This was first round of the Derby Phoenix championship being held at Croft.

Go Star racers who were competing:

• John Hewitt
• Ian Westlake
• Tony Norman

First round of the Derby Phoenix championship and John Hewitt and Ian Westlake were looking forward to a days testing at Croft in readiness for a two day event. Testing went well for both riders. Learning valuable circuit knowledge and finding there feet after a long stint without racing! Unfortunately John Hewitt found the limits of his Steel Frame Ten-Kate CBR600’s on two occasions. Falling at turn one both of the times. Once was due to John trailing the front brake for a little too long and low sided after ‘losing the front’ Then taking his spare bike out he low-sided once again this time due to cold tyres. The rider was uninjured but both bikes suffered cosmetic damage. Nothing a new fairing wont sort out……

Race day came and went with both riders taking there time and ‘not going silly’ in order to keep things sunny side up and all in one piece for Sundays ‘double points’ race’s. Unfortunately john crashed his number one bike again haven been ‘taken out’ at the hair pin when an over enthusiastic rider tried to cut in too early, hit the rumble strip and collided with john. Un-deterred John and Ian raced the Steel Frame 600 class with Ian beating john to line by fractions of a second.

Day three for John and Ian saw the arrival of Tony Norman to his new northern territory! Tony is an x-BEMSEE racer that is campaigning the DP championship alongside Ian and John with the Support of Norpak Machines. With Practice out of the way John was first to race but didn’t make it to the start due to his new gloves (replaced after the crash) were slightly too long for his fingers and were catching the brake lever. The next outing was for Ian and Tony. Placed at the rear of the grid both riders finished the 4 lap sprint finishing Ian 20th and Tony 19th - a result that Tony was not happy with, after suffering handling problems and lack of circuit knowledge. The result was a fired up Tony Norman for his F600 race. Before we see that race we had the entertaining Steel Frame 600 race this time over 10 laps with double points!! A poor start saw John down the field in near on last place!!! With Ian Westlake sitting mid-pack. Shear determination on John’s part saw him gradually catch Ian Westlake and make a last lap move on him to finish ahead on the line!! Congratulation to you both for an entertaining race!!
Then came Tony’s second race of the day. Placed on Row 10 Tony had it all to do. Having had a superb start he was lying in 15 place before he tasted Croft Tarmac. On the second to last turn He tapped on the power too early and the rear came round on him making him low side. Unfortunately the bike rolled and damaged the yokes and forks along with the sub-frame. His day was over.

Next round is Anglesey over the may bank holiday. Hopefully the riders will have better luck and secure some solid finishes. This weekend proved that the potential is there – it just needs to be exploited!!!

For individual reports please log on to the riders own web sites or follow the links below.

http://www.gostar-racing.com/tony/main/dairy_results.htm 

By Tony Norman

Race Report