The Donington Park Festival did not disappoint, outbound holidaymakers on flights looking down on us maybe thinking they would prefer to be in boil in the bag leathers instead of a nice air-conditioned plane?
But we are the lucky ones, a very healthy grid of 38, made up of a contingence from Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Halesowen (West Midlands) all about to enjoy the best meeting of the year. Starting with our seven lap qualifying session which was a bustling affair with riders having to work out, not only the track layout, soaring temperatures and opportunistic timing for a clear track to get their best lap time, a difficult proposition but there was one man who made it look easy, that man was Mark Taylor who was on it from the word go posting a best lap of 1:22.4 to take Pole position, Dan Jackson took P2 and Tony Perkin P3. In the clubman class, Barry Burrell led the pack from Jamie O Brien and Andrew Jones whilst in the 350 class, Luke Bailey, Nick Bedford and Dario Tosolini, I think Dario played the “I struggle with the English language card” to be able to get a Vincent 1000 into the 350 class but hey ho!! Ha, ha, great to see you here anyway. A bulging pre-55 class was bossed by super smooth Mike Russell (not his riding his choice of socks!) to take top spot from Ben Kingham’s superb Vincent with Stevan Radakovic on his Goldstar holding off young Sam Bennett, riding his lovely Norton International.
Race 1
A cracking start for everybody with only Justin Keen doing what he says on the tin by gaining a jumpstart penalty as Mark Taylor was right on it from the start with a lead he would take to the flag. The rest of the chasing pack funnelled down into Craner Curves, a fabulously sinuous ribbon of tarmac with the long right drop downhill requiring many Weetabix to pull your bike from its accelerating right to a plunging left feeding in the power before hitting the anchors and stabbing down a couple of gears looking for the apex of the famous old hairpin, nail that and be rewarded with ‘many’ extra mph as you pile on the coals up to the deceptively difficult right hander, Mcleans, it’s then a short thrust to the blind Coppice which sets you up for the back straight into the infamous chicane where do or die braking is all part of the fun then hold her flat to the flag, easy peasy!!
Taylor held a comfortable lead at the front as Glen English after a terrific start had Dan Jackson right up his ‘arris’ with Dan working out the pass and using years of race craft to hold off Glenda’s late charge. The 500 Clubmen had Jamie O’Brien looking totally comfortable knocking out fast lap after fast lap, moving past Andrew Jones on the forth lap and holding fast even with Jones staying in touch Jamie took the win, in third was the talented trials rider Sam Rhodes on his Domi-racer. The 350 class was looking competitive with Nick Bedford the class act of the group taking the win from our wonderful German guest Torsten Busch in second followed by the flying Seb Perez junior, another trophy in the bag. Our Pre-55 class was pretty chocker but the standout rider was Mike Russell, stretching the legs of his Goodwood Velocette machine with Ben Kingham, close behind, keeping him honest, and there’s nothing like a thumping great Vincent Black Shadow up yer chuff to keep you honest! In third was the mightily impressive, Sam Bennett, who normally rides BHR, Sam riding the wheels off his 1930s Racing Norton International.

Photo © PJ Motorsport Photography
British Championship | Clubman 500 | |
1st – Mark Taylor | 1st – Jamie O’Brien | |
2nd – Dan Jackson | 2nd – Andrew Jones | |
3rd – Glen English | 3rd – Sam Rhodes |
Clubman 350 | Pre 55 | |
1st – Nick Bedford | 1st – Mike Russell | |
2nd – Torsten Busch | 2nd – Ben Kingham | |
3rd – Seb Perez Jnr | 3rd – Sam Bennett |
Race 2
Another superb start from Mark Taylor and immaculate riding display sealed another win as Dan Jackson try as he might was helpless to prevent. Dan pushed on to take second as Graham Higlett rode through from sixth to claim a solid third finish. Jamie O’Brien loved winning the first race so much that he decided to do it again with Andrew Jones ‘again’ made to settle for second. Richard Dawson put in a real shift to take third from championship chaser Angela Cragg, who, once again defied doctors orders to put in another classy performance, even if Martin Thrower and Stuart Tonge were all racing in her shadow. The 350’s had Nick Bedford and Jack Hebb tearing strips off each other all race, big Jack just nicking the win at the line, cracking racing. Torsten Busch added another handmade trophy to his cabinet for third. The Pre-55 saw a great dice between Ben Kingham and Sam Bennett with Ben powering to the flag and class win as Richard Hann raced to third with a flying Alex Williams closing fast after making up five places.

Photo © PJ Motorsport Photography
British Championship | Clubman 500 | |
1st – Mark Taylor | 1st – Jamie O’Brien | |
2nd – Dan Jackson | 2nd – Andrew Jones | |
3rd – Graham Higlett | 3rd – Richard Dawson |
Clubman 350 | Pre 55 | |
1st – Nick Bedford | 1st – Ben Kingham | |
2nd – Torsten Busch | 2nd – Sam Bennett | |
3rd – Seb Perez Jnr | 3rd – Richard Hann |
Race 3
That man Mark Taylor was away again, totally in the zone, win number three but this time it was the flying Mike Russell who posed the threat, Mike getting into the twenty one second lap time was charging, but Mark was safe. Dan Jackson knocked up more solid championship points with third ahead of a red hot battle just behind between Tony Perkin and Ian Bain, a battle that was re-enacted in all four races over the weekend, total trust between the two of them even to the point of Perky having Bainies shadow overtake him on the very fast left just before Mcleans ! The clubman 500 once again saw Jamie O ride another impressive race to take his hat-trick of wins ahead of Andy Jones again with another fine display as just behind a battle royal was taking place with no quarter given as Richard Dawson pulled out all the moves to take both Stuart Tonge and Angela Cragg at the flag, nothing between them. Another pocket of competitive duelling between Ken Perch and Simon Hocking made good viewing for the appreciative crowd. 350 action had Nick Bedford top their battle with Torsten Busch taking yet another trophy from Seb Perez-Jnr. Those Pre-55 once again entertained with Ben Kingham stomping away to first with our Paul Stephen pulling incredible moves on his pre-war Manx-Inter, especially after a two hour stint singing and playing with Young Seb the night before! Whilst Neil Allman took third after having a good steady ride.

Photo © PJ Motorsport Photography
British Championship | Clubman 500 | |
1st – Mark Taylor | 1st – Jamie O’Brien | |
2nd – Mike Russell | 2nd – Andrew Jones | |
3rd – Dan Jackson | 3rd – Richard Dawson |
Clubman 350 | Pre 55 | |
1st – Nick Bedford | 1st – Ben Kingham | |
2nd – Torsten Busch | 2nd – Sam Rhodes | |
3rd – Seb Perez Jnr | 3rd – Paul Stephen |
Race 4
Only Mad dogs, Englishmen and a few Johnny foreigners go out in the midday sun and Lansdowners! El scorchio! Whatever, one man was not going to be stopped from taking a clean sweep of wins, Mr Taylor take a bow, well impressive from the Crafty Cockney even with a very determined Mike Russell out to ruffle his feathers, he was having none of it, back of the net! Graham Higlett took a well deserved third ahead of another Perky / Bain’y duel, great fun. Andrew Jones finally got the Clubman win he certainly deserved ahead of a jubilant Stuart Tonge who out dragged Richard Dawson to the line a fag paper between them. A great battle between Sam Rhodes, Simon Hocking and Ken Perch mid-pack was a cracker and crowd pleaser whilst in the 350’s, Nick Bedford was too strong for Torsten Busch and Seb Perez Jnr but all had a great weekends racing.

Photo © PJ Motorsport Photography
British Championship | Clubman 500 | |
1st – Mark Taylor | 1st – Andrew Jones | |
2nd – Mike Russell | 2nd – Stuart Tonge | |
3rd – Graham Higlett | 3rd – Richard Dawson |
Clubman 350 | Pre 55 | |
1st – Nick Bedford | 1st – Richard Hann | |
2nd – Torsten Busch | 2nd – Sam Bennett | |
3rd – Seb Perez Jnr | 3rd – Sam Rhodes |
What a weekend, close racing, new friendships made, great weather, terrific band set, Sally’s birthday cake and fizz, great banter and plenty of smiles.
The end of an Era as Cliff Ransley rode his swansong, going out with a bang as his front brake bound on and pitched him down Craner curves then proceeded to burst into flames! Luckily he was ok and the bike not too bad, Cliffy has been a staunch supporter of the Lansdowne family and we wish him lots of happiness in his next venture, after burnt bike rebuilding that is? Thanks’ Cliffy.
With Oulton only weeks away, it’s crunch time in the championship races, get preparing those machines and above all play nicely ! See you there
Perky