Round six of the Darley Moor Motorcycle Road Race Championship took place on Bank Holiday Monday and with several championship contenders absent, either taking part in the Manx Grand Prix or suffering from injuries received elsewhere, some potential champions have strengthened their grip on their respective championships’, whilst the points gap in others has been severely reduced.

There was a number of rain showers throughout the day making tyre choice a difficult decision for competitors, but it certainly didn’t dampen the spectacle for spectators with five of the 19 races being decided by less than 0.5sec!

With visitors barely having time to get settled down the first race of the day, ‘Lightweights, Steel Framed and Pre Injection 600’s’, gave spectators one of the closest finishes seen at Darley Moor for a while, Gavin Salt (Leek) taking the win by just 0.04sec! After leading from the first lap with a 1 second cushion over Pre Injection rival, Jon Skelson (Leicester), as they came across backmarkers Skelson was almost able to steal the victory at the flag.

Lying 3rd for the first six laps, but leading the Lightweight class, Chris Spooner (Stoke on Trent) suffered even more, being passed by fellow Lightweight Championship contenders Ben Godfrey (Long Eaton) and Rob Hodson (Wigan) on the final lap. In the second encounter the tables were turned, Skelson led Lap 1, but was then passed by Spooner on the 2nd lap, and Godfrey, for 2nd place on lap 4. Godfrey then chased down Spooner and passed him on the final lap to take victory by just 0.4sec! Salt could only watch the battle ahead, but had to fight to keep the 4th place position.

With Shane Pearson (Derby) absent from the action and having to watch from the sidelines after suffering an injury elsewhere, Jim Hodson could have been forgiven for thinking he would have an easy day. The first Peak Cup race gave no surprises with Hodson taking a comfortable victory, behind Lee Vernon (Stoke on Trent) in 3rd place on his new BMW machine was just able to hold off a challenge from Danny Smith (Rugeley), whilst fellow Rugeley competitor Alan Hughes had to relinquish his 5th place on the final lap after a race long challenge from Mark Burditt (Ibstock). Hodson also took the second Peak Cup race, this time with Vernon in 2nd and Smith 3rd, Burditt in 6th and Hughes 10th.

Both Open Solo races were won by Hodson, but with Lee Vernon pushing him all the way, finishing just 0.33sec behind in 2nd place in the first encounterand a slightly larger gap in the second.

Completing a clean sweep Hodson also took both Formula 600 races from Danny Smith 2nd, Mark Burditt 3rd and Carl Booth (Swadlincote) 4th in the first. Smith and Burditt repeating their results in the second encounter, Martin Harvey (Stoke on Trent) taking 4th, Gavin Salt 5th (9th in the first) and Carl Booth 8th.

In the combined 125 GP/Formula 125 races Ricky Tarren (Tamworth) was absent from the first race but had an excellent battle for 2nd place in the second race, finally having to settle for 3rd. The Marshal’s Rider of the Day Award went to Asher Durham (Derby) after securing a 3rd and 4th place in the Formula 125 class on his 80cc machine.

Jamie Medhurst (Long Eaton) was another regular absent from the action this weekend, forced to watch his championship disappear as James Ford (High Peak) took both race wins, Chris Gardner (Whitwick) taking 2nd, Neil Addy (Buxton) 3rd, whilst Gary Dangerfield (Stonnall) was the first Mini Sound of Thunder rider home.

Addy and Gardner switched their 2nd and 3rd places around in the second encounter, whilst Dangerfield repeated his feat from the first. In the combined Formula Darley and Pre98’s races Kevin Cooper (Stoke on Trent) took two very different victories. The first, continuing his domination of the Pre98 class, by 8 seconds from Formula Darley competitor Chris Spooner (Stoke on Trent), with Pre98 runner Gavin Heath (Leek) 3rd and Gary Dangerfield (Stonnall) Formula Darley class 4th.

The second race win was much harder, Jon Skelson (Leicester) who failed to finish the second lap in the first race pushed Cooper throughout and had to settle for 2nd spot by just 0.17sec at the flag, with Hodson 3rd, Spooner 4th, Heath 5th and Dangerfield 5th.

The Sidecars appeared to be out in force this weekend with a much larger grid than usual produced two very different races. The Schofield/Thomas machine took a very comfortable win in the first race, with Eades/Greensmith 2nd 25 seconds behind and Roy Hanks/Julie Hanks-Elliott (Birmingham) pairing 3rd, on their smaller 600cc machine a further 2 seconds back. In the second race Schofield/Thomas failed to complete lap2, which left Eades/Greensmith to battle for the victory with Hanks, only just beating the smaller machine to the flag by 0.8sec.

With just the final two Rounds left, this meeting has proved that nobody has given up on lifting their respective championship title, so you can guarantee some superb action at the penultimate Round on Sunday 18th

September 2011.

As always Practice begins at 10.00 AM with the first race expected at 11.30 AM. Entrance admission Adults £11.00, Senior Citizens £6.00, kids under 16 free, parking & paddock transfer free, with Programmes £3.00. Food is available throughout both days at the ‘Darley Diner’. For further information please log onto the Club’s website www.darleymoor.co.uk where you can also listen to Live commentary direct from the meeting if you cannot attend.