Race review - CRMC Round 5 - Donington park

Woodward collection join the Witham hospitality lorry. Bethany

As with every year, the team were looking forward to this moment. The CRMC Donington park classic motorcycle festival is always a big event. With visiting international racers from the FIM, displays from the VJMC and Yamaha’s huge historic motorcycle collection, there was plenty to do and see on top of being at a circuit that is extremely popular with all riders.

Heggs, Rudd and Ziv ready to go - Bethany

As with previous years, the RAF classic racing team had a large presence with the Witham oil hospitality lorry flanked by RAF Gazebos and the largest fleet of RAFMSA bikes and riders we have seen all year.
Symon Woodward would be battling for the PC250 championship on his Yamaha RD250 alongside Mick Rudd and Gavin Heggs. Heggs, who was back from a long two years away, had run out of excuses not to ride and had also brought along his Honda VFR750 RC24 for the superstock 750 class. Another welcome return, to the CRMC at least, was Andy Green on his Brightman 350 Aermacchi and Yamaha TZ350C in the PC 350GP which had barely cooled down since its last outing at Donington the previous weekend. Joining them were John Walton, Roy Dale and Steve ‘Pottsy’ Pots on the spanners.
Unlike the previous weekend, the weather was looking a bit changeable, with the first rain in a long time starting to fall in short sharp showers through the week and planned to continue for the weekend.


Saturday

A comfortably warm and dry practice rolled through the morning with Green’s TZ350C, having had a frantic week sorting the engine out after the GP Originals weekend had him on the grid in 6th. By comparison his Aermachhi was a bag of gremlins not managing a single lap. Woodward qualified on the front row on his RD250 and after some suspension tweaks, Rudd was pleased to see a marked improvement in his machine's handling, getting him to 14th on the grid. Heggs, having successfully wobbled round the circuit on the VFR750 without getting lost was lopping his times down a second at a time with each lap giving him some hope that he might be competitive by Sunday. The RD250 however would not rev which was eventually blamed on ignition timing before the first race but with no qualifying time he was heading to the back of the grid, position 33, not for the first time this weekend.

PJM Photography

Green was out first on his TZ350 where he had two good races over Saturday. Successfully beating his Donnington park PB again in the first race, he brought home 5th overall and 4th in class against the usual top run of TZ riders. The second race saw the same pace but with far more intense racing in a group of riders giving him a much harder fought for 7th overall and 6th in class.


Woodward, Rudd and Heggs hit the track for the PC250 race next. Woodward up front had championship contender Jerry Longland in pole to worry about but a change of grade of Whitham’s Gear oil stopping Longland gaining his usual 5 second head start with a much improved start. Also needing a good start was Heggs, starting from the back of the grid. Thankfully that is one of the things his little RD is quite good at, sling shotting him up from 33rd to a couple of bike lengths off the coattails of Rudd. Time out of the saddle showed however as a well seasoned Rudd pulled away letting him to focussed on battling the bikes that were now swarming him.

PJM Photography

Up front, Woodward and Longland continued their season-long close battle in a now familiar style. Longland would charge past Woodward into a corner, only to compromise his exit where Woodward would nip back up the inside and then they would grin and pass insults to each other whilst riding down the straights.
Once a few laps in, Heggs was busy remembering how this whole racing thing worked, times were tumbling down and large improvements were made with more identified for next lap. In fact he was pretty sure he was closing Rudd in some sections and the possibility of getting into that race was getting a bit exciting. hard on the brakes into Roberts esses he eyed his distant target now crossing the line as he wound the throttle on, ready to join him on the start finish straight. At this point his RD decided it was time to stop however. Flicked into an impressive high side, his short flight was retarded by his Airvest, the back of his Shoe helmet and apparently his (now very bruised) left arse cheek.

PJM Photography

As the embattled duo of Woodward and Longland raced down the Dunlop Bridge straight for the 5th time the yellow lights were illuminated and they approached the Esses to find Heggs’ stricken RD250 complete with two marshall’s in the middle of the track, once past the lights changed to green and then, thankfully red. On countback Longland was “gifted” the win as he had crossed the line 0.3 seconds in front of Woodward and Rudd had fought well for a 4th in class.

PJM Photography

Green was back out on his Aermacchi, a machine he was still getting used to with its ‘well, unique traits’. Luckily, fellow Aermacchi rider Andy Guy, was on hand to guide him around riding the single cylinder machine. The first race had Green getting used to this bikes unique handling on the fast circuit that is Donington. Clearly something was working as he rocketed up from 38th at the back of the grid up to 15th overall and 7th in class! The second race was a similar affair, gaining 20 places and finishing 18th overall. More importantly, racing times were coming down throughout Saturday.

Busy hobbling round the paddock, Heggs had to leave his RD in the safe hands of Roy Dale and Pottsy whilst he got out on the VFR750. Rolling out for the siting lap from the pits, it was immediately clear that something was wrong with the clutch. Having just “enjoyed” one high side on the RD, the rapidly climbing revs were very unwelcome indeed. With the bike basically unrideable in that state he nursed it round for a hasty exit before the racing got started.

so close - PJM Photography

With Heggs’ RD still in bits, it was left to Woodward and Rudd to fly the flag for the RAFMSA in the second PC250 race. Much to Woodward's confusion and delight, Longland and Team-mate Acott were so busy sunbathing and drinking tea they completely missed the second race call. With two noticeable holes in the grid when the riders reformed after the sitting lap, Woodward was busy working out the Championship positions as the flag dropped. Still not convinced of their non-attendance Woodward looked back down the pit lane expecting to see them starting from there but it was empty. Rudd wasn’t complaining either, but being further down the grid he had racing to do for over all position and bragging rights in the bar. Little did he know that things were going to get even more interesting for him.
Unfortunately for Woodward, at the end of the first lap, Woodward’s RD lost power and the pursuing pack began to pass him. He nursed the bike on, hoping to at least gain some points but after Rudd came past he decided to retire and lose the points rather than be beaten by Mick.

Last man standing Rudd had one task and that was to not fall off or blow his bike up. With his X7 days behind him, his RD held out to the flag giving him his first class win and a respectable 5th overall.
    “To finish first, first you have to finish” - Woodward.

Podium for Rudd - PJM Photography

Sunday

Saturday started wet with the last of Saturdays planned races slipping into Sunday morning. A very stiff Heggs opted to miss the rescheduled damp superstock race as Donington is famously slippery in the wet and two crashed bikes in one weekend was not a PB he much fancied. Gridding up for the 3rd SS750 race of the day (back in a now familiar 33rd grid position), the VFR was back to feeling good and hopes for a bit of racing were starting to seep back in. Grabbing a few places off the line, Heggs eyed up Redgate wondering if it would be today that he stuck it up the inside for maximum first lap gains when a stranded GSXR appeared in front of him, stalled just off the grid. Heggs slipped round the left of the stricken machine just as another rider slammed intro the back of the other rider. Lights rapidly changed to red and the riders coasted round for a long wait for medical staff and marshalls to do their work. This soon descended into all riders returning to the paddock and long delays due to a lack of medical cover on the circuit.
It was much later when this race was finally reattempted. Despite hopes of getting at least two good races out of this catastrophic weekend, Heggs’s VFR was still off colour with clutch slip reappearing and yet another early retirement completing an 8 for 8 DNF streak.

PJM Photography

Meanwhile, Green had a slightly damp race on his TZ350 resulting in reduced lap times but no less competitive, managing to hold off Ian Bain by 0.2 seconds resulting in a 5th place finish. The fourth and final TZ race of the weekend was a hard run thing in warm temps that everyone was feeling. A huge slide in McLeans on lap 2 didn’t deter Green from trying to hold his position. Managing an possibly over heated rear tyre he brought home another 5th place and 4th in class.

PJM Photography

With 3 RAFMSA riders back in the PC250 grid, Sunday’s first race was another exceptionally tight battle up front. Rudd continued his fight in a group of fast four strokes but was sadly not joined by Heggs who’s bike, despite a valiant effort by the team, was not running right and had to retire after the siting lap. Woodward kept the tension high at the front of the grid, finally crossing the line 0.03 seconds in front for another race win.

PJM Photography

Green was out on his Aermacchi for his first Sunday race and it was exactly what he needed it to be. An 18th on the grid start due to the better result from Saturday, only 2 places down from Andy Guy, was an ideal opportunity to follow and learn. A poor start due to taking 4 attempts to find first looked set to scupper his hopes, however Green made the places back up into redgate and soon back on the tail of Guy down Craner curves. The pair changed places a handful of times and Green enjoyed a drag into a pack of Honda K4’s. Much fun was being had with a little jovial taunting along the way. However on the run up to Coppice the poor little Aermacchi nipped up like you would expect a fragile two stroke to do. Experience has taught Green to listen for the impending doom noise they make and he managed to clutch the bike, coasting out of the way. Subsequent Inspection revealed the atmospherics had made the bike run lean and it had heat seized. She never made it out for the last race. An Aermacchi isn't like an X7 where the whole team has experience of getting bits of piston off Rudds liners. These 4 strokes are far too complicated for their own good.

The second PC250 race followed a similar pattern with Heggs retiring early and Woodward was off scrapping with Longland.

Rudd in the thick of it - PJM Photography

Meanwhile Rudd was having more of a fight on his hands than usual. After his front wheel made contact with the rear of Andy Guys Goldstar, he lost a few places and ended up in a 6 way battle for position. With so many bikes all fighting for the same piece of tarmac there was quite a few incidents of sudden braking and sitting up to avoid collisions. In front, things were going much as usual for Woodward, until Longland “over-cooked” a corner, dropping back 1 ½ seconds, a gap he failed to make back up leaving Woodward to cross the line, first again. Shortly after, all 6 bikes, including Rudd, crossed the line in less than 2 seconds of each other. Rudd finished 13th overall 5th in class for the hardest fought race of his weekend. This race was also for the Donnington Supporters Club, Ken Walker Trophy which Woodward was particularly happy to win as his son was the previous year’s winner.


A testing weekend for most, Donington park also brought in some amazing results for the classic racing team along with some good stories. The team thoroughly enjoyed hosting team sponsors R-tech welding and enjoyed flying the flag for Witham oil with their spectacular hospitality lorry. They were also glad to see team mate Chris Bartlett visit with his family, even more Woodwards, a full weekends worth of race organizing and brew making from Bethany Fraser and so many more friends and former colleagues pop over to say hello to enjoy this wonderful event.
If you have never attended a classic motorcycle event before, we couldn't recommend the Donington park classic motorcycle festival enough. Roll on 2023’s classic festival but in the shorter term, roll on Snetterton for round 6 of the CRMC!


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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.

Friendships and rivalries - PJM Photography