Jason Davis extended his lead at the top of the Fraser’s of Gloucester and Dunlop backed National Championship, with a 2nd and a win.  Alex Kenchington had a mixed bag enjoying victory in Round 3 but a DNF in Round 4 halted his aspirations of taking the double.  His overall pace however, demonstrated a return to form on the Dennis Trollope TZ Yamaha, and a clear message to all that he was in the title hunt going forward.

It was the Welsh weather that made the headlines and the headaches on Saturday as qualifying got underway.  A freak series of crashes in exactly the same place meant that the red flags were brought out to enable the marshals to check for track surface contamination.  It soon became clear, that the gusting wind was catching the ultra lightweight 250’s as they emerged from the protection of a tyre wall, exactly at the turn in point for the first left hander – Dibeni Bend. Such was the strength of the gusts, 8 riders including championship leader Jason Davis were all caught out. Thankfully no one was hurt.

With all riders aware of the situation the session was restarted and continued for the remaining 10 minutes, and it was Mark Davies who put his Signs Xtra Yamaha on pole with a relatively slow 1:01.3 in difficult conditions. Alex Kenchington, Jason Davies and Ant Hodson completed the front row.
Top NG Cup qualifier was Jonathan Stamper in 11th position, with Dave Hampton’s RS Honda in 16th and Adrian Martin in 17th.  Cup series leader Ross Willshire was also a victim of the gusting wind and did not complete a flying lap so was absent from the charts, meaning he would start from the back of the grid.
 
Kenchington leads Round 3 action, but it was exactly this point on the circuit that saw 8 riders crash during qualifying due to gusts of wind hitting riders from their left.

With no change in the conditions, it was decided to postpone Round 3 until either the end of the day, if the conditions improved, or to reschedule it for the following day.  Conditions can often improve with a tide change so hopes were high for a calmer climate late afternoon.  

Sure enough the winds eased, so the message went out that Round 3 of the series would run, as the last race of the day.  But as sure as day turns to night, the challenges and drama did not stop there. Several races preceding the 250 Championship race were halted due to incidents, and even a light rain shower delayed the Powerbike Championship race, and as the 6pm deadline came and went, it was game over and back to the drawing boards to plan Sunday’s schedule.

After a riders vote, Sunday would play host to a 10 lap Round 3 and 14 lap Round 4, ensuring all 50 available points were awarded.

Morning warm up went without a hitch, with no sign of the previous day’s drama, with Andrew Sawford topping the unofficial times, on his St Neot’s Motorcycles Yamaha.

It was Alex Kenchington who took advantage of his P2 grid slot, and took the holeshot as Round 3 got underway.  Pole man Mark Davies hit reverse from the lights and completed lap 1 back in 11th place.  Equally Ant Hodson’s TZ was not playing ball all weekend despite his front row start, as he crossed the line for the first time in 16th.

The busy lap 1, turn 1 hairpin claimed a luckless Andrew Sawford, who was hit by another rider mid-turn.  His frustration was understandable having topped the warm up leader board earlier.

While Kenchington controlled the race from the front, with Jason Davis’ BM Groundworks Yamaha in 2nd, and Newark’s Rich Grinling’s Honda in 3rd, all eyes were on Ross Willshire, who was pouring through the traffic from his back row start.  After 1 lap he was up to an astonishing 6th position, and by lap 3 settled into 4th behind the leading trio.  David Craig, who currently leads the Irish National series, was up to 5th despite his lowly qualifying position of 18th.  Mark Davies made a very strong charge following his poor start and got up as far as 6th, with 2 laps remaining.

At the flag, Kenchington had eased out a 4 second lead with a calculated race victory over Jason Davis and Rich Grinling who crossed the line within a second of each other.  Ross Willshire claimed the Dunlop Performance of the Day Award with his 4th position from a row 8 start!

Brilliant rides from David Craig and Mark Davies, both from well down the field after 1 lap were rewarded with 5th and 6th. Another Irishman making his mark on the series - Chris McAloran was 7th on board the J&RB Racing Honda RS, Phil Guillou enjoyed a strong 8th with Mark Linton’s Yamaha 9th and  a disappointed Ant Hodson rounding out the top 10.

NG Cup honors went to Willshire with his 4th on the road, Jonathan Stamper brought his Graham File Tuning Yamaha home in 11th on the road and 2nd in the NG Cup with Southampton’s Dave Hampton in 3rd.

With rain clouds threatening proceedings, Round 4 got underway in dry conditions.  Once again Alex Kenchington led the charge with Mark Davies making a better start from pole to tuck in behind him, with Jason Davis in 3rd.  These 3 were as one as they pulled away from quick starting Phil Guillou, Chris McAloran, David Craig, Rich Grinling and Andrew Sawford.

A frustrated Ant Hodson retired his Yamaha into pit lane at the end of the warm up lap, furious that the earlier gremlins had not been resolved.

With the leading trio formation flying, and Kenchington controlling from the front, the battle for fourth got a whole lot hotter when Ross Willshire joined the fun.  By lap 6, a pack including Willshire, Sawford, McAloran, Craig and a hugely improving Daniel Jackson was the focal point of the neutrals.  As Willshire swept through the pack on the Darrell Higgins Yamaha, the ultra quick established stars were not in the mood to be beaten by the flying orange vest, and on lap 13 Sawford nipped back through into 4th.

A frantic weekend was always going to have a last minute twist though as leader Alex Kenchington’s Yamaha slowed with a lap to go.  Davis took the opportunity to sweep past quickly followed by Davies.  But it was terminal, the DTR Yamaha was parked up with just 2 corners to go and Kenchington’s weekend and aspirations of the double was over.  The number 3 Yamaha of Jason Davis took the win from a delighted Mark Davies in 2nd.   Andrew Sawford held off the determined Ross Willshire for 3rd, and David Craig crossed the line in 5th, these 3 were separated by 0.8 of a second.  Rich Grinling was 6th, Chris McAloran 7th, Daniel Jackson 8th, Michael Russell 9th on the FCL Yamaha from the back of the grid, and Mark Linton’s Yamaha rounded out the top 10.

This time, Andrew Sawford was awarded the Dunlop Performance of the Day rear tyre, for his podium following his first race tumble.

Again in the cup, Ross Willshire maintained his full house of wins with Jonathan Stamper and Dave Hampton completing the podium.

Standings after Round 4 -

Championship: Davis 95, Davies 70, Grinling 58, Willshire 49, Kenchington 47, Sawford 38, Linton 28, Hodson 25, McAloran 24, Guillou 23.

Cup: Willshire 100, Hampton 72, Stamper 72, Goddard 41, Martin 39, Woollacott 38, McCullagh 35, Ashcroft 34, Keogh 16.