Feast of racing as riders head for island circuit
THIS weekend’s Wirral 100 Motor Club fast sporting feast brings together quality racing, the cream of British Formula 2 sidecars competing for titles and the nostalgia of classic bike parades to Anglesey Circuit.
With three of the five rounds completed, the various club championships are now beginning to take shape, so once again the spectacular coastal circuit is going to be busy.
Johnny Blackshaw has been in imperious form in the Power- bikes class, unbeaten in eight races, but things might get more difficult this weekend with his friend and neighbour Sean Neary on a BMW maybe for the first time and having a break from action in the national Ducati TriOptions Cup, making a surprise first W100 appearance of the year and certain to be at or near the front.
Anglesey’s own Jamie Harris embarks on his second outing here on a big bike and after his performances in June he too is likely to feature strongly.
So too are Chris Barnes, second in the 2016 Anglesey Grand, Joe Ravenscroft, currently sec- ond in the championship, and Barry Dimelow, having a ride on the injured Matt Jones’ bike this weekend.
The Paul Bland Motorsport Formula 600 class will again have approaching 40 riders and with championship leader Jamie Devine absent, there will again a different leader by Sunday evening.
Favourites are the consistently fast Adrian Kershaw and former champion Harris, who missed the first two rounds, and then won all four races in June. Chris Eden, Simon Napier and Chris Jones will be there to vacuum up the remaining pickings, but they will be joined by the returning David Jones and Glenn Walker.
In the 650 Twins championship it is good that the three leading contenders – Mike Bampton, David Evans and Andrew Ganderton – are new to such prominence.
In June, however, veteran Carl Roberts was fastest in qualifying, fastest on lap one of race one, had his throttle stick open on lap two, and was never seen again. The rest be warned – he’s back.
The feature races for sidecars, and for many the highlight of the weekend, will be the two 20-lap legs of the British Formula 2 Championship.
The Wirral 100 has a particular interest in these races as the championship’s leading driver is currently Peter Founds, and joint second place are Steve and Matty Ramsden, who have been regular winners of W100 club meetings.
Additionally, there will be 15-minute classic bike parades, scheduled to take place in the early afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday.
The bikes, from Velocettes to BSAs, Seeleys to AJSs and from Kredlers to NSUs, will be on display all through the weekend.