BSB British superbike 
Dreary weather greeted the ICGP riders as they turned up at Cadwell Park to join the British Superbikes for the final round of the ICGP series.
The usual UK suspects were there along with the Cadwell Park regulars who rode each year in this round only. Some of the European riders were missing due to the distance needed to be travelled to attend, but Guy Bertin was there after all – having sourced a ride on Graham Veryard’s TZ350 which was the bike that Lea Gourlay rode to victory the previous year.
The weather stayed kind for the setup of camp on the Friday, and the sun even made an appearance every so often amid grey clouds.
But by the time the first qualifier came due on the Saturday the riders were greeted with a wet track, and the times put in were not as fast as they may have liked.
Although this was Guy Bertin’s first visit to the track, after enjoying a practice session on the Thursday, he did put in the fastest lap time for the first qualifier (64.3 mph), but was finding the gears longer than he was used to.
A couple of the riders commented to me that they needed 1st gear for the mountain, but wanted to be in 2nd, so gearing clearly an issue for some2nd fastest was Simon Densham and his TZ350 with 63.99 mph, with 350 current leader Ian Simpson coming and his BSR 350 in 3rd at 63.95 mph.
Richard Parker not having a good session due to his gear lever breaking soon after the start.
In 250cc it's Peter Thorne who take the pole closely followed by Steve Boam, Steve Clark is in 3rd at more than 6 seconds behind. 2nd qualifying sessions held at 6pm on dry track and the times improves for all.
In 350cc fastest was Ian Simpson at 77.36mph, 2nd was Christopher Bishop (Precision) at 76.5 mph and Richard Parker (TZ 350 / Mr Jones) third at 75.8 mph. Interestingly, fastest through the speed traps in Qualifier 1 was Guy Bertin, with Richard Peers-Jones 2nd fastest in Sector 1 and the finish line.
Guy was a little over-zealous and managed to lose the bike from under him exiting the pit-lane, but managed to retrieve it and head back out again. Everybodys lap times were better, but Guy ended up 6th fastest after 9 laps.
In 250cc it's Colin Sleigh, serious opponent in Germany, who takes advantage followed by less than 0.2 seconds by Eric Saul, then Peter Thorne et more than 3 seconds who lose advantage from 1st qualifyings.
As predicted at the end of the Oschersleben Race, the race was going to be highly contested with the top 4 men !
Parker want to repair of his crash from the last race, Simpson needs to secure his points for the title, but it's without the up and coming “youngsters” Christopher Bishop, Antony Hart or Simon Densham who are very fast ! Eric Saul leads the championship and will do all to have the 250cc title.
Antony riding Arnie Fletcher’s 350, which he had brought to the track for him, it was good to see Arnie looking hale and hearty again after his terrible crash at Albacete just after his 70th birthday celebrations.
Qualifiers over for the day, the riders and their companions set up about fettling their bikes ready for the next day, and then all congregating for the traditional hog roast kindly provided by Malcolm Wheeler from Classic Racer magazine.
The food was highly enjoyable as ever, the hospitality and company superb, and the drinks free-flowing, if only the weather was slightly warmer – but this was August Bank Holiday, so really what else but grey clouds and lowered temperatures were we expecting !
After Qualifyings here is the starting grid :
The 10 laps race was set to start at 4:40 with more rain and gusts of wind. Most of the riders had wet tyres already on their bikes, with the dry ones to hand just in case the showers abated long enough for the track to dry with the wind.
Ten minutes before and a few drops started to fall, so the final decisions were made and most riders went out with avons.
Simpson chose to go out with hand-cut wets, and as the riders lined up, the slight drizzle stopped, and the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds – but it would be anybodys guess as to what the weather might do with the wind scudding the clouds across so fast.
Another exciting race started and Chris Bishop took a flying start into the lead and held on commandingly, with Guy Bertin and Richard Parker following closely behind.
Unfortunately for Chris a jubilee clip on a water hose broke around Lap 5 and he had to retire.
Luke Notton made a slow start, but then rapidly made up ground during the first 4 laps, only to tangle fairings with Antony Hart on Lap 5 at “Charlies” and both men went down.
The red flag came out and the race was stopped, as although Antony came through unscathed, Luke was knocked unconscious as he and bike hit the tarmac, and he was stretchered off into a waiting ambulance and taken to the medical centre, where he regained consciousness, but failed to remember what day it was!
So they transferred him to the hospital to spend an uneventful night, and he discharged himself the next day.
During the gap in the race whilst the riders waited in the pit lane to be re-started, Simpson’s crew changed his tyres to a pair of standard tyres, and Dave Cooper (TZ 350G) was fed sandwiches by the teams in the garages there.
The track was now completely dry, and after a welcome pause for some of them to regain their energy levels, the riders were sent out on a warm-up lap to come round and line-up in their orginal positions.
The lights went out again to start a 5 lap race to the finish, with Christopher Bishop now missing from front row. Guy Bertin took the lead, closely followed by Simpson, Parker and Peers-Jones.
Guy was having problems with his silencer by Lap 2, and Simpson and Parker both passed him and led the race, Simpson had but 2 seconds on Parker by Lap 3 with Guy third.
Richard Peers Jones and Simon Densham were battling for 4th place, with only .1 of a second separating them at one point, Densham pulled ahead and maintained fourth place to the end.
Lap 4 Parker started to close the gap on Simpson, and just after the crest of the mountain a determined Parker sped past Simpson, straight into the first bend at top speed, he controlled the bike all the way round the twists and turns of hall bends and came out the other side and over the finish line 0.7 seconds ahead of Simpson in 2nd place.
In third came Guy slowed up by mechanical problems, and then Densham 4th very closely followed by Richard Peers Jones.
Eric Saul (TZ 250L) came 5th overall securing his first place win for the 250’s with lap record, to secure the title he turns out the big attack and nobody could follow him !
Yves Roger Hecq (Armstrong 250) 8 seconds later achieving 2nd, and Steve Boam (TZ 250L) third.
Steve Clark’s (TZ 250H) run of bad luck had continued and his engine had seized during the first half of the race. It's the end of the race to the title for him ....
Congratulations go to Richard Parker for his First Place victory at Cadwell for the 350’s, Eric Saul for 250’s, and Richard Peers-Jones for a clean sweep on the Masters section over the entire championship.
Here are results of the race.
350cc Class
- Richard Parker (GB)
- Ian Simpson (GB)
- Guy Bertin (FR)
250cc Class
- Eric Saul (FR)
- Yves Roger Hecq (BE)
- Steve Boam (GB)
Master class
- Richard Peers Jones (GB)
- William Gougy(FR)
- Peter Thorne (GB)
Analyses, details and résults of testings and race : 
A Live Timing could be followed on the British Superbike website :
The final results for the Championship were:
350cc Class
- Ian Simpson 110 points
- Richard Parker 90 points
- Guy Bertin 73 points
- Richard Peers-Jones 62 points
- Roger Timms 33 points
250cc Class
- Eric Saul 83 points
- Yves Roger Hecq 55 points
- Bernard Tabarly 52 points
- Marc Auboiron 48 points
- Colin Sleigh 45 points
Master class
- Richard Peers-Jones 125 points
- Bernard Taberly 65 points
- Marc Auboiron 61 points
- Roger Timms 52 points
- Walter Hoffman 40 points
General results are available here
Congratulation to Ian Simpson, Eric Saul and Richard Peers-Jones for their
ICGP 2010 title !!
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Congratulations to all riders, and here’s looking forward to the 2011 season for more exciting races on these beautiful old machines. Keep informed about ICGP 2011 calendar, the website will be updated daily pending confirmations, Eric Saul And ICGP promises you a wonderful calendar with 3 first confirmed races, and expect to be surprised but especially well viewed !
The awards ceremony will be around the middle of November in Paris !
Text and pictures from Mandy Jordan.
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