WIRRAL 100 BOUNCE BACK AT ANGLESEY

After a 21-month Covid break, the Wirral Hundred club returned to its adopted home at Anglesey on the weekend of 31st July & 1st August, and were treated to some great racing in superb weather conditions. However on Saturday 75 minutes were lost through a number of incidents (no serious injuries) and a major oil spillage, but on Sunday there were no delays and the programme of sixteen 12-lap races, together with three races carried over from Saturday, were completed without interruption and with time to spare. It was a good comeback in every sense.

All credit to the five riders who had double wins each day in the W100 championship races – Mike Bampton, Tim Bradley, Barry Dimelow, Nathan Harrison and James Leatham and in the guest classes to Owen Monaghan (Streetstock 125)

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In the Carl Roberts / Emjess Racing Powerbikes class double Manx Grand Prix winner Nathan Harrison was the standout rider and after winning the first race by 13 seconds, he was not seriously troubled in the remaining three races. Behind him, however, nothing was predictable. Jamie Coward, best privateer in the 2019 TT, was 2nd in the first race, but in the second race he put himself out of action for the rest of the meeting after a spectacular and expensive spill on the approach to Rocket 1. David Jones, fine-tuning his bike for the Ducati TriOptions series, was 2nd twice, whilst Joey Taylor overcame some persistent technical issues to claim the other 2nd place. John Robb and Scott Shand were amongst the fallers on Saturday but recovered well on Sunday to take top-six places, whilst Robert Coppock and Marcus Simpson were also in the mix.

In the Pre-2009/Pre-Electronics Powerbikes category the race wins were shared by Steve Jones and Tim Poole.

The AS Racing Formula 600 class was similar to the Powerbikes, with one rider excelling, and some great racing behind him. Barry Dimelow, who is having his best racing season to date, always seemed to have something in hand over his rivals, and in three of the races, he was chased home by former Club champion Adrian Kershaw, with Chris Eden, the 2019 champion, always in the top four. It was good to see the ‘overseas’ visitors Marcus Simpson (IoM) and Eoin Collins (Ireland) featuring strongly all weekend, whilst Mike Norbury came good on Sunday after a minor ‘off’ on Saturday.

In the Creation Campers Golden Era Supersport races, James Leatham, runner-up in the Club championship in 2019, made his intentions for 2021 clear with four comprehensive wins. The second race on Saturday was red-flagged twice and was re-scheduled at the end of the day. Lewis Parkinson missed the re-run, otherwise he might have secured four top-three places instead of the three he gained; Martin Clare, the championship leader after the first round at Oulton Park, also secured three top-three finishes, so it should all make for an interesting season-ender in October.

Three of the 650 Twins races were dominated by Chris Barnes, a new combination in the W100 championship and a three-times winner at the Thundersport meeting at Donington a week ago. Mike Bampton, who is seeking to become the champion for the fourth time in a row, won the other race, and consolidated his lead with two 2nd’s and one 3rd. Max Dixon and Sean Seddon were the other front-runners.

The entry for the 700 to 1000cc Twins class was disappointing in numbers but high in quality with the experienced Irishman John Simpson (700cc Suzuki) and youngster Jamie Kelman (700cc Kramer KTM) pitched against the very seasoned veteran Tim Poole (888cc Ducati). Simpson came out on top, but the main lesson learned is that W100 will need to consider better catering for the new range of bigger Twins in 2022.

The Pre-Injection prediction was that Mike Bampton (750 Kawasaki) would take some beating this season but gremlins got in the way at Oulton; however there were no problems here as he took the four wins, chased home each time by Manxman Lewis Parkinson, with Joe Yeardsley and Max Turner, two W100 newcomers also from the Isle of Man and also on 600cc Hondas, not far behind. Craig Makin also had a solid two days with two 4th’s and two 5th’s.

The Forgotten Era races, albeit somewhat depleted, saw many-times club champion Tim Bradley back to normal on his 400 Yam with wins in all four races, adding to the two he gained at Oulton. Dan Hanby and Adrian Morris had two 2nd’s apiece.

In the 100 - 500cc Allcomers races, Adrian Kershaw, faced with back-to-back races and no rest after the F600 races, had two wins, a 2nd and a 3rd. The other race winners were Tim Bradley and Andy Jackson. 13years-old Ted Wilkinson, on his first visit to the circuit, impressed with three 5th places.

Qualifying for the Open Sidecars class, as expected, saw the top Manx duo of Ryan & Callum Crowe set pole position 3 seconds clear of John Lowther & Matthew Rostron, but a technical issue then came to light which sadly prevented the Crowes from racing. Lowther & Rostron were the main beneficiaries with two wins, whilst Chris Schofield & Shane Colbrook picked up a win and two 2nd’s. The final race of the weekend went to the 2019 club champions, Steve Markland & Owen Rigby.

The first of the Sidecar races had been preceded by two Tribute Laps to Marian Thomas, a lovely lady, one of the great characters of the paddock and supporter of Anglesey and sidecar racing in particular, who sadly passed away earlier this year. The Club and Derek Taylor, Marian’s partner, wish to pass on sincere thanks for all involved in this moving Tribute.

In the Anglesey Vans Senior Open races, the first race win was predictably taken by Nathan Harrison from Mike Norbury and David Jones but Harrison gave the second race a miss, enabling Mike Norbury to take his first win of the weekend from Marcus Simpson and Barry Dimelow. In the Junior Open races, Max Dixon (650 Suzuki) just pipped Joe Yeardsley (600 Honda) by 0.3 secs in the first, but Dixon missed the second race and Yeardsley had a comfortable 11 secs win ahead of Andy Jackson.

Finally the two guest classes at this meeting. In the two ACU 50cc championship races the top two were Scott Park and Warren Harvey, each with a win and a 2nd, and almost inseparable in terms of their lap times. In the two non-championship races, the wins were taken by Scott Park and Derek Betts. In the Streetstock 125 class all four races were won impressively by Owen Monaghan from Ryan Garside. Sam Cookson and Luis Murphy shared the 3rd place positions. This was the first time that these classes had visited W100 and Anglesey, and the attitude of the 18 riders and the suitability and reliability of their machines means that they will be most welcome again next year.

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Next race meeting – The next Wirral Hundred race meeting is the iconic ‘Anglesey Grand’ meeting taking place over the weekend of 9th & 10th October. The regulations and entry forms for this event should be available on the Club website by the end of August.

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Other Wirral witterings

Welcome back – After such a long break, it was good to get back to Anglesey, and we thank everyone – riders, officials, marshals and medics – for their brilliant support.

10- & 12-lap races – following a number of rider requests in 2019, we scheduled basically to run 10-lap races on Saturday after qualifying practice, and 12-lap races on Sunday after a brief period of warm-ups. Our plans on Saturday were thwarted simply by too many stoppages, visits to the med centre, and a huge oil spill, but on Sunday there were no such problems, and by good race-control management and co-operation from the riders in assembling promptly, we had time to spare. The feed-back from the riders has been very positive, even if some were ‘knackered’, some had to cope with back-to-back races, and some ran out of tyres towards the end of Sunday. So, we will plan to continue with this policy, so please spread the word.

Fastest lap of the weekend – Nathan Harrison; 1 min 9.310secs, 79.71mph. The second fastest lap was by Barry Dimelow on his 600 at 1 min 9.780 secs – impressive!

Crash of the weekend – Undoubtedly it was Jamie Coward’s, whose new Kawasaki let go big-style on the exit of School and the uphill approach to Rocket 1. Scary, spectacular and expensive, but the most important bit was that Jamie walked away unhurt.

Casualties – There were a few minor fractures (collar bone, hand and ribs), bumps and bruises on Saturday, none on Sunday. We wish the riders concerned speedy recoveries – in time for October, of course.

ACU 50’s & Streetstock 125’s – We pass on messages of thanks from the riders and series co-ordinators for the welcome we gave them and for our standard of organisation and marshalling. Well done all.

Marian Thomas Tribute – Again, we pass on the thanks of Craig Hauxwell and Derek Taylor, Marian’s partner, to all those who made the two tribute laps so memorable – especially the sidecar fraternity both on the outfits and on the pit-lane wall, and the flag-waving marshals.

Photographs – Big thanks and congratulations to Neil Lambert, our Club photographer, who has captured over 70 fantastic images of the weekend, both on and off the track and of the tribute to Marian. See the Facebook posts.

Quote of the weekend – From one of our lady doctors after the conclusion of Sunday’s racing; “I haven’t touched a rider today”. She didn’t say the same about Saturday.