BSSO Double bill
The best of all things fast and furious from Pembrey and Three Sisters.
There was something very strange about racing this year at Pembrey. It was Wales... it was dry... it was warm! This isn't always the case when the BSSO circus travels to Wales and it was certainly a very different climate to the one experienced last year!
As usual there was timed quailing for grid positions followed by three races over the weekend for each class. Many riders took the opportunity of reduced cost second races to campaign two machines, or enter a smaller cc scooter in another class to give themselves some very economical extra track time and experience.
Group 4 only had a couple of entries and it was SRP rider Jason Metivier who took all three races on the track, being easily the fastest scooter on track in the standard classes.
Group 4 Evo is now a regular feature and getting established, offering a relatively easy way to gain extra power and speed from the Production Class. Pete Molkenthin continues to develop his skills and took 2 class wins, but was beaten in the final race of the weekend by James Lancaster, who made a welcome return to racing after some time out. His racing style was immediately recognisable and on an engine that was rather cobbled together at the last minute, it probably won’t be the last time we see him this year.
Production Class saw Graham Tatton start the weekend in great form with a flag-to-flag win, but was really pushed all the way by Justin Price, swapping positions until he dropped off the pace on the last lap having spent the whole race under a second apart. On Sunday it was a different story with Justin Price being on top form to take two wins and further consolidate his position as class leader. Price and Tatton are really dominating the class, but behind them is a group of four riders. Shaun Nickells, Justin Offland, Bob West and Rob Fielder are all battling for position on the very evenly matched production class machines.
Automatics saw Nikita McNally again take three dominant wins from veteran Mark Shirley on Zip 80cc automatics in the standard Group 10 classes, but Stephen Hamilton and Tom Shaw also raced bigger cc autos on a Gilera Runner and Scomadi. The automatic scooters are a great way into the sport for all ages and can be raced very economically.
Geared Specials were the fastest class on track and there are some very trick and well engineered machines which make the most of the more open tuning and development opportunities that the class presents. Moving from Autos to geared specials has been no problem for Warren
Wilkinson and he is leading the class this year, taking the fastest lap of the weekend and three class wins.
Behind him, old school racers Stuart Day and Steve Wright continue to push and show that experience still counts for a lot. They were in podium positions in all three races, waiting to punish any slip or mistake.
Although Wilkinson suffered a bad start in the third race, he was virtually in last place before cutting through the field, taking only three laps to find the front. Chiselspeed’s Chris Cook made one of his sporadic appearances and had a solid weekend of finishes just off the podium.
Auto Specials have provided a huge talking point of the weekend and with good reason. Chiselspeed have put together a trick special class version of a Piaggio Zip for the only current female scooter racer, Nikita McNally. M She certainly put the new machine to t good use and used the additional power and a speed to put herself in fourth place on the t track, lapping only just off the times of Wilkinson, W Day and Wright, and is certainly showing s she has a natural talent. I’m sure there t are plenty who would love to see Nikita on o a geared scooter before too long!
Despite lower rider numbers, once again the t BSSO series provided some absolutely brilliant b scooter racing, held as always with a fabulous camaraderie between the racers and a team supporters with some great entertainment e in the paddock once the racing r was over for the day.
More info: www.bsso.co.uk