The NG Road Racing circus returned to Pembrey for the second race meeting at the Carmarthenshire circuit this year to be faced with one of the wettest August Saturday’s in many years. Fortunately Sunday’s weather improved and apart from one heavy storm before track activity the day passed with nothing more than a few brief showers.

In the Phoenix Open on Saturday Joe Symonds showed good wet weather skills on his Greendays Developments sponsored Yamaha R1 in the timed qualifying heat taking pole position from Chris Pope also on an R1 with the Suzuki GSXR1000’s of Mark Compton and Michael Blank in 3rd and 4th. Another impressive display from the Frear brothers in 8th and 9th with Daniel on the Yamaha R6 just beating Grahame on his Honda CBR600RR. In the afternoons final a mechanical problem for Michael Blank saw him crawl away from the line and retire before turn 1. No problems for Mark Compton who set a blistering pace hooking up the Pentland Plumbing sponsored gixxer and pulling out a 1.5 second lead over Symonds by lap 3 with Darren Neal running in third on his Blade Group sponsored Honda CBR1000RR. Compton kept his head down and the throttle pinned and apart from a couple of slides, which just added to his enjoyment, it was plain sailing and he took the win from Symonds by 11.2 seconds setting a fastest lap of 1.02.6 along the way. Neal showed strong determination on the last lap closing a 7.2 sec to Symonds on lap 11 to just 2.1 seconds at the flag.
Sunday’s qualifying took place on a drying track and with nobody quite sure which tyres would perform best there was a great deal of frantic activity in the paddock during the 20 minute timed session. The usual suspects of Pope, Compton and Neal were joined on the front row by Lee Keeble with Symonds in 5th, Shaun Hennessey in 6th and Justin Waite the first non 1000cc rider in 7th on his Triumph 675. The final saw Darren Neal continue the previous days form leading the first lap before Symonds gained the advantage on lap 2 leaving Neal to battle with Pope and Mick Daly, unfortunately Daly had a 10 second penalty for a jump start pending which would see him dropped from an impressive 4th on the road to 9th on the timesheets. Michael Blank suffered with bad luck again on lap 8 taking a tumble at Hatchetts Hairpin whilst running in 4th. But it was Neal again with good speed at the end retaking the lead from Symonds on lap 11 and holding on to the flag taking the win from Symonds by 0.9 seconds. Chris Pope finished 3rd on his AFB Motorcycles sponsored R1 from Compton and Grahame Frear, all 3 having set sub 1 minute lap times in the closing stages with Pope fastest at 59.51 seconds.

The A and R Racing F400 class has seen last years champion Chris Beverley facing some stiff competition and although winning 6 out of 9 finals so far this year he is the first to admit it’s much tougher this year. Saturday’s qualifying saw the top three in the championship at the front with Tony Meredith taking pole from Chris Beverley, Joshua Leaning in 3rd and Tim Bradley rounding out the front row in 4th. In the championship final Meredith got a good start and held the lead from Beverley with Bradley 3rd and Leaning 4th, but as they crossed the line on lap 2 Beverley had taken the lead from Meredith and Leaning was back into 3rd.  The riders maintained these positions through the race but Bradley and Leaning couldn’t match the pace of Beverley and Meredith. At the chequered flag it was only the transponders that could separate the France and Li Asia trading Honda CBR400 of Beverley from the TM Racing Kawasaki ZXR on Meredith with Beverley winning by just 0.06 seconds.
Sunday’s qualifier was won by Anthony Van Looy, the impressive novice who was awarded Newcomer of the Meeting at Donington set the fastest lap claiming pole from Bradley with Beverley 3rd and Leaning 4th with Meredith suffering back in 6th. The afternoon’s final was run in overcast conditions but at least the track was dry and Beverley led from lights to flag. Meredith improved on his qualifying performance and ran 2nd until Van Looy, who had moved from 4th to 3rd on lap 2, got the better of him on lap 8 bringing his RAFMSA and Ace Motorcycles sponsored Kawasaki ZXR home in 2nd, 1 second ahead of Meredith in 3rd.

In the George White 600 class qualifying heats on Saturday Grahame Frear cruised his Honda CBR600RR into pole position winning his heat by 10 seconds from Jamie Adam on his Suzuki GSXR600. A close fought battle saw 3rd go to James Parry on his Triumph 675 from Christian Hazell and Tim Woodhouse both on Yamaha R6’s with just 0.5 seconds covering all three at the line. The second qualifier was not as easy for Daniel Frear who had to concede first place and fastest lap to Steve Tomes on the blisteringly quick RLR Motorsports Triumph 675. The afternoon’s final saw very wet conditions with heavy rain and grey skies.  Grahame Frear lined up on pole with Tomes 2nd, Adam 3rd and Daniel Frear in 4th. Grahame Frear led until he was overtaken by Tomes on lap 3 with Daniel Frear keeping a close eye on proceedings in 3rd. Lap 6 saw the Frear brothers swap positions and Daniel set about Tomes, in the end Tomes was able to hold onto 1st leading Daniel Frear over the line with Grahame in 3rd.
Sunday saw Grahame Frear take pole again from Tomes in 2nd, James Parry in 3rd and David Thomson in 4th. Darren Rummley of Double D racing had his best qualifying position and personal best lap time putting hi R6 in 5th spot with a lap time of 1.02.2. Bad luck for Daniel Frear saw him drop his R6 at turn 1 on the first lap of the qualifier meaning he would start right at the back of the grid for the final. Tomes led away from the lights in the final taking heavy pressure from Grahame Frear until lap 4 when Grahame joined his brother on the list of weekend fallers taking a high speed tumble at the Esses and although he was OK the bike looked a little sick. By now Daniel Frear had made his way into 3rd inheriting 2nd from his brother with James Parry nipping at his heels on his Loki Racing sponsored Triumph, the mid range grunt of the triple really seeming to benefit all who ride it. On lap 8 it started to drizzle and Parry seized his chance passing Frear on the final lap and claiming his best finish of the season. The France and Li Asia trading bikes of Frear and Chris Beverley followed in 3rd and 4th.

The L&J Mechanical Services backed Powerbike Final on Saturday was delayed by an hour and shortened to 7 laps as torrential rain hit Pembrey and areas of the circuit flooded. In the morning’s qualifier Joe Symonds riding his Yamaha R1 claimed pole from Darren Neal (Honda CBR1000RR), David Hockham (Suzuki GSXR1000) in 3rd and Lee Keeble (Yamaha R1) in 4th. Dylan Morris had a close race with Nic Ingram, Morris keeping ahead of Ingram using the superior power of his GSXR1000 over Ingram’s smaller GSXR750, the only non 1000cc bike in the race. The Final unfortunately had more bad luck in store for Michael Blank who missed the warm up lap and had to start from the back of the grid, but for the unbiased observer it gave an opportunity to watch a master at work. So as Blank joined Chris Pope on the back of the grid, Pope having had mechanical problems causing him to retire out of the qualifier at Brooklands, it was to be a sprint to get as close to the front and save as many points as possible for championship contender Blank. Symonds started well and was untouchable as he led from lights to flag with Darren Neal leading home Shaun Hennessey on the Great Days Promotions GSXR1000, but a jump start saw his 3rd place finish changed to 8th with a 10 second penalty. Blank cut through the field, achieving 9th position at the end of lap 1 and a further 2 places were gained on lap 2. Lap 3 saw Blank come through in 6th where he stayed until the final lap snatching 5th from Lee Keeble at the flag. That wasn’t the end of it though with Henessey’s misfortune handing 4th and another valuable point to Blank.
Sunday morning and a dry track welcomed Darren Neal to pole position claiming the qualifying race win from Symonds, Pope and Morris, who all crossed the line in that order in just 1 second. But the final was all about Symonds who stormed off the line and again led from lights to flag with Keeble keeping Neal honest right to the and looked like claiming his third top three finish of the year until Pope passed him on the last lap. The mechanical problems that had plagued Blank all weekend struck again causing him to retire on lap 6. Symonds now has a commanding lead of 29 points in the championship

The CSC Racing backed sidecar championship contenders were the next on track activity with the Mick Robson & Ken Edwards partnership taking pole position on their SFB Racing supported F2 unit ahead of the F1 unit of Ian Drowne & Gary Andrews. In the final it was Matt Dix & Shaun Parker on the A&R Racing supported F2 unit that stole the lead pulling out a 3.2 second gap to 2nd placed Drowne & Andrews at the flag. Robson & Edwards had dropped to 5th on lap 1 but managed to find their rhythm and secured 3rd place.
Sunday saw Robson & Edwards secure pole position again from Drowne & Andrews, but Rod Robinson & Shelley Smithies improved their qualifying form finishing in 3rd spot ahead of championship leaders Dix & Parker. In the final Robson & Edwards had a much better start holding the lead until lap 3 when the race was stopped following an incident caused by brake failure to the Mad Cow Racing pairing of Scott Rabin & Patrick Jones. After a short delay the grid reformed for a reduced 6 lap race in which Drowne & Andrews achieved a winning margin of 2.1 seconds from Robinson & Smithies who had taken 2nd from Robson & Edwards on lap 5. Dix & Parker saw their 16 point Open championship lead end up as a 13 point deficit after another poor race saw them finish in 14th.

The Team Spidey Sound of Thunder championship leader Greg Gibson fell in the qualifier on Saturday leaving a trio of triples on the front row with Steve Tomes in pole, James Parry 2nd and Justin Waite 3rd all on Triumph’s. Andy Peck’s Aprilia rounded out the front row with Duncan Gibson 5th on his JHP sponsored Ducati 1098 followed by another three Triumphs ridden by Duncan Knox, Darren Crisp and Simon Temby. In the afternoon’s final Steve Tomes failed to start and left Justin Waite to take victory on his family and STP supported Triumph ahead of Parry in 2nd, Peck in 3rd and Gibson in 4th. Another four Triumph’s followed and in the midst of these was Shaun Wynne casting aside his ‘Lawnmower Man’ tag (earned after a few too many trips to the outfield in the previous season) coming through from a 12th place start to very respectable 7th place finish.
Sunday saw Tomes again in pole with Waite 2nd, Parry 3rd and Greg Gibson recovering from the previous days tumble to take the final front row slot. A very determined Tomes started with his chin on the tank and kept it there until he passed the flag taking the win from Waite and Parry. The only real mover at the front of this race was Andy Peck who dropped out of the top six on the first lap but managed to claw his way back through the field to 4th.
In the Big ‘C’ Mini Twins which runs alongside the Sound of Thunder, Daryl Alexander continued his 100% record finishing first in all four races and taking the championship lead from last years champion Nigel Wright. Alexander took pole on Saturday from Stephen Sweetman 2nd, Rhys Davies 3rd and Wright in 4th. The final saw Alexander take his Monk Racing / CJS sponsored SV650 to the win pulling out a 3 second gap from Sweetman in 2nd with Andy Johnson improving from 6th in qualifying to 3rd, Davies 4th and Wright 5th.
Sunday saw a much better run from Wright in the heat, qualifying 2nd behind Alexander and ahead of Johnson 3rd and Sweetman 4th. Unfortunately at Brooklands hairpin it was all over for Wright who fell and injured himself and in all likelihood handed the championship to Alexander. Alexander held on for the win ahead of Johnson 2nd and Sweetman 3rd with Davies in 4th.

With the Racetraderuk.com 400 Streetstock championship leader absent it was chance for Craig Neve, Nic Pullen and Ben Marsden to close the gap to Rich Troth. Because of the weather related delays to the race program, Saturday’s Championship Final was actually run immediately after practice on Sunday morning and although the track was still wet at least it wasn’t raining. Craig Neve rode excellently in the qualifier to claim pole on his ANR Racing sponsored Kawasaki ZXR400 from James Francis in 2nd, Marsden 3rd and Nic Pullen 4th. In the final the three championship contenders had the front row to themselves as James Francis was only racing Saturday. Neve held his nerve and the lead winning by 17 seconds from Marsden on his Exposure Graphics supported Honda CBR400 who was 8 seconds ahead of Nic Pullen on his RFI Racing sponsored Kawasaki.
By the time of the qualifier for Sunday’s round the track was dry and Marsden improved his lap time by 8 seconds to claim pole from Neve with Pullen 3rd and Shannon Hale 4th on the Black Lion Transport supported CBR400. William Slater was much more comfortable on the only Aprilia in the 400 class and improved his qualifying time by over 15 seconds to claim 5th. In the final though, Slater retired at Brooklands with mechanical problems leaving Marsden to pull out a 3 second lead over Neve with Pullen finishing 3rd ahead of Hale 4th.

The Metzeler / DTR Streetstock 700 & 1300 combined class saw some close racing all the way through the weekend. Dan Kift took pole in Saturday’s qualifier on is Protint UK supported CBR1000 pushed all the way by Hilary Philips on his Fox Enterprises sponsored GSXR1000, just like the championship really. Jer Thomas was a lonely 3rd spot on his R1 ahead of Gary Downs who held on to 4th from local man Mark Skinner. Nick Andrews was the first of the 700 class riders just ahead of Marlon Butcher with Andy Hayes 3rd. Downs, Skinner, Andrews and Butcher crossed the line almost as one with only the transponders able to decipher who was where. Saturday’s final was held on Sunday and Kift continued where he left off the day before, building an 8 second lead which he maintained to the flag. If he’d looked over his should at the line on lap 4 he would have seen 2nd to 9th tightly bunched into one long train taking only 2 seconds to cross the line. They did spread out a little bit but Jer Thomas who had been running 2nd got a little beat up but had recovered to claim 7th overall and 4th in class at the finish. Philips managed to break away from the crowd with 2 laps to go leaving Skinner to deal with the 700cc class bikes of Butcher, Andrews and Hayes, finishing in that order.
Sunday’s qualifier was a disaster for Hilary Philips after a tumble at Woodlands, the fastest corner at Pembrey,  resulted in a very second hand looking bike and a few out of breath marshals. Luckily with the help of many from the paddock his spare bike was sorted for the afternoons Final, but he would have to start from the back of the grid. Kift again won the qualifier leading home Hayes (700), Butcher (700), Andrews (700), Skinner (1300) and Thomas (1300). In the final Philips lined up at the back of the grid but made his intention clear from the start, crossing the line in 5th at the end of the first lap, his sights firmly set on passing Kift and making amends for his earlier indiscretion. Lap 2 and he was 2nd leading a group of 6 over the line, but by the end of the 4th lap he’d pulled out a 5 second gap to 3rd placed Jer Thomas and was just 0.5 seconds behind Kift. The breakthrough came on lap 7 when he passed Kift and set about pulling out an advantage, which turned out to be a lead of over 4 seconds from Kift when they crossed the line for the 9th and final time. Behind them Butcher had pushed his MJF Racing Kawasaki ZX6R past the 1000’s of Downs and Thomas to claim 3rd overall and his second class win of the weekend. Skinner finished 6th overall ahead of Hayes 7th, Andrews 8th and Johnson 9th. Another close finish with 5th to 9th covered by just 2 seconds.

In the Refined Recruitment 125 races on Saturday saw Corey Lewis on the Refined Recruitment Honda RS125  winning the qualifier from Luke Harvey 2nd, Sam Burman 3rd and reigning champion Freddie Nickless in 4th. In the final it was Burman who had the best start, paddling her Bartonfields Ltd sponsored Honda RS125 towards turn 1 with Michael Shuker and Corey Lewis in close attendance. Nickless didn’t get a good start but was soon moving through the field and wore down Burman’s 2 second lead overtaking her on lap 5. Nickless held the lead ahead of Burman securing his first win in a championship final this season and a bonus point for fastest lap. With Lewis in 3rd, Ashman 4th and Shuker 5th things are getting closer at the top.
Sam Burman claimed pole in Sunday’s qualifier beating Corey Lewis into 2nd with Nickless 3rd, Anthony Mulrine 4th and Ross Ashman 5th. Again in the final Burman got a good start but didn’t quite have the speed to hold off Nickless who passed her on lap 2 and looked to be hoping for a second win of the weekend. But on lap 3 it was all change again and Corey Lewis came through from third to take the lead from Nickless and Burman followed him through to push Nickless down to 3rd and that was the way it stayed. Mulrine running 4th on the second Refined Recruitment bike set the fastest lap and held Ashman back in 5th. This was another exciting 125 race with the first 5 covered by just 1 second.
The Steve Lynham Formula 125 had one very interested spectator this weekend, Steve Lynham brought his van along to help with recovery and ended up giving a very welcome hand on Sunday driving the van and helping bring back to the paddock any riders (and marshal’s) stuck on track. In the class of future world champions, current lead Rowan Miller rode his Metrakit 80 to 2nd in the qualifier behind Sam Coventry on the Unipart / Purbrook Garage sponsored Aprilia RS125. Jedi Racing’s Jed Bird finished 3rd ahead of Joe Cutler 4th, Ty Jones 5th and Thomas Williams 6th. In the final Coventry took the win from Bird 2nd and Miller 3rd, with Williams 4th and Jones 5th.
Sunday saw Ty Jones claim pole ahead of Coventry with Miller 3rd and the brothers Scott and Greg James taking 4th and 5th respectively. In the final Jones took his first win since round 2 (also at Pembrey), but with eyes on the championship lead Coventry took another 2nd place finish to close the gap to Miller who finished 5th behind the James brothers, with Scott holding 3rd from Greg 4th.

In the Dara Brady supported 400 Open Tony Davies arrived at Pembrey with a 23 point lead over 3rd placed championship contender Freddie Nickless. Mark Linton, placed 2nd in the championship following a strong run mid season was absent, possibly giving Davies chance to gain an even bigger advantage and possibly the championship as there are only 32 points up for grabs after this weekend. On Saturday Scott Jenner did his best to spoil the party by taking his first class win of the season on the Refined Recruitment TZ250 and Freddie Nickless gave his championship aspirations a boost by finishing 2nd on his Tri State Motorcycles sponsored Honda RS125. Tony Davies clung on to 3rd on his Cothi Fencing Supplies TZ250 just ahead of Sam Coventry having a good run on the Aprilia RS125.
On Sunday Davies reclaimed the initiative taking the full 15 points for a win and a bonus point for fastest lap ahead of Nickless 2nd who had a very close fight with Anthony Mulrine on the second Refined Recruitment bike with just 1/100th of a second separating them at the line. Scott Jenner claimed 5th pushing himself up the championship table to 5th equal and Sam Coventry finished 6th.

The Newcomer championships were decided on Sunday, in the Gary Vardy Open Newcomers only 2 points separated Martin Lowe and Duncan Knox, but with Lowe withdrawing before the event following a crash during testing all Knox had to do was finish third to claim the title. Knox tried valiantly to destroy his title chance when a tumble at the Esses during the Sound of Thunder damaged the bike sufficiently that even with all the offers of help and parts, it would not be repairable that day. That then threw the championship open to Paul Furlong who was 15 points behind Lowe in third, so just a race win and fastest lap bonus point were needed. That became even more academic when Justin Waite very kindly stepped forward and loaned Knox his bike. For Furlong it was all over 2 minutes into the race when mechanical issues forced him back into the paddock. So with one very nervous spectator Knox finished 3rd behind Christian Hazel and Jason Down securing the title of Gary Vardy Open Newcomer Champion 2008.
Ben Marsden’s lead in the Louigi Moto 400 Newcomers was 15 points over Dan Millard, so a points finish would see him walk away with the title. Millard did his best but in the end finished 2nd to Sian Brooks, who took her second class win of the season on her Spyre Ltd sponsored Honda RS250. With Marsden following in third the Exposure Graphics Honda CBR400 mounted took the title in the championship he had led all year.

As racing came to a close, with a great performance on the Triumph 675 Steve Tomes was awarded the NG Rider of the Meeting and Ben Marsden was awarded Newcomer of the meeting. So off for a 6 week break until the season reconvenes for our first visit to Oulton Park on September 20th.