Following a successful debut in October, motorcycles will once again race with a split-class format at the 79th Members’ Meeting and, in a first for the event, will race on both Saturday and Sunday.
With the motorcycle racers having to sit on the sidelines for a year during the Covid-19 pandemic, the 78th Members’ Meeting made up for lost time and saw a mixed-class format take to the Motor Circuit, with both Hailwood Trophy and Sheene Trophy machines vying for the race win down to the last lap.
Isle of Man TT winner James Hillier took the victory in 2021, sliding his Yamaha TZ350G into the lead on the final lap, beating Richard Wilson’s Triumph Trident to the line by just seven tenths of a second, and showing just how equally matched the two classes are around the 2.36-mile Goodwood Motor Circuit.
The 2022 running of the race will once again blend both the two-stroke Grand Prix machines of the Hailwood Trophy with the F750 challengers of the Sheene Trophy, resulting in an eclectic mix of sights, sounds and eras, spanning the late 1960s up to the mid-‘80s. Flying the flag for the earlier four-stroke machines will be the likes of the Rob North BSAs and Triumph triples, while the Yamaha TZ, which was dominant in period, is likely to be the favoured entry for the Hailwood Trophy contingent. Also featuring in the race will be at least one Ducati 750SS, made famous by the great Paul Smart, who sadly passed away last year.
In an all-new feature for 2022, motorcycles will race on both Saturday and Sunday in two shortened sprint races. Two seven-lap sprint races will be run in favour of the single 20-minute encounter of previous Members’ Meetings, with an overall winner coming from the combined results, much like the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy at the Revival. Saturday morning’s qualifying will set the grid as usual for the first race that afternoon, while starting positions for Sunday will be set by the fastest laps in the Saturday afternoon race.
Tickets for the 79th Members’ Meeting are now limited, and are available on Goodwood.com for all those that are a member of the GRRC Community, as either a Member of as part of the Fellowship.
Photography by Jordan Butters and Jayson Fong.
Keyword: Motorbikes to race twice at 79MM