SINCE WHEN DID WE HAVE FOG IN JUNE?

After the rain in May at Mallory we were hoping for something a bit better in June for Cadwell. Someone upstairs seemed to think it was amusing to come up with fog instead.

Bookings for Cadwell were buoyed by various groups booking in large numbers. Most notable was Simon Parkins who booked a group of eleven for the purpose of celebrating his fortieth birthday. Now that’s one hell of a way to celebrate the big 4 - 0. They opted to stay overnight at the circuit on the Sunday and no doubt celebrations went well.

Woody, one of the instructors brought along a group of ten. Everyone seemed to have a good time so hopefully we’ll see some of them again.

We also had a number of supporters along from Visordown – much appreciated. Hopefully Grib managed to get the RS250 fixed after it decided to be temperamental.

Dinner was held at the Golf Hotel in Woodhall Spa and there were ultimately nine for the meal. Mark Finburgh was delayed due to a road closure and one of those infuriating diversions that sends you in a particular direction and then fails to put out any further diversion signs, leaving you lost in the middle of nowhere.

We were joined in the restaurant for dinner by Geoff Kendall, Terry Harris, Alicia Keen, Russell Brown, and Julie and Mike Moody; while Ian Fox, Patrick Tompkinson and Clive Gardiner opted for a bar meal in the bar. There was no Eric this time, but then Richard Morris wasn’t there either, which seems to prove a point; even more so since behaviour at the table was impeccable. The meal itself was very good and the wine flowed in moderation, mainly since the majority were riding next day.

Richard was unable to make dinner as he was still ‘hooning’ around the Lincolnshire Wolds. Graham Alcock would have made it for dinner had he not been stuck in the car park for four hours following the air show at Cosford. Unfortunately he didn’t arrive at the hotel until a quarter to midnight – too late for dinner, but just in time for a pint before bed. Obviously he needs better agenda management.

The following morning produced a thick mist, which was decidedly inconsiderate, but the journey to the circuit was accomplished without problem. At the circuit the mist was lying over the track and ultimately led to a forty minute delay before the start of play.

Geoff Sturgess was absent with a stomach bug, so once again Graham Alcock stepped into the breach and produced yet another splendid briefing session. He finished promptly on the dot despite being told to ‘fill in’ due to the delayed start. The novice briefing followed, and this time Graham kept it to a respectable thirty minutes. Practice makes perfect.

The action on track got under way at twenty to ten as the mist lifted. Not long after that the sun came out and the day just got hotter and hotter and eventually turned into a complete scorcher. I can vouch for this having arrived home at the end of the day with very sore sunburnt arms, and doing a fair impression of a lobster. This was in spite of getting out the brolly for shade (and enduring the usual brolly girl jibes) – but by then the damage was already done.

There were only half a dozen offs during the day, mostly of a minor nature, and delays were kept to a minimum. The only major incident was Lance Allcock highsiding on the exit of Charlies. Jeff did comment that with a name like Alcock, what can you expect? (Sorry Graham). Unfortunately the bike decided to catch fire, which resulted in a mass exodus onto the track by the circuit personnel to deal with it. Sadly the bike was not looking too good after the incident. Fortunately Lance came off somewhat better. He had a visit to the medical centre followed by a trip to hospital, which wasn’t looking too good to start with, but the final outcome was a fractured foot and a number of bumps and bruises. Once his foot mends he’ll have to sort out the bike….

There was the usual assortment of bikes on the day. A couple of unusual ones were the brace of Morini 350 Darts brought along by Leslie and Chris Skinner. Sadly one of them went bang during the morning so they were reduced to sharing the second one. Phil Bentley brought along his brand new Ducati 1098 to try it out round the track and was very pleased with the result. Good job he didn’t drop that – it doesn’t bear thinking about.

The superb weather and a good crowd meant the day was a huge success. Many thanks to all those taking part who helped to make it so. We have a good selection of photos in the gallery on our website for people to view. If anyone wants to purchase any, log on to EDP Photo News’ website at www.edpphoto.com.

Our next event is at Oulton Park on Friday 6th July and hopefully we’ll have another scorcher of a day. The price is £159 so get booking and we’ll all have another great Folly day..

Jackie