Faith, Hope and clarity
By Barry Robinson on 9th Nov 07
FOR the first time in a decade neither Robin Luscombe or Robin Morewood topped the Sidecar results at the Merle Morewood Peak Trial on Sunday at Hope, North Derbyshire.
The new British sidecar champions Jon Tuck and hispassenger Matt Sparkes put their Wessex Beta at the top of the resultsin what was the final British championship event for Sidecars andClassic Solo machines.
Luscombe and passenger Les Ashby retired after theBerrystall Lodge group of sections but 17-year-old Sam Luscombesnatched a great result with driver Andy Abrahams by winning theNewcomer category and finishing second overall in the Clubman class.
With the title wrapped up already on in theChampionship class, it was all about whether Tuck and Sparkes couldenter the lions' den and take out the Robins - and they did. Up to thefinal group, Backtor, Robin and Gill held the upper hand. Tuck andSparkes struck trouble on the muddy exits from the beck at earliergroup, Elmore Hill, and arrived at re-vamped Offerton Hall where the4RT Montesa-owning landowner had played a lot of games with hisexcavator. Offerton's ranging pastures and a wheel-width deep ravinehad given way to long beck sections containing the Southerner's delight- mud, yards of claggy power-sapping mud.
The Elmore beck and its deep, slippery banks gavethe Morewoods the edge with three brilliant dabs on two, three andseven. Luscombe and Ashby started badly and left with 15 on the card.Tuck and Sparkes were not much better on 11. New champions Lee Granbyand Amelia Bill' Haigh were on fire and on course for a Championshipand the pair's three, on the uncleanable third sub, was mastery at itsbest.
BRITISH SIDECAR TRIALS CHAMPS Rd 8 - Merle Morewood Peak Trial
(Sheffield & Hallamshire MC)
EXPERT SIDECAR: Jon Tuck/ Matt Sparkes (270 Beta)24 marks lost, Robin & Gill Morewood (290 Sherco) 29, Rupert &Chris Kimber (290 Sherco) 96.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 8 rounds: 1 Jon Tuck/Matt Sparkes 134 points, 2 Robin Luscombe/ Les Ashby 104, 3 RupertKimber/ Chris Kimber 97, 4 Morewood/ Morewood 86, 5 Nolan/ Jarvis 54, 6Radford/ Redston 48, 7 Flowers/ Smith 13, 8 Smith/ Smith 11, 9Chambers/ Allaway 10, 10 Kelly/ Baxter 10.
MASTER SIDECAR: Lee Granby/ Amelia Haigh (300 GasGas) 38 marks lost, Glyn Hawkins/ Tim Sparkes (290 Sherco) 41, TonyCrabtree/ Jamie Howe (280 Sherco) 46, Les Lansley/ Ali Woodbridge(Scorpa) 59, Phil Sparkes/ David Tuck (250 Montesa 4RT) 60, MickTreagus/ Barry Pocock (Gas Gas) 71, Peter & Daryll Dale (270 Beta)75, Ali Haigh/ Sam Luscombe (250 Montesa 4RT) 98.
SERIES STANDINGS after 8 (of 8) rounds: 1 Granby/Haigh 116 points, 2 Hawkins/ Sparkes 112, 3 Sparkes/ Tuck 110, 4 ToCrabtree/ Howe 107, 5 Haigh/ S Luscombe 92, 6 Morley/ Haley 45, 7 Head/Jacobs 38, 8 Lansley/ Woodbridge 29, 9 Treagus/ Gold (Pocock) 28, 10Beale/ Birchall 20, 11 Moore/ Davidson 20.
CLUBMAN SIDECAR: Dan Hornsby/ Bob Chapman (Sherco)46 marks lost, Andy Abraham/ Sam Luscombe (315 Montesa) 56, Mark Kemp/Ian Allaway (290 JAM Sherco) 62, Chris Dellow/ Kirsty Fenner (250Montesa) 63, Michael Jewell/ Ali Smith (250 Gas Gas) 80, Andrew Jewell/Kelly Jewell (320 Gas Gas) 82, Chris Guppy/ Sara Carter (290 Sherco)92, Kevin Allaway/ Josh Gould (Sherco) 107.
SERIES STANDINGS after 8 (of 8) rounds: 1 Dale/Dale 114 points, 2 Mi Jewell/ Smith 95, 3 Jewell/ Jewell 76, 4 Dellow/Fenner 74, 5 Kemp/ Patey 65, 6 Treagus/ Gold (Pocock) 45, 7 Allaway/Gould 36, 8 Fishlock/ Merrell 30, 9 Hornsby/ Chapman 20, 10 Parnell/Parnell 20, 11 Abraham/ S Luscombe 17, 12 M Kissack/ Woods 17, 13Moore/ Davidson 13, 14 Haynes/ Brennan 11, 15 Lawer/ Lawer 10.
NEWCOMER SIDECAR - FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 8rounds: 1 Chris Guppy/ Sara Carter 121 points, 2 Andy Abraham/ PetePesterfield 114, 3 Dave Jeff/ Matthew Swales 20, 4 Baxter/ Caine 15.
ACU CLASSIC TRIALS CHAMPS
FINAL Rd - Merle Morewood Peak Trial (Sheffield & Hallamshire MC)
CLASS A - Pre-65: Neil Gaunt (500 Ariel) 30 marks lost, Dave Thorpe (200 Triumph Cub) 37, Martyn Wilmore (350 BSA) 38.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 9 rounds: 1 DaveThorpe 131 points, 2 Neil Gaunt 128, 3 Martyn Wilmore 117, 4 Mick Grant51, 5 Scott Dommett 44, 6 Paul Anstey 41, 7 John Maxfield 34, 8 MarkQuinn 22, 9 Carl Batty 19, 10 Peter Carson 15,...
CLASS B - Twin-shock: Roger Williams (240 Fantic)16 marks lost, Philip Wiffen (250 Fantic) 33, Eddie Aitkin (250 Honda)39, Daniel Beaven (250 Honda) 39, Barry Roads (250 TLR Honda) 43,Daniel Cole (250 Yamaha) 79, Bill Rhodes (240 Fantic) 80, Tim Beaven(250 Honda) 89, Geoff Muston (TL125 Honda) 98, Steve Sell (250 Ossa)106.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Roger Williams 129points, 2 Philip Wiffen 128, 3 Barry Roads 85, 4 Nick Shield 79, 5Daniel Beavan 75, 6 Thorne Beckley-Pett 60, 7 Geoff Muston 46, 8 BillRhodes 41, 9 Steve Sell 34, 10 Nigel Birkett 26,...
CLASS C - Air-cooled Mono: Lee Hutchinson (TY Yamaha) 53 marks lost, Steve Ransom (250 TY Yam) 95.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Nic Draper 139 points, 2Peter Ruscoe 120, 3 Lee Hutchinson 87, 4 Steve Ransom 70, 5 Mark Reason62, 6 Kevin Peters 37, 7 Kevin Seward 34, 8 Dave Postlethwaite 20, 9Pete Blowers 20, 10 Andy Pitt 18,...
CLASS D - Over 40 on Modern Bikes: Davy Morewood(250 Beta) 15 marks lost, Simon Levett (250 Montesa) 19, Perry Meeton(4RT Montesa) 31, Ashley Hall (270 Beta) 33, Steve Hitchcock (250 GasGas) 34, Ian Watts (300 Gas Gas) 34, Andy Hipwell (250 JST Gas Gas) 36,David Brown (250 Montesa) 39, Mark Timperley (250 Scorpa) 40, TimBlackmore (250 Scorpa) 40, Leigh Elliott (250 Gas Gas) 49, PhilipDucker (250 Montesa) 50, Martin Gilbert (250 Gas Gas) 53, Dave Knaggs(250 Gas Gas) 55, Philip Martin (4RT Montesa) 56.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Simon Levett 134 points,2 Tim Blackmore 87, 3 Perry Meeton 60, 4 Dave Brown 55, 5 Philip Ducker45, 6 Mark Barrow 41, 7 Martin Gilbert 41, 8 Robin Martin 40, 9 SteveHitchcock 39, 10 Dave Smith 37,...
CLASS E - Over 50 on Modern Bikes: Allen Collier(250 Beta) 38 marks lost, Stephen Farrall (Gas Gas) 51, Kevin Stannard(250 Gas Gas) 55, Mick Glaves (250 Gas Gas) 58, Adrian Parker (250Beta) 76, Colin Mew (250 Beta) 94, Mike Husband (175 Merlin Gas Gas)97, David Wiffen (250 Beta) 97.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Allen Collier 132points, 2 Stephen Farrell 128, 3 Kevin Stannard 93, 4 John Penfold 74,5 Jon Bliss 62, 6 David Wiffen 51, 7 Adrian Parker 45, 8 Mike Husband45, 9 Martyn Goodall 38, 10 Colin Mew 37,...
NON CHAMPIONSHIP SOLO
EXPERT: Dan Thorpe (300 JST Gas Gas) 9, ChrisPearson (290 MRS Sherco) 16, Lee Sampson (290 Sherco) 17, RichardTimperley (280 Gas Gas) 33, Dan Farrer (300 JST Gas Gas) 53 (18x0), TimPearson (290 Sherco) 53 (16x0).
CLUBMAN: Stuart Woodfield (250 TrialsTek Beta) 20,Katy Sunter (250 Gas Gas) 33, Matt Smith (250 Gas Gas) 34, AnthonyCooper (250 Beta) 37, Tony Rimmer (280 Gas Gas) 44 (19x0), RichardWoodfield (250 TrialsTek Beta) 44 (18x0).
See T+MX News, Friday, November 9, 2007 for full report and pictures.