Toughsheet National Twinshock Championship

Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships Round 3

Warsop MX Club

Bevercotes, Ollerton

Report Geoff Shuttleworth

Pictures Andrew Fairclough

The third round of the Toughsheet National Twinshock championship, was hosted by the AMCA Warsop MX Club at Bevercotes, Notts last weekend, and the club had put the hours in to prep the track for the 200 riders turning out for the 21 race programme, supported by SMC Motorhomes of Newark. The weather was superb, and extensive watering had to be carried out to keep the dust at bay. The track was new to many of the riders, as it went up and down the hillside in the valley, keeping off the old circuit in places and onto the grass. The large crowd saw the CI Sport Inters class out first, and the racing was good as Jem Parker stormed to three wins, and was a worthy winner of the Martindales rider of the Meeting award after five years away from racing. His nearest early challenger was Carl Hodgson, who had bad luck when challenging and losing his footrest. That left Kyle Godbear to pick up the pieces with second overall, just in front of Jake Veitch in third. Matt Bennett snatched fourth on a tie break with Kev Bratt.

The Hazport Vets class had a full line up of 36 riders, and that really made the dust fly. Danny Blakely was first out of the traps taking race one, but he was beaten by an on fire Richard Chinn on the TM in the next two legs, giving Chinn the overall by three points from Blakeley. Third place went to former IMBA champion Julian Dobb, having a guest ride on a track he had raced many times in the 80’s and 90’s and was also top over 50 rider. Nev King took fourth overall from Darren Dobson.

In the LPE Clubman class Chris Lambourne easily took the race one win, and sportingly took an upgrade to the Inters class. That left Timmy Gravener to rule the roost as he took three second places for the overall win, and the lead of the championship class. Third overall was over 50 rider Steve Hakes, who pipped Luke Freudenau by two points. Thomas Spencer took fifth after a breakdown in the first followed by two easy wins.

The Woodys Vintage Honda Evolution class was a real ding dong battle, with anyone of the top six capable of winning, and after a third and two wins, it went the way of Howard Wainwright by a single point from Barry Turnbull in second. Turnbull had taken the first race win, but had a few problems along the way. Danny Blakeley was third on the Kawasaki, just in front of Michael Ogden and Michael Smith.

The club experimented with a Super Evo class and had twelve starters with Sam Vickers taking the overall with three second places. Third race winner Reece Winsor took second, and third was double race winner Chuck Davies, who had a DNF in race three.

The big battle in the Moto X Concepts Over 50 Twinshock class was between Willie Burgess and Gary Parker, with Burgess firing to a trio of victories to score a maximum points haul, with Parker second to him in each race. Pete Mathia finished third in each leg, with Alan Bott fourth and Tim Sabine in fifth.

In the Over 60’s Jerseys Wayne Le Marquand took the first two race wins on the four stroke HPF Honda, but a derailed chain in the third, knocked him off the podium as Martin Snape picked it up to take the overall victory with the win in the final leg. Alan Hambridge had his best result of the year in second from Alan Hardy in third, and the Dutch visitor Hugo Heemsherk fourth.

Richard Chinn had a double success when to add to his Vets win, he also took the MRH Consultants Evo 125 class with a couple of tightly contested wins over fast gating Shane Holmes, who had already won the first race. Nathan Marsden was well pleased with the third step on the podium just in front of Andy Lawton and Lee Holland.

In the Wulfsport Experts Twinshock class Michael Smith had another day to remember, as he won race one, and combined with a pair of seconds took the top step, and kept his lead of the championship. Barry Turnbull seemed to have a few bike issues, but still took second, as did Ben Margetson in race two, but he made amends with a race three victory for third overall. Guest rider Bryn Clarke enjoyed his outing in fourth, just beating Irelands Jon McBride.

The final class of the day was the MRH Consultants 125 Twinshock class, and it was a resounding success for John Davis who took all three wins, each time beating Matt Rudd and Jason Slater in that order. Fourth went to Mark Burrows and fifth was Steve Riley.

The next round is the Lancashire Twinshock Clubs event at Barnoldswick on June 17.

Martindales Rider of the Meeting – Jem Parker

CI Sport Inters

1 Jem Parker, 2 Kyle Godbear, 3 Jake Veitch, 4 Matt Bennett, 5 Kev Bratt, 6 Sean Burrows.

Hazport Veterans Over 40’s

1 Richard Chinn, 2 Danny Blakeley, 3 Julian Dobb, 4 Nev King, 5 Darren Dobson, 6 Adam Wilkinson

Hazport Veterans Over 50’s

1 Julian Dobb, 2 Nev King, 3 Steve Ward, 4 Mark Spruce, 5 Dave Clayborn, 6 Daran Williams..

LPE Clubman

1 Timmy Gravener, 2 David Taylor, 3 Steve Hakes, 4 Luke Freudenau, 5 Thomas Spencer,

6 Noel Duke.

Woody Vintage Off Road Honda Evolution

1 Howard Wainwright, 2 Barry Turnbull, 3 Danny Blakeley, 4 Michael Ogden, 5 Michael Smith, 6 Jamie Dobson.

Super Evos

1 Sam Vickers, 2 Reece Winsor, 3 Chuck Davies, 4 Robert Beers, 5 Joe Severn, 6 Tom Holland.

MotoX Concepts Over 50’s

1 Willie Burgess, 2 Gary Parker, 3 Pete Mathia, 4 Alan Bott, 5 Tim Sabine, 6 Jim Shand.

MotoX Concepts Over 60’s

1 Martin Snape, 2 Alan Hambridge, 3 Alan Hardy, 4 Hugo Heensherk, 5 Wayne Le Marquand,

6 Ray Hodgkins.

MRH Consultants 125 Evolution

1 Richard Chinn, 2 Shane Holmes, 3 Nathan Marsden, 4 Andy Lawton, 5 Lee Holland, 6 Jonno White.

Wulfsport Experts

1 Michael Smith, 2 Barry Turnbull, 3 Ben Margetson, 4 Bryn Clarke, 5 Jon McBride, 6 Jamie Biddulph (Best Falcon Shocks 250).

MRH Consultants 125 Twinshock

1 John Davis, 2 Matt Rudd, 3 Jason Slater, 4 Mark Burrows, 5 Steve Riley, 6 Robin Cowgill.

Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships Round 2

Cumbria Twinshock Club

Hawkstone Park

Report Geoff Shuttleworth

Pictures Roy Edwards

The Toughsheet National Twinshock championship rolled into Hawkstone Park for round two last weekend,, and incorporated the Matt Murphy Memorial, hosted by Cumbria Twinshock and supported by Zeutschel UK. The Salop club had made a few changes by removing a couple of jumps by the finish area, and the hill was initially used in practice, until the Clubman riders found it too loose and had to be cut out in the interest of safety. Once again the Cumbria crew were blessed with superb warm weather, and the slickly run 21 race programme finished by 5-30.

Riders started the day on the billiard board surface, but obviously by the end there were quite a few retirements as the track roughed up, and quite a few found it just too hard going. But the racing was fast and close, with the Hazport Vets Modern kicking off first, and it was series leader Danny Blakeley who took the class by storm on his 1989 Kawasaki with three wins. His only real challenger was Richard Chinn on the TM, who managed to lead a few laps on his way to second overall. Joe Baston took third with 3-3-2 finishes, and Adam Wilkinson just pipped Darren Dobson for fourth.

Best of the Over 50 Vets was Polesworth winner Mark Spruce enjoying his time mixing it with the Over 40’s, and beat Steve Ward by just two points from Dave Clayborn.

The LPE Clubman class had a few new names on the rostrum, as Chris Lambourne took the overall helped by wins in the last two races. But for a fall by Tim Gravener, it may have been different though as Tim won the first and finished off with a third and a second, coming through the field to secure a bagful of points. Third place went to guest rider Trefor Davies, who pipped fourth place Steve Hakes by just three points. Last year’s Hawkstone winner Luke Freudenau took fifth.

In the Woodys Vintage Honda Evo class, Barry Turnbull, out on his faithful Honda CR500, was in a class of his own, and took all three wins, which must have been helped by his outing at the February International, giving him an advantage. Danny Blakeley was the closest to him in second place, beating the rest of the young guns, with Dan Shepherd matching lap times and really showing some raw speed in third from Jamie Dobson and Joe Ross.

The MotoX Concepts Over 50 and 60 class really found the sandy terrain tough going on Twinshock bikes, but it didn’t seem to bother Gary Parker and Willie Burgess, as they traded blows in each race. Burgess looked to have the better of Parker, but twice had mechanical issues, dropping him out of the points. Parker then left the rest behind, taking the overall victory with two wins and a second. Guest rider John Littler took second place with top three finishes in each race, and Alan Bott fresh back from Glen Helen took third from Tim Sabine and a delighted Kev Smith.

The Over 60’s were understandably depleted, but that didn’t stop Martin Snape, who took a couple of wins and a second place to win the overall. He locked horns with Jerseys Wayne Le Marquand on the HPF Honda all day, and although Wayne won race one he couldn’t match Snapes pace. Alan Hambridge took third from Steve Mitton in fourth.

There were five brave classic riders who took to the line and it was Ben Jones day as he took all three wins from Scott Jones and Ian Fenwick.

The MRH Consultants 125 Evo races produced some fantastic racing, with nothing between the fast starting Andy Lawton and Shane Holmes. And this one went down to the wire, as both riders took a win apiece going into the decider. Lawton got his customary holeshot, and went on to take the race three win and the overall by six seconds from Holmes. Mason Bell in third was not too far behind, and Nathan Marsden just did enough in the third race to squeeze out David Blackburn.

Reigning Wulfsport Experts Champion Barry Turnbull was back out on a Honda for Hawkstone, and left the field behind taking all three wins. His dominance was rewarded at the presentation, as Gary Murphy selected him as the winner of the Matt Murphy Memorial trophy. Ben Margetson was the next best in second with three podium finishes, just doing enough to push Michael Smith into third. Lee Holland, having his first outing of the year on the twinshock took fourth from Irelands Jon McBride.

The MRH 125 Twinshock class saw a new winner as reigning champion John Davis had an off day and Matt Rudd took advantage with some great rides to win the overall and two of the races. Considering Matts injury at Hawkstone last year, it was a superb performance, and he was awarded the Martindales Rider of the Meeting award for his efforts. Ever green Robin Cowgill had his best result to date to take second from Mark Burrows in third. Completing the podium were Steve Riley and Dave Ellis.

The final class of the day was the CI Sport Inters Twinshock class, and it was dominated by guest riders the Weavers, with Ben managing to put three consistent rides together to take the overall victory. Jem Parker rode with his head and again consistency was the key, as three top five finishes gave him second from Matt Bennett, David Hopkins and Sam Weaver.

All in all it was a really well organised event, and all the riders are looking forward to round three at Bevercotes, Ollerton on Sunday May 27.

Martindales Rider of the Meeting – Matt Rudd

Hazport Veterans Over 40’s

1 Danny Blakeley, 2 Richard Chinn, 3 Joe Baston, 4 Adam Wilkinson, 5 Darren Dobson,

6 Grant Hacking.

Hazport Veterans Over 50’s

1 Mark Spruce, 2 Steve Ward, 3 Dave Clayborn, 4 Keith Halliday, 5 Daran Williams.

LPE Clubman

1 Chris Lambourne, 2 Timmy Gravener, 3 Trefor Davies, 4 Steve Hakes, 5 Luke Freudenau,

6 David Taylor.

Woody Vintage Off Road Honda Evolution

1 Barry Turnbull, 2 Danny Blakeley, 3 Dan Shepherd, 4 Jamie Dobson, 5 Joe Ross, 6 Conor Smith.

MotoX Concepts Over 50’s

1 Gary Parker, 2 John Littler, 3 Alan Bott, 4 Tim Sabine, 5 Kev Smith, 6 Andy Holland.

MotoX Concepts Over 60’s

1 Martin Snape, 2 Wayne Le Marquand, 3 Alan Hambridge, 4 Steve Mitton.

Classic Class

1 Ben Jones, 2 Scott Jones, 3 Ian Fenwick.

MRH Consultants 125 Evolution

1 Andy Lawton, 2 Shane Holmes, 3 Mason Bell, 4 Nathan Marsden, 5 David Blackburn,

6 Jonno White.

Wulfsport Experts

1 Barry Turnbull, 2 Ben Margetson, 3 Michael Smith, 4 Lee Holland, 5 Jon McBride, 6 Jamie Biddulph (Best Falcon Shocks 250).

MRH Consultants 125 Twinshock

1 Matt Rudd, 2 Robin Cowgill, 3 Mark Burrows, 4 Steve Riley, 5 Dave Ellis, 6 John Davis.

CI Sport Inters

1 Ben Weaver, 2 Jem Parker, 3 Matt Bennett, 4 David Hopkins, 5 Sam Weaver, 6 Kyle Godbear.

Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships Round 1

Cumbria Twinshock Club

Stipers Hill, Polesworth

Report Geoff Shuttleworth

Pictures Andrew Fairclough

The Toughsheet National Twinshock championship opened the doors to the 2018 season, with the first round at Stipers Hill, Polesworth on Sunday, hosted by Cumbria Twinshock and supported by Central Motors Salvage of Derby. The club worked wonders to get the meeting on, ably assisted by Peter Wainwright on the digger, and it was the only meeting in the country to survive the downpours of the week. Once the gloop had been removed, and the bottom section altered, the track was still rough but rideable, and thanks to their efforts to keep the show on the road, over 210 of the 250 entered riders took to the track for practice. The slickly run 24 race programme was finished by 4-30, followed by the presentation of awards by special guest, former World MX Champion Neil Hudson.

The Wulfsport Experts and the MRH Consultants 125 Twinshock classes raced together first, and Jimmy Margetson was first out of the gate in all three legs, but his Maico kept throwing the chain, leaving him out of the results. Michael Smith on the Sourbutts Maico reigned supreme, winning the first and third legs to take the overall win, which considering his foot injury last year, was all the more pleasing for him. His nearest challenger was reigning twinshock champion Barry Turnbull, out for the first time on the Marsh HPF Honda four stroke. Barry missed the start of race one, won the second, then came home second to Smith in race three, to take the runner up overall spot. Craig Reynolds had his best result to date in third, and Ben Margetson was also one of the front runners in fourth, from Irelands Jon McBride in fifth.

John Davis started as he finished 2017 in the 125 twinshocks, with three comfortable wins, and only experts Smith and Reynolds beat him in race one. Matt Rudd made a great comeback after his broken leg from last year, and took second overall, and debutant Jason Slater took third on the podium, from Andrew Robinson and Dave Ellis.

The MRH Consultants 125 Evolution class is now the most popular class, and had a full line up of mostly 1989 bikes, and the question was, who was going to stop Andy Lawton on the Steve Clitheroe Honda. Well Lawton led every lap of the first two races, and he was only headed by third race winner Shane Holmes, taking the overall victory by three points. Holmes looks to be a contender though with a 2-3-1 scorecard. Nathan Marsden took third with three top three finishes, in front of Jack May and Andy Hinchliffe. The speed of these guys on the 125’s is amazing and makes for fantastic viewing.

In the MotoX Concepts Over 50 class, Pete Mathia was celebrating 50 years of competition, and it couldn’t have gone better for him, as he took two wins and a second to win the overall. Former East Mids Centre Champion Richard Allen, had his best ever result in the twinshocks to take second overall, and reigning over 50 champion from Ireland, Willie Burgess took third, despite machine problems in race one. Willie did take race three though once he got to grips with the track. Gary Parker returned to the fray to take fourth from Tim Sabine.

There was a good line up of 12 Over 60 riders, swelled by a few who turn 60 this year. And it was the race one action that sealed the deal as Jerseys Wayne Le Marquand on the HPF Honda took the win, with Martin Snape on his new Maico having problems down in fourth. And it looks like these two riders may be the ones to beat this year as Snape took victory in races two and three, from Le Marquand in both. This gave Wayne the overall win by a single point from Snape, with last years champion Graham Challis in third, and class debutant Alan Hardy in fourth.

Carl Hodgson made the long journey from the North East worthwhile, and took victory in the CI Sport Inters class, easily winning race one, and taking two seconds. And Jem Parker out for the first time in years, took his nicely restored Husky to a great second overall with a 2-4- 3 card.

Guest rider Steve Sobey, transferred from the Evo class after a bike failure, and took his Maico to race two and three wins for third overall. Glyn Lawrence had his best result for a while in fourth on his home track, in front of last year’s Clubman champion Mike Tucker.

The LPE Clubman class once again looks wide open with anyone of six riders capable of winning, but it was local rider Martyn Williams who turned out to be the hero, with a barnstorming display on the big CCM. Martyn won the first race, and then consistency took over to give him the overall, and with it took the Martindales Rider of the Meeting award. Mark Gardner had bad luck in race one, before winning the second to take the runner up berth.

Dave Taylor completed the podium in third from Luke Freudenau and Peter Maxwell. It was also great to see Timmy Gravener take his first ever victory in race three.

The Woodys Vintage Off Road Honda Evolution class were next up, and it was a fast charging Barry Turnbull who showed everyone a clean pair of heels with three wins. Barry didn’t have it all his own way though, as in the first race Danny Blakeley led all the way, until a mistake let Barry through. Then in race three the same happened to an unlucky Michael Ogden. Blakely did manage to salvage second overall, from former champion Michael Smith in third. Conor Smith on the big Kwacker took fourth from Andy Hinchliffe.

There were over 30 riders in the West Mids Evo class for Pre-85 bikes, and in the 125 class Zac Hackett was the man to beat, and he took two wins from three to take top spot on the podium from Sam Russell and James Hudson. The 250 class was taken by Jim Shand, who had a win and two seconds, from last years champion Paul Baldwin and Nick Peyton. But it was the big guns in the 500 class who did the winning, with Jonathan Tapp winning twice to take the victory from first race winner Matt Hitchman and Nathan Smith.

The final class of the day was the Hazport Vets Over 40 class on modern bikes, with a full line up of 40 riders, and it was guest rider Sean Smith who took the victory, after following Danny Blakeley home in race one, Sean managed to win races two and three. Blakeley came home second, and Lance Marshall had some great rides to take third from Richard Chinn and Paul Coward. Mark Spruce won the Over 50 class from Daran Williams and Dave Clayborn.

The next round is the Matt Murphy Memorial event at Hawkstone Park on Saturday May 5.

Martindales Rider of the Meeting – Martyn Williams

Wulfsport Experts

1 Michael Smith, 2 Barry Turnbull, 3 Craig Reynolds, 4 Ben Margetson, 5 Jonathan McBride, 6 Lee Buck.

Falcon Shocks Best 250 – Jamie Biddulph.

MRH Consultants 125 Twinshock

1 John Davis, 2 Matt Rudd, 3 Jason Slater, 4 Andy Robinson, 5 Dave Ellis, 6 Dean Hakes.

MRH Consultants 125 Evolution

1 Andy Lawton, 2 Shane Holmes, 3 Nathan Marsden, 4 Jack May, 5 Andy Hinchliffe, 6 Lee Holland.

MotoX Concepts Over 50’s

1 Pete Mathia, 2 Richard Allen, 3 Willie Burgess, 4 Gary Parker, 5 Tim Sabine, 6 Phil Martindale.

MotoX Concepts Over 60’s

1 Wayne Le Marquand, 2 Martin Snape, 3 Graham Challis, 4 Alan Hardy, 5 Alan Hambridge, 6 Ray Hodgkins.

CI Sport Inters

1 Carl Hodgson, 2 Jem Parker, 3 Steve Sobey, 4 Glyn Lawrence, 5 Mike Tucker, 6 Dom Bratt.

LPE Clubman

1 Martyn Williams, 2 Mark Gardner, 3 Dave Taylor, 4 Luke Freudenau, 5 Peter Maxwell, 6 Riley Copeland.

Woody Vintage Off Road Honda Evolution

1 Barry Turnbull, 2 Danny Blakeley, 3 Michael Smith, 4 Conor Smith, 5 Andy Hinchliffe,

6 Mitchell Griffin.

Hazport Veterans Over 40’s

1 Sean Smith, 2 Danny Blakeley, 3 Lance Marshall, 4 Richard Chinn, 5 Paul Coward, 6 Neil Fort.

Hazport Veterans Over 50’s

1 Mark Spruce, 2 Daran Williams, 3 David Clayborn, 4 Steve Ward.

West Midland Evos 125’s

1 Zac Hackett, 2 Sam Russell, 3 James Hudson, 4 Chris Pritchard, 5 Paul Mansell, 6 Dean Eggleton.

West Midland Evos 250’s

1 Jim Shand, 2 Paul Baldwin, 3 Nick Peyton, 4 Jake Griffiths, 5 Dave Russell, 6 John Smith.

West Midland Evos 500

1 Jonathan Tapp, 2 Matt Hitchman, 3 Nathan Smith, 4 James Reeves, 5 Neil Williams, 6 Steve Ryan.

he calendar, and a new club stepping up, with the Warsop MXC running at Bevercotes, Ollerton, Notts.

Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships

April 1 Cumbria TSC at Polesworth, Staffs.

May 5 Cumbria TSC Matt Murphy Memorial at Hawkstone Park.

May 27 Warsop MXC at Bevercotes, Ollerton, Notts.

June 17 Lancashire TSC at Venue TBC.

July 22 Cumbria TSC at The Grange, Tern Hill, Shropshire..

September 1-2 Cumbria TSC Festival of Legends at Hawkstone Park.

September 22-23 Cumbria TSC at Howton Court, Pontrilas.

Registrations for the series are now open and filling up fast, and you can get your forms by either e mailing geoff.shuttleworth121@outlook.com or from this website under the entry form tab.