The Best by Far'
By TMX Archives on 9th Jul 08
THE Herefordshire Twin-shock Club hosted its annual King of the Castle' meeting at the world famous Farleigh Castle circuit at the weekend, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the first event at the legendary venue.This year's proceeding was a weekend of two halves with dry conditions on Saturday and muddier wet conditions on Sunday.
One of the most popular classes for both entries and spectators was the Over 50 class where the racing was dominated by the former world champion Graham Noyce, former American champ Chuck Sun and Peter Lightfoot.
In race one on Saturday it was Noyce who took a much deserved opening race win, but in race two Sun found his form and blasted his big Maico, lent to him by main Maico man Bill Brown, to the front.
The overnight rain made conditions a little tricky but the experience of Noyce shone through in the opening race of the day as he took a great start to finish victory. In the final encounter it was, however, Sun who battled his way to the victory. A third in this race was enough though to give Noyce the overall for the weekend.
In the Over 40 class Saturday's racing was a complete French affair with Martial Briens taking two much deserved win. On day two, however, the tricky conditions were more at home to Chris Woodward who fought to take two fine race wins and the overall for the weekend.
The 125cc and 250cc classes were combined together to give some excellent racing. In the 125cc class day one saw James Cole take two class victories ahead of Mark Hobbs and Andrew Davidson. A non appearance from Cole on Sunday, however, handed two victories to Tim Young, but it was the consistent Ryan Newbury who snatched the overall win.
In the 250cc class two third places on the Saturday for Dean Warren combined with a fourth and second on Sunday saw him take the overall ahead of Wayne Twidle and Lee Hartill.
In the CCM class three wins and a third was enough for Richard Carter to retain his CCM title for 2008 while in the Four-stroke class the battle was between Bryan Withers and Tim Carter, Withers coming out on top after three straight wins.
In the Clubman 1 class there were some great battles between eventual winner Tony Dinham and runner-up Toby Lightbown. Dinham took the overall by virtue of three great victories to Lightbowns one.
The International/ Expert class provided some excellent racing. As the gate dropped for the opening race Gary Parker took the victory but in race two Tim Carter was determined to make amends and went on to take a great start to finish victory. The overnight rain made the track conditions more like an enduro and this played right into the hands of top enduro man Jason Fraser who stormed to two fine victories but consistent riding by Parker earned him the overall win.
The Sidecar Expert class action was all about the battles between Rob Wilkinson/ Martin Hutchings and Paul Morris/ Mark Snell. Over the whole weekend both outfits took two winsand two seconds, however, Wilkinson/ Hutchings took the top spot due to their final race victory.
In the Junior Sidecar class top spot for the weekend was taken by Matt Bodfish and his passenger Aaron Chatwyn.
In the Classic Four-stroke event Carl Pope ran away with the four heat victories whilst in the two-stroke class the honours were shared between Keith Best and Rich Warner.
KING OF THE CASTLE
Farleigh Castle (Herefordshire Twin-shock Club)
Classic Two-stroke: 1 Keith Best, 2 Rich Warner, 3 Rupert Copping, 4 Rick Verbeeten, 5 Gerard Copping, 6 Tony Verbeeten.
Classic Four-stroke: 1 Carl Pope, 2 David Bell, 3 Phil Edwards, 4 Shaun Lovegrove, 5 Scott Faulkner, 6 Martin Perrett.
Over 50: 1 Graham Noyce, 2 Chuck Sun, 3 Peter Lightfoot, 4 Stuart Miller, 5 Martin Snape, 6 Ken Shuttleworth.
Best Over 60: Bill Brown.
Over 40: 1 Chris Woodward, 2 Martial Briens, 3 Richard Carter, 4 Nigel Parker, 5 Chris Stone, 6 Chris Barker.
125cc: 1 Ryan Newbury, 2 Mark Hobbs, 3 Tim Young, 4 Craig Gabbitas, 5 James Cole, 6 Dave Rowsell.
250cc: 1 Dean Warren, 2 Wayne Twidle, 3 Lee Hartill, 4 Stephen Rowlands, 5 Richard Wood, 6 Warren Berthiaume.
CCM: 1 Richard Carter, 2 Dean Gray, 3 Nigel Andrews, 4 Andy Collins, 5 Mark Cook, 6 Rob Waddington.
Four-stroke: 1 Brian Withers, 2 Tim Carter, 3 Lee Davies, 4 Thomas McEwan, 5 Richard Penhaligon, 6 Paul Webb.
Clubman 1: 1 Tony Dinham, 2 Toby Lightbown, 3 Ashley Wainwright, 4 Paul Hodgkins, 5 Ryan Newbury, 6 Robbie Savill.
Clubman 2: 1 Chris Nunn, 2 Jon Rutherford, 3 Martin Small, 4 Nigel Rees, 5 Darren Mills, 6 Darren Pocock.
International/ Expert: 1 Gary Parker, 2 Jason Fraser, 3 Tim Carter, 4 Howard Standfield, 5 Walter Bickmore, 6 Martial Briens.
Sidecar Expert: 1 Rob Wilkinson/ Martin Hutchings, 2 Paul Morris/ Mark Snell, 3 Pete Batt/ Dug Wood, 4 Tony/ Scott Beeching, 5 Terry Parsons/ Doug Boyd, 6 Tucker Dow/ Ross Parmenter/
Sidecar Junior: 1 Matt Bodfish/ Aaron Chatwyn, 2 Charlie/ Ross Chivers, 3 Arthur Walton/ James George, 4 Dave/ Steve Burge, 5 Keith/ Jack Patterson, 6 Andy/ Leigh Carter.
Solo King of the Castle: 1 Bryan Withers, 2 Jason Fraser, 3 Carl Pope (Best Classic).
Sidecar Expert King of the Castle: 1 Paul Morris/ Mark Snell, 2 Rob Wilkinson/ Martin Hutchings, 3 Pete Batt/ Dug Wood.
Sidecar Junior King of the Castle: 1 Charlie/ Ross Chivers, 2 Keith/ Jack Patterson, 3 Matt Bodfish/ Aaron Chatwyn.