Mallory Park FSRA F350/Post Classic Sidecar Championship 2009 Words by John Moulton. There was a high rate of attrition even before the start of race 1 for the F350's and Post Classic outfits at Mallory Park on Sunday, 15th May. In the 350's, Paul Owen and Gordon Jones failed to get their outfits running whilst Dave Saunders had brake problems. Post Classic driver Dave Tibbles was furious with himself as he mistimed a wheel change and missed the start. The Suzuki outfit of Pat Gallagher and Sean Rooney was never seriously challenged from start to finish in the Post Classic class as the persuing outfit of Stuart Mellor/ Mick Fairhurst lost time battling with F350 leaders, Steve Brooks/Jan Tyrell. Eventually, the Martek outfit pulled clear of the smaller Yamaha, but had to settle for second place. Chris Fairhurst and new passenger Dave Clark lost the opportunity to claim third in class with a blow up on lap 6 which put a premature end to their meeting. Steve Brooks/Jan Tyrell made the best of the tricky conditions to build up an unassailable lead in the F350's. Robin and Annette Daykin held second place for five laps before Allen Steele/Martin Pither outbraked them into Edwinas and pulled away. Robin settled for third spot but a power loss meant that he switched to his F2 for the second race. Ian Arnold/Mike Finlay and Alan Longshaw/John Longbottom took the final places. Gordon Jones, Dave Tibbles and Dave Saunders all made it to the grid for race 2, but Saunders barely lasted a lap due to more brake problems. Gallagher and Rooney were again in dominant form and won the Post Classic class easily. Stuart Mellor/Mick Fairhurst had a fairly lonely ride to second place although Dave Tibbles/Wayne Kemp were closing the gap until a 'moment' at the Esses on lap 7 meant that they had to settle for third in class. Steve Brooks was again master of the tricky conditions and dominated the F350 class from the front. Allen Steele soon established himself in a comfortable second place, pulling away from Ian Arnold, Gordon Jones/Julie Jones and Alan Longshaw. The 350's finished in that order, with Jones delighted at completing a race after having problems starting his outfit all day. 
F2 points updated after Cadwell Latest F2 points available to download here
CADWELL PARK - MAY 3-4 2009 YOKOHAMA/ACU BRITISH FII SIDECAR CHAMPIONSHIP John Holden and Andy Winkle (D&A Walmsley LCR Suzuki) scored a magnificent double victory and jumped from sixth place to take the lead in the Championship. It was the pair's first major victory since their Southern 100 crash last July. Once again the championship produced a full grid and two superb races.[ Read the rest... ]
YOKOHAMA/ACU BRITISH F2 SIDECAR CHAMPIONSHIP Those spectators who were here at Cadwell this time last year, were priveleged to see two tremendous races in the opening round of the Yokohama and ACU sponsored championship. [ Read the rest... ]
Round Two - Mallory Park Post Classic sidecar racing championship Round Two 12April 2009 The second Championship round was two ten lap races at Mallory Park hosted by EMRA on the Easter Sunday. Post Classic entries were down, but being the bank holiday and the financial problems of some teams may have been the reason But at least one new team of Chris Fairhurst and his old passenger John Longmore , yes the F2 John Longmore who usual position is the driver. Chris has returned to sidecar racing after a secret number of years off and was back with a beautifully prepared Z1000 Kawasaki. With a good F350 entry and the EMRA F1 and F2 championship races, all the classes were put together in a full twenty four grid race. Race 1With the grid positions sorted by the practise lap times the Post Classics were up with the front end of the grid. Red lights off and away, the new team Chris with John soon blew away his cobwebs and flew past Tibbles and Kemp on their Z1000. Pat Gallagher with Sean Rooney were trying their best on the Bellas GS 1000 Susuki, but Stuart Mellor back with Mick Fairhurst (Mick is Chris’s son) in the chair on the Yamaha TZ750 took the Chequered flag and sixth overall in the race. Pat took second and unfortunately for the new old comer Chris, a puncture handed third to Tibs. Race 2The results was the same but Pat altered his gearing on the GS which proved to be improvement, going a second per lap quicker and side by side stuff with Stuart, eventually the TZ winning. Chris Fairhurst on the Kwak retired on the last lap with electrical failure handing again third to Tibs. Other stuff The days meeting was an example of how a race day should be, with good weather, well organised and clean incident free races.Tibs attempts to get Pat worse for wear Saturday night failed. Pat resisted Tibs efforts to get him inebriated in the paddock bar Saturday night. Race day it was Pat who was on top form whilst Tibs who wasn’t, his laps getting slower as the race progressed. The most common moan among the teams was “flipping heck two ten lappers” …perhaps we are getting old. By Bits on the side
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