Neal's the daddy at Thumpers
By TMX Archives on 29th Nov 13
Matthew Neale, riding his dads 500 Ariel, won last weekends 33rd running of the National Eastern Thumpers Trial at Thorrington, near Colchester, Essex.The winner of the Pre-65 class is usually classified by the organising Eastern Four-stroke Association as the rider with the lowest score in the big booming Pre-unit construction group.And by just losing 34 marks, Neale finished nine ahead of closest challenger Mark Fletcher, who rode a Royal Enfield. The hard-working club laid out 17 wet, muddy and slippery sections up and down the banks and in and out of some deep holes at the Poplars Chase Farm venue, where the field of almost 80 riders were tasked to complete three-laps.The weather was kind to the event with some light rain clearing just as the final rider set off, making observing quite pleasant, at what is normally a cold event.Sections 11 and 12 claimed the most marks in all classes and on both routes as Neale lost 16 of his total of 34 across both sections during his three visits.Neale thought he had lost any chance of winning on his first visit to section ten.Before he knew the results Neale said: I was riding like a wally as I missed a simple marker and thats a five.He scored a two on his second visit and was the only rider in the big bike class to register a clean, on his final visit.However, the tricky conditions were catching all of the other riders out, too.Second-placed man in the same class as Neale and a previous winner Fletcher had an unexpected five in section five, a hazard he cleaned with ease on his other two visits and, although that didnt cost him the event, it didnt help.Matt Mison (500 Matchless) was third, just two marks behind Fletcher and only had two fives during the day.But a series of threes around the trickiest part of the course spoilt his chance of the class win.Former motocross rider and centre champion, Matt Skeet (350 Ariel) was fourth with hero of the event, Clive Dopson who wrestled a big rigid 500 Norton around the 31 sections was fifth.In the lighter Unit Construction class Chris Collins (270 BSA) had a great ride to win the class with the loss of just 21 the lowest score posted by any rider on the day.He completed the first lap losing just three, but as conditions got more slippery and the mud became deeper he lost nine on the remaining two laps.Once again, just like the Pre-unit class, the majority of his marks were lost at sections 11 and 12.On his way to second in class, Gary Baker seemed to get the measure of these challenging sections as he clean number 11 once, and 12 twice on his 200 Triumph, but a two and a five on the easier section ten, spoiled his chance of a class win.David Plumb (250 Triumph) finished third, some way behind Baker, with similarly mounted Trevor Town fourth.Graham Brown, on a 250 James, won the two-stroke class with a score of 23 and, like all the others, 15 of those went at numbers 11 and 12.He also had a disappointing three at section two and a couple of single dabs in the very last section.Daniel Carter (250 James) was just two marks behind class winner Brown and could have won but for a five at his first attempt at section ten a hazardhe cleaned on his two other visits.James Newstead (175 BSA) was third in class and had a great ride apart from three mistakes as he registered three single fives on sections seven, 14 and 17, where most of the other riders where scoring mostly cleans.On the easier Gentleman route, Paul Houghton on his 200 Triumph won losing a miserly seven marks, four of which where shed in section nine.Roy Palmer, mounted on a 250 BSA, was second.A five in section four spoiled his chance of the class win.Kevin Plummer brought his 185 BSA home in third, just two marks behind Palmer.
