Alun Brooks lands a telling blow to help Jon Wright

Jon Wright and Alun Brooks were both back in Thundersport GB action at Mallory Park – and it was the later who put all his mechanical knowledge to good use.

Wright, 42, from Shrewsbury, looked to be staring down a barrel when his trusted CBR600 F3 blew up on the first corner of race one and he then suffered a crash soon after, which resulted in a ‘did not finish’ for Saturday’s second race.

But after Brooks took a blow torch and hammer to his bike, he recovered to take two wins on Sunday.

“I was very happy to qualify first in class for race one considering I didn’t do the test day due to work commitments,” he said.

“But the bike blew up on the first corner covering the track in oil, water and various other engine debris, which scattered the pack leaving corner one with a slippy exit.

“I’d slipped backwards among the chaos but progressed and on lap six took the class lead and set the fastest lap.

“I must’ve gone a bit too fast because on lap seven I tucked the front end going into the high speed corner Gerrard’s and that was game over.

“The bike was smashed up and there were bits everywhere but somehow I managed to walk away with sore fingers and a few bumps and bruises.”

Wright admitted he never thought he would need ‘the skills of a plumber’ at a race track but with the help of fellow racer Brookes, of Welshpool, a small team worked on the bike until early evening in readiness for Sunday’s races.

“I dropped a few places during the opening laps while getting bike confidence back but my pace improved and I won race one beating last year’s champion Mark Biswell by just 0.05 seconds,” added Wright.

“I eventually won race two by eight seconds and was pleased with consistent lap times and to be back on the top step.”

Wright also finished up with two 12ths and two 10ths in the GP1 Classic class on his Suzuki GSXR750. Next up for Wright will be an N G Racing meeting at Castle Coombe, on July 8-9, which forms part of the Wiltshire motorcycle extravaganza and includes an appearance by motorbike star Guy Martin.

Meanwhile, Brooks also had a memorable Thundersport round in the Pre National class picking up a fifth and three impressive second places.

After getting a good start in race one he had moved up to third going in the first corner, a position he held until the end to finish second in class, a feat he followed up in race two.

Wright was ready to return the favour for the start of race one on Sunday when the heavens opened and the riders were forced to change to wet tyres.

Starting in fourth, Brooks was again soon up to third by Gerrard’s and by Edwina’s was running in first.

He held top spot for two laps but was passed by a few riders as the track began drying, leaving him fifth overall and second in class.

With dry conditions for the final race, Brooks tried braking later to keep in front but locked the front end and had to use the run off, which left him sixth overall and fifth in class.

Brooks had also been in No limits action the weekend before, competing in the Newcomers 600 class.

He said: “The first race was wet and I was second going into the first corner, I position I kept until the track started to dry and I settled for fourth place.

“A red flag restarted race two and I ended up fifth when a rider came off on the last lap.”

Brooks also entered the endurance race with FB Racing and finished sixth in class before crossing the line third during the final sprint race.

“All in all it was a good weekend but tiring with competing in the endurance and the sprint races,” he said.