Toughsheet National Twinshock Championship

Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships Round 1

 

Cumbria Twinshock Club

 

Stipers Hill, Polesworth

 

Report Geoff Shuttleworth

 

Pictures Louises MX Pictures

 

 

The opening round of the Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships took place on Sunday at Stipers Hill, Polesworth, hosted by the Cumbria Twinshock Club with help from the Polesworth crew and supported by Yorkshire VMX. Over 200 riders made the journey, and after the awfully wet winter the weather gods were with them as it was a bright sunny weekend, and the track, although a little rough towards the end, held up really well during the mammoth 24 race programme.

 

First to the line this year were the LPE Clubman class with some new names to the series. And first blood went to Mark Russell, who managed to wrestle the overall from Andy Steel by a margin of two victories to Steels one. Young Reece Winsor on the Husky took third, with three top four rides from Martyn Williams on the big four stroke, and Duncan Judd was chuffed to bits with his fifth place at the end of play.

 

The line was full to bursting for the MD Racing Over 50’s class, and Alan Eaves started as he finished last year, by taking the first two race wins, from Richard Allen both times, but in the third Eaves was involved in a first lap melee, and had to fight his way back. This left Allen to take the third race and with it a well deserved overall from Eaves, with Phil Ryan starting well taking third after leading for a long time in the final race. Alan Bott was up there with them and took fourth from Phil Martindale.

 

The Over 60’s was eventually won by Geoff Stokes, but John Mercer took the second and third race wins, but a lowly fourth in the first meant he missed out by a single point. Birthday boy Dave Mozley rounded off the podium.

 

There was some cracking action in the Wulfsport Experts, and new to the series Bryn Clarke on the Husky took the first and third race victories after some good dices at the sharp end. But it was Marsh HPF Honda man Alex Butler who pipped him for the overall by carding a 3-1-2 to take the red plate after round one. There were a whole host of machine problems for the top stars, and consistency was the order of the day, with Jon Rowlands getting his best ever result taking third overall, from Danny Hiorns in fifth. It was also good to see Honda mounted ex Champion Gary Parker back with the series in sixth.

 

The Falcon Shocks 250’s were a bit thin on the ground, but they mixed it with some of the experts with Chad Sait winning the class with a first and two seconds, from Steve Denton, Steve Rowlands, and Chris Rowlands.

 

The CI Sport Intermediate Class was won convincingly by Lawrence Wiltshire on the red rocket, with three back to back victories, and afterwards agreed to be upgraded into the experts. Young Jack Goddard got the better of his Dad Steve by taking the runner up berth, with James Curtis fourth and Daran Williams, just up from the clubman in fifth.

 

The new Yorkshire VMX Twinshock and Evo 125 class was pretty well supported, and they all raced together with the results split, and the twinshock 125’s was won by Sean McCrea, but not without some great tussles with runner up Paul Lippitt, and Mathew Rowlands in third.

 

The Evo 125’s were grateful of a race against similar sized machinery, and it was Lee Holland who prevailed and won the overall with two wins to runner up James Shands first race victory. Richard Wood did all he could but had to settle for third overall.

 

The Herts MX Vets class saw a return to form for Paul Coward, who beat off the challenge of Garry Jones to take the overall with two fine wins and a second. Jones won the first to take the runner up spot. Lee Buck was third from guest rider Mark Owens and Lee Jackson.

 

The Partridge Ventilation Pre-83 125’s were next up, and reigning champion Lee Holland stormed to three classy wins, although James Shand kept him honest, not too far behind in second. Paul Baldwin improved with each race and took third, and Paul Lippitt rounded off a good day in fourth from Olly Partridge.

 

The final class of the day was the Motolink Yamaha Evolution class, and it did not go to plan for reigning champion Glen Phillips who had bike problems all day. This left the door open for new to the class Danny Hiorns on another big Kwacker, who eventually showed his class by taking all three wins. Andy Hinchliffe on the 250 Honda took the runner up spot, and Jonno White also new to the class taking third. Paul Coward wasn’t too far behind in fourth in front of last years 250 champion Joel Hughes.

 

 

LPE Clubman

 

1 Mark Russell, 2 Andy Steel, 3 Reece Winsor, 4 Martyn Williams, 5 Gary Craddock, 6 Sean Burrows.

 

MD Racing Over 50’s

 

1 Richard Allen, 2 Alan Eaves, 3 Phil Ryan, 4 Alan Bott. 5 Phil Martindale, 6 Chris Woodward.

 

MD Racing Over 60’s

 

1 Geoff Stokes, 2 John Mercer, 3 Dave Mozley, 4 Michael May, 5 Bill Brown, 6 Brian Hayes.

 

Wulfsport Experts

 

1 Alex Butler, 2 Bryn Clarke, 3 Jon Rowlands, 4 Willie Burgess, 5 Danny Hiorns, 6 Gary Parker. .

 

Falcon Shocks 250’s

 

1 Chad Sait, 2 Steve Denton, 3 Steve Rowlands, 4 Chris Rowlands, 5 John Bennett, 6 Jamie Biddulph.

 

CI Sport Inters

 

1 Lawrence Wiltshire, 2 Jack Goddard, 3 Steve Goddard, 4 James Curtis, 5 Daran Williams,

 

6 Will Bayman.

 

Yorkshire VMX 125 Twinshock

 

1 Sean McCrea, 2 Paul Lippitt, 3 Mathew Rowlands, 4 Dave Ellis, 5 Andrew Robinson, 6 Dave Rowsell.

 

Yorkshire VMX 125 Evolution

 

1 Lee Holland, 2 James Shand, 3 Richard Wood, 4 Luke Wade, 5 Phil Oxley, 6 Jon Cowgill.

 

Herts MX Veterans

 

1 Paul Coward, 2 Garry Jones, 3 Lee Buck, 4 Mark Owens, 5 Lee Jackson, 6 Jason Turner.

 

Partridge Ventilation Pre-83 125’s

 

1 Lee Holland, 2 James Shand, 3 Paul Baldwin, 4 Paul Lippitt, 5 Olly Partridge, 6 Anthony Twidle.

 

Motolink Yamaha Evolution

 

1 Danny Hiorns, 2 Andy Hinchliffe, 3 Jonno White, 4 Paul Coward, 5 Joel Hughes, 6 Michael Smith. Best Pre-85 – Kevin Hall.

 

CNR Burrows Transport Rider of the Meeting – James Shand

 

 

Well we have been inundated with riders registering for the 2014 Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships, with over 200 by the beginning of February, which is a series record. The first four entry forms are now posted, and entries are looking very healthy already. Please do not leave registration until Telford if you wish to guarantee a ride at the first three events at Polesworth, Condover and Hawkstone, as some of the classes have more registrations than we have places on the line. If you require any info on the series please contact me by using the e mail on the contact tab.

We have a number of events available for individual sponsorship, where you get a full page ad in each programme, and your logos on the programme front of your chosen event. This all goes to help the clubs with their costs. Pop around to our stand at the Telford Show on February 22/23 for a brew and a chat.

Well the good news is that Doug and John Mercer from Toughsheet Building Products have agreed to continue with their headline sponsorship of the series for 2014, something we are all very pleased about. The AGM took place at Stoke last month where a provisional events calendar was drafted, with nine rounds including two double headers at Warmingham Lane and Pontrilas.

The dates are as follows;

March 30 Stipers Hill, Polesworth.

April 20 Allfields, Condover, Shrewsbury.

May 3 (Saturday) Hawkstone Park.

May 25 Bassenthwaite, Cumbria.

June 15 Charnock Richard, Lancashire.

July 19/20 Warmingham Lane, Sandbach, Cheshire.

August 3 Upton Court, Tenbury Wells.

August 24 Gale Common, Selbey, Yorkshire.

September 6/7 Howton Court, Pontrilas, Hereford.

The other great news is that the Matt Murphy Memorial Meeting at Hawkstone Park, will incorporate a round of the Toughsheet series on the Saturday, and it will also include a classic class once again for the Brian Nadin Memorial Trophy.

The AGM also passed the proposal to increase the numbers in the 125 class, by including any 125 machine up to and including 1989 Evo bikes. They will all race together, but be scored separately.

It also looks like transponders will be in use for 2014, with more details to follow.

Jem Parker is also hoping to have a four round four stroke class up and running with a single race at each event.

Registration for the series is still the cheapest on the planet at £17-50, and an IOPD Annual Licence is pegged at £15 or you can buy a day licence at £5. Something else that was agreed at the AGM was that a track feedback form will be attached to the registration form, so that clubs can see what they are, or are not doing quite right.

Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships – Final Round

Cumbria Twinshock Club

Howton Court, Pontrilas

Report Geoff Shuttleworth

Pictures Louises MX Pictures

The final round of the 2013 Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships took place at Howton Court, Pontrilas last weekend, hosted by the Cumbria Twinshock Club. The track had been graded and watered prior to practice, and the start straight change to the adjacent field, seemed to go down well with the riders. There were good line ups in all classes which were swelled by late entries, as riders realised there was very few other events to choose from.

Matt Stephenson knew that two good finishes in the first two races would secure him the number one plate for 2014, in the Wulfsport Experts class, and that is just what he did, as he blasted the Ken Sourbutts prepared Maico out of the gate in both, to take two excellent wins. His only challenger was Alex Butler, who followed him home in both on the John Marsh HPF Honda. Rick Du-Feu was the only rider who could have threatened Stephenson in the points table, and got better with each race, taking fourth, third and finally finished runner up in race three on the Maico Only. Simon Gower had his best ride of the season with two thirds and a fourth, and Matt Hopkinson on another Maico took fifth overall.

Alan Eaves had already secured the MD Racing Over 50’s title, but had a surprise challenger as evergreen Pete Mathia turned up. In race one Eaves took the lead, chased by Chris Woodward, Norman Emery and Mathia. By half distance Mathia made his move, but could not close down Eaves by the flag. But in race two Mathia holeshot and checked out, although Eaves did catch him, but could not make the pass, as Mathia celebrated when taking the flag. In race three Eaves took a determined lead, which he held to the flag, from Mathia, Paul Woolf and Emery. There were six over 60 riders, and Geoff Stokes won the first two races to take the title, after travelling from France for each round to do the series. Brian Hayes won race three after Stokes was involved in a second corner pile up, and with it won the CNR Burrows Transport Rider of the Meeting award. Rob Alderton riding the series for the first time took third overall.

There was some frenetic racing in the Falcon Shocks 250 class, as the first five battled for supremecy, but it was Joel Hughes who took first blood, just finishing ahead of Sean Dodders, Tom Marsh and John Bennett. But in race two Dodders managed to hold off Hughes, out on a borrowed bike, from Marsh and Steve Denton. This was enough to secure the title for Hughes, and with the pressure off rode to the race three victory again from Dodders and Denton.

Chris Cannon was another who needed one good result to take the CI Sport Intermediate title, and in the opening encounter he took the lead, but James Curtis was on a mission and overhauled him to take the first win, with Paul Croxon third. Cannon made no mistake in the second and held on for the win from Croxon and Curtis to take a deserved title. Coxon took the third race and the overall as all three riders ended tied on points with the last race result deciding it.

In the Maico Only supported 125 class Sean McCrea went into the final round with a slender lead from Lee Holland, who needed to finish in front of McCrea in each race to take the title. And that is just what he did, as he stormed to three uncontested wins, to snatch the title from three times champion McCrea. Local rider Chris Rowlands guaranteed third in the standings with third overall.

The LPE Clubman class was dominated by Mark Burrows on the big four stroke Husky, who took all three victories to take his first twinshock title. Reece Winsor and Matt Fry followed him home in race one, and Daran Williams and Alan Mozley completed the podium in the second and third legs. It remains to be seen how these riders go in 2014 when upgraded to the Inters class.

The Herts MX Veterans class has seen some titanic battles in 2013 between Jonno White and Dave Campbell, and Sunday was no different, but this time Campbell had more power as he turned out on a 1985 500 Honda. He took the first race from White, who knew second would be more than enough, and Jason Turner who took a good third place. Race two was won by guest rider Shaun Copeman, but Whites second combined with Campbells third place meant that White took the title, much to his delight. Campbell will be back though, and showed he meant business in race three by taking the win from Turner and Rob Prosser.

The final class of the day was the Motolink Yamaha Evolution class, and Glen Phillips warmed up for Farleigh with three straight victories, and another title to his name. Next best was Michael Smith who battled all day with Andy Watkins, with both riders having a second place. Richard Chinn took fourth overall on the 250 with three top six finishes, in front of Kieron Mulloy and Rick Du-Feu.

So ends another season of Twinshock racing with the awards presentation next up on Saturday October 26 at the Moat House, Stoke.

 

 

MD Racing Over 50’s

1 Alan Eaves, 2 Pete Mathia, 3 Norman Emery, 4 Chris Woodward, 5 Paul Woolf, 6 Alan Bott.

MD Racing Over 60’s

1 Geoff Stokes, 2 Brian Hayes, 3 Rob Alderton, 4 Michael May, 5 Bill Brown, 6 Geoff Churchill.

Wulfsport Experts

1 Matt Stephenson, 2 Alex Butler, 3 Rick Du-Feu, 4 Simon Gower, 5 Matt Hopkinson, 6 Jon Rowlands.

Falcon Shocks 250’s

1 Joel Hughes, 2 Sean Dodders, 3 Tom Marsh, 4 Steve Denton, 5 Carl Trout, 6 Matt Rowlands.

CI Sport Inters

1 Paul Croxon, 2 James Curtis, 3 Chris Cannon, 4 Richard Stiby, Dom Bratt, 6 Andy Cleaver.

Maico Only 125’s

1 Lee Holland, 2 Sean McCrea, 3 Chris Rowlands, 4 Dave Rowsell, 5 John Davies, 6 Brendan Mayne.

LPE Clubman

1 Mark Burrows, 2 Daran Williams, 3 Matt Fry, 4 Alan Mozley, 5 Charlie Evans, 6 Sean Burrows.

Herts MX Veterans

1 Dave Campbell, 2 Jonno White, 3 Jason Turner, 4 Andrew Little, 5 Anthony Mapp, 6 Rob Prosser.

Motolink Yamaha Evolution

1 Glen Phillips, 2 Michael Smith, 3 Andy Watkins, 4 Richard Chinn, 5 Kieron Mulloy, 6 Rick Du-Feu. Best Pre-85 – Jim Shand.

CNR Burrows Transport Rider of the Meeting – Brian Hayes

 

Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships

Round 7

Cumbria Twinshock Club Supported by Phil Denton Engineering.

Upton Court, Tenbury Wells.

Report Geoff Shuttleworth

Pictures Louises MX Pictures

 

Every thing that could have gone wrong, did go wrong at the seventh and penultimate round of the Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships at Upton Court last Sunday. All the hard work by Jim Shand and his crew, and Cumbria Twinshock club members on the track, which looked in absolute tip top condition early on Sunday morning, was undone by the worst that the British summer weather could throw at them.

The morning started off with a one minute tribute to Dave Livesey, the Evo and Vets rider, who was so tragically taken from us earlier in the week. The whole paddock assembled to pay respect prior to start of practice, which was a nice touch. Then the first aid crew broke down, only to get going, but to a different post code, which meant practice never commenced until after 12-30, by which time the heavens had opened, and the track turned into a sticky mess. But after struggling through the first block of racing the organisers met with the riders and the plug was pulled.

A lot of riders understandably packed up after practice, but a few brave souls took to the line for the MD Racing Over 50’s and over 60’s race. The conditions did not slow Alan Eaves down as he took a fine win from Chris Woodward who battled through to second in front of Alan Bott, Phil Ryan, Dave Fisher and Davy Robb, who had his best finish of the season.

Geoff Stokes was the only Over 60 finisher, and now takes a commanding lead into the final round.

The Wulfsport Experts race started dramatically as Alex Rach led Matt Stephenson on the first lap, until Stephensons bike stalled leaving him dead last when he had restarted it. Rach led for three laps until his bike cried enough. Meanwhile Matt was on a mission and by lap four had taken the lead and went on to win from Rick Du-Feu, who had managed to stay trouble frre. Craig Reynolds was impressive in third from Andy Hinchliffe and Simon Gower. Stephenson now holds a 25 point lead over Rach going into the final round.

Joel Hughes turned on the style in the Falcon Shocks 250 class, beating all but the top three experts, to take the win, and Sean Dodders just made it home in second before burning out a clutch, from Steve Denton who only just made it over the line in front of John Bennett and Tom Marsh.

The CI Sport Inters and Maico Only 125’s raced together, and it was Lee Holland who beat them all to take the 125 win from championship leader Sean McCrea in second and Chris Rowlands in third. But it really took it out of the 125 screamers. Vince Larcombe was the only Inter to complete full race distance to take the win, with Andy Cleaver a lap down in second, in front of father and son Kev and Dom Bratt. Chris Anderton was another who bravely made a finish in fifth.

The Herts MX Vets front runners made it look easy, but by this stage very few riders made it to the line, and even less finished, but Dave Campbell went flat out to take the win from championship leader Jonno White. Steve Rowlands, Shaun Copeman and Lee Davies were the only other finishers.

The LPE Clubman riders found the conditions worsening and Daran Williams eventually disposed of Alan Mozley to take first place, with Mozley just behind. Only Graham Challis and Ben Hughes, who took his best ever result finished the race.

In the Partridge Ventilation Pre-83 125’s championship, Paul Baldwin led the first lap, until a slip left Sean McCrea at the front for two laps, but Baldwin persevered to come back and overhaul Sean on the last lap to take a deserved win. McCrea took second, and Jim Shands third, meant he was the leading Over 40 rider. Tom Holland scored points in fourth, in front of Dad Andy in fifth. Colby Walker just got the better of Callum Walker at the flag.

Glen Phillips led from start to finish in the Motolink Yamaha Evolution race, and strengthened his position at the top of the charts. Craig Reynolds took second, in front of Andy Hinchliffe, Paul Coward and Tom Marsh.

The final round of the championship with double points on offer is Sunday September 1 at Howton Court, Pontrilas.

 

MD Racing Over 50’s

1 Alan Eaves 2 Chris Woodward 3 Alan Bott 4 Phil Ryan 5 Dave Fisher 6 Davy Robb.

MD Racing Over 60’s

1 Geoff Stokes.

Wulfsport Elite Experts (Supported by CNR Burrows Transport & Marsh Freight)

1 Matt Stephenson 2 Rick Du-Feu 3 Craig Reynolds 4 Andy Hinchliffe 5 Simon Gower.

Maico Only 125’s

1 Lee Holland 2 Sean McCrea 3 Chris Rowlands.

Falcon Shocks 250’s

1 Joel Hughes 2 Sean Dodders 3 Steve Denton 4 John Bennett 5 Tom Marsh.

CI Sport / DEP Pipes Intermediates

1 Vince Larcombe 2 Andy Cleaver 3 Kev Bratt 4 Dom Bratt 5 Chris Anderton.

HertsMX Veterans

1 Dave Campbell 2 Jonno White 3 Steve Rowlands 4 Shaun Copeman 5 Lee Davies.

LPE Clubman

1 Daran Williams 2 Alan Mozley 3 Graham Challis 4 Ben Hughes.

Partridge Ventilation Pre-83 125’s

1 Paul Baldwin 2 Sean McCrea 3 Jim Shand 4 Tom Holland 5 Andy Holland 6 Colby Walker.

Motolink Yamaha Evolution

1 Glen Phillips 2 Craig Reynolds 3 Andy Hinchliffe 4 Paul Coward 5 Tom Marsh 6 Andy Watkins.