Race review - CRMC round 6

Posh digs - Mick Rudd

With August drawing to a close and a slightly wonky looking weather forecast, the RAF classic racing team descended upon Snetterton for the first time in a long time, ready for round 6 of the CRMC calender.

Symon Woodward was getting all posh on us having secured the team a garage next door to the VJMC as he readied himself for his last real chance at taking this year's post classic 250 air cooled championship on his Yamaha RD250. Also on an RD was Mick Rudd, along with Andy Green with his Yamaha TZ350C. Gavin Heggs was hopeful to finish a race this meeting on his Honda VFR750 RC24. Finally joining them all were Roy Dale and John Walton on the spanners along with team tag alongs Joe Woodward and Zivile Zukauskaite.

The team had set up with the tantalising hint of a warm dry weekend meaning they would sensibly head to bed early to focus on chipping away at those race times for much needed championship points the following day. Then Shaun Houston turned up. Many of us haven’t seen our old team mate since he went for a brief flying lesson at Mallory park some 5 years ago. Yes we come to these events for the racing but it’s the people that make these meetings special, so naturally the team were up way into the night regaling stories whilst sampling a few ciders.

Catching up - Roy Dale

The morning came and with it a dry circuit much to everyone's relief.

First out was Heggs on his VFR750 who, having been out of racing for nearly 3 years (let’s not talk about that Donington disaster), wobbled round, gradually chipping time off each lap. Feeling slow but with confidence growing, Saturday’s two races were a school in getting back into it whilst trying to stay out of the way of those at the front.

Gavin Heggs flirts with an apex - PJM

Green, having used practice to remind himself where the holding area was let alone where the circuit went, found himself out with quite a lot of 500’s which made judging his performance a bit tricky. Not feeling particularly comfortable or settled in the circuit, he was pleasantly surprised to find he qualified 5th on the grid. Steady away on his first and only race of the day, Green was straight on the back of Grant Goodings and the rest of the front group. A front runner retiring gifting Green a place as he was getting more used to the circuit, meaning it was time to stop following and get into a good bit of racing. With Green and Goodings lap times within 0.150 seconds of each other it remained close right to the finish line with Green just 0.25 seconds behind Goodings.

Andrew Green - PJM Photography

Finally Woodward and Rudd were out on their RD250’s. Woody wasted no time in getting back to the usual battle with championship leader Jerry Longland. Optimistic dives up the inside and subsequent trips on the grass were plentiful as the pair swapped places on nearly every corner of the circuit. Despite sharing the lead for a roughly even amount of time, the only place that matters is as they cross the line and with less than a second in it, Longland extended his lead for both races on Saturday.
Meanwhile Rudd, further down the pack had Longland’s team mate Graham Acott in his sights, just. Still in his first full year on the RD, Rudd was pushing for 3rd in class Acott, managing to stay with him till being mobbed by Gold Stars and k4’s racing in a different class.

Mick Rudd - Gavin Heggs

Symon Woodward - PJM

Sunday came and the sun kept shining as Green headed out first thing for his 2nd race of the weekend which was slipped from Saturday. Gridded up in 4th, Green was soon stuck back in for another tight race with Goodings. Green held onto 2nd place until lap 3 when Goodings power advantage got too much to hold off. With lap times never more than 0.5 seconds apart Green crossed the line for a well earned 3rd place just 0.5 seconds off the tail of his nearest rival Goodings.

Green chasing Goodings - PJM potography

The normal program soon resumed with Heggs kicking Joe up the backside to remind him they were both out on their Superstock 750’s. Heggs had managed to find a bit of pace now, using his VFR’s superior power to make up for, well, pretty much everything else. Good starts helped propel him to the mid field where he could latch onto a rider to help build confidence in those later braking markers and to hold a bit more corner speed. A hassle free weekend with a bike that just worked was all that Heggs wanted, so setting new bike PB’s near every lap all weekend made this a good one.

Heggs - PJM Photography

Green, now back to the weekend program was on his second outing of the day, now starting 3rd on the grid. With the confidence that comes with time on the track, Green looked forward to seeing if he could best Goodings this time, only for them to both get mugged off the line. Wallowing around 8th into the first corner, the only good news was that Goodings was just behind him. Green got to work digging himself out of the mess he was in. It took a couple of laps to put the likes of Robin Lamb on his Spondon Rotax and Philip Godber on his TZ350 behind him to get to work on chasing down Mark Edge on the Gourley TZ350. Lap 3 had Green past Edge and back behind Grant Goodings who had, had better luck climbing out of the group. Too far off to get the race he wanted, Green managed to close down to a second off Goodings before the chequered flag and 4th place.

Green's final race of the day was indeed, the final race of the day. A 3rd place grid position was soon swapped for 5th place after the first lap with another naff start. Tipping into Murrays it soon became apparent that Mark Edge had a different line going in which put him right in the path of Green. Subsequent avoiding action led to a locked front wheel but this was soon recovered and Green was back chasing him down Senna straight. By the next lap Green was past and some 10 seconds ahead. The TZ had been running hot all weekend with gearbox issues adding to his difficulties so with 3rd place “in the bag” the TZ seized whilst flat out in 6th gear just as he was about to turn into Brundle off the long back straight. The clutch was instinctively pulled in but regardless, the back wheel locked for what seemed like forever. Suspecting the gearbox had destroyed itself (not uncommon on a TZ), Green managed to roll onto the exit loop where he waited out the end of the race. When the breakdown wagon failed to spot him, Green resigned himself to the long push back to the garages, taking the time to plan out the winter strip down the TZ was going to need.

Green chasing Goodings - PJM Photography

To say the pressure was on Woodward would be an understatement. The familiar pattern ensued on race 3 for the 250 air cooled bikes with Longland and Woodward sharing a small, rapidly moving piece of real estate, often featuring more grass and bumpy kerb stones than it ought to. Meanwhile Rudd was yet again in striking distance of Acott only to be lost in a sea of four strokes, battling to get the space to stretch the RD’s legs through the corners where it had the advantage but to no avail as he was repeatedly block passed. His saving grace came when Acott also got tangled up in this melet giving Rudd the chance he needed to close and pass him. This was no done thing however as he was unable to gap the group, trading places lap after lap. A final bittersweet place came as he crossed the start finish line to find Woodward coasting along with the clutch pulled in, Woodward was out of contention for the race and Rudd was to take a well fought for second in class.

Woodward and Longland - PJM Photography

Things looked pretty much over for Woodward championship hopes but that isn’t the way we do things in the CRMC. The spare bike was dug out of Longlands camp and adorned with Woodwards racing number. Woody was going to be racing a Suzuki X7 and he didn’t know how he felt about that. Lined up on the grid, there was a heart stopping moment when Longlands spot on the grid was noticeably vacant. With the commentators speculating, a fashionably late Longland joined the back of the grid in a trail of blue 2 stroke fumes.From here on out hilarity ensued. Woody isn’t a small man, with the diminutive X7 being small enough, this particular example being naked made him look more comfortable on an MT125! Even on the siting lap Woodward was finding the limitations of the brakes as he hurtled towards the outside kerb of a few corners with a laughing Longland trying his best to offer encouragement.

Rudd and Woodward - Gavin H

Off the line in their correct starting places, Longland was straight to the front where Woodward could do little to stay with him initially. Rapidly getting to grips with the X7 however he soon found superior corner speed to his RD with an otherwise bouncy ride being relatively familiar, only the lack of the big Lockheed callipers with EBC brake pads were missing along with a few missing ponies.

Meanwhile Rudd had been yet again mobbed by four strokes before being left to his own devices leaving him midfield with a pretty big gap between himself, Acott and a tenacious Charles Spinks on a Suzuki T200.

Rudd - Gavin Heggs

Woodward, now feeling more comfortable on the little X7 was starting to clear the small group of bikes he was in but a distant Longland was a bit far off for even the biggest optimist. With the gap no longer growing at least, Woodward worked to the X7’s advantages, nimbly shooting through sharper corners and enjoying its surprisingly broad spread of power right up till the back straight when said power suddenly disappeared. A dull exhaust note and lack of power told Woodward all he needed to know as he snatched the clutch lever in and coasted home for another DNF but without trashing his friend's engine at least.

Woodward X7 - Gavin Heggs

Somewhat Ironically this was a frustrating weekend for all but the slowest man on the team. Heggs was happy to be making progress and that his VFR’s clutch, whilst being a bit heavy was at least working now. Woodward and Green have some work to do on their 2 strokes, at least Woody can look to his son's weekend multiple success and a ride on a Manx Norton at Croft to be positives from the weekend. This was the last racing weekend of the season for Rudd who had a blast in his first season on the RD250. With little to do on that machine, he can now focus on finishing his TZ250 build for 2023!

Woodward Leading Longland R3 - Gavin Heggs

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