Race review - CRMC round 1 - Pembrey 2022

 As we had been trundling through a bit of a dip on the weather, the team were all pleasantly surprised to find a very non traditional sunny bank holiday on the horizon.

The team, comprising; Mick Rudd, David Williams & Symon Woodward, supported by John Walton, descended upon Pembrey circuit ready for the racing weekend. 

Warm sunny weather greeted the riders on Saturday morning. Stiff creaky leathers (no doubt joined in by ever more creaky knees) soberly reminded them that it had been a while out of the saddle for some, as they ventured out for the extensive practice laps and qualifying.

Williams getting stuck in - PJM Photography

For most practice was uneventful. Williams was having issues with his Honda VFR750 RC24 not running cleanly. Trying to fix the RC24 and remember to get to the assembly area on time on the Yamaha FZ600 was a multi-task too far apparently. So, with the inspirational assistance of John Walton (thanks John) he settled for getting the RC24 sorted only just making his first race. Despite starting on cold tyres from the pitlane, Williams had a good first race of the season in the proddy class. The same couldn’t be said for the RC24 however which suffered mechanical DNF's for Saturday.

Woodward battles for 1st  - PJM Photography

Rudd and Woodward Were both out in the post classic air cooled 250 class on their Yamaha RD250’s. Rudd was a little disappointed to find he had qualified in 15’th but succeeding it chopping a full 3 seconds off of his laptime not only cheered him up but also put him in a better place for race 2. Meanwhile a little further up the grid, Woodward was starting his race on Pole with friendly team competitor Jerry Longland and his Suzuki X7 in 2nd. Longland would get the hole shot and lead into the first corner, this lead would last for 2 or 3 corners until Woodward got passed and then Jerry would be back in front within the next couple of corners, this would last all race. With their strengths and weaknesses being tested round the circuit, it was fortunate for Woodward that Honda bend, a corner he had pretty pinned down, was the last corner securing the win.

This pattern would play out  for Woodward, leading to a Saturday of 1st places. Not a bad start to 2022.

Woodward vs Longland - PJM Photography

 Rudd - PJM Photography

Race 2 for Rudd followed  a few changes to the bike to keep the engine temps down. This and lessons learned from race 1 saw a good battles with a few riders around Rudd, swapping places several times each lap. 

Soon the day was done. Williams continued to iron out the RC24’s issues and John Walton came to the rescue again with his Rtech welder, repairing some broken exhaust brackets or Rudd’s RD.

Sunday came and Woodward continued his hard fought for winning streak on the 2 strokes taking back to back victories to complete a winning weekend.  As Rudd ticked through his races, he found more confidence in his riding and familiarity with the bike. This allowed lap times to drop but in doing so, problems started to appear. As corner speeds increased it became more apparent that some suspension work was going to be needed as the bike started behaving like a bucking bronco through some of the faster corners which limited his further progress. Of course Woodward would not let Rudd have all the drama. On the last PC250 race of the day, on the last lap a back marker caused Woodward a moment's hesitation which allowed Longland to make a move. They were side by side right up till the line with 0.038seconds lead being enough to give the podium to Woodward. A difference in placement of the transponder could have clinched this one it was so close.

Photo finish - CRMC

Williams - PJM Photography

Meanwhile Williams in the diesel corner got 2 clean races on the RC24 during morning practice so was straight into his first race of the weekend on the big V4. Starting from the back of the grid, he worked his way up to 16th whilst getting back to grips with the bigger bike. The second superstock race saw some progression into the mid 1:08s and a 7th in class. That’s some serious progress from a bike that barely ran on Saturday morning! Not forgetting Williams was also out in the junior production class, here he was having a lot of fun finishing mid-pack on all races. 

Williams on the RC24 - PJM Photography

Williams was relieved to have the RC24 back to its self and as ever having huge amounts of fun of the FZ600. He was even able to run with the quicker riders if (in his own words) - yes you guessed it - he pulled his finger out and stopped allowing himself to get stuck behind slower riders.

Rudd - PJM Photography

Rudd had an overall a good weekend with some valuable track time achieved. The RD does need a bit of work to sort out the handling but hopefully that will be sorted in time for Brands Hatch in 3 weeks. In the meantime he is taking a trip north of the border to visit his old teammate Paul Kirkby to take ownership of his TZ350 which he hopes to be racing with the CRMC and potentially GP originals in the near future.

Woodward - PJM Photography

Clearly Woodward was riding high after this winning weekend. Fully invigorated, with any daft ideas of retirement out of his mind, he can't wait for round 2 where hopefully we should be joined by more members of the team. The RD250 weaved and pattered all round Pembrey so it will need some loving time spent on it and hopefully will be good to go.

Joe Woodward on Kirkby's RC24 - PJM Photography

Although not qualified as a Team member we cannot go without commenting on 19 year old Joe Woodward’s outstanding performance. He put his little VFR400 NC21 on all the Podiums of the 600 Production race, finished 2,1,1,1 in the SuperStock 750 race on Paul Kirkby’s old VFR750 and also took the bike to second in the ACU750 Post Classic race, lapping quicker than the SuperStock lap record.

The whole team would like to share their thanks to John Walton for on-site welding of both RD’s exhausts, and Paul Kirkby for the tips and well prepared racing machines. All enjoyed great weather, brilliant track, and ironing out some mechanical gremlins whilst they were at it. Now to look forward to racing at Brands in a few weeks time.

Longland at the helm of the XJ600  - PJM Photography

If you fancy giving racing a go and you are  serving or former serving  Royal Air Force, you have the opportunity to race one of to team XJ600's in the junior production class. Pictured here expertly piloted by friend of the team Jerry Longland, they offer a fantastic gateway to the world of classic motorcycle racing.

If you want to stay up to speed with the ups and downs of the team you could do worse than to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

For our longer reads, you are already in the right place. This is where we post our race reviews and other articles on Blogger. 

If you want some nail biting viewing, we also have a YouTube channel. So far it is a list of videos gleaned from our various members and other racing disciplines in the RAFMSA but expect some original content soon.

The Classic Racing Motorcycle Club (CRMC) offer live timing and have race results going back years so if you can’t make it to come watch the action you can still stay up to date.

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.