The CRMC King of Brands meeting brought a welcome change in the weather to rain soaked Britain, we enjoyed 2 days of almost summer conditions, at least it did not rain during the event !

Run as a combined 350cc and 500cc event there were races on both Saturday and Sunday.

The riders lined up for the start on Saturday and Lea Gourlay on the Paton and potential new rival 19 year old Olly Linsdell also on a Paton were 1 and 2 on the grid, this was Linsdell’s first attempt at a push start and despite paddock practice he was unable to get the bike started, Gourlay flew away from the line into a lead he never relinquished eventually winning the race by over 13 seconds from Michael Smith and Luke Notton who battled for the whole race in Gourlay’s wake. The 350 victory went to Hard riding Duncan Fitchett who was a fantastic 5th overall with team mate and sponsor Vanni Jensen in second 3500cc position second some 30 seconds behind him just ahead of Dave Hughes, Mike Russell on a 350 Aermacchi and returnee Martin Hudson fought hard for 4th place with Russell just getting the edge at the line from a man who is probably the only Master of Wine to race a motorcycle.

The second race on Sunday had a start grid based on Saturday’s results and this meant Linsdell was on the back row, this time Gourlay did not get away cleanly and was near the back as Smith and Notton got away fast, by lap 4 Gourlay was in front but Smith hit back to take the lead on lap 6 but Gourlay regained the lead to cross the line 2.4 seconds ahead of Smith at the chequered flag, Linsdell, later to be crowned King of Brands, was closing rapidly to finish 3rd. The 350 class was again dominated by Fitchett who finished 20 seconds ahead Phill Sharp who managed a fine second on a birthday guest appearance for his former Brian Richards team. Sharp was just ahead of Russell after a race long scrap with Jan-Frank Bakker who was the 500cc meat in the sandwich on his beautifully prepared Seeley Goldstar.

Duncan Fitchett was awarded £100 generously donated by Tom Nixon for the rider with the best overall performance on both days irrespective of the capacity of the machine after his fantastic 350cc wins.