CMRC Cadwell 2020
Classic Motorcycle Racing at Cadwell Park.
18 July 2020
We are now over half way through the year and due to the Covid 19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, motorsport has been severely curtailed. The first event I could attend as a spectator photographer was the Classic Racing Motor Cycle Club meeting at Cadwell Park held over the weekend of the 11-12 July.
This Lincolnshire circuit is my local track and I know it well from a photographic view point. I will generally turn up and go to my regular points around the track to capture the action safe in the knowledge that I will get some great pictures as I've done so many times before.
However, the Covid 19 restrictions on the spectating paying public meant that the paddock, the front of the café, the holding area and all of Hall bends were out of bounds. These areas could only be accessed by the racers and the their support crews.
I think the idea behind this was to keep the two groups apart, reducing the risk of spreading the infection and to simplify the reporting process if anything were to go wrong. If anyone did get infected it would be easier to track and trace from the information held on the paddock crowd than the paying public.
However, just like going to the pub these days, as a spectator have to give your contact details on arrival at the track unless you have a session pass as MSV already have your details.
The areas that were out of bounds to the public had me reassessing my days' shooting as I like to keep the sun at my back and move round the track as the days wears on.
I could still kind of do what I wanted, just not from the locations I wanted to, but this was a good thing as you can get stale doing the same thing and I enjoyed the challenge of capturing images from different locations.
Having scoped out a few new locations, in between the racing I checked out the crowd. Regardless of the safety measures put in place, both Saturday and Sunday were very well attended, more so in the Sunday for the racing.
It might have been a standard sized club racing crowd but there appeared to be a lot more people trackside than you would usually see at an event like this.
Was the high attendance because it was the first racing to be seen in a very long time? Or was everyone spread out more, keeping two meters apart, making it look like there were more people?
I didn’t really care to be honest, I was trackside, the sun was shining and there was a heady whiff of two stroke oil in the air, bliss.
So onto the racing. We are not a results website - there are better sites for that sort of thing. We are a photography focused (pun intended) site, however a few of the races stood out for me. Race three was a cracker, the Classic 200cc 4 strokes, 250 European and 350 Goldstars.
Andrew Green #14 and Joe Woodward #158 both on Yamaha RD 250cc were having a full on battle right from the start. Coming out of Barn, the last corner, they were side by side down the straight, they couldn’t have been much closer across the finish line, 0.016th of a second separated them with Andrew Green coming out on top…just.
As much as I love a two stroke, seeing the older classics is always a thrill. The Classic 500cc, Over 55's and Goldstars for pre 1975 500cc motorbikes in race 9 and 20 were great to watch. Peter Bardell #6 on a Manx Norton, Richard Molnar #25 on a Molnar Manx and Alan Oversby #40 on a Honda were the pace setters.
Honours were shared by Bardell, taking the race 9 win and Molnar race 20, with Oversby third in both races.
One great aspect of the CMRC is the Parade Lap. This is not a new concept. Cadwell regularly have parade laps during the lunch period to entertain the spectators while the racers and marshals take a break, usually with the safety car setting the pace.
The CMRC have taken the parade lap to the next level, recognising that there are a lot of motorcycles tucked away that loosely meet the criteria for their club championships but the owners don’t want to race, so have developed a parade lap.
This is a cracking idea as we the spectators get to see some interesting classic racing motorcycles where they belong, on track, and the owners get to ride them in the correct environment. There were two parade laps on each day of the meeting with the bikes having the letter P before the number.
It wasn’t just two wheeled machines roaring through the Lincolnshire Wolds. The classic sidecars were out in force as well. Sean Hegarty and James Neave #33 took the top podium in race 8 with Jon Perkins and Ian Nickels in #8 second.
We weren't to see a rerun of the first sidecar battle in Race 16 as Hegarty and Neave retired with Jon Perkins and Ian Nickels in taking the win. Adrian and Bob Dawson in the # 197 Moorespeed BMW came in second, one place better than the first race.
Overall the CMRC meeting at Cadwell is a great day out. Modern Japanese classics mixed in with the old school British iron has something for all classic bike enthusiasts to get excited about.
Combined with the scenery of the mini Nürburgring and it's hard to think of a better way to spend day out in the Lincolnshire sunshine.
Photographic Post Script
CV19 have had a devastating affect on all forms of motorsport and it's not going to go away soon. The restrictions trackside are an annoyance but totally justified and were respected by the crowd that attended this meeting.
Talking to a few of the visitors (as MSV are now calling the spectators), visitors are allowed to visit parks that might have a bit of racing going on, spectators aren't are they? It was clear that they enjoyed the experience of racing post the full lockdown at Cadwell Park.
As long as we are sensible in our social distancing and respect the rules that have been put in place, I see no reason why we can't watch racing for the rest of what is left of the season.
Stay alert, control the virus, capture the action and most importantly stay safe everyone. I will see you trackside soon.
Thanks to RP Watkinson Photography for helping out on this report.
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