The Devitt Insurance X Vanoni Racing Team score a 1-2, their best result ever with Scrambler Ducati

The 2024 DTRA racing season got underway over the weekend at the newly renovated Comets Speedway in Workington, Cumbria and it proved to be a resounding success for the Devitt Insurance team and their Scrambler Ducatis.

On an ever changing and unknown track both Jack Bell and Skye Adams made their intentions clear over the 2024 Championship, finishing 1st and 2nd in every session on the Scrambler 1100 - from Free Practice, through the Heats and up to the Final.

The day started on a wet and sketchy track. That and a lack of seat time - neither Skye or Jack have been on the bikes since the last round of 2023 - meant that it took them a couple of sessions to get up to their usual pace. Nonetheless it was evident that the speed was there and neither of them had run out of talent over the winter!

The track, although straightforward in appearance, presented various challenges with hidden bumps on the way out of T4 and a difficult narrow line out of T2, which made consistent lap times a challenge. Even so lap times tumbled and whilst the other competitors jousted for position Jack and Skye cleared out, improving by over a second a lap over the course of the meeting.

The only hiccup over the whole weekend was the fact that Skye’s number had been misprinted, so she had to run with #67 for the duration of the meeting. But if that’s all that goes wrong in a racing weekend we can live with it.

Sunday led to some interesting racing as Jack jumped on Joey Brindley’s Ducati Twin bike. This was purely a tactical decision as the new Twin bike isn’t race ready yet and racing this way allowed us to not chalk up a nil point. Jack got on with the job and qualified second on what was a fast track on the day.

After leading for one and a half lap in the final he was passed by current champion Gary Birtwistle on the Factory Royal Enfield Twin and finished the race in second place, 3.2 seconds behind Birtwistle, and 13 seconds ahead of Justin Heavens in third. This is a promising result considering we expect the FT07 to be a faster bike.

Skye Adams
"A great weekend at Workington, the venue is brilliant and I hope we will return. I really enjoyed getting back on the Ducati, with my first second place on the bike. I’m hoping to make more improvements during the year and I’m already looking forward to the next round!"

Jack Bell
"A very productive weekend at Workington for the team, taking our first 1-2 in the hooligan nationals championship. I am very pleased with how the Scrambler 1100 is working. It’s good to be back!’

Jack now leads the standings in the Hooligans with 20 points, followed by Skye with 16 and James O’Hara with 12. In the Twins Class Gary Birtwistle leads with Jack 2nd on 16 points.

Next Rounds: Hooligans, Isle of Wight on June 15th, with the Twins Class at Greenfield TT, May 12th

Photo: Braking Point Images