Optoma Loans Percy Duff Barbon Speed Hill Climb 2007

   photos of the day   ©photosportuk

Results  BARBON-BIKES-07

Sun and Stars shine for big crowd at Barbon

 

The Barbon motorcycle hill climb took place on Saturday 28th July in front of  a bumper crowd, where the long awaited sun shone on the stars of the motorcycle world. Taking part in the Optoma Loans sponsored event, were 13 times TT winner John McGuinness, Kendal’s World Super Bike racer Dean Ellison and former 3 times British Supermoto Champion Leighton Haigh. Added to this were the appearances of top British Superbike racers Michael Rutter and Optoma Loans rider Steve Plater. Racing got underway after the stars were introduced to the public and Leighton gave the crowd some entertaining wheelies up and down the main straight.

The event in doubt due to the bad weather was held in the dry with only one very brief shower, which did not even wet the tarmac. Number 1 Adam Bentley was flagged away in bright sunshine to start his first run and the event proper. In class 1 Les Wilson was fast out of the traps and never headed, with a big winning margin in hill climb terms of 0.8 of a second over Morecambe’s Karl Geary. Class 2 was closer with hill climb regular Robin Sim getting the better of Ulverston’s Chris Byron on the Kendal based D3 Racing KTM.

Class 3 was where the action was though, this class is for bikes not over 500cc, not the biggest bikes, but this is the size of bike that holds the outright solo hill record. Standing guard and present, was the record holder himself, Paul Bird, Team Principle of  the Stobart Honda Racing Team, who were displaying at the event. Due  to track temperature, his record would be safe for another year, set in 1998, every passing year is testament to how impressive his time was at the time. In this class were TT flyer John McGuinness, Leighton Haigh, together with hill climb regulars Glynn Poole and Paul Jarrett. Glynn was first up and quick with the only time under 27 seconds on the first run. John was to follow and was very quick, sideways through the second corner and very quick into the hairpin, only to find his brakes still weren’t fully cured and he over shot, staying upright and rejoining the course to set an irrelevant time, Leighton ran at the end of the class and backed it into the hairpin as only Leighton can do, entertaining the crowd on the way to a 27.17, this would leave him third behind Glynn and the fast starting Paul Jarrett. Second runs saw improvements for all four but Leighton made the biggest improvement to net second from Glynn who stormed up the hill to set the quickest overall solo time of 26-24 which the others couldn’t match. John finished fourth but crucially quick enough to make the top 6 run off, held at the end of the day.

Class 4 was a closely fought affair featuring again Paul Jarrett on his second machine, Dean Ellison on the D3 Racing KTM, also local flyers and supermoto aces Karl Geary and Neil Crayston from Holme also on a D3 Racing KTM. Add to this multiple hill climb champion Paul Jeffrey, and we were on for a ding dong battle for the class win. As the weather got hotter the times dropped and Jarrett’s second run was to be best beating Jeffrey by just one tenth to post 26-53. The local grudge match went the way of  Neil beating Karl by only three tenths, but with it the bragging rights! Local ace Dean Ellison did a best of 28-72, but Dean was carrying an injury that he struggled with all day, and the club were very happy that he choose to ride and entertained the spectators, giving the local people a rare chance to watch Dean race.

Class 5 for the biggest bikes was won by hill climb regular Alan Jolly with a time of 28-18 with Doug Parnell second. Class 6 for quads was a sea saw battle between Paul Dickinson and New Hutton Quad Dealer Pete Ellis, with each run breaking the class record, they just got faster and faster, unfortunately for Pete he was unable to go quite fast enough, still adjusting to and setting up his new KTM engined Polaris, Paul took the class win and new class record with a 28-59.

 

Class 7 for three wheelers and sidecars was a stop start affair due to a first run crash for Trevor Youens and Tony Jennison in the second corner, which resulted in a visit by the air ambulance. This meant a long delay and resulted in all classes loosing one run. The class was easily won by Jason & Dawn Reeves setting the fastest overall time of the day and taking with it The Handley Rose Bowl, second went to Simon Blenkin & Paul Nelson. Class 8 for vintage was won by Ian Cramp in 30-51 with second going to Grant Sellars.

All this left was the top six solos and top 4 threewheelers for the run off, the heat was rising and the times dropped with each run, resulting in a 26-29 for Paul Jarrett being the best and Jason & Dawn Reeves posting a 26-13 to take the three wheelers. This was finished off by some impressive wheelies up and down the main straight by McGuinness, Haigh and Kendal’s Simon “the wheelie” Walker to show appreciation to the large crowd watching. The club was pleased with how the event went, with the difficult circumstances leading up to the day, and the quality of the event on and off the track. The day finished with a presentation of awards by Club President Percy Duff MBE and Optoma Loans Representatives.

Results

Class 1: 1st Les Wilson 2nd Karl Geary 3rd Ian Hainsworth

Class 2: 1st Robin Sim 2nd Chris Byron 3rd Doug Parnell

Class 3: 1st Glynn Poole 2nd Leighton Haigh 3rd Paul Jarrett

Class 4: 1st Paul Jarrett 2nd Paul Jeffrey 3rd Jon Staden

Class 5: 1st Alan Jolly 2nd Doug Parnell 3rd John Golda

Class 6: 1st Paul Dickinson 2nd Pete Ellis 3rd Eddie Readfern

Class 7: 1st Jason & Dawn Reeve 2nd Simon Blenkin & Paul Nelson 3rd Fred Reeve & James Beesley

Class 8: 1st Ian Cramp 2nd Grant Sellars 3rd Michael Harrison

Handley Rose Bowl, fastest time of the day (ftd) Jason & Dawn Reeve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Westmorland Motor Club are to hold a Motorcycle Speed Hillclimb on Saturday 28th JULY   at BARBON MANOR near Kirkby Lonsdale in Cumbria

This years sponsors include OPTOMA LOANS & Putoline oils 

 

Riders of note appearing are

13 times TT winner and Morecambe resident John McGuinness

HM Plant Honda team mate Ian Hutchinson  winner of 2007 supersport 600 TT race

World Superbike and British Superbike Rider Kendal’s Dean Ellison

Leighton Haig ex British 450cc Supermoto Champion

Paul Jeffery multiple record holder at Barbon and other UK Hillclimbs

Jason and Dawn Reeve on their FRS 1200 Kawasaki powered 2WD trike

 

Other riders include

Neil Crayston

Mick Raynor

Glynn Poole

Neil Hutchinson

 

A full entry of bikes is due with machines ranging from vintage to modern sports & race bikes and classes for Quads and Three Wheelers

 

Appearances by

Steve Plater British National Supersport champion, Twice British Supersport runner-up, British Superbike race winner 4 times.

Virgin Media /Optoma Loans Yamaha R6.

Stobart Honda race team bike.

The HM Plant Honda of John McGuinness.

a chance to win an Optoma Loans race replica Yamaha YZF-R6.

A display of Cyclo Trials.

 

Practice starts at 9:30 AM with timed runs commencing at 1:00  PM

Admission is just £8 and kids under 16 get in free. The event is signed from Jct 36 M6 on the A683

 

Plater appears at the Optoma Loans Barbon Hill Climb this weekend!

This weekend (Saturday 28th July)Optoma Loans will be sponsoring the famous Barbon Hill Climb in Cumbria and Optoma Racing Superbike Star, Steve Plater will be there!

Lincolnshire based Steve was hoping to take part in the Hill Climb but is injured after a crash at Oulton Park two weeks ago. “I am gutted that I am not going to be having a go as it looks great fun. But I have to get myself fit for the next round of the World Endurance Championships in a few weeks. I will still go and watch and Leighton Haigh will take some beating!”

The half-mile tarmac hill climb has two left hand bends onto a straight where machines can reach speeds of over 100mph, this leads to a very tight right hand hairpin, and a short straight over the finish line.

The Hill climb record stands at 25.54 set by Bill Chaplin on a Suzuki 1147 Trike. The solo record is held by Paul Bird (Team Principal at Stobart Honda) on board a Honda CR500 in 26.19.

Top riders taking part in the Hill Climb this year include TT legends John Mcguinness and Ian Hutchinson, Kendal’s World Superbike racer Dean Ellison and from Supermoto, past British champion Leighton Haigh, who is worth watching as he backs it into the hairpin as only Leighton can do.

Attractions aside from the Hill Climb include a chance to win an Optoma Loans race replica Yamaha YZF-R6, trade area, bouncy castle, Team Stobart Honda, demonstration cycle trials and John Mcguiness’s world famous Isle of Man TT bike will also be on show. Gates are open at 9am and timed hill climb runs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A round of the National Hillclimb Championship was held on July 29th 2006

 Results now available   bike results 06

Well! all that sunshine for weeks and then we get a day that starts lovely and turns…..!!

We started with and for those who stayed! we finished with sunshine!! Its just a shame that a great day, was spoilt by about 40 minutes of rain!! This meant that if you didn’t get your first run right, you weren’t at the races! That said I was left feeling the day overall had been a success, we had an entry that was not only big, but full of quality, and a large crowd to make all our and your efforts worthwhile. Its no secret that I  put a lot of effort into this event, and its my own personal hope, that we got it a bit nearer to where it needs to be in this century. We changed the layout and increased the paddock size, re-introduced the Day Licences and hopefully made the event more rider friendly. We also introduced to the event more things for you, family & friends and most importantly, the spectators, to do during the day. It was my intention to move the event on, and this year was a move in the right direction, but we still have a way to go….

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting us again, and hope you will be putting us into your calendar for next year. Special thanks to John McGuiness and Leighton Haigh for once again supporting the event, and making it a little more special. John set the fastest time in the Fastest Six and Leighton showed that he’s as fast in the wet as he is in the dry!!! that’s a bit unfair as by his own admission, he had a poor first timed run, but I hope he will join us next year if possible, and if the weather can be with us, I think he can break records. It was a great shame that Dean Ellison got injured just prior to our event, but a credit to him, that he came on the day and supported us, when I’m sure it would have been easy to be elsewhere, thank you Dean.

Although the event does take a lot of my time, it was a pleasure to see you all enjoying yourselves,  and from our point of view, a credit to yourselves to how well you made the meeting flow. Its always surprising to see who sets some of the fastest times, as its usually not by who you think it might be. We had a local rider this year, who was a first timer, that was very impressive, dropping into the 27’s and also another local lad who was here for only his second time,  He got a pot and made the fastest six this year!! he was also pulling some impressive wheelies back down the hill, I think he has the ability to go even quicker. From my viewpoint, its equally great to see the local lads, who come to Barbon as a one off, do well, as it is the established names. It was also great to see the Reeves back in action, and no surprise to see the fastest time of the day, and with it “The Handley Rose Bowl” set by them. I’m sure you will join me in congratulating them for there outstanding performance.

My thanks to all those who marshaled the event, but a very special thanks, to those who prepared the course and those that delayed their trip to the pub, to do the thankless task of cleaning up afterwards, you know who you were. Many thanks to Margaret for all the work doing the times and admin during the day. Thanks also to the Shuttleworth Estate for the use of this excellent venue, the ACU, all our senior officials, timekeepers, commentators, course controllers, medical & rescue personal, gatekeepers, car parkers, raffle ticket sellers, and all our sponsors who made the event possible, enabling it to run so smoothly and without any serious incident.

 

Many thanks,

 Peter Brown

 

2006 event  photos

            

    

        

photos copyright www.whatnonegatives.co.uk