New Era Superclub Round 9 Castle Combe 7th September
We have missed out a report from the previous race at Silverstone but Rob came 4th and 3rd with the championship leading going to Duncan Burns after Stu Jones crashedout in the first and injured himself.
Coming into this round Rob was 6th behind Mark Waring and John Coughlan. however John has not been at the last few rounds after crashing at Cadwell so it was going to be a scrap between Rob and Mark Waring before the final round at Snetterton. Rob had very little experience round Castle Combe as last year he done four laps of wet practice before crashing and missing the rest of the day. On Saturday morning we woke up to scrutineer the bike and get to signing on but it had rained earlier meaning a wet track. A few of the championship regulars were away with Duncan Burns being injured after a crash in the Ducati Monster series and John Moriarty, Stuart Rankin and John Coughlan also absent. This gave Stu Jones the oppurtunity to close in on duncan Burns for the championship lead. There were however some quick guys who are not in the chamionship full time there. Onto practice, the track was damp but it was alright for dry tyres, however Rob didn't want to risk crashing so he was cautios. The time came around for race one and the track was dry. Rob got quit a good start but there was a crash so the race was stopped and restarted. Rob got a good start and was 4th into the first turn and going into the esses Rob was demoted to 5th. Mark Waring highsided coming out behind Rob and therefore had a DNF. The front pairing of Nigel Reed and Chris Hawkes made a break and after a couple of laps were well ahead. Rob had managed to latch onto the group of Drew Dorling, Stuart Jones and Allan Russel and going into the penultimate lap they were swapping positions at every corner. Rob lost a bit of ground down the back straight due to a lack of power but at the first corner of the last lap he went into 4th by going up the inside of Stu Jones but in the esses Jones made a good move and got past as did Alan Russel round the back so Rob finished 6th. Nigel Reed won with Hawkes 2nd and Dorling 3rd.
The second race came around with a mostly dry track. There were two red flags meaning the race was cut down to a measly 4 laps. Rob got an excellent start leading into the first corner but by the time he got to the esses was pushed down 4th. Hawkes broke away at the front and no-one could catch him. A dice for second developed with Dorling just ahead of Russell, Jones, Reed and Rob but when they were going round bobbies on the second last lap Reed went up the inside of Rob pushing Rob wide and he ended up going across the grass losing time. The Race finished with Rob in in 6th and putting him into 4th in the championship.
Not a bad weekend.
By Michael Northover
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New Era Superclub Round 7 Oulton Park July 20th.
When we woke up on Saturday there was no rain as there had been the night before but the ground was still damp. Done the scrutineering and signing on and got ready for practice. By the time practice came the track was dry enough to use dry tires. However after one lap it started to pour meaning Rob had to come in. The rest of the prctice sessions were wet and by the time the 400's race came around the track was soaking meaning wets, it had stopped raining though. Rob started sixth o the grid due to the absence of John Coughlan and Stuart Rankin (big crash at Cadwell). Mark waring didn't make the grid as his team had forgotten to tighten up his footpeg and he only noticed it on the grid. Rob got a good start and was fifth into the first corner. Duncan Burns and Stu Jones broke away and John Moriarty crashed at knickerbrook. Rob finished the lap 5th with Steve Dennahey who had been held up but was reeling Rob in and passed him on lap 4. The top 10 were pretty spread out with Burns leading. Rob finished the 6 laps in sixth which was quite good as he hates the wet. Burns won from Jones and Chris Hawkes came third.
Race 2 The track was bone dry for the race before the formula 400 race but there were grey clouds threatening. On the last lap of the race before the 400 race the heavens opened and I was sent with a mobile to see what was happening in the marshalling area. I was told the riders had five minutes to change their tires. With only Rob and Pete to change the tires and suspension they didn't get to the warm up lap. Five minutes to change tires and suspension is a very hard task. There were other riders who did not make it including championship rival John Moriarty. Rob and the others had to start from the back of the grid. We don't know why as they could have easily taken their positions. Rob however managed to work his way through from the start and came round 12th on the first lap. Burns again won but this time had a scrap with Jones right to the finish. Waring was third with Hawkes fourth and Moriarty ninth. Rob managed to finish eleventh. For the championship tables and result see the results page and Rob's profile.
By Michael Northover
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