Race review - CRMC round 2 - Brands Hatch 2022

It’s been a few years since we have been to Brands Hatch as a team. Last time it was in danger of snowing and the time before that it actually did! With hope that some unseasonal May snow wasn’t on the cards, the team headed “daan saaf” for a weekend on the short but fun Indie circuit. Returning to Brands, were Symon Woodward and David Williams alongside Mick Rudd who was enjoying his first time round Brands.

The Saturday morning weather was on the damp side on a mostly resurfaced track so the riders went out to find out what traction was like and Rudd made a start on learning which way the track went. By the start of racing the track was dry and sometimes even sunny. With full grids, the short 1 mile track was being lapped in the 50 second bracket so each race was heavily influenced by where and when backmarkers were encountered, leading to some unpredictable and exciting racing.

Williams was out on his Honda VFR750 RC24 in the superstock 750 and the Honda VFR400 NC30 in the superstock 400 class. The 750 continued to under perform compared to last years machine so it was the little 400 that was the highlight of his day as he battled Jerry Longland on his loaned team Yamaha XJ600 who was out on the same grid in the production class. All races were finished mid pack so it was a good job he was having fun on that 400.

Woodward leads Longland - Bob White

The close racing between Woodward and Championship rival Longland in the post classic 250 class continued from Pembrey at Brands Hatch. Woodward, on his Yamaha RD250, again qualified on Pole in the damp conditions and was confident of a better start this time as Longland was starting on the fourth row. Somehow, to Woodwards dismay, Longland teleported himself to the front of the race as the bikes entered the second corner. Thus Woodward and Longland exchanged places and paintwork throughout the day. Unfortunately with Longland getting the fall of the back markers (according to Woodward), he took both victories in both Saturday races.
Out in the same race on his RD250, Rudd was pretty happy starting in 8th place for his first race at Brands. This was a good job as that is exactly where he stayed on a relatively lonely tour round the circuit. With more confidence he went a bit harder into his second race, successfully forcing himself into making errors and dropping into 10th. Learning had taken place however and with a working machine and a cold beverage in hand he looked forward to Sunday.

Woodward back in front - Bob White

Sunday started in similar fashion to all of the other races for Woodward on his 250 but a sudden loss of power during the second lap had him pulling in. On investigation his piston had failed but luckily it’s integrity held together so a very nasty engine failure was avoided. The bike was rebuilt for the last race which had been reduced to 5 laps due to an incident earlier in the day (not caused by Woodward for a change) which was another close dice but backmarker luck fell with Woodward this time and he took his only victory of the weekend.

Meanwhile Rudd had given himself a good talking to following Saturday's 2nd race. Starting in 11th he managed to make up a few places through the race and enjoyed a good battle in the later laps finishing 7th.The second shorter race saw him make an excellent start from 9th to 5th on the first lap. Unfortunately errors started creeping in again and he dropped back to 8th by the chequered flag.

Rudd taking the tighter line - Bob White

This was a testing weekend for the team with Woodward not getting an easy ride, Rudd learning a new circuit and Williams struggling for enthusiasm.

Rudd ultimately had a good weekend, the suspension upgrades made since Pembrey made a massive difference to the handling on the RD and as he accumulated track time his riding and pace seem to be improving (much to the dismay of all the other riders).

Woodward enjoyed the challenging weekend, maybe less so the impromptu engine rebuild, but he was mostly a proud dad for Woodward junior, who finished all of his races on the Podium, set a new Superstock 750 lap record and is leading the ACU Post Classic 750 Championship after another second place. Symon is thinking of recruiting him into the RAF so that he can bolster up the Team.

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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.