Scottish Grand National MX report
By TMX Contributor on 19th Jul 18
I WANNA BIKE! You gotta get me a bike! Demanded the silver-haired man in a Drumlanrig Scottish Grand National Motocross T-shirt and slow Californian accent.
The silver-haired man? 1982 World 500cc Motocross Champion Brad Lackey, after seeing the stunning setting and fabulously set out circuit at the Drumlanrig Castle based event, in the Scottish Borders last weekend.
So impressed with the circuit, Lackey even considered coming out of retirement to head for the hills, and the off-cambers, and scenic drop-offs as members of the reformed Galloway Motorcycle Club had set out a tough, but fair track for its second running of this meeting for Classic and Twinshock machines.
Initially a host of star riders had been signed up to race, Lackey didnt race however, but was there as the clubs Guest Of Honour his former Honda team-mate Graham Noyce was signed up to race but a technical issue on travelling north put paid to his appearance.
Franco Rippa, Scottish Grand National 2018
Still, we did have an array of talent on show from north and south of the border, Wales, Ireland and as far afield as Italy, including former Centre champions and GP riders Willie Simpson, Mark Fulton, Steve Bircher, Willie Burgess, old Twinshock heroes Barry Turnbull, Paul Chiappa, Alan Bott and Walter Bickmore.
Then there was the Italian visitors headed by Masimo Signorin and party animal Franco Rippa.
The event, held over three days in a huge area known as the Drumlanrig Castle front lawn (the owner, Richard Scott, the Duke of Buccleuch, is Scotlands largest private landowner) is fast becoming one of the top Classic and Twinshock events in the country and kicked off with a Grass-track event on the Friday evening, once everyone had been signed in a scrutineered (and their bikes).
Two classes were catered for round an anti-clockwise oval with off-cambered corners thrown in for good measure.
Heats were run and riders with Pre 78 and Pre 84 machines advanced to their respective Finals with Thom Anderson taking the glory in the C Pre 78 Final and Jim Colligan taking the Pre 84 C Final win.
The B Final Pre 78 and Pre 84 winners were Italian flyer Pietro Mistrorigo and Edinburgh man David Lawson respectively.
wtmx 2018 Scottish Grand National
Jonathon Bethel was a popular winner in the A Final for Pre 78 machines and after a hard tussle with the unfortunate Wille Simpson, who was a victim of the moist off-camber after the finish line, in the Final for Pre 84 bikes, Irishman Wille Burgess took the honours before we all retired to the obligatory marquee/ beer tent for the evenings entertainment.
Fridays evenings main interest lay with an audience with Brad Lackey led by John Moffatt, also known to have a word or two!
Lackey chatted about his early life and career and how he advanced to become Americas only 500cc world champion and it was an interesting view into a factory riders life with honest accounts of any differences he had with factories and his colleagues and why he saw fit to retire at the top after winning the title in 82.
The first of two-days of Classic and Twinshock racing began on the Saturday in bright and at times very hot sunshine.
Classic Unlimited machines from Pre 68 and Pre 78 kicked us off for five-lap races around a fabulously designed track with one major hill-climb at the back of the circuit, which would later cause mayhem.
James Thomson took the overall Pre 68 honours with a majestic max points haul over the four races as Tim Dallaway also claimed a solid points score with four second spots for Runner-up position as he just couldnt get near the flying Thomson and in third overall was John Griffiths with just a slight hiccup in the second race with fifth spot or he would have had a four third places out of four score.
The hotly contested Pre 78 class saw Chris Woodward claim top spot from runner-up John Mitchell who had some bad luck after his first race win, as Italian visitor Mirco Mistrorigo made the long trip worthwhile in third place on the podium.
As the sun burned brighter and hotter the Pre 75 Unlimited class action was just as searing as the talented wonder kid Kris Winder ripped his 1973 Honda Elsinore all over the track for four wins out of four, way ahead of the experienced Wayne partington, who could do nothing about Winders speed and youth.
Third place overall went to Trevor Calderwood after some consistent riding from the Irishman.
A mention has to be given to the unlucky Jamie McMaster who looked safe for a podium after four races with two second spots to Winder early doors, however, he couldnt take any points on the second day of racing so finished down the table in eighth place.
The Over 60 Class was where Noyce was to go up against old British and GP foes Willie Simpson, Jimmy Aird and Pete Mathia but with Noyce, Aird and Math missing it was down to Simpson to hold the fort against the Italian attack of Masimo Signorin.
It was close racing between the two for most of the four races with a few bar banging moments and no holds barred action which kept the huge crowd enthralled for their five lap encounters.
Signorin took the first race win ahead of Simpson with the Scot claiming the next two race wins.
With the sun baking the already hard track and the bikes ripping up the back hill causing extremely dusty conditions and log jams with stricken riders, the hill was taken out for the second half of the first day.
Signorin eventually took the last race win as Simpson took a slip but the Overall went to the Scot, father of GP Yamaha rider and former British champ, Shaun.
Brad Lackey, Scottish Grand National 2018
Signorin had to be happy with runner-up with Andy Long taking a last race second spot to boost his points haul enough to snatch third place overall by one point over the ever impressive Sammy Doble.
The Over 60 Clubman Class reacquainted former Northern Centre Champion Steve Bircher, with his new hip, to a Twinshock bike and dusty track. Birch took the Overall honours with three second spots and a third race win ahead over Runner-up Andy Malloch and the very unlucky, but last race winner, Phil Baker in third spot Overall.
A mention for David Loudon who rode brilliantly to the first two race wins but couldnt score any points in the last two races, so he eventually finished in sixth. Possibly the most popular classes for fast-paced action were in the Twinshock Under and Over 50s over the two days.
Barry Turnbull was far and away the fastest rider in the Under 50s class sweeping to three out of four race wins, just missing out on the first race honours by half a wheel length from winner David Campbell after Turnbull got held up in a first corner melee and started dead last to begin his chase down of the flying Scotsman in the lead.
One by one Turnbull pulled riders in and passed them, Campbell, an experienced former British Four-stroke champion and GP rider with the classy CAS Honda team had been suffering from damaged ribs after a mid-week crash so was feeling his efforts as Turnbull closed in on him in the dying stages of the opening class race.
But, for Turnbull it wasnt to be as Campbell snatched the opening victory to loud applause and appreciation from the watching crowd.
However, his injuries made it an easy decision not to continue for Campbell, which was a shame as the next three races in the class went to an untroubled Turnbull, even though he didnt have it all his own way all the time as young Scotsman Gavin Robertson put him under pressure a lot but had to settle for overall runner-up spot ahead of third placed man David Alderton whos first race third position helped him onto the eventual podium.
A wee mention of Kristian Marshall in fourth place could well have troubled Alderton or Robertson for podium honours with three consecutive third places, but for a fall in the first race and an eventual haul of just one point, made any further advancement impossible.
Former Scottish champion, Cumbrian Mark Fulton had targeted this event and openly admitted to putting in loads of training beforehand. That training paid off with four very untroubled gate-to-flag race wins ahead of Runner-up Willie Burgess and Gary Parker in third place.
Many mini battles went ahead down the field with local hero Paul Chiappa taking on friend and fellow Scot Craig Smitch and Alan Bott. The Individual Class races were won by Andy Malloch (Clubman), Graham Smith (Over 50s), Steve Mower (Over 60s) and Michael McBride (Under 50s).
There were Classic Team Races with the star-studded JAP Team of James Thompson (three wins out of three), Adrian Lappin, John Griffiths and Harry Stitt blasting to the Overall honours ahead of the Galloway Club squad of John Fleming, Archie Baird, Steve Dent and David Wilson, with Team England beating their football colleagues by taking a third place.
Peter Jerred, Ian Stainton, Alan Deer and Wayne Partington were their heroes.
The Twinshock Team races were won by The Castle Kings of Mark Fulton, Paul Chiappa, Gavin Robertson and David Houston, taking a 1,2,3,4 in most races.
Runner-up spot went to Northern Irelands team of Willie Burgess, George Porter, Jon McBride and Sean Murphy with Alan Bott leading the Pemberton Tyres team of himself, Michael Smith, Mick Du Feu and Daniel McNally.
The fabulous weekend came to an exciting climax with the Drumlanrig Scottish Grand National.
Barry Turnbull continued his winning ways by snatching the Overall from Craig Trew and Alan Bott in runner-up and third places respectively in the Twinshock Class race with Kris Winder flying to the top spot in the Classic Class ahead of Tim Dallaway while James Thompson roared his Jap to third spot.
The professionalism by which the Galloway Club members pulled this event off was immense and the annual trip to Drumlanrig Castle Scottish Grand National must stand as a first tick in your race calendar.
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