2024 Jack Thompson Trial results, report and images

By Dick Law on 3rd Dec 24

For the fourth year in a row – and the seventh time in his career – Phil Wiffen won the prestigious Jack Thompson British Bike Trial and Jack Thompson Trophy that is awarded to the top pre-unit construction motorcycle performer on the hardest White route. He won it riding his big booming 500 Matchless with a loss of just five marks in the 40-section trial held at Canada Heights motocross circuit in Kent.

The event was facilitated by the hard-working girls and boys of the Sidcup club who laid out 20 sections that would each be ridden twice by the 117 competitors who started the event. The sections were laid out in the dry but it drizzled throughout the trial and so the sections took more marks from the riders than anticipated.

Wiffen didn’t seem to notice the weather as he cleaned the first six sections with ease but an unexpected two on Section 7 was his only loss of the first lap.

By the start of his second lap, the rain had made the sections more treacherous, but Phil had a phenomenal lap. He stayed clean all the way up to Section 15 but dropped two there and needed a solitary dab to get through Section 16. But that was it and with a lap score of three and an event total of five which proved to be a dominant victory.

Phil Wiffen was in dominant form as he won the Jack Thompson Trophy for the fourth time in a row

Geoffrey Herbert (500 Ariel) started the trial by matching Wiffen section by section at the start of the opening lap. Like Wiffen, his first loss came at the tricky seventh section where he collected a three compared to Wiffen’s two. He then notched up a couple of fives before the end of the lap, giving him 14 for his opening tour. His second lap was much better as he only needed a single dab on Section 7 and a two in the eighth for a lap total of three. He ended the trial with a total loss of 17 and secured the runner-up position in the event.

Third in class was Marl Baldock (350 Arial), who had a good opening lap of eight but couldn’t repeat it on the second. He lost 26 marks on lap two for a total loss of 34, to secure third in class.

It was close at the top of Class A on the easier Red route. Steve Jones (500 Noriel) won the class with a loss of 14, with Neil Sinden (500 Arial) just one mark behind him. Mark Newman (500 Arial) and Steve Mote (500 Arial) finished third and fourth tied on 21 and the number of cleans decided the final positions. Newman had 30 to Motes’ 26.

Toby Smith (500 Triumph) dominated Class B, on the White route. He had a single dab on his opening lap and followed that up with two singles and a three on lap two. His total loss for the event was six – 15 clear of the second-place man. Scott Dark (200 Triumph) and Paul Whitehead (350 BSA) finished with the same number of marks but Dark was awarded second place because he had the most cleans.

Steve Mannerings concentrates on this cambered turn on his 250cc BSA

Class B on the easier Red route saw a win for Colin Moyce (220 Triumph) who took the day's lowest score on that route. He completed his first lap with no marks lost and dropped one dab on Section 5 at the start of lap two. It looked like he would end the event on that score but a three on the last-but-one section gave him a total of four. David Hickman (350 BSA) was second in class, a single mark behind Moyce with James Cammack (200 Triumph) third.

Adrian Mountain (350 Triumph) was the best of the two riders in Class C for four-stroke machines with rigid frames and girder forks while James Coker (350 Matchless) won Class D - for four-stroke rigid frame machines with tele forks.

Simon Bird (250 Greeves) and David Sherlock (175 BSA) tied at the top of Class E for two-stroke machines riding the harder White route. Bird was classed as the winner by 37 cleans to Sherlock’s 36 – it was that close. Graham Baylis (250 Francis Barnett) finished a distant third.

Simon Bird just about topped the two-stroke class

Class E on the Red route saw a win for Antony Billingham (185 BSA) on eight marks lost ahead of Mark Teal (185 BSA) on 12.

Sean and Paul Cuckow (600 Matchless) had won the Sidecar class for the second year in a row. Jake Pope, with passenger Harvey Allaway (500 Grumph), tied with the Cuckows but were pushed down to second because of the number of cleans rule.

Sean and Paul Cuckow took the Sidecar win

And finally, James Bunton (200 Triumph) won Class G - for Gentleman and Lady riders – on the Yellow route.

Jack Thompson Trial 2024

Class A (Four-stroke Pre-unit) White route

1 Philip Wiffen (400 Matchless) 5 marks lost

2 Geoffrey Herbert (500 Ariel) 17

3 Marl Baldock (350 Arial) 34

4 Colin Mote (500 Arial) 67

5 Trevor Baker (500 Norton) 76

6 Bill Swallow (350 AJS) 159

Class A (Four-stroke Pre-unit) Red route

1 Steve Jones (500 Noriel) 14

2 Neil Sinden (500 Arial) 15

3 Mark Newman (500 Arial) 21 (30 cleans)

4 Steve Mote (500 Arial) 21 (28 cleans)

5 Doug Mummery (500 Noriel) 23

6 Andy Healey (350 TriGreeves) 40

7 Neil Osman (350 Royal Enfield) 49

8 Geoff Cornes (500 Matchless) 83

Class B (Four-stroke Unit) White route

1 Toby Smith (500 Triumph) 6

2 Scott Dark (200 Triumph) 21 (31 cleans)

3 Paul Whitehead (350 BSA) 21 (29 cleans)

4 Stephen Howard (250 BSA) 23

5 Steve Mannerings (250 BSA) 28

6 Tony Martin (400 Triumph) 31

7 David Plumb (250 Triumph) 32

8 David Strank (250 BSA) 34

9 Neil Bowker (250 BSA) 39

10 Chris Anderson (200 Triumph) 46

Class B (Four-stroke Unit) Red route

1 Colin Moyce (220 Triumph) 4

2 David Hickman (350 BSA) 5

3 James Cammack (200 Triumph) 11

4 John Bird (250 BSA) 13

5 Ben Smith (250 BSA) 19

6 Graham Brown (200 Triumph) 27

7 Sam Pocock (200 Triumph) 28

8 Bob Clarke (250 BSA) 39

9 Charlie Worsfold (270 Ducati Monza) 50

10 Stuart Littler (200 Triumph) 61

Class C (Four-stroke, Ridge frame, Girder forks) Yellow route

1 Adrian Mountain (350 Triumph) 1

2 Jan de Klerk (500 Norton) 42

Class D (Four-stroke, Ridge frame, Tele forks) Red route

1 James Coker (350 Matchless) 23

2 Stephen Scott (500 Triumph) 32

3 Steve Higgins (500 Vincent) 56

Class E (Two-stroke) White route

1 Simon Bird (250 Greeves) 4 (37 cleans)

2 David Sherlock (175 BSA) 4 (36 cleans)

3 Graham Bayliss (250 Francis Barnett) 28

4 Bryn Matton (175 James) 33

5 Trevor Town (250 Francis Barnet) 49

Class E (Two-stroke) Red route

1 Antony Billingham (185 BSA) 8

2 Mark Teal (185 BSA) 12

3 Hannah Moore (175 BSA) 13

4 Robert Hampton (250 Cotton) 16

5 Martin Kemp (250 Greeves) 21

6 Kevin Plummer (185 BSA) 24

7 Phillip Stewart (250 James) 33

8 Steve Thompson (175 BSA) 35

9 Grace Dark (200 BSA) 39

10 Katie Butcher (175 BSA) 41

Class G (Gentleman and Ladies) Yellow route

1 Jame Bunton (200 Triumph) 11

2 Nicola Clarke (250 BSA) 16

3 Chris Pickup (220 Triumph) 19

4 David Wiffen (410 Matchless) 22

5 John Beasley (250 Greeves) 24

6 Derek Baker (500 Arial) 25

7 Barry Wise (350 AJS) 26

8 Ronny Taylor (250 James) 28

9 Richard Freeman (200 Triumph) 31

10 Nick James (250 DOT) 32

Class H (Sidecar) Yellow route

1 Sean Cuckow / Paul Cuckow (600 Matchless) 5 (39 cleans)

2 Jake Pope / Harvey Allaway (550 Grumph) 5 (37 cleans)

3 Bob Head / Luke Reynolds (500 CCM) 8

4 Paul Randall / Harry Martin (500 Triumph) 26

5 Karl Jarvis / Bob Chapman (500 Triumph) 27

6 Kevin Nolan / Debbie Smith (500 Arial) 33