Thorpe wins Normandale
By TMX Archives on 5th Nov 10
as Batty takes the Championship...
The Normandale ACU Traditional Classic Trials Championship bowed-out in South Yorkshire on Sunday under foggy skies and a miserable autumn day but the finale was a fine effort by the Hillsborough club, as ever, and the results appeared sharply early on Monday morning.
Four of the six classes were wrapped-up at the West Country double-header at the beginning of October so winners Pete Ruscoe, Ashley Hall, Nic Draper and Jon Bliss did not make the trip to ride the final round. In Class A, Cumbrian Carl Batty nailed the Championship but only after a season-long battle with Dave Thorpe who was right on his case and the wily old character knows every rock, stream, muddy bank and fallen tree in the Ughill Valley so it was inevitable that Carl would have to settle for second on the day and 17-points at the final frontier. Thorpey and his Cub won comfortably on the day but it was young Carl's title
The same more or less carried over to Class B where Phillip Wiffen headed Richard Allen in the results behind rampant David Pye and Phil Houghton.
Trials rider cum road race ace Kieran Hankin jumped the Pennines with his sharp sounding air-cooled Beta to beat Chris Koch and Andy Daniels. Chris lost out in deep forbidding Ughill where the Humpty Rocks took him for a one and three. Hallbroom's loose climbing rocky stream bed took in the skyline summit for Experts, Clubman and Over 40s while the other classes stopped short of the vertical three metres. Hankin was brave enough to grab a brace of dabs while Koch had his boots down. It was obvious that the no-stop marking suited at least four classes which produced single figures results.
Class D winner John Cowley required just one dab to ride the 22 sections and that went down in the fourth section in the beck at Spoon Lane. Bents was greasy for the early numbers but confined to an area below the footbridge where the fourth section, with its one in one muddy bank climb, did cut down. Strange though on an overcast foggy morning the early wheel tracks indicated dry soil but beck water carried and the narrow gap between tree and a drop of four feet into the shallow beck beckoned later in the day. Daz Wasley tagged onto Cowley but a slackish dab on the loose boulder at Hall Broom, then another at Humpty Rocks put him two down while Cowley just did not falter.
Local Class E riders Willy Wood and Mark Timperley escaped from Steve Farrell and Clive Charlton. Timp failed Humpty on lap one while Farrell maxed in the first Ughill sub. Slimline Mike Rapley took the Over 60's from Mick Whitlow and Brian Cooper.
The three stream subs in Buckleys were mild, even the final two where Carol Thorpe and Judy Farrer guarded as the light gradually gave way to semi-darkness.
Dan Thorpe rode Expert and cleaned the plot ahead of Lee Sampson and MTB ace Steve Peat – fresh from his Scott finish – but the real stinger was Katy Sunter who eclipsed the Clubman class by a good margin. Now that result will echo round the Hillsborough club nights for a lengthy time!
Only downside to the event was one wheelie merchant (public roads) who is likely to be shown the door by the Clerk of the Course. It was a good finale to a lively and thriving championship – pity about the weather but Andy Longden will no doubt take the blame, for that.
Normandale ACU Traditional Trials Championship
Rd 12 (Final) – Hillsborough Classic Trial at Dyson Works, Stanington, nr Sheffield (Hillsborough MCC)
Class A (Pre-65): Dave Thorpe (Triumph) 8 marks lost, Carl Batty (James) 13, Miles Jones (Triumph) 20, Norman Shepherd (Francis Barnett) 31, Mick Grant (Ariel) 79, Lee Granby (BSA) 89, John Hamblin (Triumph) 134.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 12 rounds: 1 Carl Batty 178 (195) points, 2 Dave Thorpe 171 (188), 3 Rob Bowyer 157, 4 Martyn Wilmore 118 (124), 5 Phil Wickett 81, 6 David Strank 74, 7 Barry Burton 64, 8 Len Hutty 51, 9 Mick Grant 42, 10 Alan Wright 41,...
Class B (Twin-shock): David Pye (Fantic) 2 marks lost, Phil Houghton (Honda) 5, Phil Wiffen (Fantic) 8, Richard Allen (Fantic) 10, Kev Nolan (SWM) 13, Nick Sheild (Fantic) 24, Mike Edwards (Fantic) 30, Chris Greenwood (Honda) 31, Dave Wood (Bultaco) 32, Steven Davies (Yamaha) 41, Steve Bird (Fantic) 42, Robert Taylor (Montesa) 43, Andrew Keel (???) 53, Nick Eadleton (Majesty) 54, Nick Coleby (???) 60.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 12 rounds: 1 Phillip Wiffen 186 points, 2 Richard Allen 169 (195), 3 Kev Nolan 140 (153), 4 David Pye 127, 5 Steven Davies 99, 6 Mark Hicken 73, 7 Ian Baker 47, 8 Robert Taylor 45, 9 Chris Greenwood 40, 10 Richard Kendra 31,...
Class C (Air-cooled Mono): Kiaran Hankin (Beta) 10 marks lost, Chris Koch (Scorpa) 13, Andy Daniels (Gas Gas) 69, Michael Healey (Yamaha) 75, Steven Ransom (Yamaha) 124.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 12 rounds: 1 Pete Ruscoe 132 points, 2 David Bathe 72, 3 Chris Koch 57, 4 Kieran Hankin 54, 5 Steven Ransom 44, 6 Chris Dixon 40, 7 Michael Kendra 37, 8 Simon Sheridan 32, 9 Michael Healey 26, 10 Matt Spink 24,...
Class D (Over 40 Modern): John Cowley (Gas Gas) 1 marks lost, Darren Wasley (Gas Gas) 2, James Lamin (Montesa) 9, Mark Reason (Beta) 10, Simon Levett (Beta) 14, Philip Martin (Montesa) 16 (37x0,fc), Michael James (Gas Gas) 16 (37x0), Ian Haigh (Beta) 16 (33x0), Andres Cook (Gas Gas) 27 (27x0,fc), Ian Watts (Beta) 27 (27x0), David Brown (Gas Gas) 30, Marcus Faulkner (Scorpa) 36, Leigh Elliott (Gas Gas) 37, Nigel Worthington (Gas Gas) 38 (28x0), Colin Bowers Jnr (Gas Gas) 38(27x0).
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 12 rounds: 1 Ashley Hall 174 points, 2 Simon Levett 153, 3 James Lamin 120 (127), 4 Mick Thompson 94, 5 Mark Reason 92, 6 Philip Martin 69, 7 David Richards 56, 8 Robin Martin 51, 9 Ian Watts 51, 10 Marcus Faulkner 46,...
Class E (Over 50 Modern): Willie Wood (Beta) 18 marks lost, Mark Timperley (Sherco) 19, Steve Farrall (Gas Gas) 23, Clive Charlton (Beta) 33, Dave Lamin (Montesa) 34, Kevin Stannard (Gas Gas) 48, Steve Wells (Montesa) 62, Nigel Crapper (Gas Gas) 68, Mike Husband (Gas Gas) 72, Simon Bown (Gas Gas) 84.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 12 rounds: 1 Nic Draper 191 (206) points, 2 Clive Charlton 138 (155), 3 David Lamin 134 (152), 4 Stephen Farrall 121, 5 Kevin Stannard 87 (92), 6 Simon Thornhill 78, 7 John Oliver 55, 8 Antony Brockbank 54, 9 Dave Knaggs 42, 10 Martyn Goodall 39,...
Class F (Over 60 Modern): Mike Rapley (Beta) 49 marks lost, Mick Whitlow (???) 63, Brian Cooper (Gas Gas) 65, Stuart Cripps (Bessie) 74, Ken Roberts (Gas Gas) 100, Colin Bowers Snr (Gas Gas) 113.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 12 rounds: 1 Jon Bliss 186 points, 2 Barry Craig 131, 3 Mike Rapley 40, 4 Peter Gaunt 35, 5 Keith Ring 35, 6 Mick Whitlow 34, 7 Keith Wells 22, 8 Guy Couble 20, 9 Jim Jardine 20, 10 Martin Strang 17,...
NON-CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSES
EXPERT: Dan Thorpe (Gas Gas) clean, Lee Sampson (Beta) 1 mark lost, Steve Peat (Beta) 20.
CLUBMAN: Katy Sunter (Gas Gas) 15 marks lost, Mark Shaw (Sherco) 21, Oliver Fortune (Gas Gas) 23, Matt Timperley (Gas Gas) 29 (30x0), Paul Millhouse (Gas Gas) 29 (29x0), Gary Danials (Gas Gas) 51.