I returned to Brands hopeful of a drama free and dry meeting so that I could finally get to enjoy this spectacular circuit. The weather forecast was for occasional drizzle on Saturday, heavy rain overnight and a warm but breezy Sunday.. It was exactly as predicted and we managed four almost completely dry races, all but a few laps.
The 500cc Air-Cooled championship has become fairly competative now and I had high hopes for some close races with Justin Shaw,     Jon Benton and the rest of the motly "stinkwheels" crew.

Race 1; We were to share the track this weekend with the '1300cc Twins & Multis' class, so expected to be lapped by the likes of Lea Gourlay and Gary Thwaites..
I got away well and had my sights set on Steve Boams TR3 Yamaha, which I had expected to run away from the rest of us. Steve pulled the gap lap by lap and in fairness managed to pick off the slower 1300s easier than I did. Justin and Jon had closed up behind me and we enjoyed a seriously close battle in which Justin and I swapped places several times and which went right to the line.                                                 Last lap action... Myself, Justin and Jon               Pic by DJG                                We finished with just 1.2 secs seperating the three of us! I was struggling with a sticking carb slide too, which made things interesting...
Colin Western brought up the rear of the pack on his tidy little Vic Camp TS250 to be the first 250cc stroker in the new class, and hopefully the vanguard of a whole wave of smaller bikes and the possibility of a new sub-class.

Race 2; I managed to get a fair gap between myself and the other T500s and again was set on catching Steve Boams Yamaha. I got past Steve at one point but was having to push hard in the corners to keep up with the nimbler Yam', meanwhile Justin was making progress behind us.
With a couple of laps to go it started to spit with fine rain and I felt less comfortable in the corners. I had one final attempt at catching Steve and enjoyed a close race to the line with Steves Yam', Rob Hansfords Rocket3, Sean Hennesseys Norton (both in the 1300cc class) and myself crossing the line split by 1.3 seconds. Justin had ridden hard from a fairly mediocre start to finish third again, just 2.5 secs behind me.         Steve, Justin, Myself and Jon all in a row down 'Paddock Hill', with Sean Hennessys' Norton 750 in the middle...                                                       Picture by  Pete.

Race 3; This race was run with the "1300 National" race, basically the same classes as before but with three more laps.. Someone had made an error with the grid positions and I was started behind most of the class. I was angry about this and was less than forgiving with other riders in the first lap... After the dust had settled I had pulled a fair distance over the other T500 riders in my attempt to catch up with Steve Boam. With more and more clear track ahead (and behind) I found myself thinking too much, and being too aware of the bike which makes keeping up your lap times very hard. I shook myself out of it and managed to crack the 1 minute mark with a 59.119sec lap.
Lea Gourlay (leading the 1300s on the Lidgate 930cc Trident) lapped me on the penultimate circulation and I resolved to try and follow him into Paddock Hill Bend...... I wont be so silly again.
Result was another second, with Steve 7secs ahead.                        Phil Bootherstone and Justin had been having more fun behind me with Phils smooth riding style eventually taking him across the line in third with Justin just 0.5sec behind.                                         Chin on the tank up toward Druids..

Race 4; Justin got a flying start and was several bikes ahead after the first few corners, hot on the heels of Steves Yam'.. I caught and passed him and went off after Steve, like deja-vu all over again.. On the third lap I was confident that I could not only catch but pass, and beat Steve this time. Unfortunately my throttle started sticking open again which affected my lap times and allowed Steve to pull away and Justin to catch up.
With the sticking carb slides I was having to use the force of the front brakes fighting the drive of the rear wheel to set up a vibration which would allow the slide to drop. This made for some fairly scary moments but at least I had some kind of control over the situation. Justin had passed me by the time I had the knack of riding round my problem sorted and he was riding like a man possessed. I chased as hard as I could but just wasn't able to to do much more than show him a front wheel a few times.
Steve Boam had cleared off 5secs ahead for his fourth win of the weekend, leaving Justin and I to cross the line within half a second again.. This time with Justin getting a well earned second