Report: Waltham Chase JMCC
By Andy Withers on 25th Jan 17
Waltham Chase produce ten testing sections at the first round of the club championship at Hut Hill in Hampshire. The icy hard surface made many of the 75 entrants slow to start and tentative, as grip was hard to come by.
Mike Graves on his 300cc Beta made a steady start and put in a stellar performance winning the Expert class by 20 marks.
He improved lap by lap losing only four marks on the last including a really impressive clean on section nine where two jumps over a muddy ditch were needed in a very long section.
Tim Dixon took a well deserved second in class.
With similar terrain to the next week's Talmag trial this was an ideal opportunity for some exotic machinery to be given the final shakedown.
Ian Peberdy's newly completed Dalton Triumph Twin was entered in the intermediate class against modern machinery.
He managed to take second to Gas Gas mounted Mark Owen who produced four consistent low scoring laps.
Echoing through the trees the sound of the Triumph was music to the ears as it powered up the climbs of section six. Peberdy confessed that the power on the 500 needed to be ‘turned down a tad to get it into shape'.
Mark Parry Norton produced acrobatics on his Ossa to finish an impressive third.
On Route B, Lee Wildsmith was a clear winner from Chris Brawn with Simon Rye on a Beta taking the Vet B class.
Stepping up to B for the first time Oli Gray produced an excellent performance to finish second behind Zak Whalen by three marks.
Tony Billingham retired from Twinshock B, it is rumoured to be swapping his TY250 for a TY80 after falling off a narrow ledge into a large pool of water, the TY80 tyres being narrower should give him a better chance to complete the trial.
Almost 30 riders took the C route. Novices Andy Somerton and Ben Page finished equal on 20 after Somerton had suffered clutch problems on the first lap.
He only lost eight on the final three laps to take the class on the number of cleans.
Charlie Tindle brought his B40 BSA for a Talmag shakedown, the beautifully prepared machine took Tindle to Twin-shock victory with only ten lost ahead of Mike McKenzie on his Ariel Arrow and Malcolm Webb on his BSA Goldstar.
Tony Knott on his Montesa took the highly competitive Veteran C by five from a similarly mounted Paul Rogers.
In Youth C Jack Somerton took the class easily with Toby Brawn just ahead of Dillon Earle.
Father and son Tony and Dan Reynolds took Veteran D and Novice D with Tony losing just two marks on the four laps.
Kirsty Clarke on her Oset won Youth D from Devon Carey-Hodges with brother Lewis third.
Max Gray did manage to complete the E route losing only 38 in the process.
Results
Expert: Mike Graves (Beta) 41, Tim Dixon (Beta) 61.
Intermediate: Mark Owen (Gas Gas) 21, Ian Peberdy (Dalton Triumph) 22, Mark Parry-Norton (Ossa) 33.
Route B
Novice: Lee Wildsmith (Gas Gas) 89, Chris Brawn (Beta) 104, Patrick Seaman (Gas Gas) 117.
Veteran: Simon Rye (Beta) 25, Ian Bird (Montesa) 95, Keith Stewart (Montesa) 110.
Youth: Zak Whalen (Sherco) 72, Oli Gray (Beta) 75, Jack Woonton (Beta) 92.
Route C
Novice: Andy Somerton (Gas Gas) 20 (most cleans), Ben Page (Beta) 20, David Brawn (Beta) 32.
Veteran: Tony Knott (Montesa) 24, Paul Rogers (Montesa) 29, Mike Smallshaw (Gas Gas) 34.
Twin-shock C: Charlie Tindle (BSA) 10, Mike McKenzie (Ariel Arrow) 38, Malcolm Webb (BSA Goldstar) 52.
Youth: Jack Somerton (Gas Gas) 53, Toby Brawn (Beta) 81, Dillon Earle (Gas Gas) 84.
Route D
Novice: Dan Reynolds (Sherco) 20, Stewart Carey-Hodges (Gas Gas) 56, Stephen Head (Beta) 75.
Veteran: Tony Reynolds (Sherco) 2, Andy Withers (Sherco) 19, Chris Furmage (Gas Gas) 26.
Youth: Kirsty Clarke (Oset) 16, Devon Carey Hodges (Beta) 23, Lewis Clarke (Oset) 2.
Route E: Max Gray (Oset) 38.
