NGRRC’s community rolls into Cadwell Park this weekend for what promises to be a great event. Simon Gates has a seemingly been around race circuits for ever. The 35 year old Thatcher from Stockbrige in Hampshire is the son of 1988 NG Road Racing Single Cylinder champion Geoff Gates. As Geoff retired at the end of ’88 it heralded the start of Simon’s racing at the age of 16 on a TZR125 for the ’89 season.
Simon came through the ranks and had a number of very successful years in the ultra competitive one make series like the CB500 Honda Series racing against Leon Haslam and James Toseland and the General Guarantee 250 Aprilia series with pole positions and wins on the little RS Aprilia.
He then moved into the MRO, Bemsee and NG Formula 400 classes on an Aprilia, before realising that in 2004 a move onto a fourstoke was needed and an FZR400RRSP was purchased. The ’05 title chase saw Simon and Pete Thompson separated by just 6 points at the end of the year….. 150pts clear of their nearest rivals, such was their domination.
2006 had Simon move onto an R1, but after looking good he suffered a huge highside at Pembrey which saw him out for most of that year. ’07 had him comeback to take the R1 to 4th in the prestigious Fraser’s Overall Championship.
For this year the GNG Team have stuck with the ’05 spec R1, and proved at Snetterton last timeout that he and the bike are a force to be reckoned with after taking pole for the open and finishing 2nd and 3rd in the two finals. Cash is tight for the team this year so the Powerbike class has had to be dropped to concentrate on the open, with help from Father Geoff and loyal sponsor Brian Gill.
Simon would love a win this weekend, because he will be celebrating his 36th birthday here at Cadwell….HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIMON…I just hope there’s enough cake to go round the paddock !!!.

Class by Class
A strong grid of 125GP machines this year sees Corey Lewis at the age of 13 taking to the Dave Bushby RS125 well, he will once more have Luke Harvey and defending ’07 champ Freddie Nickless for company. The Junior Formula 125’s see Rowan Miller in on top on his 80 Metrakit. Whilst the 400 open has Mark Linton leading from Tony Davies, both use TZ250 Yamaha’s.

When it come to the 600 class there are no easy race wins with a possible 6 or 8 winners each weekend. Daniel Frear, Graham Frear, Joshua Day and Rich Bearcroft are the men-most-likely, with the Frear brothers looking good on R6 and CBRRR respectively. Keep an eye out for Andy Lawrence and class new boy Lee Tyack along with Alan Percival for an upset. The bigger Superbike Open and Powerbike classes too have a whole host of talent on the grid, Joe Symonds with Yamaha’s R1, and Michael Blank on a GSXR Suzuki are the pick of the grid. However Charlie Bishop, Paul Allen, Darren Neal and Shaun Hennessey are all proven winners. Lee Keeble, Simon Gates, Dylan Morris and Mark Compton too, are worth a bet for the win.

Chris Beverley (CBR400), Les Vallender (RVF400), Jodie Duffill, Josh Leaning and Tony Meredith (ZXR400) show that no one bike is able to dominate the Formula 400 class as all could grab the big points this weekend.

Greg Gibson and brother Duncan, on JHP 1098 Ducatis take on former champ Andy Peck (Mille) and a whole host of new 675 Triumphs headed by James Parry in the Sound of Thunder class. In the Mini Twins battle it’s Nigel Wright, defending class champ on his 800SS Ducati up against the class favourite choice of SV650 Suzuki with Darryl Alexander the main challenger.

Streetstocks racing for road legal machines is really strong at present with Jon Harwood on his ZX10 Kawasaki on top at present, but expect to see a strong challenge from Hilary Philips, Jer Thomas and Dan Kift. The 700’s see ‘07 runner up Andy Hayes wanting to go one better this year on his R6, with Nicholas Andrews trying to stop him. In the 400 division though Richard Troth is having a relatively easy run of things with convincing 5 wins from 6 starts at this stage.

Matt Dix and Rob Beere are definitely the pick on the sidecar crop so far in this year on their F2 600 Baker. They head both the F2 and Open classes. Ian Drowne/Gary Andrews and Rod Robinson/Shellie Smithies are their nearest challengers for glory.

With races also for newcomers on the programme Ben Marsden in the 400’s and Martin Lowe in the open are hoping this year could launch their racing careers.
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