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| RAF Classic festival paddock cornered in front of a camera - G Heggs |
The Classic Festival
August didn't get much time
before the CRMC Donnington Park Classic Festival hit it hard. This year's
premier classic motorcycle event had a busy set of race grids surrounded by an
equally full paddock brimming with classic machines. A wide range of classic
perades bracketed the close racing with some exotic machines, including a
factory NSR250 GP race machine, rotaries and a CBX that sounded like it was
ripping existence in two as it went down the Wheatcroft Straight.
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| Looking back towards the RAF Waddington MCC gazebo - G Heggs |
The RAF Paddock
Returning to a similar strength
to pre-COVID times, the RAF classic team put together an impressive display at
the entrance to Donnington Park. At its centre stood the team sponsors, Witham
Oil hospitality lorry, flanked by the instantly recognisable RAFMSA gazebos and
RAF Waddington Motorcycle club gazebo. Amongst the hustle and bustle of the
team, there was a small group, comprising RAF Engagement and an RAF recruiter
who spent their time chatting to spectators and enjoying a fair bit of
motorsports themselves. The RAF classic team were also thrilled to be joined by
the Leicestershire blood bikes, who drew a crowd of their own as spectators
learned about what it took to whisk life-saving blood around the country and
enjoy the liveried up electric car, which was a magnet to all the little motor
enthusiasts who spotted it.
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| Before things got very busy - G Heggs |
The RAF Classic Team
For the first time in 2025 we got perilously close to a
complete team turnout for riders, even if they didn’t all have their bikes with
them.
Dorian Eardley was the big show-off, rocking up with a
freshly repainted Seeley mk2 G50, his trusty Rob North BSA Rocket 3 and a spare
Seeley Goldstar, just in case.
Gavin Heggs was back with his Yamaha TZ350 G, having
received a fresh water pump and a stern telling off after its complete failure
at Cadwell Park.
Ben Murfin was on his trusty Yamaha FZ600, trying not to
think too hard about how untrusty it was here last year (see Toby a little
later on).
Mick Rudd reappeared after 2 years rest on his Yamaha TZ350
G, hoping to get the buzz for racing back.
Toby Welford Had brought his Kawasaki ZXR400, aiming to
finish off his last weekend as a novice and also have a bash at racing a Honda
MT125 very generously provided by Jerry Lodge of Earnshaws motorcycles.
Joe Woodward made it in from his phase 2 training, now a
full member of the RAFMSA and finally officially a member of the RAF Classic
team. He was out on a Kawasaki ZXR750M, Molnar Manx and the DD-Racing KTM690
SuperMono.
Sy Woodward, focused mainly on keeping Joe, well, focused,
also had some air-cooled 2-stroke flag waving to do on his Yamaha RD250.
Roy Dale and Francis Whitby were arming the tools for the
Classic Team. Franky had to cancel his entry, having blown his CBR400 up
getting a cheeky practice in the week before. John Walton was also out, busy in
the scrutineering bay and generally supporting racing about the pits, which
meant we sadly didn’t get to see him a lot.
Dave Langley made a return to racing a Honda CBR600 F3. The
2018 Steely Champion has been in the racing scene for years and was a very
welcome guest of our paddock. Alongside him were Bobby Campbell and John Kirkby,
riding the toolbox, both regular fixtures in the No Limits paddock and
accomplished riders themselves.
John Hannaford joined the team's paddock on his Yamaha TZ350
E, so good, it came with its own workbench. As an ex-RAF photographer, he is
always welcome to see about the paddock, even if he was living the high life in
a posh hotel whilst we all slummed it in the backs of vans.
Andy Green took some time away from TT prep to pop over with
paddock regular Potsy, and Chris Bartley took a ride up as he pondered digging
his ZXR400 and getting stuck back into some racing.
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| A busy paddock captured by B Fraser |
Racing
The weekend started strong, with dry conditions and a rapidly
filling paddock seething with punters.
Murf put in consistent races, chasing championship points on
his FZ600. A heavy clutch hampered his efforts initially, somewhat alleviated
with a generous squirt of Witham multi-ease and a bit of adjustment by the
team. To be clear: adjusted the clutch, not Murf, we are not allowed to do that
anymore.
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| Murf - PJM Photography |
Sy, John, Gavin and
Mick were all out in the mixed GP250/350 and air-cooled 250 grid. First to fall
was one of Sy Woodwards' pistons when his RD seized in practice whilst swapping
places with Jerry Longland. Gavin managed a few laps of his first race before
getting black flagged for a gear oil leak. This turned out to be a tacho drive
bung that wasn’t bunging anymore, but in the clean-up up he spotted a sheared
engine mount, which left him sitting in the corner of the gazebo armed with a
lump of ally, a file and a sad face on. Meanwhile, John and Mick tore off for
some trouble-free riding. Mick, other than having to avoid Gavin, gradually
built up his speed, even getting himself in front of John by the end of
Saturday. Sunday came with the promise
of rain, but somehow the GP350 grid managed to avoid it all. The three TZ350s
were sprinkled about the grid, with Mick missing the last race of the day due
to other commitments. Despite this, he certainly answered the question of
whether he wanted to return to racing, and it was a resounding YES. John
chipped away at his time and was elated to bring in the best result of his
weekend by the end of the day. Gavin built his confidence on the TZ350 by
following the experienced Graham Acott on his x7, all too pleased to finish his
first race on the TZ without mishap. On the last race of the day, he found
himself alone, but catching what appeared to be Acott again, who appeared to be
going much better. It was only later that he found out it was 250 aircooled
race leader Jerry Longland teaching him where the lines were and sneaking him
onto a podium.
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| Mick - PJM Photography |
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| John - PJM Photography |
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| Gavin - PJM Photography |
Dorian was back racing at Donington after a 2-year layoff,
and was really enjoying being back there under the flag of the RAF this time
around. Despite the time away, he pulled out 3 wins and a 2nd in the Classic
Formula 750. More on him a little later.
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| Dorian - PJM Photography |
Toby took to the MT125 like a duck to a blender. He was,
however, not discouraged and kept going at it, getting to grips with just how
much he needed to wring the poor bike's neck the whole way around Donington. Despite
not managing to get himself clear of the back of the grid, he did earn the
adoration of the commentators, who cheered him on the whole way around.
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| Toby - PJM Photography |
Joe, now a fully fledge member of the RAF, wasted no time
in joining the RAFMSA and secured his place in the RAF Classic Racing Team. Close
racing was the name of the game with his SuperMono races often ending with the
top 4 riders within a second of each other.
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| Joe - PJM Photography |
On the Superbike period 3 ZXR750, Joe had more than just the usual strong opposition, with the addition of Ian Hutchinson to contend with. His first couple of races had him only 11 seconds down whilst Hutchy obliterated the CRMC lap record. The good times couldn’t last, however, with a stuck throttle leading to retirement twice, finishing that bike's racing weekend.
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| Joe - PJM Photography |
By contrast, The Molnar Manx started off on its side, but as the weekend wore on, despite 2 very scary moments on the ZXR, Joe never lost his bottle and kept putting the pressure on in the classic solo 500. This all paid off in his last race, finishing first, for much-needed points.
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| Joe - PJM Photography |
Although not currently part of the RAF Classic Team, paddock mate Dave Langley made a spectacular return to the steel class. Having down plaid his abilities coming in, he was positively skipping by the end of the weekend, having put in a scorching lap time and dragged himself up to the top 5 of an extremely competitive grid.
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| Dave - PJM Photography |
Toby had the most exciting weekend of all of us on his ZXR400. For all the wrong reasons, of course. Dropping straight into the middle field in his first race, things showed promise till a loud bang signalled the end of his second race. A rapidly warming-up leg told him that a broken engine was the least of his concerns as he made a beeline for the nearest marshal post whilst performing the international distress signal for “I am on fire!”. Thankful for the help of the orange army, he let them know that fire is surprisingly hot before embarking on a night's worth of engine change, helped by the team and his very chipper dad. With the backup engine in, his times were still respectable, finishing the weekend with a podium 3rd place finish.
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| Toby - PJM Photography |
Premier races
The CRMC has two premier races, the ACU classic and
post-classic. Both are longer races with qualifying and a special podium, so
well worth highlighting when we have riders in both!
The ACU Post-Classic Wheatcroft trophy had Joe Woodward
qualified for the second row of the grid, but his spill earlier in the day
meant he disappointingly had no bike to enter. John and Murf had no hopes for
glory, but they could at least enjoy getting in the extra laps and saying they
shared a grid with Ian Hutchinson, who was putting in some scorching times!
The Classic was entered by Joe Woodward on the Molnar Manx
and Dorian Eardley on his Seeley G50. A clutch problem meant a pit lane start
for Dorian on the Seeley G50, which gave him a fight through the
pack to finish 8th. Joe, on the other hand, stormed off for a
convincing 6-second lead. As the long race wore on, however, Mark Cronshaw
chipped away at his lead and passed him into the last lap! The commentators picked
their winners, but Rusty already knew what was coming as Joe piped Cronshaw
through Goddards for a narrow win.
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| Dorian - PJM Photography |
The Royal Air Force MotorSport Association supports tens of disciplines, both two and four-wheeled. More information on the RAFMSA can be found on Facebook, the Sports federation home page, Twitter and can be found with a quick search on MODNet.
The RAF Classic racing team race in the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club (CRMC) offer live timing and has race results going back years, you can find more the team on Facebook Twitter Blogger and YouTube.
There is a strong contingent of the RAFMSA MCRR in No Limits Racing, they can be found on Instagram with some fantastic video shared by competitor James on his YouTube channel, and many others can be found on there too. There is also an interservice race held at all NLR rounds for which the RAFMSA NLR team are the defending champions.
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.
This blog post was written and edited by Gavin Heggs with contributing media from riders, supporters and fans.
Finally special thanks go to the companies who continue to support us:
Classic Racing Green, EBC brakes UK, Forcefield body armour, HPE, Hel performance brakes, J&S Accessories, PJMphotography, Royal Air Force Motorsports Association, Royal Air Force Central Fund, R-Tech Welding, Ragged edge racing, Stahlwille UK, Witham group and individual sponsors:
Symon Woodward: Mick Abbey tuning.
Andy Green: New Era Restorations
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