Scarborough Today

[john newton]

Just 9 outfits but the Olivers mount debuts of Frank Lelias with Mike Aylott and Dave Atkinson and Phil Knapton. Ian and Carl Bell fastest in quali with 1.57.763 then Greg Lambert with Jason Slous 1.59.447 then Harrison/Patterson, Thirkell/Barlow, Frank/Mike, Dave/Phil. Dave Hirst/Doug Chandler, Jim Noble/Shaun Chandler and Dave Saunders/Grace Bradbury.

Race One:First attempt red-flagged when Frank/Mike lost it at Drurys (the second hairpin) and overturned at very little speed! - both ok. Second attempt Greg/Jason into Mere first and they completed the first lap in the lead from Ian/Carl. Cap 2 going into Mere and Ian went into Greg and knackered the exhaust, Conrad/Lee getting past them both in the melee. Ian/Carl retired at the end of that lap, so Conrad then Greg, Tony, Dave A, Dave H, Jim, Dave S. Tony retired at half distance, hand getting burnt, So a surprised Conrad/Lee took the victory 3.848 secs from Greg/Jason with Dave Atk and Phil K third in their debut race. Hirst, Noble, Saunders 4-5-6 Jim/Shaun in 5th f.l. of 2.04.743, four seconds faster than ever before. Dave A 2.00.800 nearly in the sub 2-minute club.
Race Two, a shambles! and what could have been a disaster. Ian/Carl led from Greg/Jason. going into Memorial Greg got excruciating pain in his hand, stopped. perhaps a spasm, 'hand' pump whatever. Commentator announces they'd retired. I, along with a couple of dozen sidecar people were watching from just above Mere Hairpin and depending on exactly where you're stood, you can see through the trees to a spot some 300-400 yards away as outfits complete the jumps and slow to drop into the Farm Bends. Following the commentators announcement, we are then told we have a red flag situation ( I presume because of Greg's hand pain - he was on his way to hospital when I left the circuit ). Ian/Carl come to a halt in front of a marshal at the point we could see through the trees. I pondered aloud as to why the hell they'd been stopped at that point i.e. why weren't they shown the flag there but brought to a halt around the corner out of harms way. Then Conrad, Tony, Frank arrived close together. I am told that Conrad/Lee just stopped short of where Ian/carl had been halted, then Tony likewise behind Conrad then Frank who didn't have a clue why they were stopping at the end of that 'straight' and went up and over Tony. Wasn't apparently as scary as that might sound and all were ok. I'm not an expert in marshaling, or how quickly you can bring a sidecar to a halt in a straight line, or anything else come to that, but I see a lot of racing and cannot work out why ONE red flag was shown after - I am told - a solitary unwaved yellow, AT THE END OF A STRAIGHTISH BIT. I can only state what I saw from some 3-400 yds away and what 2-3 people told me afterwards and apologies If I got some things wrong but I didn't like what I saw. I was also told that some of the marshals here operate the flags differently from how they do when at the TT. That sounds like lunacy to me....With a couple of outfits at least out of the action as regards a restart, the race was postponed till the end of the afternoon and when we got there postponed further till tomorrow (providing time permits, there are two races anyway ). Hopefully two or three good races tomorrow...

[john newton]

An update first on yesterday. It wasn't Frank who went over Tony but the other way round! and also an onboard camera showed a red flag as they went over the jumps. Tony T had a conversation with the marshals last night who explained that the outfits were lined up where they were because they wanted to leave the ambulance route onto the circuit clear. There is plenty of room to put nine outfits into farm Bends without them blocking the ambulance route or as Tony said to them, 'we' could have been lined in single file on the start line leaving room for the world's widest ambulance.