Racing ahead: 2017 race review
The 2017 season has been a very strong year for the BSSO and has seen big entry grids all year, with many riders taking the chance to ride a second machine in additional races, and for the spectators the chance to see eight full scooter races over a typic
This year the British Scooter Championship was again supported by the main three sponsors: Casa Lambretta, Lambretta Club GB and Lambretta.it, and was held over nine rounds with 34 point-scoring races over the year. Sadly the Group 4 class which used to be the dominant class in terms of numbers has been less popular but was dominated in terms of race wins by Replay Racing’s Darren Conneely on ‘The Badger’.
I consider this scooter to probably be the absolute pinnacle of a fully developed Group 4 200cc race scooter. In the hands of Darren Conneely it either won… or it crashed, nothing more, nothing less! SRP Racing had Chris Geyton in Group 4 and this year was one of Geyton’s best years, certainly in terms of results and finishes.
He was consistent in terms of points scoring all year and had some amazing battles with David Bristow throughout the year, but toward the end of the year Bristow’s challenge faltered and Geyton ended the year as runner up. It’s likely that 2017 will be the last year of rules stability for Group 4 with likely changes on the horizon to hopefully bring some riders back to this class for full bodied race scooters.
The real success story was again the Production Class which is now in its second year. The class is subsidised by several importers and manufacturers who provide reduced price parts and the whole class runs on equal machinery and components so the differences through the field are predominantly down to rider ability and skills – you certainly can’t throw a cheque book at an engine and buy speed in this class! The class has gone from strength to strength and although the engines are reduced in power there are some amazingly talented riders who have hustled their scooters around the circuits and produced some brilliant lap times and racing.
Since its formation the class has been dominated by Darlington’s Team DSC with their scooters being well prepared and with no team orders the two riders – Justin Price and Stephen Graves – have produced some absolutely brilliant and very close racing throughout the year. But it was Price who just edged it and came out on top overall despite the best efforts of cheeky chappie Graves to reel him in.
Behind them was some great racing throughout the field and Graham Tatton improved with almost every race to edge closer to the DSC riders and by the end of the year he was right on them and he is looking very much like a force to be reckoned with and potential race winner for 2018. James Lancaster ended the year in fourth place and behind him Shaun Fairhead was another rider who improved throughout the year to show he can go fast round bends as well as in straight lines. A feature of the Production Class has been the overall reliability of the machines
with very few DNFs or breakdowns all year which is testament to the component selection of the class and shows that well put together engines can be raced at a relatively affordable cost, so this is a brilliant way to enter the world of scooter racing. The class is likely to continue going from strength to strength.
The Group 6A auto specials class has some very fast machines and several very talented riders. Lee Bamber is from a racing family and has ridden brilliantly all year and provided some of the most memorable races of the year including some absolutely amazing races against the visiting Italian Casa riders at Lydden Hill where the racing was truly jaw dropping. Although Bamber won the class overall, Warren Wilkinson was strong all year but Justin Price and Gary Peacock won some races too. In several races they all were swapping places and racing side by side to provide some very exciting racing.
Gary Peacock swapped machines part way through the year and started developing a Scomadi with slimstyle bodywork which is looking very promising for next year when more Scomadi machines are likely to be competing. Veterans John Woods and Steve Wright were very consistent all year and enjoyed some great racing too. These modern automatic scooters have great handling compared to the classic geared scooters and provided some of the fastest laps ever recorded by scooters during the year.
Group 6 is the fastest class for geared scooters and like Group 4 was dominated by Darren Conneely on the super trick Replay water-cooled special. The riding style of Darren Conneely is very smooth and it’s obvious that he also spends a lot of time on motorcycles too. To see the Group 6 machine swooping gracefully through bends is a joy to see, but the straight line speed is amazing too with 112mph being recorded at Snetterton, Conneely also established several lap records during the year. He even raced the scooter against motorcycles after the season ended and finished in the top half of the field. Newcomer Taylor Sturgess is a young rider who also developed during the year into race winner while still wearing his orange newcomers bib – it’s a few years since this has been done and Taylor is one to watch for more race wins in the future. Stewart Mackenzie had a good year with his incredibly fast Vespas and for sure has amazed many with the performance of the large frame Vespa. Surely there has not been a Vespa raced so successfully in this country for many years. Stuart Day also managed to win some races as the SRP team continued to develop his special class machine.
The Open class was experimental for this year and provided a great chance for many riders to prepare and develop a second machine or simply just get more track time, but with no championship points it was a popular choice for many and it has probably helped very much to push forward the performance of some riders who have benefited hugely from doubling their track time.
The Overall British Scooter Champion is Darren Conneely who has been dominant all year to keep the Conneely family name on trophies following on from his two siblings – will it be another name next year I wonder?
So overall a great year for the BSSO with plenty of new blood coming through keeping it in good health and lots of positive vibes for the future, so if you have not seen much scooter racing in recent years, take the chance next year to see some of the world’s best scooter racers in action. Words: Paul Green
Photographs: Lee Hollick