Neil goes up at Downland
By TMX Archives on 22nd Nov 07
THE Winston Grove National Downland Trophy, staged by the North Berkshire MCC at West Hagbourne, near Didcot, was the final round of the 2007 Sammy Miller British Bike Championship.
Conditions were pretty awful, it was wet and extremely cold and the 25-mile course proved to be quite long enough in the circumstances.
The Sidecars were first away, at 9am prompt, fromThe Plough and Harrow pub and they made their way to the first group atNappers Lane where it was a mixture of stream beds and a muddy gully.
Due to the amount of rain that had been falling,clerk of the course Stuart Robinson had been out at 6.30am checking allthe subs and easing a few off to take the conditions into account.
From Nappers Lane it was on to the club's famousSeymours Arena, which was a little harder than last year and was fullof places to lose marks over its six hazards.
Although riding with numbers 27 and 29 respectively, Neil Gaunt and Len Hutty were well aware that it is best not to hang about and they were through Seymours before the chairshad completed half of the six subs here. Paul Fishlock took an earlyadvantage here as he, with Debbie Merrell in the chair, looked verypurposeful. Ali Haigh and Barry Pocock gave the Triumph twin some stickand the Daventry farmer used his solo front wheel hopping skills togood measure on section three. They would be rewarded with a class winand second sidecar overall but there would be no challenge to Paul andDebbie.
The Pre-Unit rigids rode the easier route and thescores looked pretty well spot-on as Steve Allen beat Bernard Rodemarkfor top placing, courtesy of 34 cleans to 33, close indeed. The manhimself, Sammy Miller, was on hand to give advice as to the best lines.No one was arguing al-though even Sammy must have been impressed byDarren Wheeler, riding his big Enduro Yam which was never intended forthis type of going!
SAMMY MILLER BRITISH BIKE TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 8 (Final) Winston Grove Downland Trophy Trial (North Berks MCC)
Winston Grove Trophy: Neil Gaunt (500 Ariel) 1 mark lost.
CLASS 1 Pre-Unit Rigid: Steve Allen (350Matchless) 3 marks lost (34x0), Bernard Rodemark (290 BSA) 3 (33x0),Mike Holloway (410 Matchless) 8, Mike Barton (405 AJS) 11, Ian Watkins(350 AJS) 32, Ralph Brown (AJS) 64, Peter Collins (350 AJS) 68, NigelTownsend (350 AJS) 79.
SERIES STANDINGS (best 7 scores from 8): 1 Allen129 points, 2 Rodemark 128, 3 Holloway 108, 4 Collins 68, 5 Townsend66, 6 Godfrey Hannam 37, 7 Barton 28, 8 Philip Green 21, 9 Watkins 11,10 Brown 10,...
CLASS 2 Pre-unit Springer: Neil Gaunt (500Ariel) 1 mark lost, Len Hutty (410 Matchless) 11, Mick Grant (500Ariel) 34, Julian Wigg (500 Triumph) 42, Andy Bamford (500 Matchless)60, Colin Mote (Ariel) 83.
SERIES STANDINGS (best 7 scores from 8): 1 Gaunt140 points, 2 Martyn Wilmore 120, 3 Grant 32, 4 Bamford 24, 5 Hutty 17,6 Bob Hill 15, 7 R Jones 15, 8 David Wear 15, 9 David Emmott 15, 10David Morris 13,...
CLASS 2 Two-stroke: Peter Salt (246 FrancisBarnett) 45 marks lost, Mike Metcalfe (246 Cotton) 64, Mark Howse (175BSA Bantam) 72, Roy Enticknap (250 Dot) 82, Neil Walker (246 FrancisBarnett) 126.
SERIES STANDINGS (best 7 scores from 8): 1 Salt137 points, 2 Chris Denny 97, 3 Graham Roberts 68, 4 Paul Brimelow 41,5 Walker 40, 6 Mick Parkes 34, 7 Richard Thorpe 30, 8 Enticknap 26, 9Harry Stanistreet 26, 10 Mike Batty 22,...
CLASS 4 Unit: Darren Snell (450 BSA) 4 markslost, Paul Anstey (250 BSA) 26 (22x0), Dave Wood (250 BSA) 26 (21x0),Peter Gaunt (247 Royal Enfield) 48, Keith Gardner (225 Triumph Cub) 49,Mark Wills (200 Triumph Cub) 113.
SERIES STANDINGS (best 7 scores from 8): 1 Anstey112 points, 2 Gaunt 107, 3 Gardner 86, 4 Wood 79, 5 Nick Woolley 67, 6John Kendall 39, 7 Snell 37, 8 Tony Calvert 30, 9 John Maxfield 20, 10Peter Grange 20,...
CLASS 5 Pre-Unit Sidecar: Paul Fishlock/ DebbieMerrell (500 Ariel) 14 marks lost, Peter Pesterfield/ Keith Laker (NeilHannam) (500 AJS) 58, John & Paul Young (500 Ariel) 83, AndyAbraham/ A Passenger (410 Matchless) 88, Rob Cameron/ Andy Smith (500Ariel) 112.
SERIES STANDINGS (best 7 scores from 8): 1Fishlock/ Merrell 111 points, 2 Young/ Young 85, 3 Abraham/ Passenger78, 4 Pesterfield/ Laker 37, 5 Cameron/ Smith 34, 6 Stanley/ Marchant25,...
CLASS 6 Unit Sidecar: Ali Haigh/ Barry Pocock(500 Triumph) 37 marks lost, Ian Hannam/ Debbie Smith (441 BSA) 90, LesMinton/ Ken Garfield (350 BSA) 95, Paul Randall/ B Passenger (500Triumph) 145.
SERIES STANDINGS (best 7 scores from 8): 1 Hannam/Smith 118 points, 2 Minton/ Garfield 107, 3 Haigh/ Pocock 77, 4Pearson/ Evans 30, 5 Dyer/ Gibson 24, 6 Randall/ Passenger 13,...
CLASS 8 British Specials/ Twin-shock: PhilipWiffen (250 Fantic) 4 marks lost, Colin Leese (250 Honda) 28, StephenBisby (250 Ossa) 36, Bill Rhodes (212 Fantic) 39, Mark Stokes (175Majesty) 49, Kirby Bennett (156 Fantic) 53 (17x0), Alan Miles (250Honda) 53 (14x0), Robert Badland (Honda TLR) 68, Gavin Spencer (250Honda) 75, David Wiffen (250 Fantic) 97, Mark Evans (250 Kawasaki) 105,Kevin Pettit (250 Honda) 107, Paul Cowley (340 Honda) 119, Ivan Davies(175 Whitehawk) 122.
SERIES STANDINGS (best 7 scores from 8): 1 Leece106 points, 2 Bisby 102, 3 Wiffen 88, 4 Miles 74, 5 Martin Gilbert 71,6 Bennett 62, 7 Martin Beech 60, 8 Chris Slack 58, 9 Badland 50, 10 JonBliss 35,...
NON-CHAMPIONSHIP SOLO CLASSES
Trail/ Twin-shock (Ea sy): Keith Wells (185 Honda)9 marks lost, Rob Wilson (200 Beta) 38, Graham Harrison (250 Gas Gas)56, Chris Brown (350 Royal Enfield) 58, Richard Gill (200 Beta) 63,Alan Cowley (200 Honda) 65, Gary Wooster (250 Yamaha) 90 (13x0), JohnMcAnaulty (340 Yamaha) 90 (11x0), Dave Pontin (230 Honda) 91, DennisOsborne (225 Honda) 95, Geoff Titcombe (250 Gas Gas) 98, Chris Bush(250 Gas Gas) 102.
Trail (Hard): Darren Wheeler (Yamaha) 46, MikeHusband (272 Gas Gas) 87, Ray Gerring (250 Gas Gas) 98, Sean Mccullagh(200 Kawasaki) 107, James French (250 Gas Gas) 132.
See T+MX News, Friday, November 23, 2007 for full report and pictures.