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Championship Points after Round 2
Thunderbike Extreme Class
1 Kevin Van Der Worp 138
2 Dave Harviek 121
3 Rob Bean 107 4 Marcus Goose 88
5 Ben Mills 85
6 Mark Crisp 75
= Clive Wood 75
8 Rick Windas 65 9 Tim Brown 16
Thunderbike Sport Class
1 Steve Parrott 120
2 Ian Davis 110
3 Seb Kelly 100
4 Adam Nelson 97
5 Colin Walkey 89
6 David May 86
7 Rob Eyre 75 8 Dave Wass 69
9 Mike Simmons 60
10 Malvern May 40 11 Denzil Davies 35
12 William Belcher 28
13 Barry Chapman 22
= James Robinson 22 15 David Court 21
= Mark Walkey 20 17 Oliver Fooks 16 18 Steve Jarrett 15
19 Andrew Collins 12
20 Tim Moorhead 11 = Ray Petty 11
22 Paul Beesley 9 = Andy Bartlett 9
24 Gerrard Spear 8
25 Sean Macoy 6 27 Peter Davis 6
28 Aarron Hobart 4
= Gary Jarman 4 30 Robyn Mapp 1
Thunderbike Rookies 2012
1 Marcus Goose 159
2 William Belcher 102
3 Ben Mills 100
4 Denzil Davies 80
5 Steve Jarrett 65
6 Andy Bartlett 58
7 Peter Davis 56
8 David Court 52
9 Oliver Fooks 45
10 Paul Beesley 44
= Sean Macoy 44
12 Gary French 32
13 Andrew Collins 26
14 Tim Brown 9
Snetterton 300 - 24th March 2012
Snetterton 300, March 24th & 25th 2012 – Thunderbikes round 1
With a positive weather forecast for the weekend at the fast Norfolk circuit, it was time to open the season in style. Lining up on the grid for the first time would be the new ‘Extreme’ class Thunderbike machines, who would be ideally placed to take advantage of their higher power cap and power to weight ratio.
The grid was packed with both familiar faces of regular Thunderbikes competitors and new entries to the series, with a good number of rookies bolstering the ranks and creating a sizable grid of 22 riders forming up for the first race start, which was a split grid with 15 Rookie Minitwins starting several seconds after the Thunderbikes had set off.
First up on the Saturday morning however was Qualifying. Straight out of the gate (and disproving the theory that the extreme class bikes would have it all their own way on the wide open spaces of the former airfield) was returning Thunderbike race winner several times during the 2011 season Rob Eyre, once again astride the black Ducati 916. Rob was disappointed in his qualifying time of 2:04.9 as he was still suffering the after effects of a small spill during Friday’s practice sessions when he collided with a Rookie Minitwin at Hamiltons. This time was still some 4.1 seconds faster than his nearest rival, a flying Michael Simmons on the beautifully prepared Yamaha TRX.
Mike Simmons on his beautifully turned out TRX chases Ian Davis on the 'ex James White' Ducati 749
Next up were Ian Davis, who had swapped his CBR600 during the off season for the 2011 Championship Winning Ducati 749 ridden by James white, closely followed by Adam Nelson’s Stately ‘Duchess’ 916. Following these 4 ‘Sport’ class bikes was the first ‘Extreme’ class machine of Kevin Van De Worp, who was clearly still acclimatising to the Yamaha R1 following his season on the Firestorm last year. Next up were David May (Sport class, Ducati 748R), Mark Crisp (Extreme Class, Yamaha R1), Dave Wass (Sport class, Honda Firestorm), Colin Walkey (Sport class, Kawasaki ZXR750) and Rob Bean (Extreme Class, Spondon GSXR) making up the top 10. Steve Parrot’s Tigcraft SV had failed to post a time in Qualifying, as a component failure had left him working on the bike as qualifying was under way, but the rapid thoroughbred machine was sure to make fast progress through the pack, regardless of starting from the back of the grid.
Fastest Qualifying Rookie was newcomer Bryn Tomlinson (Extreme class, Suzuki GSXR750) followed by David Court (Sport class, Kawasaki ZXR750), Ollie Fooks (Sport class, Ducati ST2) and Marcus Goose (Extreme class, Aprilia RSV).
With the grid set and some benchmark times in the bag it was time for the first race. A fault with the starting and corner alert lighting system prompted the decision for the race to be started ‘old school’ style with a dropped Union Flag, which appeared to favour some riders over others. The race started safely, with a hard charging Rob Eyre making the most of his pole position by establishing an early lead that was never threatened. A close fought battle between David May, Mark Crisp and Ian Davis ensued, with Michael Simmons not far behind, then a gap to Adam Nelson.
Further behind there was good close racing throughout the field, with the only Thunderbikes DNF going to the unfortunate Bryn Tomlinson, Whose SRAD Suzuki decided to erupt a fountain of water from the coolant header bottle across his screen and visor as he left the start line, causing him to park the bike with no visibility to continue. Leading rookie by some distance until the fourth lap was David Court’s Kawasaki, until a missed gear entering the fast left hander of Palmers caused him to run across the grass letting through a charging Rick Windas and the rookie riders Marcus Goose and Ollie Fooks before David rejoined the track.
As the race ended several Riders were called to the dyno for compliance testing, which is where things took a dramatic turn. The first 3 bikes across the line (Rob Eyre, David May and Mark Crisp) were all excluded following testing due to excess power. This meant the results now read a Sport class 1/2/3 of Ian Davis, Michael Simmons and Adam Nelson, with the Extreme class 1/2/3 of Dave Harviek (Suzuki 750 SRAD), Kevin Van De Worp and Rob Bean. The Rookies podium consisted of Marcus Goose, Ollie Fooks and David Court.
Good, clean racing was the order of the day, with several riders enjoying their introduction to racing under the blue Norfolk Skies. Race 2 promised more of the same, with the riders lining up according to their finishing position in the previous race. The 3 fastest men in the first race took no prisoners as they rocketed through the pack on the first lap, with the ballistic Rob Eyre taking the lead before the end of the third lap and once again making off into the distance. Next across the line was the blue Yamaha TRX, once again displaying some smooth, precise and above all very fast riding by Michael Simmons before a close battle for third was decided by under 2 tenths of a second with Steve Parrott’s Tigcraft just pipping the first race winner Ian Davis’ Ducati. Steve had fought from the back of the grid to a creditable 7th in race 1, giving him the chance he needed to snatch his first podium of the year in race 2.
Next up were the leading extreme class bikes of Mark Crisp and Kevin Van De Worp, followed by Adam Nelson and David May, then the third Extreme class bike of Dave Harviek. Rookie honours were once again between Ollie Fooks and Marcus Goose with the Ducati rider this time managing to stay ahead of the big Aprilia, who in turn was tailed home closely by the Kawasaki of David Court.
A slight error by rookie Steve Jarrett had seen him run on at the fast first turn of Riches, with fortunately minimal damage to the CBR (which he had purchased only on the Monday of the race week from none other than Extreme class rider Mark Crisp) and some aches and pains. The Luckless Bryn Tomlinson once again was forced to retire, this time on the third lap with severe carburation problems. Once again several riders were taken to the dyno at the end of the race, however this time only Ducati rider Rick Windas was subsequently excluded from the results following the testing procedure.
With the day’s racing over and the paddock in good spirits following a great day’s racing, it was time to retire to the packed Tyrrells bar for the prize giving. Thunderbikes riders and supporters were in good voice as always, with resounding cheers greeting each trophy, as well as the Steve Jordan Motorcycles spot prizes going to several riders. Spot prize winners included new faces on the grid in the form of Andy Bartlett, riding the jewel like Binnion framed Laverda twin and Peter Davis, who had decided to start racing on another suitably beautiful example of Italian sculpture in the form of a truly exquisite Ducati Sportclassic S.
Sunday morning dawned in a misty and chilly fashion, reminding us that this was still March and the previous several days of brilliant sunshine didn’t mean we could rely on it being quite as tropical just yet. The mist soon burned away as the morning warmup sessions were concluded, allowing the sun to touch the tarmac again, albeit leaving track temperatures initially a fair bit below those of the previous days.
Lining up for the first race of the day all eyes were once again on the man with the flag held aloft. The flag start produced varying good and bad starts once again, but with the run to the first corner completed safely and the field charging away through Riches and Montreal without incident we were once again racing hard. Mechanical gremlins once again claimed Bryn Tomlinson, his Suzuki carbs flooding his engine and ending his weekend for good this time. The gremlins claimed Dave Wass’ Firestorm on the first lap too, with Ollie Fooks Ducati crying enough at the start of lap 4. Dave would be able to return for the final race but Ollie, like Bryn, would not take any further part in the days proceedings.
At the front Rob Eyre once again streaked away to win by a sizable margin, this time followed home by the consistently improving Mark Crisp, who was some distance ahead of his nearest Extreme class rival. Behind mark were sport class riders Michael Simmons, Ian Davis, Steve Parrott and David May, before the second Extreme R1 of Kevin Van De Worp. Adam Nelson and Colin Walkey followed Kevin on their Sport class bikes, before more Extreme class riders in the shape of Dave Harviek, Rob Bean, Marcus Goose and Rick Windas (Who had swapped to the Extreme class overnight following his unexpectedly impressive power figures the previous day). Also making a welcome entry to the field was next rider home Malvern May on an SV minitwin, who had pitched in with Thunderbikes as an extra class for the day.
The retirement of Ollie Fooks meant that Second Rookie home after Marcus on the Aprilia was David Court on the Kawasaki, followed by Bill Belcher’s Honda VFR – earning Bill a 3rd place trophy in his first ever race meeting! A rather sore Steve Jarrett (following his excursion in Saturdays race 2) was 4th rookie home, followed by Peter Davis’ Sportclassic Ducati.
At the end of the race the dyno was once again busy with compliance testing, however the ZXR of David Court didn’t make it that far before displaying a preference to having the oil on the outside, relegating the bike to the sidelines for the rest of the day alongside Bryn and Ollie. No bikes were disqualified following this race, so the grid for the final race was subsequently in the finishing order of the previous race for the first time this weekend!
When the flag dropped for the final time the predictable runaway leader was once again the Exocet impersonating black 916 of Rob Eyre, who continued his untouchable form for the weekend (barring a half BHP over the limit on the dyno on Saturday Morning). Mark Crisp was once again the only rider even within sight of the Sport class rider, posting his fastest lap of the weekend on lap 2 with a 2:06.1 and becoming the only rider other than Rob to go below 2:07 during the weekend (Rob’s fastest lap also came in lap 4 of this race, at 2:03.5).
Unfortunately an incident at the fast left kink of Hamiltons on the 4th lap of 7 caused an early end to the race, as a catastrophic engine failure was suffered by Michael Simmons TRX Yamaha, resulting in a broken arm for the sport class rider – get well soon Michael! The resulting deluge of oil coated the following Ducati of David May, leaving him with no chance of staying on board the immaculately prepared 748R, which had been chasing the Yamaha closely looking for a podium finish to top off the weekend. A third bike, the Ducati Sportclassic of Peter Davis, was also a victim of the incident, with the whole front of the bike and rider literally swathed in a thick covering of oil leaving the luckless novice rider with no visibility through his visor, and no grip for the bike!
The result was called with Rob Eyre first, then Mark Crisp some ten seconds behind. Steve Parrott, Ian Davis and Adam Nelson were next across the line, followed by Dave Harviek as the second Extreme class finisher with Colin Walkey chasing him closely and Rob Bean with the final spot on the Extreme class podium.
Marcus Goose once again took rookie honours, his third win of the weekend, with bill Belcher second rookie home and Steve Jarrett taking a deserved third.
So the first Thunderbikes round of 2012 was complete, with good close and fair racing throughout the field and some brilliant riding and results for regular competitors and new rookies alike. The extreme class bikes fit in well with the grid and all the riders seemed to be pleased with a positive start to the year’s racing.
See you all at Brands in April!
Dave #41.
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