Faith, Hope and clarity
By TMX Archives on 6th Nov 08
HOPE was alive and kicking on Sunday morning in more ways than one. The north Derbyshire village, west of Sheffield, again hosted the Sheffield and Hallamshire club's National Merle Morewood Peak Trial, complete with all the characters in the sidecar brigade and a healthy 45 Normandale Classic Championship contenders aiming for a final reshuffle in the five classes. A total of 31 Clubmen, including ladies, and 10 Hard course runners, plus 20 Barrow Boys' assembled under the giant chimney of the Blue Circle Cement Works plus Superman and Batman and Robin, complete with cloaks.That more or less signalled the tone of the British Sidecar Championship finale. It was a day out for the sidecar lads. Although just what the residents of Hope thought when the Caped Crusader sped through the village on a sidecar outfit we wouldn't like to say.As for the Normandale Classic contenders, it was business as usual as Dave Thorpe, Phil Wiffen (absent), Nic Draper, Simon Levett and Stephen Farrell all nailed their respective classes. Jon Bliss and Wiffen did not ride the Peak as their respective titles were in the bag.
David Pearson's course planning, with Alan Morewood in the background, was ideal. S & H don't usually mend things that aren't broken, so 36 sections was the menu with a five and a half hour time allowance. That kept the show moving as it was a day of drizzle and overcast skies in the Derbyshire hills.
Elmore Hill opened the account. The first two sections featured the narrow beck with mountainous banks, and they were slick. The third was the well used boggy gully, again a no-go.
The fourth was the flat out hill climb. That exposed a problem for Mark Kemp and Ian Allaway. Any full-noise motoring had the Jam Scorpa blowing out its coolant. "We are running on Lucozade,” said Mark as he cleared Backtor later in the day.
Batman, aka Jon Tuck, dropped 15 in the group while Superman aka Lee Granby, with Amelia ‘Bill' Hague, matched winners Robin and Gill Morewood with failures in two and three. Bodmin's Newcomer champion Seemond Stephens hit the Masters class on Sunday and with Gary Davy really did deliver at Elmore with two stops.
Dan Hornsby and Bob Chapman cleaned the fourth and footed the rocky fifth where only Andy Abraham and Karen Crabtree, plus Chris Dakin and John Stanley made the ends cards. Robin and Gill were on fire and blasted Offerton Hall's ten subs for eight marks. Amazing. The Sheffield MRS Sherco pair could not sort the camber on 14th, but Tuck and Granby found the line and cleaned.
The new look Berrystall was way out on the moors, but the hardware was just as sever as
the old version a mile east.
The interesting 20th section resembles the Sahara Desert. Just a mound of clogging sand which was hit in third gear. Only Peter Dale and Daryl Dale cleaned in the Master's class, and, David Tuck and Steven Chandler in the Clubman category.
All the Experts gave it the full Monty, and were they motoring. Scores on the doors for the boys after Berrystall, the Morewoods on 20, Tuck Sparkes one up. Seemond Stephens and Gary Davy with Dan Hornsby and Bob Chapman on an impressive 37.
It all changed at Oxlow House when Tuck blew a chain. Backtor beckoned in a low cloud of mist and a four-degree temperature. Morewood stopped twice and footed the fast penultimate grass climb. That was where Tuck lost the chain, again, which gave Robin and Gill the premier.
Laying down on the job – Sidecar Intermediate class ‘Hope'fuls MickTreagus and passenger Steve Gould come to grief amid the stones.
ACU TRADITIONAL TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 10 – Merle Morewood Peak Trial
(Sheffield & Hallamshire MC)
CLASS A: Dave Thorpe (199 Triumph Cub) 55 marks lost, Martyn Wilmore (350 BSA) 67, Mick Grant (500 Ariel) 77, Barry Burton (250 James) 81, Neil Buckley (200 Triumph Cub) 133.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 10 rounds (best 9 scores): 1 Thorpe 153 (163) points, 2 Wilmore 128 (136), 3 Neil Gaunt 119, 4 Scott Dommett 66, 5 John Maxfield 33, 6 Chris Gascoigne 31, 7 Alan Wright 31, 8 Phil Wickett 30, 9 Grant 30, 10 Norman Shepherd 28,...
CLASS B: Chris Koch (250 Cotswold) 15 marks lost, Steven Davies (200 Yamaha) 54, Adrian Clarke (250 Greeves) 79, Mark Hallows (250 Majesty) 80.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 10 rounds (best 9 scores): 1 Phillip Wiffen 169 points, 2 Koch 151, 3 Davies 99, 4 Thorne Beckley-Pett 40, 5 Nick Shield 35, 6 Ian Baker 30, 7 Chris Haigh 28, 8 Thomas Hick 26, 9 Jeremy Parker 24, 10 Chris Dark 22,...
CLASS C: Kiaran Hankin (250 Honda) 26 marks lost, Nic Draper (250 Yam) 34, Mark Reason (249 Fantic) 46, Lee Hutchinson (200 Scorpa) 49, Kevin Peters (212 Fantic) 61, Steve Ransom (250 Yam) 86.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 10 rounds (best 9 scores): 1 Draper 161 (176) points, 2 Reason 157, 3 Peters 112 (117), 4 Hutchinson 109, 5 David Bathe 46, 6 Ransom 44, 7 Kieran Hankin 40, 8 Matt Spink 26, 9 Wesley Butcher 21, 10 Mark Harrison 20,...
CLASS D: Simon Levett (250 Montesa) 19 marks lost, Chris Clarke (250 Beta) 21, David Burrows (300 Gas Gas) 27, Leigh Elliott (250 Gas Gas) 28, Andy Hipwell (250 Gas Gas) 33, Ashley Hall (270 Beta) 33, Ian Watts (300 Gas Gas) 40, Steve Hitchcock (250 Gas Gas) 56, Simon Thornhill (250 Sherco) 74, Andy Collins (290 Sherco) 77, Phillip Wiffen (250 Fantic) 91.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 10 rounds (best 9 scores): 1 Levett 153 (163) points, 2 David Braithwaite 107, 3 Hall 95, 4 David Hardy 66, 5 Philip Martin 61, 6 Burrows 61, 7 David Brown 56, 8 Robin Martin 43, 9 John Hulme 34, 10 Tim Blackmore 29.
CLASS E: Stephen Farrall (250 Gas Gas) 44 marks lost, Clive Charlton (250 Beta) 48, Mike Husband (350 Gas Gas) 64, John Penfold (250 Beta) 64, Kevin Stannard (250 Gas Gas) 73.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 10 rounds (best 9 scores): 1 Farrall 167 (180) points, 2 Charlton 147, 3 Penfold 107, 4 Stannard 105, 5 Martyn Goodall 67, 6 Mike Husband 50, 7 David Wiffen 49, 8 Allen Collier 45, 9 Antony Brockbank 40, 10 Colin Mew 34,...
CLASS F: No Entries at this round.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 10 rounds (best 9 scores): 1 Jon Bliss 129 points, 2 Trevor Harvey 81, 3 Brian Hutchinson 37, 4 Keith Ring 35, 5 Mike Rapley 35, 6 Mike Hann 26, 7 Martin Strang 20, 8 Barry Harber 15, 9 R Plum 13, 10 John Ruth 13,...
SUPPORT SOLO CLASSES
SOLO EXPERT: Dan Thorpe (300 JST Gas Gas) 21 marks lost, Chris Pearson (290 MRS Sherco) 30, Dan Farrer (280 JST Gas Gas) 42, Richard Timperley (225 JST Gas Gas) 61.
SOLO CLUBMAN: Katy Sunter (250 JST Gas Gas) 25, Matthew Smith (250 Gas Gas) 29, Stuart Woodfield (250 Trialstek Beta) 35, Andrew Smith (250 Gas Gas) 45, Sam Clarke (250 Montesa) 46, Matt Timperley (250 Beta) 51.
BRITISH SIDECAR TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 9 – Merle Morewood Peak Trial
(Sheffield & Hallamshire MC)
Sidecar Championship: Robin/ Gill Morewood (320 MRS Sherco) 40 marks lost, Jon Tuck/ Matt Sparkes (270 Bat Bike) 45, Lee Granby/ Amelia Hague (300 FK Gas Gas) 67.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 9 rounds (best 8 scores): 1 J Tuck/ M Sparkes 157 points, 2 Nolan/ Jarvis 115, 3 Morewood/ Morewood 103, 4 Granby/ Haigh 103 (113), 5 R Luscombe/ Ashby 67, 6 Kimber/ Kimber 65, 7 Kelly/ Baxter 21, 8 Teare/ Birchall 17, 9 Chambers/ Allaway 17, 10 Hawkins/ T Sparkes 17, 11 Knight/ Molyneux 15, 12 Smith/ Smith 11, 13 Flowers/ Smith 9, 14 Arnold/ Arnold 7.
Sidecar Intermediate: Peter Dale/ Daryl Dale (270 Beta) 62 marks lost, Tony Crabtree/ Jamie Howe (290 Xciting Sherco) 64, Seemond Stephens/ Gary Davy (250 RCM Scorpa) 65, Kevin Morley/ Sam Luscombe (270 Beta) 74, Phil Sparkes/ Roger Tuck (270 Wessex Beta) 78, Mick Treagus/ Steve Gould (300 Gas Gas) 93.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 9 rounds (best 8 scores): 1 To Crabtree/ Howe 134 points, 2 Morley/ Luscombe 120, 3 Dale/ Dale 115 (126), 4 Haigh/ Pocock 95, 5 P Sparkes/ D Tuck 92, 6 Treagus/ Gould 67, 7 Head/ Jacobs 43, 8 Bimson/ Owen 20, 9 Stephens/ Davey 15, 10 Holmes/ Ashby 13, 11 Parnell/ Parnell 13, 12 Lansley/ Woodbridge 10.
Sidecar Clubman: Dan Hornsby/ Bob Chapman (290 Sherco) 68 marks lost, Andy Abraham/ Karen Crabtree (320 John Lee Sherco) 72, Mark Kemp/ Ian Allaway (250 Jam Scorpa) 81, Chris Dellow/ Kirsty Fenner (Montesa) 91, David Tuck/ Steven Chandler (315 Wessex Montesa) 96, Michael Jewell/ Ali Smith (270 Beta) 105, Kevin Allaway/ Josh Gould (270 Beta) 111, Chris Dakin/ John Stanley (290 Sherco) 124.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 9 rounds (best 8 scores): 1 Hornsby/ Chapman 143 points, 2 Kemp/ Allaway 123, 3 Abraham/ Crabtree 111 (120), 4 Holmes/ Ashby 103, 5 M Jewell/ Smith 89, 6 A Jewell/ K Jewell 66, 7 D Tuck/ Chandler 51, 8 K Allaway/ Gould 42, 9 Hannam/ Pesterfield 39, 10 M Kissack/ Woods 26, 11 Baxter/ Caine 20, 12 Lawer/ Jenkin 17, 13 Moore/ Davidson 17, 14 R Tuck/ ??? 16, 15 Haynes/ Brennan 15.
Sidecar Newcomer: Shaun Jenkin/ Phil Highland (321 Gas Gas) 123 marks lost.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 9 (of 9) rounds: 1 Stephens/ Davey 140 points, 2 Jenkin/ Highland 137, 3 Bale/ Osborne 28, 4 McNee/ Swan 20, 5 Andrew/ Edyvean 17.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2008