01/10/03

CRMC Silverstone 27/28th September

The Final round of the CRMC championships took place at Silverstone with the Race of the Year meeting. The CRMC used the club circuit which is 1.639 miles in length, but this incorporated the new chicane section, as used by the Superbikes. The new section did not prove popular with most riders and in particular did not suit the two-stoke machines. Some people took advantage of the practice day on Friday to get to grips with it.

Mervyn Stratford's weekend got off to a bad start, with his Water-cooled Greeves expiring on the second lap of practice. Later inspection found the cause to be a broken little end bush.

The first Greeves interest in the races was in race 3 (350cc European). Stu Melling was in action on Ron Leighton's Oulton. He finished the race in a creditable 12th place. In the 200cc Class Mark Sharrock was riding a 200cc Greeves, in his first outing of the day he finished in 5th place. Mark was also out in the 250cc Euro' races on an RDS Silverstone for the first time. The 250's had the biggest Greeves entry, with Mark, Jeff Bing, Mervyn Stratford, Chris Maggs and David Whitehouse all Silverstone mounted. Also entered but both non-starters were Norman Baker and Ted Edwards. As the race got away Mervyn's (now using 2nd machine) day got worse, as he couldn't get his bike in gear on the line. When he did he ended up with third and the bike stalled, so by the time he got going the field was out of sight ! Mark Sharrock went missing on lap five, it turned out he had run out of fuel !! The race was red-flagged on the last lap because of a crash, so results were taken from lap five. Best Greeves finisher was Dave Whitehouse in 8th Place, Chris Maggs took 13th, Jeff Bing 15th, and Mervyn 23rd.

The second half of Saturday's programme followed as the first, with the 350 Euros being the first Greeves interest. Stu did not fair so well in this one, retiring after three laps. In the 200's Mark had an excellent ride to third place behind the two Bridgestones of Keating and Wilson. The 250's were out again in race 17. This time Mark completed the race and was top Greeves finisher in 6th place, followed by Dave in 7th Jeff in 14th and Mervyn in 17th. Unfortunately Chris crashed out in the new chicane section one lap from the end, but fortunately he was ok.

Sunday's Programme saw the 'Race of the Year' races. The 200 class was the opener for the Greeves men this time. Mark made a good start in the race as he was dicing in amongst the top three placings for most of the race. Unfortunately he retired a couple of laps from the end with mechanical problems, which put him out of a potential top three finish. The 250's were next, and an additional non-starter this time was Chris Maggs following the previous days spill. Mervyn had been home and changed engines in his favoured machine for this race, although the engine was tired it was still better than the one in his spare bike. The race proved to be quite a hot dice at the front with the top six all very close. The race ended with a win for Nigel Palmer (Ducati) from Mike Hose (Ariel Arrow). Mark was again top Greeves man finishing in 6th place, but setting the second fastest lap of the race. Dave Whitehouse was 8th, Mervyn 12th and Jeff 15th.

Well that wraps up the CRMC season until next year. The VMCC final round is at Cadwell Park on 4th October, so if there is any Greeves action there, you can read all about it here!!

RS

08/06/03

CRMC Snetterton 26th and 27th May

The CRMC moved to Snetterton for the third round of their championship.
Greeves representation was low compared with previous meetings, with Myself (Dave Whitehouse), Chris Maggs, Norman Baker, John Clark and on Monday Jeff Bing, all riding 250’s in the “upto 250cc European” races. I did see George Ridgeon’s 350 Oulton in the paddock, but I did not get a chance to talk with him about who was riding.
Norman Baker was racing for the first time after a number of years, following an outing in the Parades at Mallory. While John Clark was riding a Ducati Greeves, which consisted of a Ducati rolling chassis, with a Greeves RAS engine and gearbox.

Race 1 250’s (All races 7 laps)

Myself and Chris finished 4th and 8th respectively, but I was suffering detonation after the first lap and opted to roll it off to get to the finish. Chris reported no problems, Norman and John both retired after 5 and 3 laps respectively.

Race 2 250’s

The Classic club now forms the grid from the results of the previous race, which is I why I had carried on to get a finish in the first race. I again suffered detonation, retiring after 4 laps, but did manage to lead the race on the first lap. Chris again finished a creditable 7th, knocking well over a second of his previous fastest lap (1:36.7 mins). John finished 12th and Norman 18th.

Race 3 250’s Monday 27th

Jeff and Chris were circulating together, but unfortunately Chris ran off the road at the Russell’s Chicane on the last lap, with out crashing but did not finish. Jeff was 8th (1:35.4) John 11th (1:40.5) and Norman 18th. I again retired with detonation, but set my fastest lap of the weekend at 1:33.3. (Note: the fastest lap of the week end went to Dave Witt, Ducati at 1:29.35)

Race 4 250’s

Chris finished 8th, I retired again, neither John or Norman appeared on the results sheet so I assume did not start, along with Jeff who’s bike had lost compression when he tried to start it for the race.

Many thanks to Dave Whitehouse for this report.



07/05/03

CRMC round two - Mallory - Monday 4th May 2003

The second round of the CRMC championships was held at Mallory Park in Leicestershire. The newly constructed "Edwina's" chicane complex proved to add much excitement to the day's racing.

With 7 Greeves' being ridden, there was a chance of some good results.

The first 250 race of the day saw most of the Greeves line up towards the back end of the grid. As the pack got away the 4 stroke machines headed the field, but by the end of the race the Greeves had pulled through to some good positions. David Whitehouse finishing in 4th ( 70.15 mph, best lap 1.08.83), only 0.24 seconds off of 3rd place man Roy Gillard (Aermacchi) followed by Jeff Bing in 9th (68.44 mph, best lap 1.11.03) , Chris Maggs in11th (68.28 mph, best lap 1.10.95) and slightly further down the field Norman Baker in 23rd (62.47 mph, best lap 1.17.76) Mark Sharrock was also out on a Silverstone but he retired on lap 2, with what appeared to be a gearbox problem.

In the first 350cc outing, did not go as well, Stuart Melling ,on Ron Leighton's Greeves Oulton, retired on the 3rd lap. But he had a best lap of 1.08.84. (72.69 mph)

The second 250 race still showed good results. Jeff finished in 8th (67.18 mph, best lap 1.10.59) closely followed by Chris in 10th (65.78 mph, best lap 1.13.18) Dave Wildey came in in 17th (63.9 mph, best lap 1.14.74) and Norman in 24th (61.07 mph, best lap 1.17.81) David did not have much luck, as on the first lap coming round the bus stop it went clonk, clonk, clonk!!! So obviously he had some mechanical problems!

The final delayed (because of oil spillage) 350cc race saw a close battle at the front, but this time saw Stuart finish the race but towards the back of the field, as the machine appeared to be slowing as the race went on.The next meeting is at the fast Snetterton circuit, over the 25th/26th May.



23/04/03

CRMC round one - Pembrey - Sunday 20th & Monday 21st April 2003

As usual the first round of the season is over the Easter weekend, and again this year it was held at Pembrey Motor Sports Centre, in south Wales. A 1.456 mile long circuit.
With a practice day on the Saturday, many of the competitors choose to arrive on the Friday to avoid any rushing around. The week of good weather did not continue and Saturdays practice turned out to be a rather windy one.
With 5 Greeves entered it looked set to be a good weekend of racing. Mervyn Stratford, David Whitehouse, David Wildey and Chris Maggs in the 250cc European, and Stuart Melling in the 350cc European.

Sunday was another windy day and most riders were having trouble battling against the wind in certain places. The first race of the day was the 250cc. Mervyn had a good starting position (2nd on the grid) while the rest of the Greeves-mounted riders were further back (David 27th & Chris 12th). Merv got off to a good start and was in the lead straight off the line, no sooner had he gone round the hairpin, he was grass tracking! Straight from the front down to 14th, and not even half way through the first lap! The final results showed that Merv had climbed his way back up to a respectable 6th - best lap 1.15.85 (69.1 mph), David holding 12th - best lap 1.18.15 (67.07 mph) and Chris in 15th - best lap 1.19.01 (66.34 mph). However David was suffering from some handling problems, which he suspected were coming from the front of the machine. The first 350 race saw Stuart out on Ron Leighton's Oulton, finishing in 18th with a best lap of 1.14.61.(70.25 mph)

The Second 250 race had it's grid positions selected from the finishing positions of the first race. The race got off to a good start with Greeves riders well up the field on the first lap. However lap 2 saw the red flags come out as unfortunately Mervyn crashed his Greeves, knocking himself unconscious for a couple of minutes. Examination at the hospital showed he had broken his left collar bone and three ribs !! While waiting in the hospital just by coincidence we came across another Greeves rider, all be it a motorcrosser!! (sorry forgot name) He was competing on CCM in a local Enduro event, and broke both wrists after hitting a ditch.

The re-run of the second 250 race saw David's handling problems had not gone, although he finished in 7th - best lap 1.17.95 (67.24 mph) and Chris finish in 13th - best lap1.18.67 (66.63 mph). The second 350 race of the day saw Stuart retire after only 2 laps but with 1.15.97 (69 mph) as his best lap.

Monday morning looked promising as the wind had dropped and the temperature was slightly higher. In the first 250 of the day, the Greeves riders finished quite well up. David's machine was handling better helped by the drop in the wind and as a result he finished 6th and went round his quickest yet this weekend. Best lap - 1.16.58 (68.45 mph). Chris was not far behind, finishing in 8th - best lap 1.17.06 (68.02 mph) and David Wildey slightly further back in 12th. Best lap - 1.21.89 (64.01 mph)
Unfortunately I was unable to get the rest on the results for Mondays racing.
The next meeting is at Mallory Park on Monday the 5th of May.

Kathy
 

30/03/03

VMCC Practice Day Mallory Park 20th March.

Before the start of the 2003 season many riders use this as an opportunity to test any improvements they have made over the winter.
Mervyn Stratford and Mark Sharrock were both testing Greeves. Mervyn was on RBS 101, testing a new engine configuration, while Mark was on the Atkins' RAS. Mick Hunter was also out on a RAS Silverstone, although not a usual Greeves contender, will we see him out later this season?

Seen for sale in the paddock was the ex-Tom Herron RBS Silverstone. Regular Greeves competitors Jeff Bing and Peter Aston were in attendance, although not testing their machinery. Also present was ex-Greeves rider Tim Jackson testing his AJS 7R and Manx Norton machines.

Kathy.