Sunburnt at Snetterton - 2nd May 2004

Article and Photos By Ian Bucknell - MAG East Anglia Regional Political Officer

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On Sunday 2nd May, East Anglia MAG organised a ride out to Snetterton to watch a great days club racing and support “MAG sport” sponsored rider, James Clamp.

We met up in Thetford and took a leisurely meander along some quiet backroads, through wooded countryside, to arrive at the circuit in a relaxed frame of mind. Brilliant Ride Out route Ian - thanks!

We met James and his father for a chat in the paddock mid-morning and after a healthy question and answer session, everyone wished James well for the rest of the days racing.

All types of machines were competing from 125cc 2-strokes, filling the air with the fragrant smell of Castrol-R, to booming 1000cc V-twins assaulting the eardrums.

We were treated to a great sidecar race and the spectacle of MZ250 racing and from our vantage point at the Russell bend we witnessed plenty of incidents throughout the day.

This weekend saw Jamie’s first competitive races of the season, due to personal circumstances and unfortunately it did not start well.

On the Saturday, an oil leak from Jamie’s engine covered the back tyre and caused him to loose control in spectacular fashion.

Luckily, James was not hurt and the bike suffered only cosmetic damage.

So after his long suffering father had made a mercy dash to a local bike shop for a new engine casing and made liberal use of the gaffer tape on the bikes bodywork, Jamie was ready to race again.

James competed in two races on the Sunday. In the first, he was well off the pace and struggled to regain his confidence after the incident on Saturday, but in the second Jamie faired much better and after starting from the second row of the grid he settled into fourth place.



With about 2 laps to go however, Jamie’s weekend was almost ruined when one of the other riders tried to force his way through at Russell only to outbrake himself in the chicane and loose the front end, sliding off right under Jamie’s front wheel. Jamie kept his cool and took advantage of the situation to nick another place and finish a very creditable third.

An enjoyable day was had by all in the sunshine and credit goes to Shan Tedder, Regional Rep, for organising the day and the weather!

East Anglia Region website Here