NOBLE & ROSE TAKE 1ST & 3RD AT LAST ROUND OF BRITISH MASTERS

The 7th round of the British Masters series took place at Noble and Rose’s home town track at Skelder Bank, Whitby on 6th September and the lads didn’t disappoint their local fans.

Qualifying
Noble took pole with Rose in 4th and Parker 9th.

Race 1.
Noble bagged the holeshot with his teammate Rose in 2nd and it looked like he was going to make light work of it until he stalled his bike on the second lap, handing the lead to the on form Martin Barr who had already moved past Rose. Noble re-joined the race in fourth just behind Columb but within a lap he had stormed back into 2nd, albeit six seconds adrift of Barr. He gradually reeled in the Relentless Suzuki and on lap nine breezed into the lead which he held comfortably until the end of the race. After struggling in the middle of the race, losing a couple of places to Banks-Brown and Columb, Rose rallied to finish in 5th. Parker was in familiar territory, starting the race down in 23rd before charging through the field to eighth on lap eight. His next victim was to be Elderfield who he passed on lap twelve but not for long as he was held up by a backmarker in the left hander by the pits and found himself in a PAR sandwich as Elderfield and Crockard both took advantage. Parker suddenly found himself back in 9th which he had to settle for at the flag.

Race 2.
Rose took the holeshot with Noble this time back in 9th. By lap three Barr was again in the lead with Rose in 2nd and Noble in 3rd but this time Rose was in a different league to the first race and wasn’t going to give up on a possible race win without a fight. As the three riders closed up on each other Rose flew past Barr after the whoop section to take the lead. Half a lap later Noble took second as he shot past Barr on the second set of whoops before the big step down and on the next lap he out-dragged Rose through the rhythm section and squeezed through on the next corner. Rose hung onto the back wheel of Noble all the way to the chequered with Barr in close pursuit, but it was to be Noble’s day with two wins and the overall. Barr finished on the 2nd step of the podium and Rose took 3rd overall for the 2nd week on the trot. Parker had a worse start than in race one as he had to shut off twice on the start straight to avoid being taken out, leaving him dead last as he rounded the first corner. But he was in determined mood and literally carved through the field to 14th by the end of the first lap. After a couple more passes on lap two he found himself on the back of Elderfield but as he cruised past the youngster steam could be seen coming from his radiator and he took the sensible decision to pull into the pits. A split radiator hose meant the end of the race for the despondent Parker but he had shown in those two laps that he is making real progress and although it sometimes seems to be one step forward and two back, I for one am confident that he will be right in the mix in the not too distant future. As Noble’s mechanic Reg would say “Wome wasn’t built in a day.”