The Sporting
T S I L C Y C R O T MO
..published monthly
orting motorcycling
News for social and sp
February 2020
Enduro, Grasstrack, Motocross, Road Racing, Speedway, Sprinting and Trials news
CONTAINS OFFICIAL EVENT ENTRY FORMS
The Sporting
MOTORCYCLIST
is published monthly and is available through your Clubs or by direct subscription
Editor
(ACU Southern Centre) John Bramall
16 Gifford Close, Fareham, Hampshire, PO15 6PJ T: 01329 823282 E: johnbramall246@btinternet.com
Editor
(ACU South Midland Centre) Bob Twigg
2 Harwood Close, Welwyn Garden City, Herts, AL8 7SN E: bobtwigg@ntlworld.com
Editor & Advertising and Distribution
(ACU South Eastern Centre) Andy Wood 30 Westways, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 6AA Tel/Fax 01732 865380
E: anmarprintingservices@gmail.com
Printed by
Anmar Printing Services, Edenbridge, Kent
FEBRUARY 2020 VOL. 20 ISSUE 2 PUBLISHED ON THE 1ST OF EACH MONTH
All material for TSM should reach the editor by the tenth day of the month preceding publication.
FROM THE EDITOR'S CHAIR n By Bob Twigg
We are now into the new year with trials and enduro in full swing. The motocrossers are warming up for their season and no doubt the road racers are ready. Nice to see Tom Grimshaw's column in TMX, I know all of us wish him much success on his transfer to Husky! Not so nice in 2019 was the loss of several riders and organisers, Bryan Messenger, John Denny, Chris Mawer and many others, RIP to all of them. Some South Midland riders moved to "sunnier climes", Brian Williamson and young Mr Tesseras! Good luck "darn sarf" I hope you enjoy trials down there as much as you have here, we will miss you. It was great to see lots of contributors to our mag in 2019, we still need more . More reports of events, more histories of clubs, more comments and anything that you think might improve this exciting paper. It would be great if the sidecar folk could do an article for us, maybe a rundown of their trials season and that includes the sidecar MX'ers. How about the electric crowd doing a report of their year, I'm sure the Hanvey family can do that! Now back to some yesteryears... Some clubs in the centre helped run a demonstration type arena trial near Dews Farm. The "trial" featured railway sleepers, expertly nailed together by Dave Jenkinson of the HUX club, several skips and other terrifying looking hazards. We had a very good commentary by Bob Brown of the South Harrow club which went down well with the onlookers. Shouldn't laugh, but one of the amusing sights of the day was when a chap demonstrating the skills of his eagles and owls lost one of them, they were very interested in a local chicken coup. When we left he was still trying to find where one had gone, sorry to all you bird lovers for that! Many of the visitors had not seen such mastery of a motorbike, this was provided by Jonathan Lee, his younger brother Jack on a heavily modified TY80 and several other stalwarts. Jon' rode the skips with ease, both up the slopey bit and better still up the vertical sides. Little Jack (he's over six foot now) accomplished most of the sections with much vocal encouragement from Jon, it's nice to see how all of the riders have improved over the years. Oh dear, all our yesterdays again, sorry folks, enjoy your biking!Â
Cover Photo: Jack Corlett & Beth Thomas at the opening round of the Wessex Plant Hire Sidecar Championship. Photo by: Richard Thomas
Contributions in this issue: Bob Twigg, John Bramall, Andy Withers, Andy Wood, Liam Seamer, John Sapsard, Mike Wiseman, John Eckhart, Neil Emmott, Ken O'Brien, Chris Fletcher, Richard Thomas, Jim Connor, Bob Brown Would you like to contribute? Please send to the editor, contact details on page 3.
3
Exciting Days Sport Q  By Ken O'Brien Photos by Gary Dowzall slider.photography
A fine gathering of riders quietly waited in anticipation for the start of Ixion's first round of the 2020 club championship. Much rain in the preceding weeks meant for a shortened course as waterlogged areas of the farm were a complete no go. Four laps of nine sections were ridden with a variety of roots gullies cambers with slick climbs and a graded hill. The sun was low in the sky the frost was lifting and to these elements add a few sections with slick cambers and turns the scene was set for an exciting days sport. Rob Warner 300 Mont started
Tony Cave 10
the season off with a win in the Expert class running out a convincing twenty four point winner over Tom
Best Inter Lee Sullivan took top spot Rob Warner Nicholas 300 Vertigo. in the Inter Warner was near perfect at 50/50 class and section one "Gorse bank" a triple leads the championship after sandy bank loop that dried out one round. though the day but this hazard Lee had mixed fortunes at got worse not better as roots section eight a ditch crossing began to appear through the and gully with a camber to steep sandy exit. finish on, not first lap though as A crowd had gathered at the a perfectly calculated line saw Graded Hill to witness some him put in a rare clean here on spectacular attempts at this the expert route. notoriously muddy rooty affair On the Yellow middle route and they were not disappointed. Ixion Clubman Alan Taylor was The marshy bottom section in no mood for hanging about soon became a multi line affair and scorted around in record but this made the second sector time to record an emphatic difficult to navigate as the victory over old rival Adrian natural spring water dragged Steele 16 points to 30 both 250 up so anybody recording better Beta mounted. than a two had a good ride. The ride of the day on the Nicholas had four perfect yellow goes to Beta mounted cleans here with varying lines Justin Cookson a clean at the 300 Vertigo a perfect tool section nine a really tough for the job. cambered bank with a soft
Mark Wallington
George Clark
loop turn before lining up for a fourth gear thirty yard blast to the summit. Best Novice was Simon Clark on 53 and best youth B George Clark made it a Father and son double for the day. On the White Easy course it was a three way Tie-break 23 the total with Ian Homer just edging it on most ones. Wayne Hutton Tiger Cub split Father and son riders Mark Davidson 200 Fantic and Freddie 125 Gasser. Seren Walters had some creditable rides putting the 125 Beta around section seven clean every visit. Many thanks to all the observers and a Happy New Year to all. Expert Rob Warner Tom Nicholas Chris Wickham Ryan Tomkins
5 29 31 39
Yellow Middle Clubman Alan Taylor Adrian Steele Sam Cave Phil Ducker Graham Grove Justin Cookson
16 30 mc 30 34 39 46
Novice Simon Clark
52
Youth B George Clark Max Golla
60 63
White eased course Ian Homer Dale Caswell Oliver Hobson
23 23 23
Simon Clark
Tom Nicholas
Spectated at a motorsport event recently? Post a report for publication.
facebook.com/thesportingmotorcyclist 11
Haines In Command
Q By Bob Brown
After a very frosty start to the day the warm winter sunshine made most of the sections very slippery for the 61 riders entered for the Hayes & Southall Club’s Don Coles Trial held at Dews Farm Harefield, Nigel Hains masterminded the course of 10 sections to be ridden four times with help from Simon Dowling, Paul Heron and Bob Brown. Luke Hora won the expert class but only by four marks from Richard Vockins with evergreen Graham Haslam taking third place, all the experts struggled with the rooty banks at section nine with Richard managing the only clean. Riding the same route Bailey Tidbury stepped up to Youth A and was rewarded with wheel perfect rides at section one snaking amongst the trees. Darren Haines took a commanding victory in the Inter class from course plotter Paul Heron and Joshua Bing, section five was their Nemeses some tight turns on a sandy bank with a nasty climb over roots between two trees with Paul managing the only clean. There was a close scrap for honours in the novice class with just a dab separating Guy Anderson and Jim Morris with Jonathan Bathe taking third place, Guy's faultless rides on the shallow banks of section eight handing him the win. Kai Morris aced Youth B with William Sparks second and young Samuel LeFevre showing great determination on his Oset to finish third, feet up rides by Kai on the leafy banks of section ten with observer Jane Hains in attendance. Paul Meader was victorious in the twinshock class followed home by Kevin Peters and Baz Andrews, Paul’s feet up rides through section three giving him victory. Riding partners Mark Elms and Reynard Norris both managed to complete the entire clubman course feet up, no mean feat! With course plotter Simon Dowling in third place, all cleans by Simon on the greasy banks of section four with Ted North taking scores. The Pre 65 harder class rode half the novice and half the sportsman sections with Martin Kemp taking the win from Mick Clarkson and Wayne Hutton, nice cleans from Martin on the leafy banks of section two. David Clarkson won Pre 65 easier class from John Eckhart and Nick James, the gripless climb at section six taking mostly fives 32
with David managing the only clean on the first lap. Robert Ray triumphed in the sportsman class only by three dabs from Giulio Greco and Andrew Cooper, they all managed wheel perfect rides through the banks of section one. Results (top 3) Expert Luke Hora Richard Vockins Graham Haslam
41 45 53,
Youth A Bailey Tidbury
60
Inter Darren Haines Paul Heron Joshua Bing
26 43 54
Novice Guy Anderson Jim Morris Jonathan Bathe
39 40 48
Youth B Kai Morris William Sparks Sam LeFevre
63 90 106
Twinshock Paul Meader Kevin Peters Baz Andrews
42 53 113
Clubman Mark Elms & Reynard Norris Simon Dowling Russ Olivant
0 11 42
Pre 65 Harder Martin Kemp Mick Clarkson Wayne Hutton
38 49 59
Pre65 Easier David Clarkson John Eckhart Nick James
19 27 29
Sportsmen Robert Ray Giulio Greco Andrew Cooper
25 28 37
Kent Kings Speedway
Q By Neil Emmott
With the winter months hopefully soon to be a thing of the past, preparations are underway for Kent Speedway's two-prong attack on league success. Work on the track at their Central park home is underway and work off-track is almost complete. The teams have been finalised and will line up as follows: Kent TouchTec Kings (Speedway GB) SGB Championship: Scott Nicholls Paul Starke Nico Covatti Tom Bacon Cameron Heeps Rob Ledwith Dan Gilkes Kent Kings (National League) NL: Dan Gilkes Alex Spooner Jordan Jenkins
Jacob Clouting Rob Ledwith Sam Hagon Jake Mulford The NL side have a title sponsor who is currently crossing the T's and dotting the I's, so as soon as that is finalised all will be revealed. Race night will be every Wednesday for the Championship side. However, the NL side will be a little more fluid. They will race at home on a Wednesday night when the Championship side are away at tracks who also have Wednesdays as their race night. Kent are also in discussion with the local council to try to secure Bank Holiday meetings on both of the Friday Bank Holidays plus the three or so Mondays. On paper both sides look more than capable of achieving success, and in the case of the NL side they will be
hoping to go one better than runners-up in the league in 2019. It's a whole new era for the newly-formed Championship side, but one thing is for sure, It's going to be an exciting year at Central Park for the Kings' fans. The Kent Kings fixture list will be filled without being able to use the two Friday Bank Holidays, unfortunately they were unable to get the necessary Planning Permission in time. This has forced the Kings to change a few dates and they will now run their first league meeting of the season on Wednesday April 8th. This date is one week after the riders have their first competitive outing on the track on April 1st. The event will be at the usual start time of 6.30pm. This will be an individual event... The Kent Open Chase and it is hoped that it will include some Premiership riders in the field.
Kent's Heritage Sprint 2020
Q By The Editor
There are now regular monthly meetings planned leading right up to the Heritage Sprint in August. If you would like to be involved during the build up, or at the Event or just want to know what's going on please
Extra TVTC Event
Q By The Editor
There will be an additional TVTC event in March to be held at Mountain Wood Farm,
Mountain Wood, Greene Dene, West Horsley. KT24 5TA. The event will be a round of the TVTC championship and
drop by The Dog and Duck Inn, Plucks Gutter, Canterbury CT3 1JB. The next two meetings are scheduled for:Thursday 27th February Thursday 26th March (Both 18.30 to 20.30)
will take place on Sunday 15th March.
33
The Sporting
MOTORCYCLIST
A monthly publication written by enthusiasts for enthusiasts
Subscription Form
Would you like to receive The Sporting Motorcyclist? Please complete your relevant details below or we can email you a subs form, address below. Simply fill in this form and return by post with either a cheque (made payable to “The Sporting Motorcyclist”) or pay via bank transfer, using the payment reference of "your name TSM" (HSBC Bank Sort code: 40-20-35 Account Number: 91051687):
Andy Wood, 30 Westways, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 6AA Choose your subscription (NEW RATES from 1st January 2019) : 2nd class post
Please tick
12 issues - £25 • • • •
1st class post
Please tick
12 issues - £28
The Sporting Motorcyclist Contains: Entry forms and regulations for Motocross, Trials, Enduro, Grasstrack events Information on the management of the sport in your centre Previews and reports on events Action photos
• • • •
Official news from the ACU and over 160 clubs in the Southern, South Eastern and South Midland Centres Fixture lists / championship tables Social events Your contributions?
Name: .......................................................................................................... Address: ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................................... ..................................................... Postcode: .............................................. Tel. No.......................................... Email:.................................................... Please contact us immediately if your details change.
Please complete the following for our records (Delete non-applicable) 1) Are you a competitor / non competitor ? 2) Motorcycle Club: _______________________________ 3) Interest(s): Trials / Motocross / Grasstrack / Speedway / Enduro / Roadracing / Sprint / Hillclimb / Roadriding Your details are only used by The Sporting Motorcyclist for administration purposes, they are not shared with any third party and are held securely in line with the Data Protection Act 1998. This form is valid from January to December 2020
Form generated for February 2020 issue
Send membership queries to: anmarprintingservices@gmail.com