Race of the Year Snetterton CRMC

Our only visit to the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club this year was their final round, the Race of the Year meeting, at Snetterton and Andy was the only Steelcraft rider competing.

                                                  Some random clips from Snetterton



  Some people believe in omens, but Andy leaving his tool box at home, despite having everything else but the kitchen sink in the van didn't worry us.
Practice went well on on the new layout of the Snetterton 200 circuit and all that was needed was a change to a taller gearing for the race as the bike was over revving on the long straights.

  Andy made his customary good start from near the back of the grid and was soon battling for third with Mervyn Stratford (Greeves), behind Chris Wallace and John Hynes (both Ducati mounted). Then on lap four, disaster struck, a bang in the engine and then silence as the bike coasted to a halt.

  Back in the paddock, the inlet tappet cover was removed and we found that neither valve was opening. With the top bevel cover removed the problem was clear, the vertical bevel had broken as you can see in the photo below.

 

  Maybe having no tools at the track is a bad omen or at least a guarantee that tools will be needed. The breakdown wasn't a great problem as Andy intended to ride Andy Boyle's Royal Enfield GP5 on Sunday anyway.



Another nice example a shame it's only paraded




And what of the new video camera (see previous post)?. Again not good as we had recorded nothing on the camera when mounted on the Ducati, in either practice or race. We thought the problem was either down to vibration or the radio waves from transponders affecting the remote control on/off function. On the Sunday we turned the remote function off and had the camera strapped to Andy's leg. This gave good results but we are still not sure what caused the problem.

                                                   Race of the Year on board the GP5
         


  In the Sunday morning race Andy took a third place behind Mervyn Stratford and Chris Wallace. This result was repeated in the final race the "Race of the Year".

a 350 for sale in the paddock at £4000

Other notable Ducati results were a win for Nigel Palmer in the first 500 clubmans race, though sadly he failed to finish either of the other races, and Simon Morris who took three out of three in the 350 Clubmans Class.

                                               
                                                      Our thanks to all the the CRMC.