Dynamic duo hit chairmen for six
By Team TMX on 11th Dec 17
Jon Tuck and Matt Sparkes took their sixth Auto Cycle Union Wessex Plant Hire British Sidecar Championship by winning the final event in the 11-round 2017 sidecar championships at Dunsfold, Surrey.
The 44-year-old driver of the TRS UK sidecar outfit works as an aerospace engineer at GKN Aerospace, formerly British Aerospace, and has three children.
Crewman Matt Sparkes, 38, is a director of Wessex Plant and Tool Hire Ltd.
The Tuck/ Sparkes partnership first took them to Nidderdale, Yorkshire back in 2006 to compete in the Mel Harrison British Championship where they were placed third. Later that year they won the tough Peak Trial in North Derbyshire and that event has always been one of the best events on the calendar. From 2007 to 2010 the pairing dominated the sidecar scene at all levels with four consecutive championships.
A three-year break from the sport was a precursor to another title in 2014 but by then a Manx challenge was coming onto the scene.
Nigel Crellin and passenger Chris Molyneux put the Isle of Man firmly on the three-wheel radar to take the title in 2015 and 2016 while Jon and Matt had to settle for runner-up position.
This year, though, the tables were turned again. After a lethargic start with three third placings followed by a victory, the battles between Tuck and Sparkes and Crellin and Molyneux were sensational.
The Manx threat was negated with four winning rides for Tuck and Sparkes and they went to the final event at Dunsfold with a one-point advantage over the Manx challengers who lost ground in the penultimate event with a third-place finish.
Those results more or less settled the championship but only if Jon and Matt won, which they did. It truly was a cliff-hanger year. The good news is that Jon Tuck and Matt Sparkes will be defending their hard-won title in the Wessex Plant and Tool Hire Ltd sponsored series in 2018.
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