Cadwell Park
2nd/3rd May 2010
2nd ACU FSRA
British Championship
Once again Team Dave Hudspeth carpets and Nick Crowe Racing had a very successful weekends racing at the Lincolnshire race track. After qualifying third on a full grid of F2 sidecars, Simon & Paul had their work cut out for them after a poor start in Race 1. As the outfits pouring into the first corner (Coppice) the team found themselves down in 5th place as they headed down the back straight, hot on the heels of ex. British Champion Ian & Carl Bell. After 3 frustrating laps they managed to punch their way through to fourth place and then set their sights firmly on the back of the Ireson outfit of another ex. British Champions team, Tony Elmer & Darren marshall.
It took another three laps of hard charging and climbing all over Darren's platform until Simon could break through and put the team back into their original starting position: Simon & Paul's hard charge had paid off, and they had put themselves back into a rostrum position. Next on the road ahead of the Nick Crowe LCR was Gary Bryan & passenger Mark Sayers, with this being Gary's local track he was absolutely flying but the team had some clear track in front of them to make up, on the upside they were free of traffic, could now ride their own race and get into the flow and with some smooth laps they could look reel the next two bikes on the pecking order in. On the next lap and after making in roads to close the gap to the 2nd. place outfit Mark missed a handle through the busy upper section of the track and parted company with the outfit, leaving Gary to fend for himself it was only when Gary went flat out in top gear into the Coppice at the end of the start @ finish straight that he was forced onto the grass and out of the race. Because of the position in relationship to the track that Gary ended up, the powers that be had no choice but to red flag the race on the 7th lap of 12. Gary & Mark both got away with minor injuries, and we were gifted 2nd. place and 20 more valuable points towards our 2010 British F2 sidecar campaign. It's at this point that all us at TDHC/NCR wish both Gary & Mark a speedy recovery and hope to see you guys back on track soon.
The team in good spirits, but Simon concerned about the handling of the LCR coming out of the last corner (Barn Corner) before the start/finish straight, having real problems getting the power down and therefore loosing valuable flat out throttle time down the main straight. Enter stage right Nick Crowe,......after listening to Simon's comments, Nick soon set the team to work on the set up, with a nip and a tuck here, Nicks invaluable experience and expertise coming to the fore.
Monday morning's warm up would show the fruits of Nicks effort, six fast laps were put in as the team lead a medley of sidecars around the Cadwell circuit: the bike now doing what was asked of it, when it was asked. First race after lunch and there was a real buzz in the Team Dave Hudspeth as the boys took their place on the grid. After the best start all year, Simon & Paul blasted into Coppice in 2nd. place to John & Andy and the battle commenced. It seems the boys only do things in threes, quite apt for a sidecar team: as after three hard fought laps the Hudspeth boys had managed to take the lead for the first time this weekend. Clear track ahead of them and they pushed even harder, stretching their lead lap after lap, corner after corner. What the crowd witnessed was an awesome display of riding by the team, Simon & Paul pushing the NCR LCR to the very limits. With hard n fast being the order of the day, they won the second race by over 12 seconds, set a new lap record of 1.37:32 and did the team and sponsors proud.
John & Andy came in second, with a hard charging Wil & Andy Smith coming in to take their first rostrum in the Super F2 class: and only a second behind John. Well done to Wil Smith Racing.
Dave Hudspeth overjoyed with the result said after the race, " The success of the weekend is a credit to the tenacity of Simon & Paul, and especially to Nick Crowe for the expertise he affords us with his knowledge of his LCR chassis and also to Chris Meahew our engine tuner & Builder for the development of the 2010 Honda engine which makes it such a missile. We are lucky to have some great people behind our racing effort, and a band of very dedicated people with in the team, in the last two meetings we have achieved wins, broke two lap records, and have a solid lead in the British Championship: things are looking very positive for the Isle of Man TT races". The whole team is looking forward to the TT which will be the next episode in the Neary/ Knapton partnership. This will be the first year that the boys will set off down Bray Hill on the same bike, their intention to improve on Simons brilliant 3rd. place at last years races,.......fingers and every thing else crossed!