Croft circuit 2017 race report

It’s July and time for Croft. When you ask people what their favourite or least favourite tracks are, Croft is rarely mentioned. Thusly, those who hadn’t been before were left somewhat unsure of what to expect from “yet another airfield circuit”.

As normal the pre-race banter was plentiful with expectations of a Squadron Leader Symon Woodward (motorcycle serviceability dependent) clean up unless you were Flight Lieutenant Jim ‘Dicko’ Dickinson with ideas of grandeur. Sergeant Tom Flynn had previous track knowledge which could serve him well and Corporal Gavin Heggs had hopes that a fast flowing track could work in his favour. Corporal Chris Bartlett and Flight Sergeant Ian Ridley were characteristically quiet but clearly looking forward to trying out this circuit for the first time. The weather was damp on the Friday but with a forecast for a sunny weekend most were hopeful for a completely dry weekend.

Once team members had trickled in on the Friday afternoon and set up; those who had arrived took the 2.1 mile walk round the circuit. Tom was initially confused as to why everyone was walking around the track the wrong way, leaving the rest of the team thinking it had maybe been a long year since he had last paid Croft a visit, and it was probably best to stay well clear of him in any case. As the team returned to camp the smell of gear oil and singed tempers wafted in the summer breeze. Symon had arrived and bike parts were everywhere, (fitting a brake calliper mount which John Walton, Sqn Ldr ret’d, had modified earlier that week), situation normal as the sun set on the Dalton-on-Tees circuit.

With Crofts noise limitation, the mornings were somewhat more steady than some other tracks so by the time the bikes were rolled out for practice some riders were somewhat lethargic. This soon dissipated once out on the circuit, as the bulk of the team got their first feel for the track and memories were refreshed for a few.

Dickinson had a close encounter with a rogue Honda RS125 which pulled in front of him just beforethe complex and slammed the anchors on earlier than expected. Convinced of impending impact he slammed on the anchors skidding off the track with millimetres to spare. With marshals diving for cover Jim finally got the bike stopped, turned and pulled back onto the track to finish practice.

Heggs’ adventures were shorter, having previously had an off at Cadwell Park, he was soon made very aware that all was not well with his head race bearings, which got a lot worse very quickly on the track as his headstock collapsed into the bottom yolk. A wobbly lap ended his practice prematurely. Not wanting to leave him alone in the gazebo Ian also retired early with a broken gear shift that he had been nursing round for half a lap and Woodward who managed 2 laps on Little Al before the output shaft seal failed, spraying oil all over his rear tyre which made the fast left right very interesting.

Thus the rest of Saturday morning was spent “coaxing out” Gavin’s head race bearings to shim them out a bit, Ian fixed his gear shift and Symon buried himself in bike parts leaving the others watching and helping, just glad it wasn’t them for a change.

Racing

On to the racing with the first coming shortly after the lunch break on Saturday. As hoped for; the sun was out and track dry. All of the bikes seemed serviceable and the riders were itching to get out. As in previous race reports the following is in their own words and completely free of bias or outright lies. Mostly.

Post classic 125 - Symon Woodward

I must be getting old, because I can’t even remember the first race. After a good start in the second race I was slowly chased down by the trailing pack of faster bikes/lighter and/or more talented riders and started falling down the race order. The little MT125 was unimpressed by my abysmal riding and split its exhaust down the middle, forcing me to retire in shame. The 3^rd race was better and I had an excellent, typically MT125 last race with overtaking or being overtaken every corner.

Post classic 500 air cooled - Symon Woodward

After a previous analysis of some weird fueling characteristics, some brand new carbs had arrived for Big Al. Unfortunately, a bit of dust/grit got sucked into the fresh and tight (unworn) clearance carb and stuck the throttle at about 20% whilst being just behind the leader on lap 2. This was soon tracked down and rectified by a team of volunteers whilst I returned to sorting out little Al’s clutch. I only returned to Big Al during the final call for his next race which meant I did not have time to carry out my primary rule of racing. ALWAYS CHECK YOUR OWN BIKE OVER, PRIOR TO GOING OUT. As I went to push start the bike down the paddock it was uncharacteristically hard to start, when it did start it revved its nuts off. Kill switch, quick fiddle with the cable tops to ensure they were seated and tried again, same result. By the time I pushed the bike back to the tool box, the race was on track and I had missed it. On examination of the slides, one had been routed incorrectly and was stuck at half throttle, lesson learned. Starting from the back of the grid for the 3^rd race I managed to work my way upto second, despite the bike having some “horrible” handling characteristics. The poor characteristics are due to the borrowed rear shock which is sprung for a far lighter rider and on fast corners the shock bottoms out, catching the frame and seat and chattering like hell. Hopefully I will have my rear shock back for the next meeting, refurbished and correctly sprung, but I have been saying that since Snetterton.

Post classic 250 air cooled 2T

Race 1

Jim Dickinson #15

First race on the Saturday saw me 9th on the grid and making another pretty poor start. Sargent Chris Bartlett came past down the straight. His back end seemed a bit unsettled round Hawthorn and again through Tower. His Maxton “GP frame” usually looks absolutely planted so I took advantage through Tower and went through on the inside. Knowing that Bartlett would be pushing to get back past I kept my head down for a lap or 2 before taking a glance behind. I couldn't see him which I thought odd - unbeknown to me he'd overcooked a corner and was getting the marshals to help him out of a ditch/corn field (porridge on Bartlett). I did my best to try to reign in Graeme Acott and John Hynes who were scrapping just ahead but ended up a few seconds adrift, crossing the line in 5^th.

Chris Bartlett #41

This was my first time racing at croft and after a Friday evening walk around it looked like a quick track. Practice on Saturday morning highlighted it would take a while for me to learn.

Starting 15th wasn’t the best place to be but I could see my closest rival (Dickinson) about 8 places up the grid so he was my target.

The flag dropped and I had a reasonable start passing my target before entering the first corner but still feeling that I was running slower than I should, breaking earlier than needed and not carrying the speed required. Half way round the first lap I was passed by Dickinson and I had to settle in behind him to follow for a while. Things came to an end half way through lap 3 whilst trying to carry more speed than I should into a 3rd gear right hander and then having to stand the bike up to avoid a fall. Over the grass I went, staying up right but onwards I surged into the corn field by a meter or two where I found a ditch. I needed two Marshall’s to help drag the bike out before watching the rest of the race from the side of the track feeling somewhat frustrated.

Ian Ridley #51

The first race was fairly uneventful. A poor start and some bad gear changes causing the bike to stall while braking into some of the slower corners caused me some frustrations. I’m still learning how to ride this bike; it has a very peaky power band and has no tick over. The lack of a full practice session didn’t help much either. However I did finish the race (a lap down) even after the slightly disturbing sight of seeing Bartlett in the cornfield with two marshals on the outside of Tower Bend. The odd jerking movements they were making were only the result of them trying to extract the bike from a ditch and nothing more.

Tom Flynn #56

I had a great day on Saturday with two good races. I was able to follow Heggs round for some of this race who helped pull me round and increase my lap timings. After some laps I lost him so went back to pushing myself round, finding little improvements here and there. Croft is a relatively flat circuit when compared to the rolling scenery of Lincolnshire’s Cadwell park but the sprawling fields and odd copse still provided some interesting scenery round the track.

Gavin Heggs #74

Having most of a lap as previous experience, I entered the first race without much of a clue what to expect or how my bike would behave. Starting in 14^th place I planned to latch onto a faster rider and let them drag me round as I got a feel for the circuit. A mediocre start saw me in a pack of four strokes not enjoying their crazy cornering antics one bit. As the pack thinned out I was able to pick one or two of them off but the next bike was well ahead of me by this point. A high point was watching Bartlett take his Maxton for a run through the corn field on the exit of watch tower corner. I settled to keep winding on the lap times, breaking later and powering through corners faster for the rest of the race. This clearly paid off as I gradually wound the white Ducati ridden by Nigel Collier in before I out-braked him going into the complex on the last lap.

Lap times were slower than I would have liked but they were being slowly chipped away. Another plus point was that the gear box work carried out over the preceding weeks had clearly paid off with far less missed gears than previous races, helping me along to finish in a comfortable 7^th.

Symon Woodward #157

After the 2 laps of practice on an oily tyre I replaced the output oil seal and tried to start Little Al to ensure all was right. It was at this point that I realised that my clutch had given up the ghost, not disengaging. The whole clutch assembly from lever to basket was removed but nothing could be found which would cause this instant failure. Burrs were cleaned up, clearances checked etc but still the same problem. The solution came in the end from cannibalising the clutch assembly from Tom’s spare engine. Unfortunately the pace at which the Club was getting through the races caught me off guard and I missed the first race by a couple of minutes.