Shelley bounces back with a Darley double

The Burntwood ace had been out of action – and work – for three months suffering with sciatica in his back.

But he showed no rustiness to claim two class victories as well as giving the 1000cc-powered bike a run for their money on his smaller 600cc machine.

"I had been out of action for three-and-a-half months with this back injury," he said.

"I returned to action at my favourite local track Darley Moor, which seemed to be received well. It’s such a friendly atmosphere up their.

"Everyone made me feel so welcome, even my main rivals. That’s what motorsport is about for me.

"I was also off work for three months but it's nice to be back working and racing now.

"Sometimes you don’t realise how much you enjoy things until you can't do them."

Round six of the Darley Moor Motor Cycle Road Race Club Championship kept the marshals and officials busy at the Derbyshire circuit.

Several incidents and red-flags to stop racing whilst the track was made safe meant they had their work cut out to try and squeeze a full day’s racing.

Darley spokesman Brian George said: "Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt and just the final event, the non-championship Newcomers race, was the only not to run."

Ben Scranage took a start-to finish victory in the opening All-comers non-championship race, with Shelley in second.

Shelley also finished fourth in the first Peak Cup race and then enjoyed a race-long battle with Richard Elgin in the second to finish third.

Having put his smaller machine amongst the larger 1000cc machines in the Peak Cup and Open Solo races, Shelley still had a battle on his hand when it came to the Formula 600 races.

He recorded the victory in both races but did not hit the front until lap three after finding a way past Rich Baker and Staffordshire's Matt Zschiesche.

The weekend's result leave Shelley top of the Formula 600 standings on 45 points, with Jamie Pearson on 39 and Rich Baker on 38.

The first combined Steel Framed 600/Pre-Injection 600 race also ensured spectators were kept entertained with the top three crossing the line less than one second apart.

From Lap two, Dave Marsden was first over the line on his Steel Framed machine, but Stone's Andrew Lowe was never any further than half a second behind on his Pre-Injection, crossing the finish line just 0.43 seconds adrift at the flag for a class win.

The second encounter saw Lowe lead from lap two to take the over all victory, which gave him a healthy 21-point advantage over second-placed Joe Walton.

Neil Lloyd's weekend, however, did not quite got according to plan as he suffered fuelling problems on his usually-reliable Honda RVF in the Lightweight class, but the Wednesbury rider still came away with two top-five finishes.

"It's set up for the tuned motor and we ran the standard, but I enjoyed getting out on it," he said.

"First race started dry then rained towards the end and it was red-flagged.

"The re-start lasted one a lap before it was red flagged again, so we had to run our race at the end of the day in torrential rain, which I don't mind but I had problems with visor steaming up.

"I ended up with a fifth and fourth, and good to catch up with mates, as well as making some new ones too."

Anthony Eades and his Wolverhampton passenger Keith Box lead Open Sidecars class, eight points ahead of second place, while Willenhall's McCauley Longmore tops the Formula 125 class by four points.

Dudley's Mark Cockerton has a lot to do to make up the 20 points needed to catch Chris Moore in the Classic 350 class, while Birmingham's Andy Whale tops the CB500 class championship by just two points.

All the class championships are sill up for grabs heading into he final round on October 7, with seven separated by single-figure points.

The final round is also just one long-race for each championship class, with 36 points – four times the usual availability – of points available for a win.

There will also be the 10-lap Stars at Darley races, which attracts some of the biggest names in the mototcycle business, past and present.

The weekend starts with a practice day on October 6 followed by race day on the Sunday.