By Dennis Smith
June 17 2005

Last weekend the BMCRC circus moved over the Channel to Croix-en-Ternois and, thanks to the generosity of his RAF employers, Tom Gazzard was there doing battle with his fellow competitors, instead of battling with the crowds at a public air show. Gazzard was riding what amounts to a completely new bike following his massive off at Cadwell two weeks ago, which left only the engine and gearbox lump relatively unscathed.

A late arrival at the circuit, due to a ferry delay of two hours, meant that Thursday night’s sleep was forfeited, and learning a new circuit and setting up the rebuilt bike was compressed into half a day on Friday afternoon. However a base setting was achieved by late on Friday.

Race one on Saturday saw Gazzard off to a bad start but, despite that and the fact that he was still sore from the back injury sustained at Cadwell, he fought his way through the field to finish fourth behind winner Pat Sheridan and second placed John Angel, his two closest championship rivals. A close inspection of the bike revealed a leaking fork seal, which had caused front end chatter throughout the race. Race two saw yet another poor start but a third place, again behind Sheridan and Angel.

In Sunday morning’s warm up Gazzard was fastest - obviously he was learning the track, and the bike was slowly getting sorted. In race one yet another bad start left him with a lot of work to do but, in typical Gazzard style, his late braking at the hairpin eventually moved him past Angel and into second place behind Sheridan. Gazzard had suffered down-shifting problems throughout and, upon inspection, his clutch was found to be breaking up, which had no doubt been the cause of his earlier poor starts.

The final race of the weekend saw Gazzard fight his way to the front, which he held until the final corner on the final lap, when Sheridan forced his bike up the inside and knocked Gazzard wide - which also allowed Angel through into second.

A good weekend, with three out of four podiums at a new track on a “new” bike, and still a 40 point lead in the championship, left the TCG Motorsport team looking forward to Pembrey, one of Gazzard’s favourite tracks - where he will be once again joined by team-mate and lightning starter, Stewart Willetts on his Suzuki GSX-R1000, who was unfortunately unable to go to France.



Sadly we have to report the tragic death of Nigel Purdon, a colourful and extremely talented rider who died as the result of an accident in the Minitwin race on Saturday. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family.