Anglesey CBC Results 260408

Anglesey 26th & 27th April 2008

Another weekend of fabulous British weather made it all the more remarkable that sixteen cars and drivers made the trek to Anglesey, to the far north west of Wales. Unlike last year we used the Coastal circuit which misses out a run to a hairpin and back but instead uses a ‘Corkscrew’ bend down quite a steep incline – great fun. As well as our series regulars we were joined by Vernon Williamson in the GSI "Squanderbug" and James Gray's Comet.

The Chairman performs some basic preparation.

Resting. Photos James Gray.

The Comet, now in the hands of James Gray. Photo James Gray.

Qualifying

An entry of 18 cars gave us a decent grid full and we set off into the gale lacking JB Jones' Cousy who had to go to a wedding. All cars completed qualifying with Nigel Ashman heading the list some 1.6s in front of the ever youthful John Turner. The "star" of practice was undoubtedly Martin Sheppard who managed to ‘barrel roll’ his Cooper back on its wheels and carry on going! A good scrape on the roll hoop testifying on the value of theses protective devices. The front suspension had a slight re-arrangement which had to be sorted out before the race.

Cooper Mk IX of Brian Joliffe takes shelter and Darrel Woods' Creamer. Photos courtesy of Fred Bell.

Race 1

A slight hold up held the cars on the grid but the race was soon underway with Nigel, Mike Fowler and John Turner disputing the lead. Roy Hunt was holding a watching brief in fourth with Brian Jolliffe and Gordon Russell have a lively scrap for fifth. Nigel then managed to get a small cushion in the lead leaving Mike, John and Roy to dispute second place. Unluckily John’s clutch began to slip causing him to slip down the field to an eventual seventh place. Brian and Gordon had resolved their dispute for position which went Gordon’s way. Nigel Challis brought his newly rebuilt engine safely home in sixth whilst the ‘Squanderbug’ driven by Vernon Williamson finished well as did the Comet of debutant James Gray. Martin brought his Cooper home without further mishap, whilst Shirley Munro, Mike Gilbert, Richard Bishop-Miller and Malcolm Bell all had successful finishes. John Chisholm unfortunately had some mechanical problem and then had to dash off to London he, along with Darrel Woods were the only non finishers, Darrel being forced to make a rather wet engine change that evening. Due to starting problems poor old Hakan Sandberg was a non starter.

Classified Finishers Race 1

Pos	Name	Car	Time	Laps	Best	Fastest Lap: Nigel Ashman - Cooper Mk XI 1:29.180 DNF: John Chisholm - Arnott, Darrell Woods - Creamer DNS: Hakan Sandberg
1	Nigel Ashman	Cooper Mk XI	15:08	10	1:29.180
2	Mike Fowler	Cooper Mk V	15:21	10	1:29.623
3	Roy Hunt	Martin	15:36	10	1:30.557
4	Gordon Russell	Mackson	15:45	10	1:32.864
5	Brian Joliffe	Cooper Mk IX	15:55	10	1:33.742
6	Nigel Challis	Cooper Mk VIII	16:23	10	1:36.066
7	John Turner	Cooper Mk IX	16:54	10	1:29.936
8	Shirley Monro	Cooper Mk IV	15:17	9	1:39.225
9	Mike Gilbert	Cooper Mk IX	15:36	9	1:39.876
10	Martin Sheppard	Cooper Mk X	15:39	9	1:41.825
11	James Gray	Comet	15:41	9	1:41.310
12	Malcolm Bell	Cooper Mk X	15:41	9	1:42.503
13	Richard Bishop-Miller	Cooper Mk II	15:42	9	1:46.050
14	Vernon Williamson	GS I	17:10	8	2:01.925

Some late evening fettling in the rain. Darrell Woods and Freddie Bell complete an engine change on the Creamer.

Race 2

The organisers went for what was effectively a rolling start for this race held on a wet track. Immediately Nigel again headed the pack chased again by Mike with Gordon holding third from Roy and John. The wet surface seemed to have good grip and Nigel made good use of it gradually pulling away to take another win making it a ‘double’. Roy was gradually catching the Mackson until Gordon missed a gear which upset the valve gear. Roy and John then took up the fight for third place which got close enough for Roy to have a Cooper shaped dent in the back of his Martin. To add insult to injury he then had a spin but managed to hold onto 4th place. Darrel had managed to sort out the problems with his Creamer to finish well whilst JB had come back from the wedding celebrations to also finish well. Richard Bishop-Miller missed a gear resulting in a valve introducing itself to the piston and Martin also had problems and thus DNF’d. You have to feel for Hakan who had travelled from Sweden to north west Wales and didn’t get to race.

Classified Finishers Race 2
Pos	Name	Car	Time	Laps	Best	Fastest Lap: John Turner - Cooper Mk IX 1:39.485 DNF: Gordon Russell - Mackson, Martin Sheppard - Cooper Mk X, Richard Bishop-Miller - Cooper Mk II A maximum haul for Nigel Ashman puts him in a commanding lead in the championship with Mike Fowler up to second as a result of his two second places. John Turner moves up to third in spite of his mixed fortunes this weekend. Championship Positions after round 4 Our thanks to Alistair Garrett and Janet Gower of the BRSCC, Simon Morrell and the BRSCC NW rescue team, The Classic Racing Motorcycle Club for hosting us, Sally Russell for being Secretary of the Meeting.
1	Nigel Ashman	Cooper Mk XI	15:13	9	1:40.392
2	Mike Fowler	Cooper Mk V	15:26	9	1:40.994
3	John Turner	Cooper Mk IX	15:29	9	1:39.485
4	Roy Hunt	Martin	15:45	9	1:41.37
5	Brian Joliffe	Cooper Mk IX	15:46	9	1:43.091
6	Nigel Challis	Cooper Mk VIII	15:58	9	1:44.998
7	Malcolm Bell	Cooper Mk X	16:06	9	1:44.317
8	Shirley Monro	Cooper Mk IV	16:18	9	1:46.748
9	Darrell Woods	Creamer	16:32	9	1:47.158
10	James Gray	Comet	16:51	9	1:45.698
11	John Jones	Cousy	17:02	9	1:48.808
12	Mike Gilbert	Cooper Mk IX	15:14	8	1:49.592

At the prize giving on Saturday evening awards were given to James Gray for ‘debutanting’ in the Comet and to Martin Sheppard for his low flying exploits. Vernon Williamson was awarded a bottle of bubbly as his car the GS1 was named as car of the meeting. In spite of the weather all enjoyed themselves and we had a great turn out of cars with an excellent finishing record.

Malcolm Bell, Darrell Woods and Shirley Monro

The glamour of top line motor racing, photo courtesy Fred Bell.