David Carson setting the pace again at Darley Moor

WINCHAM’S David Carson is setting the pace again at the Darley Moor Motorcycle Road Racing Club championships.

After four rounds at Darley Moor Sports Centre near Ashbourne, Derbyshire, the 44-year-old TwoDavesRacing.com rider leads the Darley Cup club champions series, the Twin Cylinder 655 to 700cc class and is second in the Open 600cc category.

Carson, who is aboard a Kawasaki ZX6R ‘Supersport’ bike and Aprilia RS660 Trofeo ‘Supertwin’ machine in the various races, will be aiming to maintain his progress in rounds five and six in August.

In the combined Forgotten Era and Darley Cup races at the most recent meeting, Lancaster’s Mark Pattinson was initially at the front with Winsford’s Nick Clare, Carson and Barnsley’s Adam Sherriff a short distance behind.

Pattinson had stretched his lead to 2.5secs after lap two, but Clare and Carson were locked in a battle, with Sherriff a further two seconds back.

The Lancaster rider was never headed, finishing the 10-lapper with a 4.2secs advantage over Carson, who recorded the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.

Pattinson also took victory in the second race, again with a dominant display.

However, behind him was a superb battle finishing with Sheriff taking a class victory and an overall second place ahead of Clare, with Carson overall fourth, but with just 0.4secs separating the trio!

Clare is second in the series behind Carson, with Pattinson third.

With just enough time to give his machine a once over and a splash of fuel, Carson was out again in the combined Twins and Wilson Trophy races, of which, after two victories at the meeting earlier in the year, he stood at the top of the standings in the Twin Cylinder 655 to 700cc class.

However, he was denied victory on this occasion with Worksop’s Josh Froggatt heading him throughout the two races.

The first race saw the pair never split by any more than 0.5secs until lap seven, when, passing backmarkers, Carson was slightly baulked, allowing Froggatt to stretch a lead of 1sec, but Carson fought back on lap eight, only to suffer a similar fate on lap nine and after posting another fastest lap, on the final lap, reduced the gap by 0.5secs, to the leader.

In the first of the Open 600cc races, Carson and Doncaster’s Mark Goodings were separated by less than just 0.4secs throughout the entire race.

Goodings took the ‘holeshot’ and just held the advantage throughout the 10-lap race.

The margin at the head of the field was only 0.13secs back to Carson in second, while Stone’s Adam Green was third, nine seconds behind Carson.

Huddersfield’s Joe Holdsworth made the grid for the second race and was quickest off the line, finishing the opening lap with a 1.4secs advantage over Goodings, with Carson down in fifth.

Lap three saw Carson move from fifth up to third, then Goodings hit the front on lap four.

Goodings was able to stretch his lead to 2.6secs at the death while Holdsworth and Carson battled it out until the flag, Holdsworth taking second place by just 0.08secs from Carson.