Junior Road Race LCRRC Round 3 Teeside Autodrome, 7th May

The UK’s premier junior road race championship, combined with the riders’ favourite circuit, was sure to produce plenty of excitement and drama, and the day went as planned!

First up were mini moto classes, with juniors starting the day off, mini motos and pit bikes were using the short in-field circuit, freshly re-surfaced, with lots of twists and turns.

Jake Archer once again was top of the pile in Junior A, with two wins out of three, the other winner being eventual third place rider, Kieran Smith. Euan Miller was consistent enough to take second, after a DNF from Sidney Hargreaves cost him the podium.

The Bs were a Mcauley-Kendrew affair. Senior Mini moto Production class winner Lewis Wilkinson didn’t seem too troubled by the rest of the pack, with lots of machine failures/crashes conspiring to make the other two podium positions almost anybody’s – but Dave Jenkins stuck in some fine performances to take 2nd overall, with 3rd going to John, despite a DNF.

Junior Supermoto this time saw series leader Aaron Murray take three straight wins, helped by James Robinson’s [a winner at Rednal] crash in race one, which saw James retire from the meeting. There was no doubt about second, that was Joe Ravenscroft, but the battle for third, between Lewis Black and Sam Edwards was where the action was, with Edwards coming out on top.

The Bs saw Josh Brown, first time out in this class in 2007, take three straight wins, leaving Noah Lee to take second, and Lewis Wilkinson third.

Pit Bike Senior A saw yet another Kenny Owen rout, it was left to Adrian Hamilton and Simon Trowell to fight it out, eventually finishing in that order.

The Bs saw drama aplenty, with usual front runner Mick Brierly having lots of machine problems. The day belonged to Dave Millington, with Les Noble second, and Brierly doing enough to keep his championship afloat by limping to third.

The Jawa GP50 Auto class was simply superb, with these little “GP” machines, with their pilots all in proportion, for all the world looking like a 125GP race! The front was hard fought, with Sam Edwards coming out on top with 2 wins and a second. This time Joe Ravenscroft had to settle for 2nd, despite winning race three, and ever improving new boy Bradley Perie taking 3rd place.

GP50 Rookie, run with the autos, saw another Lewis Black victory, with Andrew Fisher 2nd and Sidney Hargreaves 3rd.

The Conti Cup UK showed yet again why it’s the UK’s number 1 Junior championship, although James White, series leader, came out on top with 2 wins and a third, he had to fight for every inch of tarmac, particualry after some not so hot starts put him way down the field. Connor Tagg, 2nd overall and winner of race 3, did everything he could to keep White at bay, but it wasn’t enough. Pass of the day went to White for a move on turn one the saw him go under both the 2nd and 3rd place riders in one move, not under braking but mid-turn to take the lead! Third went to Devon Tuner, 2006 Conti Challenge Champion, who has been getting used to the newer V3 machine after riding the V2 Conti last year. This is Devon’s first podium spot in 2007, demonstrating the quality of the field. Another worthy mention was 4th place rider, Jamie Thackerey, previous race winner, and second in race two, but even with his undoubted pace, a fourth overall was all that was forthcoming.

The GP70 classes were bound to be impressive on a circuit that could almost be built for them, the Rookies saw Aaron Murray stamp his authority on the class once again, so much so that he was often mixing it with the front runner in the GP70 Junior class in this mixed race! Cory Smith and Luke Thackerey battled it out for 2nd and 3rd, finsihing in that order. The Junior class saw Ben Godfrey take class win, but he, again, had to fight for every inch, Connor Tagg was up there, but after going into the big final turn too hot, a crash was inevitable, followed by another in race two, putting Tagg well out of contention. Series leader Adam Robinson kept his head, and had to work hard for his eventual 2nd overall, fighting tooth and nail with 3rd place rider, Jamie Thackerey and 4th place man, Kieran Sturley, whose crash in race 2 saw him demoted to 4th, despite two second places. The Seniors saw Andrew Asher take another bace of wins, with Ronald Dutton 2nd.