Hottrax Motorsport Racing Club race report

2008 Season Resume by class Overall – despite failing to score at the opening round when Macca ditched the R1 at Anglesey this was the title GBMoto (Mark Smith-Halvorsen/Mick Godfrey/Mike Dickenson/Pete Jennings/Alex Cudlin) really wanted to add to their 2004 and 2007 trophies.

The team achieved four wins and a second place from the rest of the season, duplicating their earlier DNF at the final round at Silverstone where they lost the National ProSuperbike title to arch rivals Sweatshop Moores Racing (Hugh Brasher/John Paul Scott/Rod Lynn/Nick Roake/Paul Smythe/Ben Wylie).

In runner up spot for overall status were the ultra consistent Darkside Endurance (Andy Buik/Daz Jones/Kevin Upstone/Nigel Slater) who, despite running an R6, racked up 4 third places and a trio of fourths to finish only 12.5 points off the top step of the podium.

As well as winning the ProSuperbike class, Sweatshop had their ups and downs with two DNFs, to take third place overall for 2008 – mopping up 92 points (only three away from second place) with a win at Anglesey, three runner up finishes and an eighth at Pembrey with an engine of unknown pedigree.

Those extremely civilised people from Team Viking (Paul Clarke/Crispin d’Albertanson/Barry Salmon/John Lee Pemberton) were fourth after a second on the road in North Wales, 2 fifths, 2 sixths and another two scores reflecting the reliability and speed of the bike, the riders and the support team. TM72 (Eric Chitty/Andy McKnight/Kevin Doughty/Dave Stewardson/Ryan Peters) underpinned their class win with finishing all rounds and coming 5th overall in their debut season with the highlight of third place in a waterlogged Anglesey back in April.

It was at this track that the very experienced Moores Racing (Tony Jimenez/Mike Eglington/Jim Agombar) had their only DNF, they had a third at Snetterton and gathered points at all rounds to finish sixth overall.

29 teams scored points overall including notables such as Ducks Cross Racing (Jon Railton/Grant Wagstaff/Martin Landmann), Black Flag Racing (George Duncan/Sam Smithson/John Higham/Jonathon Whitelegg), White Tiger Racing (Nigel Bryan/Ash Joice/Chris Lang), Co-Ordit Racing (Richard Cooper/Pete Bradshaw/Phil Bevan) and Phoenix Endurance (Shelley Pike/Andy Jones/Pete Gibson/Mark Castle/Mark Long) who filled the top ten on equal points with First Form Racing (Paul Robey/Tim Westley/Jay Smith), with an overall win at Silverstone Trackcraft finished 13th overall. National ProSuperbike – this was always going to be a two horse race between Sweatshop Moores Racing and GBMoto, the Sweatshop boys won the first and last round of the seven race championship, three second places a 4th at Snetterton and a DNF at the half scoring round at Mallory in September.

This was enough to win the class from a hard charging GBMoto who had four wins, including Mallory and two zero point scores. Third in the title race was AMA Racing (Mark Westcott/Andrew Parker/Mark Affleck) who kicked off their season with a brace of second places with a fourth + fifth place whist First Form Racing amassed a (Superbike) win and a third place.

BSB migrants Co-Ordit Racing entered Snetterton twice and won the Superbike class twice – 100% success record! The Roundall Racing (Simon Allen/Dave Rose/Pete Gibson) team from the RAF moved up to the National class for the final round at Silverstone and went home with a well deserved 3rd in class.

National Supersport – to say Darkside Endurance ran away with their class would not be over egging it! In the closely contested class they pegged 4 consecutive second places, a couple of wins sandwiching another runner up spot. Fighting it out in their wake were eventual second placed crew of Team Viking who on at a very wet Anglesey with only two riders and backed that up with three third places, a fourth and a fifth to outpoint Moores Racing who worked hard to bag a win at Snett, a second, two thirds and a fourth with their only DNF at Round One.

Ducks Cross Racing dovetailed their HMRC season with National Supersport and were always quick on the day netting three wins and an uncharacteristic fifth with a dropped valve at Silverstone in October. Best Choice (Garry Jones/Sean Moss/Hazel Drury/Richard Greenland/David Hockham/Stuart Holloway/Paul Smythe/Terje Joensen/Sarah Jordan) missed Cadwell, crashed out of Pembrey and leap frogged over Phoenix Endurance to secure a well deserved fifth in class, Phoenix had a DNF when the R6 was planted into scenery at Mallory and worked hard to settle for sixth for 2008.

Feisty Racing (Susie Grayson/Deb Cartright/Amanda Wake) and Paul Gaskin Racing (Paul Gaskin/Dean Brown) made a single appearance in the championship and both scored a fourth for their efforts. Senior 1000 TAG – TM72 Racing started the season in a very professional way and this was rewarded with a class win made all their own before the final round, they came away with four wins, a couple of thirds and a fifth for their efforts to finish way ahead of runners up White Tiger Racing.

WTR only entered the fray for the second half of the season but managed to wrap up second with a win at Mallory, two second places and third at Cadwell, they must have been pleased with this result. Two seconds and a third hoisted SMF (Pete Rogers/Simon Fenwick/Mike Ashton) up to third place in the table. After Track Craft (Mark Linscott/Mike Dickenson/Robin Hooker) had wrapped up the Junior TAG title they scored 33 points from two rounds, including a win at the final encounter and Mike Dickenson riding around on his own at Cadwell after Mark Linscott was taken to a nearby hospital – Track Craft for Senior 1000 TAG in 2009? Ecclectic Racing (Guy Bolam/Robert Pike/Paul Noble) showed up at Snetterton with a line up which included a tasty KTM LC8 and won their class to disappear again and in sixth place were S and P Racing (Paul Carr/Scott Adam/Hazel Drury) who gathered 24 points from two rounds.

Others scoring points were; TCP Racing (Paul Flemans/Craig McCullen/Tim Fregus), Black Cat Racing (George Bicket, Mark Westcott/Robert Knoyle), MAD Racing (Darryll Elliot, Mick Watts/Andrew Browning), Throttle Monkeys (Geoff Rhodes/Dion Robinson), SOBER (Gary Bransgrove/Steve Callahan) and CEMAN Racing (Andy Longmate/Neill Bennett/Adam Sherriff).

Senior 600 TAG – Black Flag Racing had a cool approach to this class for 2008, turned up, tested, practiced and raced with consistency to walk away with 5 maximum scores, a second and a third – never off the class podium. This was not the biggest class in the series but that shouldn’t detract from the team’s performance.

A and G Racing (Garry Jones/Mark Affleck), T3 Racing (Andrew + Simon Marriott/Lance Carey), winning at Snett, GBMoto Senior (Phill Clarke/Helen + Grant Gaskin) and Mallory specialist, winners RJS Superbikes (Daniel Lane/Gary Arden/Steve Gillings) where miles away. Junior TAG Overall – Track Craft (Mark Linscott/Mike Dickenson) did a sterling job in the Junior championship overall, from the seven rounds they only slipped up in the opening encounter at Anglesey where Team RHR (Robin Hooker/Paul Evans/Stephen Capella) stole the show.

From then on Mark + Mike took five wins on the trot, including competing in the Senior Tag at Cadwell in August, for the final round at Silverstone they entered the Senior TAG and won the race outright. Silverstone was won by eventual second in table Freaks of Nature Too (Mark Whiston/Dave Stewardson/Kevin Tait/Mark Dixon) who reinforced their consistent performance with no less than four second places over the season.

Co-Ordit was not behind the Freaks amassing three seconds on the way whilst the team also entering both Snetterton National races. Billericay Coachworks (Kevin Maxted/Tim Gorringe/Brendan Roberts) enjoyed a second place and three fourths to finish 4th overall a mere ten points ahead of Advance Bike Shipping (Mike Bull/Jason Pittaway) who scored points in all rounds, with Junior 600 TAG champs ETA (Ian Courts/Darren Brealey) rounding off the top six.

Junior 1000 TAG – Team Track Craft did five wins, a second place and moved up a league for the final round on their journey to the 2008 championship, finishing a healthy 26 points ahead of runners up; Freaks of Nature Too who scored in all seven rounds of the title race. Co-Ordit roared into third place amongst a very heavy schedule of racing elsewhere at club and national level, including 4 second places having failed to grab points at one Snetterton round.

Billericay Coachworks landed fourth place only one point ahead of Advance Shipping whose highlight was a Snetterton third with MIB bringing up the top six and scoring in all seven races. Beyond the top half dozen Rawlings Racing (Lee + Matt Rawlings/Neil Gregory) failed to score at Mallory following a rare rider error.

Junior 600 TAG – ETA performed fantastically, collecting three class wins and two second places to tie up their championship before the final round in Northamptonshire. With a varied rider line up GBMoto Junior (Phill Clarke/Sam Godfrey/Maria Costello/Sam Neate/Danny Brill) luxuriated in a rewarding season to secure the runner up spot which included a win at Snetterton and a second place at Cadwell. Phill C was the constant despite having a couple of spills during the season.

Gasi Racing (Grant & Helen Gaskin/Paul Hodge) missed out on second place by a mere ten points. Sorrymate.com (Fergus Dalgarno/Jenny Tinmouth/Craig Sproston/Bruce Wilson) was unable to commit to the whole season but still came fourth in class with a brace of wins and a second place rounding out DNR Motorsport (Richard Payne/Dave Brooking) who had a couple of silver medal positions along the way. Team Monkey 6 (Save Allen/Steve Baggott/Nathan Horsfield) completed the top six for this championship.