Stars at Darley 2023 - Darley Moor

13 October 2023

I always have mixed feelings about visiting Darley Moor for the “Stars” meeting. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, I do, it’s the fact that it’s one of the race events that heralds the end of the motorcycle racing season for another year - winter’s coming.

Held annually in October, the last three Stars meetings I have attended have had significant amounts of rain and bad weather which is typical for Derbyshire in October.

This time it was completely different, with unseasonal warm weather and sunshine. You would think this would be a good thing, well it was for the very large crowd that turned up to enjoy the racing but for me, the spectator photographer, it wasn’t ideal.

For most of the day the sun was shining in my face which is not a good thing for taking photographs. Well I had to just accept what it was and get on with the task in hand of capturing the 2023 Richardson Stars at Darley.

The Stars are invited professional racers who compete for the Stars at Darley trophy which has had some memorable names engraved on it over the years. Recently, Peter Hickman and Richard Cooper have won and set lap records, but the most experienced racer by far at Darley was John McGuinness MBE who was taking part in his 24th consecutive ‘Stars’ event.

Darley opens its gates at 08:00 with the first practice running from 10:00 which meant that I didn’t have to get up in the middle of the night to get there on time, which was nice! Racing starts after the practice finishes.

When we arrived we headed for the hairpin which has been improved over the years with a raised bank that you can park on and spectate from. As we were taking pictures, we dropped down the bank to the low fence to capture the action.

In keeping with improving and enhancing the spectators’ experience, a new addition to the programme and the Stars race was Super Pole - an out lap followed by a flying lap and a cool down for the top five fastest racers from qualifying. This format has been used in British and World Superbikes and is a great way of adding extra excitement to the race day. I for one enjoyed the super pole. 

Held over two days with a race a day and an aggregate score determining the final positions, it was Charlie Nesbitt on a MasterMac Honda by Hawk Racing CBR 1000 who, after smashing the super pole, would be crowned the Star of Darley after winning both races. He also went on to set a new lap record of 52.31 seconds in the process. He was in excellent form when we attended on Sunday!

It didn’t take long for Charlie Nesbitt to get in the groove. Two laps in of the 12 lap race he was half way down the Pope Straight as the following riders were coming out of the hairpin.

No idea of where I’m on about? No problem, check out our photographer’s guide to Darley Moor. It has a handy map with the best locations for taking snaps.

Mr Nesbitt is definitely a racer to watch and winning the Stars in such a polished and commanding way will do his stock no harm at all.

The RICHARDSON Stars at Darley 2023

Winner – #86 Charlie Nesbitt

Runner  Up – #99 Ben Luxton

Third - #3 John McGuinness MBE

The G & S Trophy winner – #87 Jake Hopper

The John Newbold Trophy Winner – # 17 Mark Goodings 

As well as the headline race there was a load of club racing to watch. It can be a little difficult as a once a year visitor to work out who is who, but it’s kind of not important. Just enjoy the racing and let the excellent commentary team guide you through the meeting.

One criticism I have on the commentary is that it would be better if the race control were not housed in the same location as there was a lot of random “02 to 01 we need recovery at post 2” type of radio broadcasts in the background being picked up by the PA and broadcast around the track.

To round off our visit to Darley we will take a look at the club racers who were out in force. Last year there were a lot of ladies taking part, and I noticed one of the bikes that was ridden by Scarlett Robinson was on track. It wasn’t Scarlet racing but #4 Ted Wilkinson. He explained that his sponsor Fireplace New Mills owns the bike and helps out the FHO team. His daughter Scarlett Robinson used to ride for FHO but has fallen out of love with racing so he got the ride.

I hope Scarlett finds that love in the future as I enjoyed writing about the ladies last year and watching them race. Ted put in a good performance on the Kawasaki 400, picking up a second place in the Wilson Trophy behind winner Peter Fell on the Honda RS.

Also racing were the side cars. #93 John Holden and Ashley Hawes racing the Kawasaki LCR 600 were dominant in the Open Sidecars class and put on a good show through the chicane.

A first time visiter to Darley racing sidecars was #26 Maria Costello partnered by Alice Smith in the FHO racing LCR Kawasaki FZ 600 racing in the FII class. A battery issue caused the sidecar to stall after the green flag lap, and Costello and Smith needed a bump and started from the back of the grid. Not ideal as Darley is a tight track, but they fought through and had a great battle with Richard Butler and Kenny Cole, just pipping them on the line.

Dan Knight and Ben Hughes took the win in the #37 LCR Honda and were runners up in the Championship to #10 Howard Baker and Mike Killingsworth. 

So to summarise. The 48th Stars at Darley meeting was as expected, standard hard racing in the club classes.

Stars demonstrating why they are professional racers and are worth the annual trip to the Derbyshire countryside.

A great track that the Darley Moor team have continued to improve year on year makes the experience of visiting this independent circuit a pleasant one.

As you can see from the photos, as a bonus its a great track for the spectator photographer. We will be back for the 49th Stars and might just take in a club event as well in 2024.