On Sunday the 4th of August, the Norwich Viking MCC hosted the Dennis Slaughter memorial trophy race meeting, including round 6 of the NGR championship at the iconic Cadders Hill circuit. A busy 12 race schedule awaited the mix of expert and top junior riders, ready to battle it out on the naturally hilly Norfolk track.
Race 1 of the premier class, Luke Parker (MPM Kawasaki) gained the holeshot and looked to lay down an early pace at the front, around his home track. Ben Cole (GH Motorcycles Husky) was charging hard on the opening couple of laps and Lings Powersports duo, Bayliss Utting and Joe Leeks were battling close behind in the top 5. At the halfway mark Ben Cole would make a costly mistake and allow Utting a way through into second and onto the back wheel of Parker. With backmarkers coming into the fray, Utting would fare better than that of Parker and swiftly made his way into first, he would then go on to win the first race impressively, ahead of Parker and Cole, with Leeks in fourth and Charlie Nudds in fifth.
In race 2, all the big hitters were at the front early on, as once again Parker and Cole went bar-to-bar towards the front. Bayliss Utting didn’t get the best of jumps out of the gate and had some work to do to close the gap. During the latter part of the race, the pressure from Cole would take its toll on Parker and the former would take the lead and come home first to take a much-deserved race win. Parker over the line in second ahead of Utting in third.
The 3rd premier class race of the day was the designated, Dennis Slaughter memorial trophy, and that would go to the best placed Norwich Viking club rider. The first ever winner of this trophy was Luke Parker, and he powered his Kawasaki to the front from the gate with the chasing pack close behind. With in-form challenger Ben Cole in his wheel tracks, Parker knew any slight error was going to be punished. 2023 winner Joe Hall was buried mid pack and too far back to regain his crown, so it was all down to Parker and Cole for this years title. With Bayliss Utting ineligible for the trophy, he was just fighting for overall honours and doing a fine job as he passed Cole on his way to second. With Parker still leading the way, they came towards the last lap where unfortunately the red flag appeared, bringing the race to an early end. Parker however would take the race win and the memorial trophy for 2024, ahead of Utting and Cole in the top 3. Parker would also take the overall ahead of Utting and Cole.
In the NGR championship, race 1 would see Arran Powley dominate from start to finish ahead of John Hinz who battled through the top ten to finish in second, and Lee Kirkpatrick in third. Race 2 would again see Powley to the front, but John Hinz soon found his way into the lead, before bike problems ended his race early, leaving Powley to make it back-to-back wins ahead of Kirkpatrick and championship leader Aaron Hopkins. The final NGR championship race of the day would see John Hinz turn the tables on Powley and take the race win. Powley would come home in a solid second and Hopkins in third. In support group A, Alex Truslow would take all three race wins and the overall, ahead of William Giddings in second with a 2-2-3 and John Hilton in third with a 4-5-2 finish.
In support group B, Tai Elvin-Andrews would take a hat-trick of wins and the overall, ahead of Lee Keyton in second with a 2-2-2 and Kevin Gore in third with a 6-7-3 finish.
The next meeting at Cadders Hill will be the final round of the ACU Eastern Championship on the 29th of September.