Shiver me Kimbers!
By Barry Robinson on 11th Nov 11
Rupert and Chris Kimber achieved a result that will stand for a long time. The Rochester son and father sidecar trials duo rode the entire Merle Morewood Peak Trial course all 31-sections to win the final round of the Luscombe Suzuki Leeds British Sidecar Trials Championship on a clean sheet.
Shorter than usual, no Offerton Hall for the three-wheelers, just the muddy stream banks of Elmore Hill and the grassy climbs way above the brace of openers out on the moors then a long ride to a sun-baked, but cold Back Tor where two laps of eight sections on the unyielding jagged rocks ended the day.
While the Kimbers hit everything dead right on their Beta. Robin and Sam Luscombe had nothing to prove at Hope on Sunday. ‘Lusky' had his 15th championship title wrapped up before the start, and with son, Sam, in the chair, will be back next year for another attack on the title.
With a get going attitude Robin and Sam shot off and rode the entire trial in two-hours and 26-minutes and were signed off and loading up at the giant cement factory car park, at 11.10am.
Sadly David Tuck and Steven Chandler were loading up about the same time after their Wessex Beta had blown a gasket after the penultimate section on Elmore Hill, so that meant an unlucky number 13 signed off from Back Tor on Sunday afternoon.
The Intermediate class was a straight conflict of two Dales and one Crabtree. The latter won but Daryl Dale and Harriet Shore emerged as champions with the most class wins.
And, to compound confusion no team orders prevailed within Team Dale when Peter and passenger Barry Pocock ran second beating t'lad by three marks. The ironic fact was that as Daryl and Harriet sunk into the mud at the top of the third section, son was shouting the line, and gear, to his father down at the bottom of the hazard. Peter and Barry got out with a lusty three dabs.
The innocuous opener in the stream was mild but the exit up the steep bank for Championship and Inters posed a problem!
The Luscombes had a moment at the top of the bank when the bike found grip and reared almost vertical but Robin was still in control. Peter Dale and Barry Pocock turned too sharp and got on its back wheel, leaving a lot of airtime under the surplus sidecar wheel. Tony Crabtree and Jamie Howe emulated the Luscombes but their strange war dance – a bit of Kiwi rugby in there, somewhere – yielded a king sized endo with Jamie wrestling with any bit of Sherco he could grab.
Though Tony hung onto the bars the bike caught Howe in the upper thigh region and he was still limping when the pair signed off.
Andrew Scrivens and Martin Lawford headed Newcomers class. Meanwhile, late starters on Sunday, Kieran Hankin and Andy Cripps, topped the seven-strong Clubman class.
Retirees David Tuck and Steven Chandler dropped out with six on their card at section 13 whereas Hanks and ‘Crippsy' posted a six total for the Elmore group. Wild they may, be but the pair are progressing well on three-wheels.
Scrivens and Lawford dropped nine, which was two less than Robbie Head and Aaron Jacob.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX NEWS NOVEMBER 11
LUSCOMBE SUZUKI LEEDS BRITISH SIDECAR TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 10 (Final) – Merle Morewood Peak Trial
(Sheffield & Hallamshire MC)
CHAMPIONSHIP SIDECAR: Rupert Kimber/ Chris Kimber (Beta Stick) clean, Robin Luscombe/ Sam Luscombe (290 Craigs Beta) 2 marks lost.
SERIES STANDINGS after 10 rounds (best 9 scores to count): 1 Robin Luscombe/ Sam Luscombe 148 (165) points (CHAMPIONS), 2 Kimber/ Kimber 143 (158), 3 Chambers/ Allaway 45, 4 Granby/ Ashby & Carl Batty 45, 5 J Tuck/ Sparkes 20, 6 Knight/ Molyneux 20, 7 Adi Smith/ Aar Smith 13, 8 Kelly/ Baxter 11, 9 Flowers/ Smith 10.
INTERMEDIATE SIDECAR: Tony Crabtree/ Jamie Howe (TrialsOutlet Sherco) 15 marks lost, Peter Dale/ Barry Pocock (270 Beta) 39, Daryl Dale/ Harriet Shore (300 Gas Gas) 42.
SERIES STANDINGS after 10 rounds (best 9 scores to count): 1 Daryl Dale/ Harriet Shore 138 points (CHAMPIONS), 2 To Crabtree/ Howe 138, 3 P Dale/ Pocock 129, 4 Radford/ Redston 78, 5 Jenkin/ Jenkin 22, 6 Bimson/ Owen 20, 7 Lace/ Lace 15, 8 Morley/ Ashby 11.
CLUBMAN SIDECAR: Andy Scrivens/ Martin Lawford (Montesa) 18 marks lost, Kieran Hankin/ Andy Cripps (Montesa) 19, Mick Treagus/ Steve Gould (Gas Gas) 26, Alistair Allan/ Nick George (250 Beta) 28, Robert Head/ Aaron Jacobs (290 Sherco) 29, Chris Dellow/ Kathryn Dellow (Montesa) 50.
SERIES STANDINGS after 10 rounds (best 9 scores to count): 1 David Tuck/ Steven Chandler 138 points (CHAMPIONS), 2 Haigh/ Haigh 102, 3 Scrivens/ Lawford 85, 4 Treagus/ Gould 81 (87), 5 P Sparkes/ R Tuck 73, 6 Jarvis/ Chapman 61, 7 Churchill/ Parnell 55, 8 Head/ Jacobs 52, 9 Allan/ George 47, 10 Dellow/ Dellow 47, 11 Guppy/ Allaway 26, 12 Kemp/ Allaway 23, 13 Haynes/ Haynes 20, 14 Hankin/ Cripps 17, 15 Cripps/ Hankin 17.
NEWCOMER SIDECAR: Nigel Scott/ Jay-Ashley Hall (Gas Gas) 61 marks lost, David Nourish/ Andrew Wright (270 Yamaha) 70.
SERIES STANDINGS after 10 rounds (best 9 scores to count): 1 Nourish/ Wright 97 points (CHAMPIONS), 2 Scott/ Hall 40.
NON-CHAMPIONSHIP SOLOS
Expert: Dan Thorpe (Gas Gas) 18 marks lost, Richard Timperley (Sherco) 32, Chris Pearson (Sherco) 37, Dan Farrer (Gas Gas) 51, Ross Crosby (Montesa) 65.
Clubman: Mick Boam (Scorpa) 15, Phil Scott (Montesa) 26, Roman Kyrnyckyj (Gas Gas) 26, Katy Sunter (Gas Gas) 26, Andy Hipwell (Gas Gas) 33.
