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Beverley Report 6th April |
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Thursday, 10 April 2008 |
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After getting the whole of Aprils’ quota of rain the day before, you could have been excused for thinking numbers would have been down for the club run at Beverley on the 6th April. However, we had a healthy turnout of 52 hardy souls who came equipped with wetsuits & snorkels ready to do battle early Sunday morning. Thanks to the huge effort put in by Mal Turner & his band of “dam buster” helpers the majority of the swimming pools on the track were drained prior to racing getting underway with really only one corner causing problems during the day. In fact, due to no more rain & the sun shining brightly all day, the track actually became quite dusty in places later in the afternoon.
As we didn’t have many A graders entered, the A’s & B’s were combined which provided a very good field with many tight tussles ensuing. Montesa mounted Dale James was setting a scorching pace with Ray Easson chasing hard during the morning races until Ray gave his knee a bit of a tweak & decided to take it a bit easier for a while. Our International VMX Ambassador Phil Hopwood was having his first ride back after having a serious get-off last year in the US. He seems to have recovered from his injuries nicely & he was looking to be back to his usual smooth stylish best.
Andrew Irving didn’t have it all his own way in B grade today with Brent Arnoldi & “Honest Mick” Godbold giving him some serious competition. Brent in particular had the Montesa really flying & was mixing it well with the A graders too. Behind these three there were a number of guys just waiting in case any of them faltered including Shane Corney, Warren “Waders” Patterson, Trevor Rivers & Duncan Rae. Richard Jolly, Justin Thomas & Jeremy Rae all bought their YZ’s out to play with all 3 looking like they were enjoying themselves & setting some consistent lap times throughout the day.
President Pete ”fleet of bikes” Barker was still having teething problems with the Greeves/Yamaha hybrid – maybe it’s just waiting for a nice pommy style grassy natural terrain track Pete? In the meantime the Prez was circulating well all day on yet another Greeves – unfortunately this one was fitted with the factory “self ejecting seat” option & he was forced at one point to ride sitting down with buttocks clenched just to keep all the bikes crucial components together.
Mike Gordon’s TM125 appeared a bit lethargic – jetting or gearing problems maybe – or maybe Mike shouldn’t have stopped for that bacon & egg sandwich at The Lakes roadhouse on the way? (ie: muddy track + big breakfast = slow TM125!) Steve Cook & Ted Lewis were showing the way in C grade on a pair of rapid 125 Elsinores. Peter Stafford & son John with a pair of ex-Maurie Dewar bikes at their disposal (an XL310 & DT250) both put in some good rides during the day with John in particular showing good form & spreadeagling the field in the all-in until a lap from the end when a cracked footrest mount let him down. There were some really good tussles in Over 55’s with Graham Taylor & Allan Mitchell setting a quick pace with the lead changing many times but they were being chased hard all day by Peter Boston, Vic James, Frank Barron & John Howell.
The sidecar races were run on a handicap basis (quite appropriate I reckon!) with starter Nick Maxfield getting them sorted out so that there was some good close racing & a few different winners. At one point you could have covered four outfits with a blanket – it was that close! A popular win was had by Phill Eggleston & Michael Schmidt who held on by a whisker to take the win from Wayne Clarke & Terry Barron – great racing guys! Poor Alison Irving had a bit of a tumble early in the day & I’m sure she would have had some impressive bruises later on – better watch out Andrew or she might decide that she should ride & you should hang on the chair for a change.
Many thanks again to our hard working sign-on crew & all the other officials on the day. Remember guys, if your bike isn’t going at the time (or if you just don’t want to get it dirty!) you’re always welcome to come along & help out. Your efforts will be greatly appreciated & more importantly, if we don’t have officials – we don’t race! |
