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English riders on their territory !
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The 4th round of the 2013 ICGP Championship saw the riders make their way to the Lincolnshire countryside where nestling amongst the rolling hills is one of the most challenging and demanding circuits in the United Kingdom. Cadwell Park, part of Jonathan Palmer’s Motorsport Vision Group, famous for its fast undulating corners, narrow parkland section and not forgetting the unique mountain where bikes become planes and riders become pilots.
This round is supporting the televised British Superbikes and thus there will be an expected crowd in excess of 50,000 with the predicted good weather that is forecasted for Bank Holiday Monday. As a result of this the race has attracted possibly the best entry that ICGP has seen both in numbers and rider quality, with some of the best TZ riders coming out to play.
The paddock was formed in the usual efficient BSB way with riders being escorted to the paddock area by the BSB officials on their scooters. The format was for two qualifying sessions, one on Saturday afternoon and one on Sunday morning followed by race 1 on Sunday afternoon and race 2 on Monday morning.
The first qualifying session got underway in cloudy but dry conditions and Ant Hart upset the norm by putting his Anold Fletcher prepared Yamaha on pole from Ian Simpson and Mike Hose.
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For the second session on Sunday morning the Lincolnshire mist and rain came to greet the riders and clearly nobody was going to better their time from the previous dry session, so the grid stood with Ant Hart taking a well deserved first ICGP pole.
The scene was set as the riders made their way through the vast crowd to the grid for race 1. BSB mechanics and managers came out to watch as the iconic 2-strokes filled the air with that unique smell and noise only a 2-stroke can emit. Many of the current managers and mechanics in BSB are ex-riders themselves and the sight of these old Grand Prix bikes is a welcome break from the modified production machinery that exists in modern racing today. As the lights went out it was clear that Ian Simpson meant business and immediately took command of the race from Mike Hose, Ant Hart, Guy Bertin and the two guest apperances of Mark Linton and Mark Lister.
We had to look quite along way down the field to see the leading 250cc of Dean Stimpsom ahead of Colin Sleigh and Yves Hecq. Meanwhile Simpson edged ahead by about a second a lap and by lap 4 Hart had forged his way into second place ahead of Hose and Bertin. Mike Cooper was rapidly making his way to the front and by lap 6 he was hot on the heels of Ant Hart who had been relegated to 4th. By Lap 8 Simpson had an 11 second lead over Hose and Bertin who were in turn 1 second ahead of Hart and Cooper.
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The penultimate lap saw the positions change behind Simpson, with Ant Hart exiting the race after missing his braking point when passing a back marker, Bertin moved into 2nd from Cooper deposing Hose to 4th. On the final lap Simpson took a 10 second win from Cooper who had squeezed past Bertin for 2nd with Hose 3/10ths of a second back in 4th place .
Dean Stimpson had a clear victory in the 250cc over Colin Sleigh and Yves Hecq. The Masters was won by Guy Bertin from Richard Peers-Jones and Robert Hall.
Dave Cooper’s luck ran out again on lap 1 with Huw Edwards and Barry Neal going out on lap 5, Peter Howarth on lap 4 with Dominique Guillebert and Pete Boast on lap 3 and 1 respectively.
The ICGP paddock now had Sunday night to do what it does best and party the night away before the second race early on Monday morning.
Monday morning dawned with clear blue skies and warm temperatures a very different scene from Sunday afternoon. The crowd, even this early in the morning was enormous with all available space on the grass banks taken up with people anticipating a great days racing in the sunshine.
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As the lights went out for race 2 again Ian Simpson led the charge but this time a determined Mike Hose glued himself to the rear of Ian’s bike and Mike Cooper followed the pair 2 seconds adrift. Ant Hart became the first casualty crashing out unscathed at Mansfield on lap one. Mark Lister and Guy Bertin were having a great scrap for 4th and 5th with Dave Heal on his own in 6th.
The positions remained unchanged until lap 7 when Mike Hose hit the front and held the lead to win by 9/10ths of a second from Simpson, the pair having pulled well clear of 3rd placed Mike Cooper. Bertin just edged out Mark Lister for 4th with Mark Linton bringing it home in 6th.
Dean Stimpson went out from the lead in the 2500cc on lap 6 leaving Peter Thorne to pick up the win from Yves Hecq and Colin Sleigh.
The unlucky Dave Cooper went out on lap 1 with Peter Howarth following him on lap 2 and series sponsor Robert Burns exiting on lap 6.
The Masters was again won by Guy Bertin from Richard Peers-Jones and Robert Hall.
A fantastic day’s racing was seen after the ICGP race with the massive crowds being entertained in the sun.
The ICGP circus will form again in 4 weeks time in France at Le Mans.
350cc Race 1 :
350cc Race 2 :
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250cc Race 1 :
250cc Race 2 :
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Master Race 1 :
Master Race 2 :
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