back for brews and banter, at a social distance of course. Well that is true for all but John Hannaford who was not only parked clean across the other side of the paddock (very COVID safe) but his bike had decided to empty its fuel tank over the back tyre. Fortunately for him, he managed to style it out with some Marquez-esque drifting and assures us he didn’t soil his leathers at all. 

Paul Kirkby, having managed to qualify 7th overall for the ACU 750 on his VFR750, continued his strong performance on the big Honda by hogging the podium with a 2nd and a 1st place in class, on the two PC750 races.  

Hannaford on the TZ350

Hannaford had cleaned up his TZ (and his leathers) back end and put in some good laps finishing roughly in the middle of the grid on both of his races whilst also putting in laps on the Yamaha FZ600 in the Production 600 class. Meanwhile Woodward junior decided to dethrone himself from the lead in the PC250 race with a big highside chasing down his dad's lap record, so Woodward Snr wasn’t bored at least. 

Greens Aermacchi 350.

Sunday started off well, however an overcast sky warning that this might not last.

At Darley Moor, Andy Green was with friend of the team Andy Guy representing the 350 Aermacchi with a pair of said bikes, a rare sight these days. Green, dismayed at being seen on a 4 stroke, settled into this new machine, finding the tall first gear and need to maintain corner speed reminiscent of his MT125. With two races for the day, he found his pace increasing. Helped along by EBC’s cracking race compound brake pads, he used his better braking and corner speed to draw in the much quicker Manx Nortons and triples leading to frustration as they thundered back passed on the straights.

Back at Pembrey, Hannaford continued hitting issues when on lap two, the cylinder head O-ring failed and his TZ dutifully drained is own coolant system ending his race, thankfully without seizing. 

Kirkbys VFR

Kirkby meanwhile continued to podium on the VFR with another 2nd place in the PC750 and an outstanding 2nd in the ACU race despite the weather turning to some very heavy rain. A worthy mention also goes to Joe Woodward for also performing well on the little VFR400 in the same group of much bigger machines following yesterdays nasty spill.

Kirkby assesses the damage

It was going oh so well, till Kirkby found the limits in the final PC750 race when he went ploughing the Welsh countryside with the side of his VFR. Both rider and machine suffered a few bumps but nothing serious which was good news.

Hannafords final race on the TZ350 was also in heavy rain. A loose wire on his temp gage knocked that out so with limited adhesion and no means of knowing if his engine would eminently pop, he, in his own words, "wobbled round" to fight another day. 

Kirkby had a good weekend.

With all riders surviving the poor afternoon weather at both events, they packed up for their respective homes.

Considering the earlier weather forecasts they got off lightly. Those at Pembrey travelled home having thoroughly enjoyed themselves. All thrills come with spills after all. For Andy at Darley Moor, the bike had gone down better than expected but the less said about the circuit the better.

Paul’s 2nd in the ACU race in the pouring rain being the highlight of the weekend for everyone (Ex Junior Technicians Propulsion are always the fastest).  Here’s looking forward to Cadwell, an almost “normal meeting” and a big Team turn out.

You can check out Kirkby below showing his skills off in front of John's (the camera bike) VFR if only to hear that V4 sing.

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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.

 

 

Finally special thanks go to the companies who continue to support us:

Royal Air Force Motorsports Association, Royal Air Force Central Fund,  

EBC brakes UK, NGK spark plugs UK, Stahlwille UK, Classic Racing Green,

R-Tech Welding, Ragged edge racing, Talon Engineering, Forcefield body armour,

MCA Leicester, Spencer Racing, Tony Salt Tyres, Witham group Motul, PJMphotography, Speedsnap, Hel performance brakes and individual sponsors:

Symon Woodward: Mick Abbey tuning.

Andy Green: New Era Restorations

This blog post was written by the Royal Air Force Classic Racing Team members whose names are featured above then compiled and edited by Gavin Heggs.