There is no stopping Chris Ashfield’s title charge

After a year of domination in the Minitwins class, the Kinver star nearly lost it after the final hurdle but recovered to deservedly claim the crown.

The 24-year-old had gone into final round with a 98-point cushion and looked almost certain to win the championship.

But nothing is ever certain in motorbike racing and Ashfield admitted the campaign almost fell apart.

"Thankfully, I managed to win it but there was a moment where it nearly all fell apart," he said.

"When I went out in qualifying the bike felt good and so did I.

"Unfortunately, during the later stage of the session, I ran through the centre of an oil patch, which was perfectly placed on the apex of the hairpin.

"The crash ripped the brake lines from the front brake master cylinder – meaning I had no front brakes.

"Luckily, my dad somehow managed to re-crimp the brake lines with a set of pipe grips.

"The brakes worked but they weren't 100 per cent. Thankfully, the first race was half wet and half dry on track.

"I made the decision to run a wet front tyre and a dry rear.

"With the rest of the grid opting for full wets, the extra grip countered my lack of brakes and it allowed me to win the first race and take the overall championship."

The weather then dried for the final race and after finding some new brake lines Ashfield went out and won the last race too for good measure.

"It was mixed emotions crossing the line as it was the last time I would ride my SV650 minitwin bike," he said.

"And because of my future plans on entering the RAF in the next few months I'm not sure when I'll be racing again.

"But I couldn't have asked for a better way to end and hopefully I'll be racing again in the not so distant future, possibly for the RAF."

Wednesbury's Neil Lloyd, 48, who has been without much luck mechanically this year, was also in EMRA action, racing in the earlystock class on his Honda RVF .

He said: "We've not had the best of seasons to be fair and I spent a lot of time on the RVF during the run up to Mallory but it paid off because the meeting was the first time I felt I'd raced properly on that bike."

After qualifying 13th out of 27 riders, Lloyd finished second in the opening race.

He then switched to wet tyres for the second but with the track drying came 10th in the lightweight class due to a lack of grip.

"I was really pleased as the lightweight class is 650s, 250 two-strokes and 400s," he said.

"I was the fifth 400cc across the line and then I had to go straight out for the first earlystock race, against 750 and 1000cc bikes.

"I got a good start and ran second for two laps but had to back off as the rear tyre was totally worn out in the dry conditions, finishing seventh out of 17."

All the remaining races took place in the dry and Lloyd brought his bike home ninth in the next earlystock race and 17th in the lightweight race.

Lloyd will next compete in the final Darley Moor round, October 6-7.

"We had made plans to run a team in the Jurby endurance race on the Isle of Man too," he said.

"Everything was in place but we've just been informed they've dropped the 400 class for safety reasons, so Darley may be our final race of the year.

"Either way, big thanks go to Martin Lloyd of Lloyds Transport and Warehousing for supplying us tyres."

Walsall's Josh Langman, 27, from Cheslyn Hay, had a race meeting to forget in the Thundersport GB, CB500 class, Freshman series, at Cadwell Park but still has an outside chance of claiming the title in his debut season.

After winning the opening race, a last-lap corner move for another win ended in a crash, which meant he also missed the third.

"I came fifth in race four but I just wanted to stay on," said Langman.

"It's left me 40-odd points off the lead now but it’s double points at the final round, so maybe I ca still win it.

"I had an atrocious weekend with three big crashes in all, which meant I lost my confidence a bit.

"I’ll just see how it goes for the final round, but either way I've done better than I thought."

Fellow Thundersport GB racer Ben Taylor, 12, from Kidderminster, was also back in Superteen action.

Ben's father, Jason, said: "Ben was still struggling with confidence after his high-side at Anglesey but qualified third on his 125 and finished both races in that position.

"During Sunday's first race, he was pushing in the first couple of laps but crashed at the gooseneck.

"Ben was a bit beat up but went out for the last race of the weekend and brought it home for another third. It was a cold weekend and we have thank our sponsors for their support."