Last weekend was Round 5 for Lamonde Racing's 2024 season with the British Motorcycle Racing Club AKA Bemsee held at the iconic Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire. Cadwell is referred to by some as the "mini Nürburgring" with it's tight turns and changes in elevation, it is easy to understand why. Perhaps the most famous feature or Cadwell is "The Mountain", which is a sharp rise onto a plateau where bikes often wheelie or "get air".
Practice and testing on Friday was in ideal racing conditions, however, the forecast for the weekend was not great, with on and off heavy rain predicted, this meant tyre choices and suspension settings were to be finalised minutes before each race - "Wet" tyres rely on standing water to stop them from melting and becoming useless, and of course, slicks offer next to no grip on a wet track. Cadwell park circuit takes around 40-50 minutes to dry after rain.
Matt #9
Matt continued his Thunderbike Sport campaign, qualifying 1st in class, second on track to Supertwin rider, Tommy Downes (#17) who was 2nd rookie behind Matt in Minitwins in 2019, so they have history and friendly rivalry, they are in different classes but respect each other and enjoy racing together. Ordinarily, the Bemsee race weekends have two races on Saturday and two on Sunday, however, given the weather and the resulting slower pace and the increased risk of incidents, it was decided that Saturday's races would be held over 12 laps, with position points being awarded after 6 laps, and 12 laps. Matt got 1st in class in both halves of Saturday's wet race, another 50 points towards the championship.
Sunday's racing kicked off with a very welcome dry race, and Matt had company at the sharp end in the form of Josh Harvey (#11), the pair jostled for 1st and 2nd for the whole 6 laps, with Matt crossing the line just 0.713 Sec ahead of Harvey having overtaken on the last lap. For the second race, Josh started from pole position on the grid, having recorded the fastest lap in the first race of the day, Josh crossed the line 7.804 Seconds ahead of Matt for the win, with Matt 2nd, this was a wet race, and as Josh is no threat to Matt's championship ambition, he wasn't going to risk pushing hard than necessary as his pit board told him he had a near 10 second lead over the next rider in his class, Daniel Mercer #15 - discretion is often the better part of valour! Three wins, and one 2nd, great weekend's work, bringing Matt's points tally to 481 with two rounds to go.
Tom #74
Tom's weekend started on Saturday with qualifying 7th in wet conditions, unfortunately due to a few incidents, and a serious oil/fuel spill on the track, Tom's race was held over until Sunday, and much like Matt's first race this was held over 12 laps as a 2x6 lap race, in the dry - a well fought 4th in class for Tom in his first race.
Tom's second race (wet) saw Tom bring home another 4th place, the final race of the weekend, thankfully dry this time saw Tom bring in another 4th place, consistently stacking points onto his championship stack.
Leigh #293
Leigh's main class is the MRO Minitwin class, he also races in Thunderbike Sport alongside Matt for extra track time and experience, cherry-picking which races he starts - why risk a race in a monsoon for a race in a class that's not your main focus? Leigh raced in the first of the Thunderbike Sport races on Sunday getting 8th position, he was a DNF in the second (wet) race of Sunday, deciding after three laps not to risk a wet race for a secondary class.
In Minitwins, Leigh qualified 20th in wet conditions on Saturday, finishing his first (split finish) race 12th, race 2 original start was marred by a serious incident on lap one, resulting in 11 bikes in a pile-up and follow-on collisions at the Mountain, luckily, Leigh was not involved in the incident and was able to swerve through the carnage. The incident took a good while to clear up, and was re-run as an 8 lap race on Sunday afternoon with a very empty grid, a dry race with Leigh bringing home 7th. It is understood that despite the serious nature of the incident that thankfully no-one was seriously injured.
The next round is at Snetterton 31 August - 1 September 2024.
Photographs courtesy Rachel Bourne, Bourne Photo