CMRR Hampton Downs 13th-14th February

This was to be the first bike race meeting held at the new Hampton Downs track. I’m not sure whether we were privileged or guineapigs used to find the problems and there were a few.

The Empire Star was the best bike to have out of my 3. She just suited the track perfectly; her willingness to turn tight and change direction quickly and the lack of bumps made her the most fun bike to ride. I had some good dices in the early laps of the races with Ginger Malloy on his Bultaco. It’s so good to see him back on a bike and going quick. The challenge from Mike Farrall started well but his old bike lifted the barrel off the cases and his new bike broke the gearbox on the starting rollers. It was the end of his trip and it wasn’t the way we hoped it would end.

The Goldstar still had the long stroke motor and with the shorter straight we were closer to the front guys. The normally faultless handling was upset with a front end patter on the sweeper (I later found out Dave Cole was having the same problem). I was dicing with Terry Martin for 3rd and 4th positions but in the Sunday race I pushed a little too hard into the sweeper and lost the front and crashed. Neither the bike nor I was badly damaged, sorry Neville.

The Commando races were the reverse of Puke with Steve Bridge on the Ducati unable to stay with us on the tighter track. We won all our races and set some quick lap times. Steve and I were both entered in the Post Classic races as well but had sat the early races out to save our bikes. The last race of the weekend was the Post Classic and we both lined up for the start, Steve was on the back of the grid and I was 13th.

Surrounded by big pre ‘86 Jap bikes it was a nervous start but at turn 1 Steve was in the lead and I was 2nd. By turn 2 I had the lead but there was a problem. Every time I shut the throttle to enter a corner the rear of the bike chattered really badly. Steve was pushing me hard and I knew the lap times were good so I put it down to me trying too hard. I managed to brake early and drive through the corners which improved the chatter. I managed to get a break on Steve on the last lap and set the fastest lap of the meeting. On the in-lap I realized how bad the problem was and in the pits we realized the swingarm was broken clean through on the drive side. Someone must have been watching out for me!!

Commiserations to Mike having to head home with 2 broken bikes.

Thanks to SBR, Neville Wooderson and Paul DeLacy for letting me race their bikes. Also thanks to Aero Machinists for their superb workmanship.