APRILIA SUPERTEEN CHALLENGE
As we head towards the rolling landscape of the beautiful parkland venue at Cadwell Park for Rounds three and four of the series, 14-year-old Connor Tagg holds a slender 15 point lead over Northern Irish rival Andy Reid.

Having won three of the opening four races at Mallory Park in March, Tagg will be looking to extend his lead in the Aprilia Superteen Challenge and will be hoping to replicate those stylish performances here in the Lincolnshire Wolds.
Reid himself in second has a 15 point advantage over 13-year-old local ace Lee Jackson in third, whose three podiums at round one will be a confidence boost and a platform for him and Andy to mount a challenge on Tagg, who dominated the opener.

Further behind, Nitro Newcomer points leader Danny Murphy comes into this event on the back of his best race weekend ever and he’s sure to be teaming up with the likes of young Australian whiz Matt Davies as they attempt to upset the trio in front, despite the young Aussie having never seen the circuit before. Murphy is certainly one to watch, as he left Mallory Park as the new Superteen lap record holder, expect to see him as a regular podium visitor as the season develops.

Jamie Thackeray, Aaran Climpson, Greg James and an injured Ben Gautrey all had a promising start to the season and could also feature in the top five, and keep a beady eye on 12-year-old Wayne Ryan, who was amongst the list of pre-season favourites and after a poor start to the season, will look to make amends at the Lincolnshire circuit. Last year Wayne Ryan became the youngest ever winner of an Aprilia Superteen race at this exact circuit a year ago.

CIA INSURANCE GP1
After taking two crowns last season, Gary May enters rounds three & four at Cadwell Park with a slender nine point lead over Peter Baker in second after a successful start towards defending one of his titles. Two wins from three meant that last years Champion had the better overall but the ever youthful 50-year-old Baker in second pinched one of the races and pushed him hard in both of the others aboard his new Suzuki Superbike.

Rob Hoyles sits just nine points behind Baker in third and was a regular podium visitor at Mallory, but has already expressed his ambitions to win more races this season after playing second fiddle to May during 2008.

The ‘Yaxley Flyer’ as locals call him (that's not what we call him – Ed) will need to be at the top of his game though as May cleaned up this time last year when we visited the Mountain circuit. This year though Hoyles is still learning to ride the Fireblade and is certain to make good use of the extra 400cc capacity and, unlike Mallory Park, there are two very fast straights here where both Baker and Hoyles will be looking use their extra power to blow the little Yamaha into the weeds. Expect last year's times to be annihilated in the heat of this battle. May dropped into the 1.32s last year and looked as though he had a little in hand, Hoyles and Baker will both be keen to see 1.31s on their pit boards as a minimum, even this early in the season.

The trio above won’t have it all their own way though as Mark Littler, Stuart Hall, Tony Keilty and Michael Niblett were all finding some hot pace towards the end of the opening round, and one or two other riders from the deliciously juicy list of contenders in this years CIA Insurance GP1 Championship are sure to up the ante after a fast and frenetic round one.

GMOTO LEATHERS STREETFIGHTERS
Loud, proud and naked as the day they were made. More so actually, as many of these bikes have been stripped down and adapted from fully faired sportsbikes. A full grid of naked machinery attends rounds three & four at Cadwell Park, as the Streetfighter class grows in strength once again and expands its popularity within Thundersport GB.

With last years Streetfighter ‘A’ Champion Steve Joy missing from round one, it gave the host of new contenders a clear shot at gold for this years title it was thought, until now as the 2008 winner dives out of retirement to return sporting the #1 plate on a Triumph 675.

Apache Customs rider Joy had the better of the results over Steve Hodgson last year who will also be hungry for success at Cadwell, following a difficult meeting at Mallory Park. Both Steves openly admit that Mallory Park has never suited their particular styles, but Cadwell Park is a favourite with them both. For this years campaign, several other riders have the bit between their teeth and are also hungry for glory. Experienced rider Andy (mad dog) Denyer leads the ‘A’ class with 76 points taken from Mallory, just one more than Jamie Wilkins in second who looks a handful on the Aprilia UK Tuono and Chris Matthews who is on Steve Joy’s winning KTM of last year, cannot be disregarded after a promising start at Mallory leaves him just seven points behind Wilkins.

In Streetfighter ‘B’, Phil Page is the highest placed contender from last year to take to the grid as they battle amongst an ever expanding category in 2009.
Ian Popplewell had the best of the first round though, after some great racing manoeuvres, Ian leads second placed Martin Stanier by just seven points on the leader board who himself has a 12 point gap over Steve Parrott in third.

Barry Utting enjoyed his first Streetfighter experience at Mallory and sits pretty in fourth, with Mark Morley in fifth and Phil Page currently sixth. Expect Barry Utting to push towards the front as he gradually gets used to riding the 4-stroke machine after 20 years on a GP250 stroker.

BRIDGESTONE THUNDERSPORT 500
This new class for 2009 sees a grid of predominantly CB500’s, being brought back to life by the sheer willpower of the competitors themselves. It looked as though the writing was on the wall for the class, but three of the series remaining nine loyal riders, approached the Directors of Thundersport GB to see if there was an outside chance of saving the class.

It is a testament to the power of positive thought and cooperation between the riders themselves and the organisers that has seen the entries busting at the seams. The class made a good name for itself during Rounds one & two with some of the best racing action these parallel twins have been involved in since a young James Toseland & Leon Haslam locked handlebars on them in the late ‘90s. Let’s hope for more of the same here at Cadwell Park.

With up to ten riders all matching each others lap times at Mallory, it seems we have quite an open Championship with plenty of overtaking for the spectators to view right through the field. John Butcher leads the Championship thanks to his top five consistency but only has a three point gap to nurse over another consistent podium taker Jonathan Harrison.

Chris Pickersgill was always at the pointy end as he currently slips into third overall and Neil Roberts in fourth sits just ahead of Newcomer Daniel Beugel, whose debut win and lap record on Sunday at Mallory Park, keeps him not only in contention, but marks him as a definite one to watch for the future.
In truth though, any one of the top ten have race wins in them and it should make for a fascinating season.

METZELER FORMULA 600
With no Rob Hoyles to play with in this class for 2009, Gary May set out his stall to defend his other title at Mallory Park with three wins from three in the class ahead of new contender Michael Price. Price looked very good on his IPS Triumph 675 all weekend and although never getting the better of May, he proved he has the potential to upset the Champion in future rounds, with Cadwell Park obviously first on his hit list.
 
Paul Charman, currently in third overall, also showed some good pace and will look to improve that little bit more in readiness for the next round at Cadwell Park. Pauls style will suit the twists and turns of the Woodland section and his neat corner exits should translate to good speed on the two long straights.
Wayne Sutton, Mike Edwards and James Henry are fourth, fifth and sixth and they’ll be joined by Tom Meehan and Chris Mort who both have podiums in them this season.

It’s still early days but you wouldn’t want to give Gary May too many more rounds of clean sweeps before he again looks unstoppable. His modus-operandi is to hit the front and put in two or three blistering laps to break the spirit of his rivals and then manage the gap to the flag. One or more of the riders mentioned will need to dig deep into their reserves of skill and courage in order to go with him and put the pressure back on him.

Rob Hoyles managed to do it a couple of times last year and it paid dividends, but the points lead had grown too large to claw back by that time. The question is, are any of this seasons contenders able to do so early enough in the season to make a difference?

PIRELLI SUPERSTOCK 600
After a dramatic final race at Mallory Park, Dean Brown’s vital victory surely makes him pre-weekend favourite as we turn our heads to Cadwell Park. Brown’s photo finish win will be great for his confidence and will be much needed if he’s to fend off challenges from Daniel Miles and Ricky Simmonds.

Oliver Riley should also feature after some bad luck at Mallory Park, and circuit specialist Erol Ahmet should not be discounted either. Erol hadn’t been to Mallory Park for two years before the opening rouds and he certainly made a good effort at a circuit he doesn’t get on with, by his own admission. Keep an eye on Sam Parry also, the youngster definitely has the pace to challenge for the podium, but just needs that tiny bit of luck that can change a race weekend for someone.

I can’t help feeling that young Sam may just turn out to be the class act of this field, but he just needs to relax a little and tidy up some of his ragged edge riding style, which is exciting to watch but not the quickest way to make a good lap time.
 
The new class for 2009 provided some excellent entertainment in Leicestershire and holds the key to future talent looking to progress into the European Superstock Championship.

BSN.COM JUNIOR POWERBIKES & SUPER/MINI TWINS
As the only class last season to go to the final race to decide the overall winner, the BSN Junior Powerbikes maintained their exciting reputation at Mallory Park with some of the best racing of the weekend.

Talented all-rounders Alex Hutchinson and Steve Tomes on the 400-4 cylinder machines shared wins just ahead of familiar face Rob Elsmere onboard the IN Competition RRV550 twin with every race going to the line. Amazingly, the Aprilia was still running the original Supermoto rear shock at Mallory, which shows just how good the bike is in basic trim. Rob is developing the machine so that a whole fleet of the RRV450 variants will be ready for a select group of youngsters to ride them next year.

Hutchinson and Tomes jointly lead the Championship on 86 points with Elsmere in third on 69, but Rob has his bike set up and ready to go at Cadwell and aims for the top step of the podium this time around. Tony Rand and Alex Heaton will be very keen to get in the mix and their qualifying pace showed that they can do so, if they can just make the break with the leaders.

The Junior Powerbikes include once again the Moto 450’s as Paul Turner looks to extend his championship lead and the class is also joined by the Super/Mini twins for Cadwell Park.

The Supertwins was largely dominated by Michael Price during round one as he successfully saw off 2008 Champion Lee Reveley in all four races and whilst leading mini twin rider Chris Boland is on duty for his country in Afghanistan, the lime light falls upon Richard Willsher and Leigh Hutchinson as they look to grab glory on their Suzuki 650s. There are many more Supertwins queuing up for wins here at Cadwell and Junior Powerbike runner-up last year Clinton DeTarnowsky will be hard to beat on the KRR Ducati once he gets to grips with the new for 2009 machine.

E2E SOLUTIONS GP3 & GP3 CUP
The GP3 race is the last of the traditional racing classes still going strong and remains the next step for most budding riders after competing in the illustrious Aprilia Superteens.

A fine example of that is 13-year-old 2008 Aprilia Superteen Champion Fraser Rogers who, on a standard bike, won all three GP3 races at Mallory Park on the standard JDF/Magnum prepared machine. The starlet leads a field full of today’s talent that will surely feature in Moto GP in years to come and is proof in the pudding that Thundersport GB’s ‘academy’ is a fine way to begin a successful career.

Sam Hornsey’s strong weekend at Mallory keeps him within touching distance of Rogers though and Arnie Shelton in third, currently leads the remaining bunch who all look capable of taking race wins in one of Britain’s most exciting racing classes to date.

These young men all demonstrated at Mallory Park that good sportsmanship is thriving in the Thundersport GB paddock, with absolutely no excuses from any of the 33 riders that had to follow Fraser to the chequered flag on all three occasions. There is however a steely determination to push even harder to catch the youngest of this years Red Bull Rookies this time out with Sam & Arnie leading the pack. Joel Williams could be the one to watch though, as his outright pace on the Fireplace Warehouse machine is blistering, hampered only by a couple of front end slips that probably cost him at least one race win at Mallory Park.

Finally, like the Grand National run in, don’t discount young Rowan Miller who could also be the dark horse, he has the talent for sure. Note the names of these young riders, as the season goes on it is likely that they will be setting lap records as fast or even faster than the BSB 125GPs and the last time that happened, the riders concerned were Casey Stoner, Chris Jones & Chaz Davies.

So in summary, 28 packed out races, 1064 machines and riders watching the start lights, 108 riders to stand on the podiums, 280 laps of racing action and 2.17 miles of the most exciting tarmac in the country just waiting in the quite Lincolnshire Wolds for the silence to be shattered by the Rolling Thunderstorm of Thundersport GB 2009.