Race Report: Time Attack – Croft

Paul Green goes off in search of Petrol & Pistons and finds something for everyone in the Northeast.

A different mix of pistons and petrol from the Northeast.

The Croft circuit near Darlington is home to Petrol & Pistons North – which is a superb annual event to showcase on-track action from some of the fastest cars and scooters in the country as well as the show and shine cars and scooters from the street. The penultimate round of the Casa Lambretta British Scooter Championship promised a lot and didn’t disappoint.

Group 4

This was another perfect weekend for Replay Racing’s Darren Conneely with four out of four wins to take the class points lead going into the final round, but behind him Chris Geyton had a solid weekend with three second places and a third after a race long tousle with Dave Bristow on Saturday. The SRP Group 4 of Geyton has seen solid development and great riding this year with Geyton edging ever closer to Conneely. The Group 4 full body scooter in the hands of Conneely is just amazingly fast, so much so that Tino Sacchi who was visiting from Italy was seen to be just shaking his head in amazement and saying: “Too fast!”

Production Class

Once again over 20 on the grid and we saw yet another weekend of supercompetitive racing throughout the field. The leading two riders from Team DSC shared the weekends spoils with two wins each keeping their championship battle close and causing their team manager more hair loss with their track antics. Justin Price took both wins Saturday and Graves took both on Sunday and even cheekily (and controversially) tapped Gary Peacock on his arm and waved as he passed to take the final win. Cheeky chappie indeed! Gary Peacock was right on the pace in only his second outing on a Production class scooter in addition and crashed out on Saturday from the race lead to give the SRP team something to do to rebuild the scooter overnight! Graham Tatton continued his improvement and is now firmly on the heels of the DSC duo and took a trio of thirds to consolidate his points score and put himself firmly into third place in the championship.

The Croft circuit is right on the doorstep of the Darlington Lambretta stronghold and local heroes Barrie Braithwaite and

Stephen Hamilton both returned to the track to renew their rivalry of last year and had beaming smiles on their faces exchanging places in most races around sixth to eighth positions despite having a year out from competition. Pat Wickham binned his scooter again –a habit he wants to break – but after working and borrowing spares was back out on track on Sunday.

Andy Barnes again showed solid progress in front of his Time Attack colleagues as he raced his beautiful SX200 scooter, and Dave Delaney had some good races as he got to grip with the only small frame Vespa in the production class, showing a good recovery from injury a couple of meetings ago. Delaney, Shaun Fairhead and Jeremy Steel were a trio having races all of their own in the pack swapping and changing positions.

Carl Fox was another local rider making a return and with a beaming smile obviously enjoying returning to the buzz of racing. The class is still attracting new entrants and Peter Molkenthin impressed on his first outing and is certainly likely to be one to watch in the future.

Group 6A

Continuing the form from Lydden Hill was Lee Bamber, who took another perfect weekend with four wins in the super-fast automatic specials class, with lap record setting consistency he was unbeatable all weekend and his usual rivals Warren Wilkinson and Gary Peacock were unable to catch him. Gary was again aboard the RetroTech racing slimline Scomadi and with two second places is really showing the potential of these machines. The slimline one-off bodywork really looks good for a sporting version of the Scomadi. Behind them Steve Wright and John Woods had another great weekend of racing; despite a non-finish each it was all smiles. Justin Price had a weekend to forget with his Italjet Dragster which spent most of the weekend apart!

Group 6

The premium geared specials class was again dominated by the Super Imola kitted 220cc Replay Group 6 scooter, with Darren Conneely taking three dominant wins and setting new lap records along the way. A fouled spark plug unfortunately cost him a fourth win but ever-improving newcomer Taylor Sturgess was right there to take his third win of the year after a great battle with Stewart Mackenzie. Despite a tumble going for an ambitious move at the hairpin on Saturday, Mark Cook put in solid performance to take a trio of third places on his absolutely immaculate race scooter. Stuart Day had an unhappy weekend, being forced to retire from the race lead with a flat battery and a totally shattered fourth gear saw an end to his weekend.

Open Class

The development class had a lower entry than usual this weekend and was again dominated by Lee Bamber on his second development scooter but John Woods and Steve Wright took the opportunity for extra track time and battled each other all weekend.

Non-Championship race

With track time allowing for a third race on Saturday, an extra non championship event was slotted in for all-comers giving us a second chance this year to see the fastest auto and geared scooters racing each other and what an exciting race it was! Darren Conneely and Lee Bamber swapped the lead on every lap at some point and there was just nothing in it with Conneely being faster on one half of the track, but Bamber on an auto was faster on the other half where his automatic scooter was quicker exiting the hairpin and getting the power on down the straight - the benefit of no gears to change! Bamber took the lead exiting the hairpin into the finish straight and Conneely was unable to pass before the line - probably wishing the finish line was on the other side of the track where he was strongest! In third place with his best race of the weekend was Stuart Day aboard the SRP Special showing good pace when it all holds together. The Production class extra race also slotted in was another terrific close race won by Justin price with a small gap to team mate Graves, with Tatton, Day and James Lancaster all close behind. Trophies were awarded by the legendary Tino Sacchi who had flown in from Italy with his marketing man Tim Boardman and thanks were expressed for many years of loyal support to the BSSO and its race teams by the lambretta.it brand.

The race weekend mixing scooters with race cars was another fabulous success and away from the scooter racing there was a scooter custom show organised by Darlington SC and a large scooter spectator attendance. Families could look around car club displays and on Sunday had the unique chance to go and look around the race scooters and cars as competitors set up their machines on the start line and the public could get a rare chance to get up close to race machinery and competitors. There were flags, pit girls, celebrities, trade stands, classic cars, custom cars, modern cars, a cycle race and just lots to see and do. This event looks like establishing itself really quickly as a laid back and popular event with a totally different dynamic. Top weekend was had by all.

Words & Paddock Images: Paul Green Main Photography: Lee Hollick Extra Images: Andy Barnes