The KRC UK Endurance Championship descended on a hot and humid Pembrey for Round 3 of the championship, marking the halfway point for the 2006 title chase.

A majority of the teams took advantage of the Saturday test day, including Russell Horton who left to return to Cambridgeshire where his partner was about to give birth, missing the raceday.

Practice was a fast + furious 90 minutes on the morning of raceday and championship leaders GB Moto stuck their Yamaha 1000 on pole with the only sub minute lap coming from ex Virgin Cup series winner and former works Yamaha BSB rider Richard Wren, almost two seconds quicker than the Team Alfs Kawasaki (Russell Baker/Chris Frost). Richard is currently racing in British Supersports as is substitute Moores Racing R1 pilot, Ben Wylie. Few times were useful in the second practice session as the heavens opened and the rack was slippery. There was some debate as to whether track was faster or slower than previous seasons as it had been resurfaced before the 2006 season and some riders found the track to be grippy and abrasive.

Loddon Racing

Snetterton pole setter Loddon Racing (Guy Hubbard/Scott Ingram/Phil Jeans) didn’t even make the grid – qualifying in 15th, after loosing two of the three practice sessions, the ECU on the Honda 1000 refused to kick in and it was early doors for the Norfolk team.

Unfortunately Wren was unable to make best use of pole at the 12 o'clock start and took quite a while to leave the grid, this was a vast improvement on Snetterton where GB Moto were last to leave the line. Worst still was for Steve Mercer on the 120+ Racing 600 Honda who tangled with the Moores Racing R1 machine of James Hurrell delaying their departure as Mercer removed his leg from the rear of the R1 – he must be made of stern stuff as he raced on despite being in pain from the injury sustained.

Steve Mercer (120+ Racing) tangles with James Hurrell (Moores Racing R1)

At the first hour mark Team SDE (Stuart Bold/Wayne Smith/Phil Bevan – a Pembrey specialist running trackdays at the venue and current holder of the 250cc lap club record, also Phil races in British Superstocks) led ahead of a recovering GB Moto, still on the same lap with Team Serendipity (David Wood/David Higgins) and Team Alfs. This time also marked the start of the first round of pit stops, at the same time the pace car was launched whilst marshals dealt with Hazel Drury who had high sided the Team Visordown Honda VTR at Honda Curve and was taken to hospital with arm injuries. That was game over for the KRC newcomer team that included Aberdeen based Dale Boardman who had flown down for the race, during practice, Hazel had managed to qualify the near standard twin in 13th spot.

Hazel Drury chases Loddon Racing

Wren had handed the GB Moto R1 over to another fast and experienced rider, Pete Jennings who managed to do two laps before the clutch disintegrated requiring the Yamaha to pit, returning in 19th place and 13 laps adrift of the leader. It took Jennings an hour to work his way back to 15th before handing over to Mark Smith - Halverson.

In the third hour, 120+ Racing rider Steve Mercer was black flagged for a technical infringement, following his mishap on the start line the team had worked their 600 Honda up to 11th place overall from last off the grid. Just before the half waypoint two bikes went down at The Esses resulting in an early bath for Black Cat Racing (Sean Moss/Mark Westcott/Jim Gow) and by 3pm Team Serendipity enjoyed a two-lap lead over the Team SDE R1 and Team Alfs Kawasaki.

Black Cat Racing - early retirement

The Moores Racing team (James Hurrell/Jim Agombar/Ben Wylie) were very canny at their next pit stop where they were able to gain a place to promote themselves into third, demoting Team SDE just ahead of the C & K Racing Yamaha of Kev + Chris Jones/Ian Wooltorton. Jim Agombar keeps his hand in by racing a TZ Yamaha in the CMCRC series, whilst teammate on the Moores R6, Tony Jimenez recently won a vintage race at Pembrey on his Norton Commando.

Moores Moto - 12th place

Going great guns was the sixth place 750 Suzuki of Uprite Racing (Jason Gunning/George McCombie/Alan Stevens) and further back were the 600s of Team M2, 120+ Racing and 750 runners JSE Racing (Jonathon Snooks/Randy Kitzmiller/Kevin Forrest).

On the four-hour mark, Paul Wilson crashed the BTW 750 Suzuki (David Taylor/Alastair Bayley/Paul Wilson) at Honda Curve, bringing out the pace car and prompting a rash of pits stops for fuel, tyres and fresh riders. BTW are likely to miss the next round at Snetterton, as Taylor will be focussing on his road racing activities at the Southern 100 next week and the Manx Grand Prix in August.

The temperature was now up to 36 degrees in the shade and riders and crew were beginning to fade, pace car periods did not help as riders struggled for cool air. Leaders Serendipity made the most of the pace car by diving into the pits and returning to the track at the back of the pack. In the fifth hour Wren was lapping four seconds quicker than the others hauling the yellow machine up the field; they were now 12th, having caught the leading machine on the track, the GB Moto R1 machine was now battling and trading fastest laps.

GB Moto - 7th place

In the closing stages Mark Smith – Halvorsen was to ‘enjoyed’ a massive moment caused by errant hot water finding the rear slick, again at the notorious Honda Curve, he managed to save it and bring the bike safely home much to the relief of GB Moto. As the race entered the final hour it began to rain – just enough to drop lap times a tad, the leader unexpectedly pitted and made adjustments to the right clip on, they had 5 laps in hand over the green machine of Team Alfs who performed a splash and dash mission with 5 minutes to go despite having four laps over SDE. Team Serendipity’s win was not a surprise really, at Brands they were very quick but binned it and at Snetterton they could almost see the winning flag and managed to do the same. One of the few teams to run only two riders both mean appeared remarkably fresh after almost 500 racing miles.

Team Alf's Kawasaki - 2nd place

Team M2 (Doug Cannon/Matthew Checkley/Tim Jones) won Class B on their 600 Honda, that’s 3 out of 3 only one lap ahead of the unfortunate 120+ Racing machine, which was only a lap ahead of Turning Japanese (Vance John/Andrew Veal/Tony Meech). 120+ Racing will be looking forward to a race without dramas, at Brands they started practice with a pit lane spill, Snetterton saw another visit to the sin bin for an infringement and at Pembrey the race was 10 seconds old when their rider hit the deck.

Hypa Racing - Class E Winners

Class C was Serendipity from Alfs, SDE, Moores Racing, C & K and GB Moto in seventh overall! In Class D Uprite Racing finished in sixth overall and 4 laps ahead of JSE Racing who set fastest lap in their class and Class E honours went to Hypa Racing whose 600 Yamaha finished seven laps ahead of the Phoenix Endurance R6 team who enjoyed a steady race.

As the KRC teams left South Wales, GB Moto lead the overall standings and no less than four riders are tied in Class C, Mark Smith - Halvorsen, brothers Chris and Kevin Jones and Ian Wooltorton. Class B is in the safe hands of Doug Cannon on maximum points and Class D honours are shared by Jonathan Snooks, Randy Kitzmiller, Kevin Forrest, Jason Gunning, Alan Stevens + George McCombie. Shelley Pike heads Class E with Phoenix Endurance teammates Shaun Finch and Peter Gibson.

Three weeks time sees a return to Snetterton where action will be spiced up with the appearance of teams entered by bike magazines – no ex World Champs, as riders must be journalists, expect some fireworks. The race length is also stretched to 8 hours, so that’s a 1000 race start after practice on the Saturday - you’d be mad to miss it.

Alfonso Lygo

Photography copyright © Alfonso Lygo, all rights reserved.

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