Report: Westmorland MC - Howie Cup
By John Dickinson on 3rd Dec 15
THE Westmorland club staged their Howie Cup last Sunday, their final event of the 2015 season and it was staged as a multi-class trial this year and run on the clubs own ground at Witherslack, near Kendal in Cumbria.
And it was precisely because they owned the land that the club could go ahead as, like everywhere else, the ground was sodden after weeks of incessant rain.
The plot is on a very steep slope though which means that it is at least very well drained via several rocky becks and these, along with some muddy, rocky (yes, you can have both) outcrops formed the compact 10 section course that was lapped three times.
And given the weather, which was either raining or threatening to rain, no-one was hanging around.
The beauty of multi-class is the variety of riders and bikes and so you get Youth D rider Jack Dixon on his Beta 80 riding with unstoppable vets like Tommy Brady, Ronnie Walker and Ted Beatty all on the same course, the Easy Black route which is an innovation for Beginners, Youths and Over 60s.
Starting with that intrepid trio of vets, who were trail-blazing on Sunday, it was Tommy Brady whocame out on top losing just a dozen from Ronnie while relative youngster David Braithwaite jammed himself in front of Ted.
Young Jack Dixon dropped 17 as dad Steve juggled his minding role with observing as many riders as possible each section before catching up with Jack.
Overall winner on the day was John Gornall dropping just a dozen on his Gas Gas as several of the sections, winding across the becks, got pretty slippery.
James Hayhurst on the Sherco topped the Novice class but it was tight behind as Arron Whitfield and James PostlethwaIte tied on 14.
James lost the split link on his Beta and the chain got well jammed round the front sprocket and dad Steve had to abandon his section for 10 minutes and get the spanners out.
The Green course was popular as ever and Norman Cooper was back on form with his re-built, re-tuned Ossa to drop just three marks well ahead of Tony Haddow who was one of the intrepid course plotters. Peter Hutchinson was out on a brand new all-white Beta but it was clearly dazzling him as Hutch kept dropping marks.
Trevor Clarke enjoyed a clear win in the Over 40s but again it was close behind with Andy Downham and Ronnie Looker having to be separated on the tie-break.Youth B Joe Wilshaw had a good ride on 15 while Mike Batty topped Pre-65s.
Riders' thanks to the club and the officials for ignoring the weather and just getting on with it and also the good turnout of riders who enjoyed their blast round!
RESULTS
Hard route:
Over 40: John Gornall (Gas Gas) 12.
Novice: James Hayhurst (Sherco) 14, Arron Whitfield (Beta) 14, James Postlethwaite (Beta) 14.
Green course
Over 60: Norman Cooper (Ossa) 3, Tony Haddow (Scorpa) 15.
Over 40: Trevor Clarke (Gas Gas) 6, Andy Downham (Beta) 10, Ronnie Looker (Montesa) 10.
Youth B: Joe Wilshaw 15.
Pre-65: Mike Batty (James) 37.
Easy route
Over 60: Tommy Brady (Beta) 12, Ronnie Walker (Beta) 13, David Braithwaite (Montesa) 15.
Youth A: Liam Crane (Beta) 47.
