Round 19

Polesworth TSC

Stipers Hill, Polesworth

Supported by Tillit Suspension

Report Geoff Shuttleworth

Pictures

The opening round of the Toughsheet sponsored National Twinshock Championship took place last Sunday at Stipers Hill, organised by the Polesworth Twinshock Club, who did a great job with the track and slick organisation.

As usual first up was the MD Racing Over 50’s and 60’s classes, and it was Alan Eaves who started where he finished last year, on top of the podium with two race wins. In race one he kept Andy Roberton and ex World Champion Graham Noyce at bay, with Paul Woolf a fine fourth. Andy Holland took fifth from Robin Cowgill. In race two Roberton forced his way briefly to the front, only to slip on lap five, gifting Eaves his second victory. Roberton came back to second, passing Phil Ryan on the final lap, with Woolf again a good fourth, which gave him second overall in the Over 50’s from Ryan. Roberton took the Over 60’s overall from Maurice Wharton and Alan Deer.

The Wulfsport Elite Class had the best quality field seen for some time, and in the re-run first race Alex Rach raced to victory, hitting the front early, with Matt Stephenson on the Marsh HPF, the only rider to get anywhere near him, taking second. Dan Hiorns got through to third at the flag, with reigning champion Rick Du-Feu fourth, Gary Parker fifth from Wayne Butt in sixth.

In race two Rach again won from the front, and with Stephenson falling early, it was left to Du-Feu to chase and take second from Hiorns, Jamie Jackson, Parker and Butt. At the end of the day Du-Feu and Hiorns trail Rach by ten points.

The Maico Only supported Experts class run in conjunction with the Elite class was won by Paul Lippitt who was second in race one before winning race two. Jem Parker took second overall with a third and a second. Ryan Harris failed to show in race two after winning the first.

The Maico Only 125 class was poorly supported, although that didn’t stop some good battles, with Lee Holland taking two victories, each time in front of James Shand and Sean McCrea.

Debutant Andy Hinchliffe took the Falcon Shocks 250 class with both race wins, from Richard Mason and Chris Woodward in race one, and then Will Mee and Woodward in race two.

In the CI Sport Intermediate class the star of the show was Jon Rowlands who romped to victory in both races from Chris Cannon, Mark Tilzey, Neil Williams and Lloyd Griffiths.

Class sponsor Steve Atkins got the holeshot in the first Herts MX Veterans race, before Gary Parker overtook on lap two, but Parkers lead was short lived as Paul Coward charged through from fourth to take the race one. Jonno White took second from Atkins, Parker and Steve Ward.

White got the holeshot in race two, but it was again Coward who stormed through to victory, from White, Ward, Atkins and Phil Daley.

Darren Wilcock won his first ever overall victory in the LPE Clubman class with two fine victories, and with it took the CNR Burrows Rider of the Day Award. In race one he beat Dave Mozley, Iain Chesterman and Steve Webb to the win, whilst in race two he was followed home by Graham Challis, Mark Russell and Webb.

The final class of the day saw the Motolink Yamaha Evolution boys take to the track. New to the class this year was Glen Phillips who took race one from reigning champion Paul Coward, both on Kawasakis. Rick Du-Feu took third from Richard Chinn and Dave Livesey. Phillips repeated his success in race two, but this time from Richard Chinn on his 250 Honda. Du-Feu took third from Coward and Andy Hinchliffe.

MD Racing Over 50’s

1 Alan Eaves 2 Paul Woolf 3 Phil Ryan 4 Robin Cowgill 5 Andy Holland 6 Will Street.

MD Racing Over 60’s

1 Andy Roberton 2 Maurice Wharton 3 Alan Deer 4 Alan Voase 5 Bill Brown 6 Bill Findley.

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

1 Alex Rach 2 Rick De-Feu 3 Dan Hiorns 4 Matt Stephenson 5 Gary Parker 6 Wayne Butt.

Maico Only Experts

1 Paul Lippitt 2 Jem Parker 3 Jon Rutherford 4 Ryan Harris 5 Jon Cowgill 6 Ian Rowley.

Maico Only 125’s

1 Lee Holland 2 James Shand 3 Sean McCrea 4 Paul Mansell 5 Dave Rowsell.

Falcon Shocks 250’s

1 Andy Hinchliffe 2 Will Mee 3 Chris Woodward 4 Richard Mason 5 Steve Griffiths 6 Andrew Wilkes.

CI Sport / DEP Pipes Intermediates

1 Jon Rowlands 2 Chris Cannon 3 Mark Tilzey 4 Neil Williams 5 Lloyd Griffiths 6 Steve Ryan.

HertsMX Veterans

1 Paul Coward 2 Jonno White 3 Steve Atkins 4 Steve Ward 5 Phil Daley 6 Jason Turner.

LPE Clubman

1 Darren Wilcock 2 Steve Webb 3 Dave Mozley 4 Iain Chesterman 5 Graham Challis

6 Richard Gough.

Motolink Yamaha Evolution

1 Glen Phillips 2 Richard Chinn 3 Rick Du-Feu 4 Paul Coward 5 Dave Livesey 6 Andy Hinchliffe

CNR Burrows Transport Rider of The Meeting

Darren Wilcock

National Twinshock Scramble Championships 2012

The third round of the Toughsheet National Twinshock Championships at Wrangway, Wellington on May 13 has been cancelled, due to a lack of entries by the closing date. The South West Twinshock Club apologise to those who had taken the time to enter, but had no option as they needed at least 150 riders to make it viable, and only had 80 entered. The club hope for better numbers at their next meeting The Cancer Research event at Little Silver in August. But every cloud has a silver lining, as the Cumbria Twinshock Club, who had to cancel their second round meeting at Condover due to a waterlogged course have stepped in and taken the date, and will now run at Condover on May 13. Unless Darren Hudson hears from riders who have entered, he will assume you wish to transfer your original entry to this date. Any rider who can’t make it can get a full refund or carry over their entry. The Clubman, Vets and Evo classes are full but there is space in the Inters, Elite/Experts, Over 50′s and 125/250′s.    

Get your entries in now !

We have had another tremendous response from you the riders with over 240 now registered, and sponsors have been coming forward for advertising and sponsoring an individual event. So far six events have been snapped up by Tillitt Suspension, AC Nurden, Rod Spry Engineering, Jones Restoration, Jones & Father and Spiral Gfx, with only three events still to find a sponsor. If you fancy it please mail Geoff Shuttleworth and we can send you details of our offers.

Finally if any of you have any old pictures of yourself back in the day, please send them in for use in the programmes, they are always good for a laugh.

Welcome once again to the National Twinshock Scramble Championship series, where 2012 will see the 21^st running of this fantastic series, started by Brian Salt, Bill Brown, Alan Hardy and Ken Shuttleworth back in 1992. Few would have thought it would endure two world financial meltdowns over the last decade, but if registrations and entries in 2011 are anything to go by, there are a few more years left in us old dogs yet. In fact there are plenty of ‘Younger’ riders now taking part, as they experience the unique atmosphere created by like minded riders. Toughsheet have once again agreed to be the headline sponsor, and very welcome they are too in this extreme financial climate. The company which is run by the Mercers in Westhoughton, Bolton, are no strangers to Twinshock racing as Doug used to race in the Experts a few years ago, and brother John did likewise in the Over 50’s, son Brad also cut his teeth on a twinshock Maico, and Father Frank is always there to support his lads at the events. The company have gone from strength to strength and manufacture building products from recycled materials, and you can find out all about their products at their website www.toughsheet.com

All you have to do to register for the series is fill out and send off the form, and registration for the series remains at £17-50 for each class which entitles you to enter each event for £35 or £40 instead of the non registered riders fee of £45. This money goes towards printing costs, programmes, commentary, and to subsidise the annual trophies which are awarded at the end of season bash at the Moat House Hotel, Stoke. Registration forms are now available here on our website

Following the AGM the class structure for 2012 remains as follows;

Clubman Twinshock (For novices and beginners – You will be graded by the committee)

Intermediate Twinshock (Graded accordingly)

Elite / Experts Twinshock (Expert riders, again at the discretion of the Committee)

Over 50’s / 60’s Twinshock

125’s / 250’s Twinshock (All 125/250 riders will be encouraged to ride this class)

Evolution (Monoshock Bikes Pre 1990)

Veterans (Over 40’s Any bike)

For those of you who are new to twinshock racing, your registration allows you to score points in your chosen championship class for the end of season awards, although you may ride as many classes on the day as you can afford for trophies. I must point out though that due to the popularity of the series, you must get your entries returned to the club secretaries as soon as you receive the entry forms in February, as the early rounds always tend to be over subscribed.

All our events are run by IOPD affiliated clubs and therefore annual or day licences will be required. At the time of going to press, annual licences which you can now pay for and send direct to Geoff Shuttleworth, to avoid the nightmare of getting them at round one, cost just £15 or £5 for a day licence. (Note: An AMCA or ACU licence will cover you for all IOPD events)

We will also be trialling a four stroke class in 2012, with a single handicap race at selected venues, and Jon Burrows is taking names for this to gauge interest, and is willing to sponsor the venture.

We are still looking for event sponsors at the cheapest rate in the country, which includes use of trackside banners, trade stand space and programme advert at all rounds, so if you are interested and you want to give your company some extra publicity please contact Geoff Shuttleworth for details. Finally, if you have any questions on the above please do not hesitate to ask, and lets have another cracking twinshock season in 2012.

Geoff Shuttleworth 01524-824409 (Home) after 6pm or e mail geoff.shuttleworth@virgin.net