Race review - Cadwell park round 4 2021

Team Woodwards machines ready for the weekend.

  Well that came around quick!

No sooner had the team unpacked from Pembrey, they were packing back up to head over to Lincolnshire's Cadwell park.

Attending this weekend was Paul Kirkby on his Honda VFR750 RC24, joined on track by David Williams on his VFR750. We also had John Hannaford on his Yamaha TZ350 and Symon Woodward on a Kawasaki ZXR400L with son Joe in tow on a range of racing machines. With both Woodwards on the junior production grid, worrying for anyone in the vicinity, they had their own race to win; with the loser having to sleep on the caravan floor that night.

Kirby had licked his wounds from a spill at Pembrey and busied himself tarting the Viffer back up ready to throw it round the Wolds. The others had an easier few weeks before this racing weekend  but all were dreading the promised yellow warning for thunderstorms and heavy rain. 

A delayed entry to the circuit on the Friday evening was at least graced by sunshine. Could it last the whole weekend? Should we have brought boats?

Saturday

As the rain thumped down across the UK, Cadwell park seemed to be a microcosm all to itself on Saturday. Of course Hannafords bike was not satisfied with this, throwing coolant everywhere as it spluttered to life, indicating a more serious issue with its engine since doing something similar at Pembray. Whilst he busied himself changing the suspect cylinder for an old one (try doing that track side with a 4 stroke) the others noise tested and headed out for their timed practice.

Kirkby looking relaxed 📷Graham Picksley

Kirkby went very well on his VFR: despite getting stuck in traffic, he was able to set the fastest lap in class. Likewise the others did respectably well with Hannaford even making it out after his engine repairs. As he was bedding the engine in, he was forced to take it easy but at least it went round without any calamity.

It wasn’t till the end of practice that the one and only short sharp shower of the racing day hit just in time for the ACU qualifying/ practice. By the time they were out on track the rain had stopped and the track was already drying. Kirkby found himself 2nd in class by the third lap however on the fourth; his VFR highsided coming out of a still damp Old Hairpin resulting in snapped footrest mounts, a few bruises and a U/S Shoei NXR helmet. This sadly ended his racing weekend, as he decided to head home before the aches and pains really set in.

The first races of the weekend came and went. Hannaford, wary of his still bedding in engine, tussled with Derek Skinner and Andrew Widdowson for a relatively drama-free 6th in class. Dave Williams, having qualified in the middle of the field on his VFR, managed to gain a couple of places comfortably beating Mike Gillson in his first race then just finishing under a second behind him in his second.

📷PJM Photography

Meanwhile The Woodwards and Williams were had two races on the junior production class. Williams struggled to drag himself much further up the grid but did at least mange to put in consistent laps. This left the Woodwards to battle it out a little further ahead. However clearance issues between the radiator and front tyre on Symons machine were limiting his ability to brake hard even after a few tweaks. There were probably a few other excuses thrown about but the junior senior battle was decided before it even happened and dad found himself on the caravan floor for Saturday night.

📷PJM Photography

Sunday

Well it absolutely humped it down during the night whilst everyone watched the football in their caravans or worked hard at avoiding both.

The Sunday morning however was thankfully dry. Hannaford’s second race had slipped from Saturday to the Sunday morning stealing any hopes of a lie in from him. A fantastic start was rapidly spoiled by a near immediate red flag due to a collision on the start grid causing a restart to the race. Naturally Hannaford fluffed his second start but put in a great race to finish 4th in class.

📷PJM Photography

Williams had another day of consistent but, to his mind, off pace racing in both classes. However seeing his best lap in the Junior Production 600 was only a second shy of Sy Woodwards, he shouldn’t be too disheartened. Speaking of Woody, he managed to squeeze out a little more pace from the ZXR400 but sadly it still wasn’t enough to catch the younger and faster model. At least sleeping on the caravan floor will be good for his back.

📷Ian Weston

Hannaford third race of the weekend had a similar pattern to the first, this time he pulled away from the pack, showing great promise till two riders heighsided in front of him stopping the race (check out the video after reading this!). The restart went well seeing Hannaford's lap times tumble to a new PB. His fourth and final race of the day saw a depleted grid but there was still racing to be had. A third place finish was a sweet ending to his racing weekend. 

📷PJM Photography

With racing over the heavens opened with the much anticipating rain for the drive/swim home, much better than soggy racing.
Already safely home in Scotland, a somewhat stiff Kirkby stripped down the VFR ready for chassis repairs, hoping to make it to Donington at the end of the month.
Williams is hoping a finger extraction and a bit more focus should see his performance improve at his next outing.
Woodward, with his son happily rubbing salt into his wounds, actually quite enjoyed racing a revvy little 400cc 4 stroke for a change (or was it the start button he liked more?) and is even considering dragging out the VFR750.

Clearly Hannaford is very relieved to be on pace with an increasingly more reliable bike. A new PB and a podium are not to be sniffed at, Well done John.

John Hannaford waves to the crowd after a good weekends racing 📷PJM Photography

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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.