Welsh Wales in the sunshine is a glorious place to be. It’s not too bad in the drizzle either it turns out but mostly we were blessed with a vitamin D top up. With NG our hosts and Pembrey the venue a fine weekends racing was expected and the Lansdowne let down nobody.
Of this very fast bunch, Peter was really up for the fight and rode at his limit, taking fastest lap of the weekend whilst Dan enjoyed debuting his new Manx and saw his competitiveness increasing as he continually improved and personalised the bike promising more to come in the next round from our current champion. Graham pushed the Tony Dunnell Manx hard with just reward as he will have to find room for another Ian Bain handmade trophy presented by the Lansdowne legend that is Stan Woods who really enjoyed watching the current crop of entertaining Lansdowne pilots.
Now then.. who is this Jake Dettloff? A chap who has made such an impact on track and in the paddock (even got his own fan club) a real breath of fresh air, super enthusiastic with great track manners, race craft and sheer speed. He once again produced scintillating performances to win the 500 WRR class from the in-form class leader Justin Keen. Jake also scooped the prestigious Norton Motorcycles ‘Rider of the Meeting’ trophy.
Wily old fox Robin Stokes produced another cracking ride, whooping some seasoned rumps with arms and legs a-flailing he’s a joy to behold, unless yer trying to sneak past him, just ask Daniel Pritchard, Martin Thrower or our continental circus rider Andy Glasgow who was back from giving the Johnny foreigner riders what for!
Derek ‘Biggles’ Bunning celebrated his birthday at the prize giving, still riding well after all these years, he’s a great ambassador for the Lansdowne and a real fan of my jokes….not!
Photo © Jackie Benstead
Simon Hocking soaked up the love in the garage, after long suffering handling issues on his bike Dan Jackson twiddled and fiddled with Simon’s suspender’s (suspension) and ‘voila!’ his Manx transformed and now on the road to producing some impressive results.
Angela Cragg found love with Andy Ashley’s spare bike, Andy kind enough to let Angela race the bike on Sunday and she didn’t like it? She loved it! A great gesture Andy and possibly you might be on Angela’s Christmas card list?
Great to see Luke Bailey out again on his G50, much missed from the earlier rounds he’s a quick guy who I love racing against as he’s stylish and cool. And I’m not!
Meanwhile Stuart Tonge the engine whisperer had that man Hann making his life difficult as he does, Richard’s motocross background is always prevalent on track and always competitive.
Comeback king Gordon Russell once again came out of retirement to enjoy mixing it up with the flamboyant Richard Dawson and the charming Harry Cole, a close bunch in all the races just how it should be. Especially when there’s Mark Harrington on Jack’s 350 ready to pick up on any mistakes.
And now for something a bit different to the normal, I’ve decided to get a different rider’s take on the races in their own words. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present…
Through the visor of Mark Taylor
Pembrey circuit for round three of the Lansdowne and another track I was excited about returning to. Qualifying was pretty strange with the track being bone dry with the exception of Brooklands hairpin which was soaking wet from a clean up job on a large oil spillage the session before. I took it very cautiously not knowing whether it was just wet or wet contaminated with oil! As my confidence grew through that section I progressively got faster and faster through there and was chuffed to qualify 1st. Now time to prep the bike ready for the first main event of the weekend
Race One
As always, nerves, excitement and anticipation were extremely high but one good thing was it was dry which was a bonus! Bike cleaned and prepped, visor cleaned, tyre pressures done it was time to head to the grid!
As I was on the grid I knew a good start and a good turn one is crucial at this circuit, I had corner, ven a new tip about how to get the bike off the start line which I tried and worked a treat getting me first on the run down to the first corner, this corner is probably the worst first corner in the world especially to be leading! I was quite prepared to sacrifice the first few laps as I was awaiting to be dive bombed from all angles! Coming out of the first corner I was pleasantly surprised that I had made it around in one piece and in first place. The rest of the lap I was a happy boy and very content knowing that the dreaded Pembrey race start turn one was over. For at-least one race anyway. As I crossed the line, I see team boss at Oakdene, Mr Astley looking at his happiest seeing his bike leading across the line. However, this was short lived as I may have survived turn one once but this time boom someone is there… who could it be… it could of been a number of people but this time it was a bright red Ripleyland G50 being piloted very well by Mr Bardell. I tucked in behind Peter and could see he was riding bloody well!
I was enjoying the thoughts of a great race long battle that was about to unfold, I followed Pete for another lap that was a stonker of a lap! Peter, I think grabbing the lap record! (Great job Peter). Unfortunately two corners later, after Pete’s great lap, his rear wheel lost traction then re gripped which sent Peter down the rode in a nasty looking crash! As Pete’s bike slid and spun down the track, I had the horrible decision to make of which was the best way to avoid Pete and the bike! I chose the right side and luckily avoided them both!
The next few corners I took a-bit steadier as I was keeping my eyes peeled for the red flag but luckily Peter was up on his feet and the Marshalls did a fantastically quick job of clearing the track! Crossing the line this time I knew I had a fairly big gap so could relax and enjoy riding the team Oakdene Manx for the rest of the race, and my god, I LOVE riding these bikes!!! Back through turn 2 where Peter crashed, I was uncertain whether the track was contaminated as I could see fluid leaving the Ripleyland G50 as it spun across the circuit!
The laps passed and I was passing a few back-markers. I really enjoy passing back through the field well when I have a gap to second place anyway as this means I get to witness some of my friends having great battles on my way through. One of them being a certain Stuart Tonge who made me chuckle to myself when I pass, as I know he is also laughing to himself every time he sees my new illuminous green helmet, gloves, knee and elbow sliders as he now refers to me as “Kermit”!
The race went on and the laps counted down. I got more and more excited about the thought of a victory and a stunning new Lansdowne trophy which Ian Bain does an amazing job making! As I crossed the line for the final time I punched the air with delight, then performed a massive wheelie straight into a stoppie with me sitting over the bars into a rolling burnout! Oh. Wait. Maybe that bit didn’t quite happen like that BUT I was however very happy and did wave at the Marshalls and the 2 spectators waving on the hill at turn one and two. Well, whether they were waving or it was another gesture whilst also taking the Mickey out of my bright green appearance I’ll never know but I certainly enjoyed it!
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Thanks Mark. Great report!
A successful meeting once again from NG and their Team. I spoke to them afterwards and they loved having us there and were really impressed with our track sense and speed. They said they would love to see us racing with them again soon.
Massive thanks to;
The Marshalls, Ambulance crews and circuit team, also Jackie Myerscoft and Carys Linton for great photographs.
The Oakdene Team for trailer moving. MPL for parts that keep us racing and Windy Shed for track support.
Next round at the Bob Mac in Scotland. Get yer kilts out and let’s put on a good show.
See you there
Tony Perkin
Race 1 Results
| British Championship | Clubman 500 | |
| 1st – Mark Taylor | 1st – Jake Dettloff | |
| 2nd – Dan Jackson | 2nd – Justin Keen | |
| 3rd – Graham Higlett | 3rd – Robin Stokes |
| Clubman 350 | Pre 55 | |
| 1st – Mark Harrington | 1st – Richard Hann | |
| 2nd – Derek Bunning |
Race 2 Results
| British Championship | Clubman 500 | |
| 1st – Mark Taylor | 1st – Jake Dettloff | |
| 2nd – Graham Higlett | 2nd – Robin Stokes | |
| 3rd – Peter Bardell | 3rd – Justin Keen |
| Clubman 350 | Pre 55 | |
| 1st – Mark Harrington | 1st – Richard Hann | |
| 2nd – Derek Bunning |
Race 3 Results
| British Championship | Clubman 500 | |
| 1st – Mark Taylor | 1st – Jake Dettlof | |
| 2nd – Mike Russell | 2nd – Robin Stokes | |
| 3rd – Dan Jackson | 3rd – Richard Hann |
| Clubman 350 | Pre 55 | |
| 1st – Mark Harrington | 1st – Derek Bunning |
