SPRING CUP
We've needed this: finally, classic bike racing is tentatively happening around the globe – we were at not-so-sunny Scarborough!
We check out what happened at the Spring Cup, at Scarborough’s Oliver’s Mount roadacing circuit.
For the first time since 2017, the Bob Smith Spring Cup was held at the legendary Scarborough road-race circuit of Oliver's Mount. And while the number of spectators was restricted due to the ongoing Covid/social distancing measures, the bumper entry of ‘race-starved racers' gave the enthusiastic ‘race-starved crowd' a weekend of top class entertainment!
But – of course – this is north eastern England and the omens were not good on the Friday as a torrential monsoon-like weather system swept over the picturesque seaside mountain course. Then the road-race gods smiled and apart from a damp track on Saturday morning and a few light showers on Sunday the weather played ball and spectacular action was seen in all classes.
First an update: sadly there will only be two meetings at Scarborough this year, the Spring Cup and the Gold Cup which is being rescheduled for September 18/19. The reason is that Scarborough Borough Council has just conducted detailed inspections of their estate, which includes Oliver's Mount. Their surveyors have found several serious issues with many of the elderly buildings at Oliver's Mount that make it unsafe to hold meetings. So the Barry Sheene and Oliver's Mount
Festival meetings have been cancelled whilst work is being done to demolish buildings and make safe other parts of the area.
Whilst the aforementioned Barry Sheene meeting is the only one which has the traditional Classics classes, the ‘modern' meetings all cater, with three races over the weekend, for Classic Superbikes, and with Post Classic two-strokes and four-stroke 400s included in the lightweight class. So, let's enjoy some racing!
Classic Superbike
Number 44: Rob Hodson, Greenall's Racing Kawasaki ZXR750
Rob went quicker and quicker as the weekend went on as relatively inexperienced at Oliver's Mount with 4th place in qualifying, 4th in the first Classic Superbike race, on the middle step of the podium after the second race and top spot after a thrilling dice with David Bell to win by three-quarters of a second on the third and final Classic Superbike Race, and topping the points table with 58 points.
Number 42: Andy Hornby, RPS Triumph Trident
On possibly the only original Classic Superbike in the field (and certainly to my ears the best sounding), the Richard Peckett Special T150 Trident which has won many championships over the years, was being run in preparation for the Barry Sheene meeting which subsequently has been cancelled. Despite being of a different era to the rest of the field, Andy managed to finish ahead of more modern Japanese bikes in the two races he competed.
Number 59: Dave Hewson Obsession Engineering Kawasaki ZXR750
Dave is a real Scarborough stalwart and he had a busy weekend racing in three different classes. He felt he wasn't on form however, but he did have a steady weekend and had some great dices with a 10th and a brace of 13th places.
Yes, it was another solid showing from Dave as per usual: 3rd in qualifying on his first ride since October 2020 on his Graham Turnbull Yamaha. After racing in the feature Spring Cup Race in which he finished 8th against the modern bikes, his second Classic Superbike race was straight after, he led for four laps but an old right hand injury sustained at the 2007 North West meant that he could not hold on and did well to finish 4th. For the final race, which was cut to three laps due to delays earlier in the day, he led until Drury's Hairpin on the last lap until Rob Hodson caught him off-guard and he finished 2nd to round off a successful weekend where he finished 2nd in the Classic Superbike Points table.
Number 1: Dean Harrison Silicone Engineering Kawasaki ZXR750
Quality once more from Dean: he was the fastest in qualifying, won the first race by over 10 seconds then in the second race he was fourth into first corner, made his way past Dave Bell to lead on lap five at Mere Hairpin and held a five second lead over Rob Hodson at the flag. Even though he did not start in the third race, this was another dominant display by the undisputed King of ‘this' Mountain!
Number 35: Dan Ingham
Suzuki GSX-R750
One of the most spectacular riders to watch on the run down from Mountside Hairpin to Farm Bends, Daniel was happy with three top 10 places considering the quality of entry and machinery he was racing against.
Ultra-lightweights
Number 22: Tony Flinton
Honda RS125
Evergreen Tony has been racing at the Mount for 40 years: he made his debut in 1981 on a 750 Suzuki, in the same heat as Wayne Gardener! He showed his experience taking fastest in class in qualifying and adding to that three class wins in the multi-class Ultralightweight races: three of his top 10 overall finishes beat a host of machines over five times the capacity of his little RS125 Honda!
Number 141: Marcus Tatchell
Honda VFR400
This was a very impressive debut at Scarborough by Marcus on his Honda VFR400.
Unfortunately he had electrical gremlins which caused his retirement in the first two races eventually traced to ‘water in the works' after practice and qualifying. In the third race he started 21st on the grid, was 11th by end of first lap and finished P5 in class and P7 overall: that's impressive!