Ephgrave stays in pole position for title after penultimate round

Hucknall racer Dean Ephgrave remained Steel Framed 600 Championship leader after the penultimate round of the Darley Moor Motor Cycle Road Race Championships on Sunday at the Darley Moor Motor Sports Centre.

Ephgrave leads with 52 points with Steve Price second on 49 and Anthony Porter third on 42.

He began the day in the first Pre Injection (up to 1300cc) race, which saw Jamie Pearson (Derby), put the title out of reach of both Mark Brailsford (Chesterfield) and Andrew Lowe (Stone).

Their second race saw both Pearson and Lowe fail to complete the first lap allowing Brailsford take a flag to flag victory, with Ephgrave adding a runner-up finish to his sixth in the first race.

Lowe and Ephgrave were also using the same machines in the combined Steel Framed 600/Pre Injection 600 races.

In the first race Lowe didn’t make the grid, whilst Matt Smith (Newhall, Derbys) secured a start to finish victory on his pre-injection machine, with Dave Marsden (Birkenhead) coming home in second place on his steel-framed machine, Ephgrave the third placed steel-framed home behind Chris Spink (Stafford).

Their second race was definitely one for the spectators; Dan Millner (Hope Valley) leading lap one, only to have Smith and Marsden pass him on the second lap.

After being down in fifth on that first lap Lowe started to make some progress through the field.

He was third on lap and into second place on the third lap, finally hitting the front on lap five and hanging on to take the victory from Smith, just 0.3sec behind, the victory being enough to retain the Pre-Injection 600 championship.

While there were 10 champions confirmed for this season on Sunday the headlines were written by just one competitor once again.

After setting the fastest lap in practice, Lloyd Shelley (Burntwood) took to the grid on six occasions on Sunday, won all six races and set the fastest lap in five of those races.

From a total of 44 racing laps completed Shelley was leading for 37 of them.

Unsurprisingly in the process he retained the two championships he won last year, the Sound of Thunder and Formula 600.

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