Report: Wild & Wooley madness
By Dick Law on 29th Dec 15
A TOTAL of 51 riders thought it would be a good idea to blow away the Christmas indulgences by tackling the 90th running of the Wild & Woolly Charity Boxing Day scramble at Arm Farm, Blisworth, Northamptonshire.
But there could only be one winner of the hour plus one lap event and this year Neville Bradshaw, riding a 250cc two-stroke Suzuki, took the honours.
Neville finished two laps ahead of the experienced Ady Smith on his 250 KTM.
The hard working members of Northampton MCC put on this mud-bath of an event, with the track including a number of ditch crossings which as the race went on got deeper, wetter and muddier – providing giving plenty of fun for the riders and even better entertainment for the massive crowd.
The real winners of the event, though, are the charities that benefit from the generous donations filling the collection buckets at every entrance and around the circuit.
Bradshaw's race didn't get off to a good start, as after completing the opening lap his team noticed that the bolt holding the rear brake disk had sheered off and it was rattling around the spindle, threatening to catch on the caliper and fire Bradshaw off.
On lap two Bradshaw slid into the work area where his team members cut the caliper off taking away the danger but leaving him without a rear brake for the rest of the event.
It didn't seem to hinder him in the least though and he was still jumping the ditches at the end of the day.
Smith's riding style is so smooth he goes around the track almost
un-noticed but he is very fast, as proved by his strong second place.
Scott Bates (200 KTM) increased his pace as the event unfolded and crossed the finish line after the hour in third place, with previous winners Ryan Griffiths (450 Honda) and Jack Lee (300 Beta) filling the next two places.
Other notable finishers were James Plant (200 KTM) – the first Junior rider in a good eighth place on 18 laps – and the only lady rider Hayley Rilings (125 Yamaha), who finished in 27th place after completing 11 laps.
"We came down to watch this event last year as we only live about three-miles away and I thought I would give it a go,” said winner Bradshaw.
"I wonder how many laps I could have won by if I hadn't lost the rear brake?”
Results
21 laps: 1 Neville Bradshaw (250 Suzuki).
19 laps: 2 Ady Smith (250 KTM), 3 Scott Bated (200 KTM), 4 Ryan Griffiths (450 Honda).
18 laps: 5 Jack Lee (300 Beta), 6 Matt Smith (250 KTM), 7 Michael McClurg (250 Suzuki), 8 James Plant (200 KTM).
17 laps: 9 Ashley Rilings (350 KTM), 10 James Barnwell (300 KTM), 11 Richard Main (250 KTM).
16 laps: 12 Matt Willis (450 KTM), 13 Charley Lee (300 Sherco).
15 laps: 14 Joe Tobutt (250 Honda).
14 laps: 15 Daniel Loveday (200 Kawasaki).
13 laps: 16 Gary West (450 Kawasaki), 17 Ryan Bradford (250 Honda), 18 Rob Hollis (250 Honda), 19 Giles Hamilton (250 Honda).
12 laps: 20 James Chambers (450 Honda), 21 George Moore (300 Sherco), 22 Glenn Warren (250 Yamaha), 23 James Higgins (280 Honda), 24 Christian Livesey (300 KTM), 25 Ehren Wood (250 Suzuki).
11 laps: 26 Andrew Morris (300 KTM), 27 Hayley Rilings (125 Yamaha), 28 Adam Limbert (200 KTM).
10 laps: 29 Mark Bradford (450 Honda), 30 Jordan Ryan (300 KTM), 31 Roger Titman (450 Yamaha), 32 Edward Kelly (250 Honda), 33 Mark Page (300 KTM), 34 James Evans (450 KTM), 35 Edward Lloyd (450 Honda).
