‘World class came to the Race of Aces...’
There’s a sense of rightness to the way Scott Redding has found his place in BSB by mid-point of his first season. After all, he’sa grand prix winner, almost Moto2 champion, and has obvious star quality. At round six at Snetterton, he aced it. Riding a new bike, on new tyres, and, equally importantly, new circuits, he was able to knock out another dominant performance. Not just the double win, but top marks in free and timed practice. And extended his points lead over Tommy Bridewell to almost 40. World class comes to the Race of Aces in the Norfolk beet fields. It’s not the first time it’s happened, obviously. Back when people really used to call motorcycle racers ‘Aces’, the crossover between world and national championships was just normal. Should Reddinggo on to take the title at his first attempt, he will join previous GP winners (and indeed world champions) like Geoff Duke, John Surtees and Barry Sheene as national champion. Was national racing at a higher
‘It’d be a good bet for Scott to win the title’
level back then?Hard to say. Maybe there was a bigger overlap between world and national level which could make for interesting confrontations between high-grade factory guys and red-hot local circuit specialists. But racing’s changed so much. It’s more professional at every level, different championships are more isolated and there aren’t really circuit specialists like there used to be. Especially since Shakey Byrne isn’t competing at Brands.
But Redding’sapparent superiority, disheartening to seasoned BSB rivals, doesn’t come with any guarantees. BSB’s unique and rather clever structure was devised to prevent a runaway championship leader closing things out early on. Snetterton may have been round six of 12, but it was more than halfway in that there are just three more races before the only importance of the points is that it’s necessary to be in the top six. Then the title is decided over the last three rounds.
Two of these are at tracks very familiar to Redding: Donington and Assen, but the Brands Hatch finale is much less so.
The way it looks now, it’d be a good bet for Scott to win the title at his first attempt.
If he does, or even if he doesn’t, will there be a second? Or will the usual national guys be able to breathe easy again…