Tip top Tom takes a triple and two...
By TMX Archives on 26th Mar 08
THE erratic Easter weather persisted on Sunday at the Devon Classic Club's opening event of the season at Widworthy, the squally showers along the coast changing ridingconditions several times during the day.
Snow showers early on gave way to some welcome sunshine for the first few races but then a heavy shower made the going extremely hazardous on the steeply cambered hillside, a pattern which was to be repeated until, after completing the third block of races, the club curtailed things with a couple of Grand Slams.
The first race of the day, for Up to 350cc Classics, saw Tom Willoughby powering ahead on his 250 BSA, to eventually win all three legs in impressive style and by a large margin.
The Up to 250cc Twin-shocks were out next and the first and third of these saw Kelvin Vincent getting away in the lead only to be reeled in and passed in the closing laps by an impressive Stuart George, who went on to take all three leg wins.Only Sam King was on their pace in the first two races.
It was looking like Tom Willoughby was on for a
double hat trick when he dominated the first two Pre-69 Unlimited class races but then an engine failure saw him depart race three leaving John Edwards, more at home in the slippery conditions than most, to take the win from Malcolm Sims.
Jason Fraser and Kristian Marshall are usually well matched in the Over 250cc Twin-shock classes on 500 Hondas, but an early encounter with a fallen machine in the deep rut Marshall was following, meant unavoidable contact and a resultant mis-fire blighting his efforts for most of the day. When he did manage to catch and challenge Fraser, Kristian's pace along the extremely slippery camber approaching the finishing line was quite remarkable.
The Pre-74 Class lacked regular winner Steve Adams who had brought a Twin-shock Maico rather than
his CZ and it was the
experienced but occasional competitor Martin Perrett, on an ex-Terry Cox CCM, who dominated the class. Having burnt much midnight oil to rebuild the bike and then a wayward gearbox Martin, now in his early 50s and with a highly successful bike and car racing career to his credit, never looked like being challenged in the first two races and by the time the third one was due off the line, conditions had deteriorated to the extent that only two riders came to the line!
The club wisely took the hint and scrubbed this and all the fourth block of races, instead putting on a couple of Grand Slam races to wrap up proceedings. Both were poorly supported, Martin Perrett winning the Classic version and Jason Fraser the Twin-shock one, still challenged all the way by the
irrepressible Marshall.
To get through the bulk of the races in the circumstances was to the credit of the organising club and most people had sufficient races to return home satisfied.
DEVON CLASSIC SCRAMBLE
Widworthy, Devon (Devon Classic MCC)
Pre-65 Up to 350cc Race One: 1 Tom Willoughby (250 BSA Steve Sinclair (350 BSA), 3 Paul Watkins (350 BSA).
Race Two: 1 Tom Willoughby, 2 Steve Holland (250 Kestrel), 3 Paul Watkins.
Race Three: 1 Tom Willoughby, 2 Steve Sinclair. (No other finishers).
Twin-shock Up to 250cc Race One: 1 Stuart George (Honda), 2 Kelvin Vincent (Honda), 3 Sam King (Yamaha).
Race Two: 1 Stuart George, 2 Sam King, 3 Kelvin Vincent.
Race Three: 1 Stuart George, 2 Kelvin Vincent, 3 Allen Jenkins (Maico).
Pre-69 Unlimited Race One: 1 Tom Willoughby (500 BSA), 2 Malcolm Sims (650 Triumph/Metisse) 3 Ged Shorten (441 BSA).
Race Two: 1 Tom Willoughby, 2 Malcolm Sims, 3 John Edwards (500 Jawa Metisse).
Race Three: 1 John Edwards, 2 Malcolm Sims, 3 Ged Shorten.
Twin-shock Over 250cc Race One: 1 Jason Fraser (Honda), 2 Steve Adams (Maico), 3 Tim Carter (Maico).
Race Two: 1 Jason Fraser, 2 Kristian Marshall (Maico), 3 Tim Carter.
Race Three: 1 Jason Fraser, 2 Kristian Marshall, 3 Steve Adams.
Pre-74 Unlimited Race One: 1 Martin Perrett (CCM), 2 Derek Adams (Husqvarna), 3 Trevor Hammond (CZ).
Race Two: 1 Martin Perrett, 2 Chris Lane (Montesa). (No other finishers).
Classic Grand Slam: 1 Martin Perrett, 2 John Edwards, 3 ???.
Twin-shock Grand Slam: 1 Jason Fraser, 2 Kristian Marshall, 3 Stuart George.