Gamble extends Championship lead at Anglesey
Jul 2008
Stanley Gamble raced to two safe second place finishes at Anglesey on the 26th and 27th July to extend his ACU Suzuki GSX-R600 Trophy Championship lead.
The Ulsterman is now 26 points clear of Chris Hawkes who is back in title contention due to third place man Ritchie Thornton crashing out of race two.
Both races were hotly contested as is now expected of the GSX-R Trophy and it was Ross “Rossi” Richards who won both races, giving him plenty to celebrate. It was his 25th birthday on the Saturday so the race win was the ideal present as he had to overcome the pain of a broken foot sustained during a crash at Oulton Park in order to compete.
Gamble came home second but had led the race until mid distance when he had to succumb to Richards’ charge. Third place in race one went to Michael Birch who also set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1min 13.395secs. Being the highest placed novice automatically gave Birch the Express Top Gun Novice Award and for his superb race he was also given the Relentless Rider of the Day Award – a pretty good haul.
Actor Stuart Manning who plays Russell Owen in Hollyoaks, made his road racing debut as a guest rider in the GSX-R Trophy, finishing his first race at the challenging Welsh track in 12th place. MCN’s Competition winner Colt Dwyer had a good run taking seventh place.
The second race of the weekend saw pole sitter Chris Hawkes try to make a break for it from the start but luck was not on his side as Richards put a move on him early in the race and that allowed others to follow suit. Once again Richards romped into the distance beating second place man Gamble by 12.035 seconds. This time round third place went to Adam Foster who picked up his first podium finish of the season. There were a number of fallers during the race including Championship contender Ritchie Thornton.
Stephen Woulds received the Express Top Gun Novice Award for finishing in 10th place and Dwyer put on another strong performance to taken another seventh place finish and receive the Relentless Rider of the Day award. He came over the line just ahead of Manning who was thrilled to finish in eighth place inside the top 10.
The next round of the ACU Suzuki GSX-R600 Trophy will take place at Castle Combe on the 16th-17th August.
Ross Richards: “My Dad who was doing my pit board changed how he was doing it from Saturday so I thought Gamble was right with me until near the end when I realised what had happened. I’m happy with how this weekend has gone and my foot injury isn’t too bad now as the swelling from yesterday has gone down. The next round is at Castle Combe and it is a very bumpy circuit so I hope my foot will have fully recovered by then.”
Stanley Gamble: “I would have liked the race to have been a bit closer at the front. I saw Ritchie’s crash and I decided to stay safe and not push it. The Championship is the main thing and you can’t win the Championship at the first corner, there are a lot of races to go yet.”
Adam Foster: “I got a rubbish start and then got held up by Moore. As the race went on everyone started throwing themselves at the scenery and a couple went down in front of me, at least it was a few less people to pass. This is my first podium as I’m not a wet weather rider so I hope the weather holds from here on in.”
Stuart Manning: “That was a really good race and it was nice not to be over taken by too many people. I was 10th at the start of the race and I had a good tussle with Ben Broadway which I really enjoyed. It was very hot out there and my tyres were going off so I was sliding around which was a bit hairy so I’m glad I brought it home safely in the top 10.”
Race one results:
1: Ross Richards
2: Stanley Gamble
3: Michael Birch
4: Chris Hawkes
5: Ritchie Thornton
6: Adam Foster
7: Colt Dwyer
8: Ash Davies
9: John O’Neil
10: Steven Woulds
Race two results:
1: Ross Richards
2: Stanley Gamble
3: Adam Foster
4: Chris Hawkes
5: Joe Moore
6: John O’Neil
7: Colt Dwyer
8: Stuart Manning
9: Ben Broadway
10: Steven Woulds
Championship Standings:
1: Stanley Gamble 125
2: Chris Hawkes 99
3: Ritchie Thornton 98
4: Ross Richards 95
5: Joe Moore 80
6: Rogerio Lacerda 74
7: Adam Foster 71
8: Colt Dwyer 51
9: John O’Neil 35
10: Stephen Woulds 34
For more information on the GSX-R600, click here.
