Patchquick Trophy report
By Dave Rich on 29th Jun 16
On Wednesday evening, June 22, the annual Patchquick Trophy event took place, for the second year was staged at Little Silver Moto Parc, Exeter, and was hosted by the West of England MC in conjunction with South West Off-Road.
The track had been prepped and watered prior to the start and was watered during the event to produce some top quality racing.
Each rider had a qualifying race with the fastest 40 getting into the main Patchquick races. The second fastest 40 went to the Holne Trophy class and the remainder into the Speed Trophy class.
In the opening Patchquick race Luke Dean had a blistering start and he kept a tight line into the first corner and emerged with the holeshot from Todd Kellett, who was soon all over Dean looking to pass.
Kellett completed the move dropping down one of the hills and took over at the front. Josh Gilbert was up into third by the end of the opening lap with Sunny Thompson hot on his heels and they soon caught up to Dean. Then there was a battle royal for a couple of laps.
Kellett was well gone by the end of lap four with a commanding lead. Gilbert was now up into second with Thompson third.
Dean seem to slow and later revealed that he had lost his back brake.
On lap seven Kellett's bike started to steam and it was a worrying sight, but he continued – later to discover it was just a leaking radiayor cap. He also stalled his machine entering the whoops but his lead was so great he had time to restart and maintain his lead.
Thompson continued to pester Gilbert in the later stages, but Gilbert repelled the challenge to take second behind Kellett, who took the win by a considerable margin.
In the second moto Kellett didn't mess about in the first corner as he took an early lead from Gilbert with Dean tucked in third.
Kellett was on a real mission at the front and powered away. By the end of the opening lap he had a full five-second lead over Gilbert, who was soon demoted by Dean on lap 2 and joining in the battle was Thompson. A battle raged between the trio until lap four, when Thompson passed both Gilbert and Dean on the same lap and moved into second. Thompson then tried to to close down the deficit on race leader Kellett.
However, Kellett was still lapping quicker and went on to take the win by some 27 seconds from Thompson, with Dean third.
In the final race Kellett again had the best start ahead of Tommy Alba, with Dean in third just ahead of Thompson. Dean moved up and soon found a way to pass Alba on the opening lap.
It wasn't until the end of lap two that Thompson made a move on Alba and then on Dean as he power up to second.
By this time Kellett was cruising at the front and was still pulling away.
Gilbert got the better of Dean a lap later to move into third which was where he stayed to finish second behind Thompson. There was only one winner and that was Kellett who made it a hat-trick on the night to get his name on that famous Patchqiuck Trophy.
There was no stopping George Edwards in the opening Holne Trophy race. There was a good tussle mid-race between Steve Holland and Lloyd Chapman with Chapman eventually moving ahead, but he wasn't going to catch Edwards, who took an easy win.
In moto two Sam Widdicombe led for the first couple of laps ahead of Chapman and Edwards. Then, on lap three, Edwards moved to the front after passing both Chapman and Widdicombe.
Edwards started to get away, but Chapman moved through to second on lap four and soon closed in on the leader Edwards.
This produced a nail biting finish with Chapman pressuring Edwards throughout. On the final lap Chapman eventually found a pass to take the chequered flag by just 0.399 of a second. As a result he claimed the Holne Trophy with Widdicombe home in third.
In the Speed Trophy class Anthony Milliar was victorious in both races, but it wasn't all plain sailing. In the opener he had to find a way to pass Chester Blair, who headed the field for the first couple of laps. There was a repeat performance in the second moto as Milliar had to chase down Elliot Cook. He eventually passed mid-race, but Cook stayed in contact looking to pounce on any possible mistakes that Milliar might make – but Milliar stayed strong and took the win.
RESULTS
Patchquick Trophy: 1 Todd Kellett (350 SJ Hodder Crescent KTM), 2 Sunny Thompson (450 DSC Cornwall Kawasaki), 3 Josh Gilbert (250 St Blazey Husqvarna), 4 Luke Dean (450 Meredith Suzuki), 5 Tommy Alba (450 DSC Cornwall Kawasaki), 6 Olly Jones (250F Yamaha).
Holne Trophy: 1 George Edwards (250 KTM), 2 Lloyd Chapman (450 Husqvarna), 3 Steve Folland (450 Kawasaki), 4 Ryan Lock (450 KTM), 5 Sam Widdicombe (250 KTM), 6 Thomas Sharpe (125 KTM).
Speed Trophy: 1 Anthony Milliar (350 KTM), 2 Chester Blair Jnr (450 KTM), 3 Elliot Cook (250 Honda), 4 Jordan Veale (125 Yamaha), 5 Ed Mountjoy (380 KTM), 6 Liam Brown (???).
