BSSO 2016 #8
The final round of the 2016 BSSO British Scooter Championship was eagerly was an anticipated climax to a memorable year of Scooter Racing. Unfortunately it was an emotional rollercoaster weekend which contained laughter, tears, pain and heartache.
A difficult weekend at Cadwell – Paul Green explains.
Going into the meeting most classes were still potentially wide open so there was plenty to race for. This has been a memorable year with the presence of the Casa Lambretta team bringing some Italian glamour, and the success of the new LCGB Production class bringing in a host of new and returning riders there has been much to talk about this year, and of course there has been some excellent racing.
So there were certainly some very eager riders in practice and a red flag was brought out within a lap after Stephen Hamilton parted company with his machine and went down heavily, breaking both collarbones and three ribs so the championship leader in Production class was headed for hospital! His class rivals James Lancaster and Barrie Braithwaite were absolutely gutted for him as despite their rivalry the three would rather be racing each other on the track than gaining advantage through injury.
Saturday races
First race up was the Automatic classes where Gary Peacock immediately took the lead on-board his special class Group 6A
machine which he has spent the year developing. Across the line first time round his straight line speed had powered him to a half second lead from Lee Bamber with Ryan Clipstone chasing hard. Gary had a moment on lap 2 and Bamber seized an opportunity to get in front but then on lap 3 it was Peacock back in front again with the two riders having a battle royal but Bamber was back in front on lap 4 to take the win. Damon Tunnicliffe was given the honour of riding James Campen’s #53 Scomadi and was enjoying a great race and battled up to a strong third place by the flag after Warren Wilkinson and championship leader Justin Price were forced out. Steve Wright has had a great season in 6A and was in a solid fifth place.
Again winning the Group 10 80cc class was Stephen Graves from Dave Delaney. Returning to the Zip class after a successful season winning a national points class in stock cars was veteran Mark Shirley in third place.
The first geared race saw Tom Russell flip his scooter on the formation lap, in a sign it wasn’t to be his best day. The first race was very much the story of the season in Group 6 with Casa riders Luca Zani and Fuschini in a 1-2 finish, with top English rider Mikey Bonett chasing to third place. Darren Conneely was out with a mechanical issue leaving Doug Turner to take fourth place on his classic Group 6 machine. But he was pushed hard by Group 4 leader Steve Conneely who powered his 200cc full bodied scooter to fifth place overall just in front of the ever spectacular Stewart Mackenzie on his super-fast Vespa. In Group 4 Dave Bristow and SRP’s Chris Geyton had a race-long battle but Bristow managed to edge ahead in the last couple of laps.
In the LCGB class, Barrie Braithwaite had been a picture of race face concentration going out, and despite James Lancaster’s best efforts Barrie built a seven second lead to put himself ahead. DKS newcomer Josh Foreman was next up followed home by veteran Taffspeed rider Bob West. Sprinter Eric Cope was also out having fun on the Taylor Tuning Production class machine. Fastest lap was Luca Zani, but conditions meant a much slower time than the lap records set earlier in the year.
With some delays the second auto race was nearly 5pm but this time it was Lee Bamber taking a flag to flag win. Gary Peacock couldn’t repeat the same form of earlier in the day and ended the race in fifth place. Justin Price finished strongly to stay in contention but was having to fight off Damon Tunnicliffe on the #53 Scomadi and the two swapped and changed positions to complete the podium. In Group 10 it was a repeat of race 1 as Graves consolidated his lead in the class.
Next up was the second geared race and disaster struck with possibly the biggest crash in a decade taking place on the start line after Tom Russell had the misfortune to stall and was hit by several riders. Many riders were involved in the main and subsequent crashes and more than one rider was initially unconscious in the immediate aftermath. Unfortunately Tom Russell was seriously injured suffering two badly broken legs. The incident brought the day’s racing to a close as Tom was taken to hospital. The incident certainly brought home the dangers of racing as a reminder to everyone and brought a sombre end to the day.
Sundays Races
Sunday saw the re-run of the abandoned geared scooter race with several riders missing through injuries sustained the day before. Damon Tunnicliffe carried forward his success from the autos to a race lead as Fuschini pulled off the circuit on lap 2 and Zani slipped back down the order with machine issues. This left Tunnicliffe and Mike Bonett to race for the win and Damon took a popular win and fastest lap. Zani managed to just hang onto third
place from Darren Conneely in Group 6 with veteran Stuart Day and Stewart Mackenzie next up. Steve Conneely was happy to sit behind Doug Turner this time and rode a champion’s race to protect his overall lead. Chris Geyton taking second place in Group 4.
In the LCGB Production, James Lancaster was back on form and managed to hold his early lead from flag to flag to keep himself in the championship fight.
We had two previous champions also back on track in one-off rides, with Keith Terry on board the spare JB Group 6 machine, and he was joined by Mike Davies, an ex Group 6 champion, who was aboard a production class machine. Both riders were finding their feet on strange machines after time away from circuit racing on scooters.
The first auto race saw Lee Bamber once again take the lead from the start but suffered a DNF to leave Gary Peacock in prime position to take the honours, and Peacock certainly made the most of it and his first auto class win by almost five seconds from Warren Wilkinson and Tunnicliffe for the podium honours. Graves and Delaney repeated earlier positions once again in the Group 10 class.
The second of a planned three geared races saw us into the lunch break. Only Fuschini was on the grid from the Casa team after a machine swap but unfortunately he again suffered mechanical issues and was out on the first lap along with Tunnicliffe, Darren Conneely and Ian Scutt who all suffered from DNFs. The overall win was taken by Mike Bonett, but right there pushing and taking second overall on the track was Steve Conneely who decided to really go for it now he had secured his Group 4 win as well as the Overall #1 spot. Doug Turner was finishing his year on a high after early season issues in a solid third place. As Conneely had cleared off into the distance veteran Dan Lewis and Chris Geyton were racing hard in Group 4 and were joined by Daz Westgarth in the chase. In the LCGB class Barrie Braithwaite held off James Lancaster to keep a (small) championship lead. Zak Tingle was finding his form now having been sidelined the majority of the year and finished a good third in class with Mike Davis a excellent fourth, with Eric Cope following him home.
With all riders preparing for exciting final races to decide the Championships a hush fell over the circuit following a nasty accident in the motorcycle races. The air ambulance was called but following a long delay the meeting was abandoned in the saddest of circumstances. Veteran rider John Schoenemann later died in hospital.
So with the meeting abandoned, in the circumstances there was little for people to celebrate and the BSSO riders’ thoughts were very much with the officials and marshals and of course family and friends. It had very much been a weekend of the highest and lowest emotions for many.
Putting aside the sadness, the year had lots of exciting races and positive developments for racing as the new Production Class became established. Full championship placings and results are available at www.scooterracing.org.uk