BSSO Round 3 Cadwell Park, May 13/14, 2023
The BSSO Championship paid its first of two visits this year to the picturesque Cadwell Park Circuit in the Lincolnshire Wolds. The Cadwell circuit is massively popular with racers and spectators alike and as always plenty of road scooterists made the trip to spectate.
Super Scooters
Unusually in the race sequence it was the Super Scooters (Specials) up first with some standard class riders joining them for extra track time. These scooters are the fastest on track and did not disappoint. The Wilkinson Racing Team is always incredibly prepared and team supremo Warren Wilkinson was out on the Group 6 Lambretta. On the track he took a clean sweep of race wins but in the final race was demoted by a 10-second penalty. The officials also applied another slightly controversial penalty for ‘anticipating’ the start, which seems an unfortunate trend this year. The penalty worked in the favour of DSC rider Steve Wright, giving him a win to top his two second places and one non-finish after a mechanical failure left him with no drive. However, the 1min 54sec lap by Wilkinson on Saturday was the fastest of the weekend.
The inimitable John the Greek piloted his Vespa to three solid third places and a fourth, despite giving away at least 40cc to his rivals, and his natural spectacular exuberance was a little guarded after officials applying fines for unwarranted wheelies (really!). John’s Hornet Racing team-mate Andrew Sharkey had one of his best weekends yet, taking over eight seconds a lap off his Saturday time. With lap times of 2min 08sec he was really mixing it with the larger cc Lambrettas.
Nikita McNally took out her rebuilt proddy bike for extra track time and had a solid trouble-free weekend with a full set of finishes.
Newcomer Ben Readings on board a Lambretta in Hornet team colours is improving rapidly as he gets some track experience under his belt. He’s a fast learner and had trimmed four seconds off his lap times by the end of the weekend.
In Group 6A the automatic class was also dominated by Wilkinson Racing’s Gilera Runners piloted by Justin Price and Ben Darling, although Chiselspeed’s Stephen Graves took the second race on Saturday to prevent a clean sweep by Wilkinson Racing.
Stock Scooters
On the Stock Scooters grid, returning veteran Tony Rudd unfortunately parted company with his machine on Saturday, and didn’t take part in the full weekend after an issue with his race licence. Damon Yates also threw his Group 4 down the track in practice but after some begging, stealing and borrowing got back on track and took four solid finishes to give him an ear-to-ear
Andrew Sharkey had one of his best weekends yet, taking over eight seconds a lap off his Saturday time.
smile at the end of the weekend, although he did crash out on the last round!
Group 4E continues to be the biggest class this year, with Graham Tatton taking the win in the first race and was the first 4E rider to break into 1min 59sec laps, but Wilkinson Racing rival Justin Price managed to (just) edge out Tatton for the remaining three race wins over the weekend, although Tatton did retain slightly faster lap times!
Jimi McNally took three third places for the new DTC Squadra Corsa, and took a fighting second place on Sunday. Andrew Sharkey took a full set of solid fourth places, and newcomer Brook Northey continues to impress; powering his P Range to ‘best of the rest’. Unfortunately Simon Palmer had a weekend of technical issues and will likely consign this weekend to Room 101 and forget all about it.
Production Class was four out of four wins for the entertaining John the Greek on the Hornet PK Vespa. John’s onboard videos (YouTube channel Braking Bad) are amazing to watch and when viewing them it becomes obvious just how much extra corner speed he carries and how late braking enables him to get past the higher cc Lambrettas; even on a power circuit like Cadwell Park.
After missing a race, DTC Chiselspeed’s rocket Nikita McNally was back on a rebuilt bike after comprehensively trashing it at the first round. A full set of finishes and four solid second places (first Lambretta home) in production was a great weekend for her to tally up some good points. Ever-present DSC rider Steve Wright took a full set of podiums, with team-mate Tim Simpson getting settled back into a full set of fourth places just ahead of newcomer Ben Readings on the sole Hornet Racing Lambretta.
With the next race involving a trip across the border to South Wales and the coastal Pembrey Circuit, amazingly we will be at the halfway point of the season already!
See www.bsso.co.uk for championship positions and 2023 race dates.