The Lord of Lydden 2021
In what is now looking like a new tradition, the BSSO race year extended into late October with an invite to the superb Lord of Lydden meeting at the fantastic Kent Circuit.
Perhaps it's down to global warming, but despite it being October we had great weather to round off the 2021 Championship year. With virtually all the classes still mathematically undecided it was always going to promise a great weekend of racing, and once again we were treated to just that.
Some riders just had to get round to win, but slowing down and taking it easy is not a concept many racers would understand so it was balls out racing for the championships as always.
Group 4E
On the Stock Scooter grid Group 4E has continued to be a big class, offering a little more speed and power potential, and Dave Bristow brought out a terrific Vespa small frame. Despite not racing one in anger since the 1990s he took a dominant three wins, only blotting his copybook with a non-start to let Stuart Day take a win.
The trio of Bristow, Day and Justin Price were the class of the field and treated us to some brilliant racing, with Day having to fight from the back of the grid after a slow qualifying time. As you would expect, the super-experienced Day used all his skills to carveve through the field.field Justin Price as always was on the pace, taking a trio of third places and one second position on the way to securing his championship.
Keith Terry was the best of the rest and continues to show that age is no limit for his competitiveness. The ever-cheerful Phil Hallam had a great weekend, and if you want to experience buzzing enthusiasm for the sport just hang around his pit after a race! Hallam continues his solid growth in experience and speed as he creeps up the grid, being chased by Paul Fitzgerald who also had a really solid weekend.
Group 4
This group has struggled to keep going all season and was unfortunately decimated by accidents involving Jimi McNally and Daz Westgarth – both retiring after being involved in separate incidents.
SRP rider Zack Tingle missed the first race as a gearbox issue from qualifying was fixed, but once sorted Tingle put in three great races to take a class win. He was as high as second on track and was one of the few riders to tip into 52 second laps. Glenn Swallow built up his track time by finishing some extra races!
Production
Here we saw a faultless weekend for Graham Tatton with four wins from four, and he even joined the 52 second club. Riding in his usual smooth effortless fashion he took both the 2021 Championship and overall Stock Championship in considerable style.
His teammate Stephen Hamilton finished just behind him in three races, but was beaten into third by the fast improving Simon Palmer on the beautiful Hamp's Union machine. Unfortunately his second place in Race 3 was followed in Race 4 by a trip to the medical centre after he strayed onto the grass coming onto the start straight. The midfield of production is a place for great racing and plenty of action was to be found here with Shaun Nickells,
The high of a fantastic season opener was somewhat dampened by concern for Production racer Jeremy Steel who w was sadly airlifted to a central London L hospital on Saturday with ser rious injuries
Steve Wright, Justin Offland and Bob West all swapping and changing places. Rookie, Harry Smith finished off his debut year with a solid weekend and is getting ever quicker on the Stamford Scooter Centre PK. Although the Lambrettas benefitted from their extra power on the straights, Harry was hustling the PK round the bends and picking up speed as the weekend went on.
The DSC production engine in Graham Tatton's Lambretta is the very one we stripped for this magazine a year ago. In all that time the engine's only witnessed five Did Not Finish outcomes, and three of those were rider error! The engine's now won three championships in five years and is still going strong, as unbreakable as the Darlington race spirit.
Automatics
On the autos Mark Shirley had a cracking day with the 80cc Zip, taking it halfway up the field while Alex Van Dyke on the production auto also put on a good show.
The Super Scooters grid is always well subscribed, giving stock riders the opportunity for more track time and seeing how far up the specials grid they can get their stock bikes.
Group 6
There was great anticipation at the opportunity see the spectacular John the Greek riding around Lydden again. Known for his sometimes ‘exuberant' riding style and occasional rear wheel slides… we were not disappointed and John took a dominant win in Race 1, being chased by the DSC duo of Justin Price and Steve Wright.
Unfortunately Wright's race, and chances of a championship, ended in a puff of smoke when his front sprocket made a bid for freedom across the start line, cutting itself a perfect hole in the side casing.
Graham Tatton swapped onto the DSC full bodied special, taking a third and fourth over the weekend. Group 6 bikes can be a tad temperamental and Jason Metivier had a few issues with the Jahspeed Group 6.
His troubles were shared by others and there were several non finishers over the weekend. Zack Tingle was on the SRP full bodied Group 6 but couldn't match the results he got on the Group 4 machine. Behind the true Group 6s there were battles through the field the whole weekend as stock riders got extra track time and gave a good showing.
The final race of the weekend looked like being a three-way fight between Price, Wright and the Greek, but unfortunately a broken exhaust on John's Vespa robbed us of the three-way fight, leaving the DSC duo to swap places a few times.
Group 6 Auto
The Group 6 Auto class was a clean sweep for Stephen Hamilton with four wins and he was as high as third place on track, really making the geared bikes work for success. Behind him Mark Shirley was on the Chiselspeed Zip, riding as well as I've ever seen him. Alex Van Dyke stuck with him like a shadow before pipping him in the final race of the weekend.
Open
This is a class that's not really taken off, but Stuart Day used it to resurrect his traditional multi championship special class machine by fitting a Rotax powered engine. This is super torquey and once he'd got it properly dialled in was as high as fourth on track
The high of a fantastic season opener was somewhat dampened by concern for Production racer Jeremy Steel, who was sadly airlifted to a central London hospital on Saturday with serious injuries. Thankfully at the time of writing he has just been released from hospital to start his recovery. As you would expect, the close BSSO community pulled together, getting his family into the hospital and looking after his equipment.
Evenings at a race meeting can be full of fun unwinding after what is often a stressful and pressured day, and Saturday night at Lydden was no different. Pity poor Dave of SRP who fell asleep and found himself ‘Sharpie'd' in permanent ink…
Another vintage year of scooter racing is over and of course talk has already turned to next year's calendar. Studying the provisional race dates, it looks like 2022 will be a fantastic year of racing.
Words : Paul Green
Studying the provisional race dates it looks like 2022 will be a fantastic year of racing