Buckle up at Buckby
By TMX Archives on 8th Nov 13
At the end of a miserably cold and wet October week, lots of meetings around the country were abandoned.However, Northampton MCC officials were determined to finish off the South Midland Centre calendar in style and the centrally located hillside circuit of Long Buckby had been spared the majority of the rain.
However a freak monsoon rainstorm the night before made conditions in practice tough going.
But with the track drying fast, luckily it was in prime condition by mid-morning.
In the Expert class James Russell opted for a weekend off after clinching the 2013 Championship at the previous round. But with second and third places still to be decided between Michael McClurg and Joe Wyse, nobody else was taking it easy.
Michael gave it everything to take three straight wins by impressive margins.
Behind him and no doubt due to the conditions, the positions changed in every race with no clear pattern emerging.
Joe Wyse took second overall after finishing runner-up in race two, with Tom Harwood close behind.
Jonathan Brighton continued his recent domination in Junior A with wins in both finals, and enough points to see him easily through to the Expert ranks next year.
Alex Fountain and Darren Flitney shared a second and a third place, Alex taking the runner-up spot by virtue of his higher placed finish in the final leg.
Kyle Creevy took the overall in Junior B with first and second place finishes.
Richard Wright won the first moto but decided not to take part in the second.
Gerard Scott finished second overall with two consistent third place finishes, with Glen Warren rounding out the podium.
Kyle also proved the man to beat in the Under 40 class, three second places giving him the overall by a single point.
Steven Chilvers just missed out after winning the first and then finishing third in the other two motos, while James Chambers secured third overall.
In the Premier Class Mark Owens stopped by to take the overall win with 1-3-2 finishes.
Ryan Griffiths won the second and third legs but missed the opener.
Tony Leishman got the better of Mark in race two but had to settle for second overall, with Fraser Law third.
Richard Wright dominated the Elite class with a
hat-trick of wins.
Behind him Steve Gilbey finished second each time, with Nigel Miller just edging out Reg Willis for third.
The Two-stroke class produced another dominant performance, Mark Bland this time winning all three races.
Connor Dickens finished second twice but missed out in the second race.
Consistent top-three finishes then gave James Chambers second overall, with Ian Tindle taking a well-deserved third.
The visiting Partridge Ventilation Pre-83 125cc series racers put on a fantastic show for the spectators.
With lap times capable of embarrassing all but the front runners they
showed just what can be achieved on 30-year-old machinery.
Paul Baldwin won two out of three races on his way to overall victory and would surely have won the other as well had it not been for an unfortunate accident in race two.
Lee Holland capitalised on this to win moto two, and consistent top three finishes in the other two legs gave him second overall.
Dean Warren finished third overall, thanks to two fourths and a third.
