Race Reports

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The Scottish Twinshock Scramble Club racing circus continues to gather pace as they headed to Achnashelloch near Lochgilphead on the extreme west coast of the country to hold round six of their ten round 2014 championship.

Stewart Campbell had made a superb job of getting the track in tip top condition for this round 6 event, and had added a few little tricky sections and table-top’s just to keep everybody on their toes. Saturday was not the best of days for a weekend of camping as the dreaded west coast weather pissed down relentlessly all afternoon and the usual barbeque and beer social evening was a bit of a wash-out. Mind you if you were part of a certain group you could just book into a nice little local B&B where it was nice and warm and cosy and didn’t have to rough it like me sleeping in the front seat of the car.

The extreme monsoon rains during Saturday made sure that dust on the track would not be an issue come the following race day, if indeed the event went ahead at all as apparently some well minded toe rag had posted on Facebook that the meeting was cancelled for the Sunday. Nevertheless Sunday morning greeted the overnight campers with a beautiful and picturesque summer landscape as preparations got underway for what initially looked like being a cracking event.

The “In The Paddock” series of pre match video interviews appears to gaining in popularity and we are getting some good feedback from viewers, although we would still like a bit more participation from all you club members when myself and big Rick do our pre-race walkabouts. Remember this is not f***ing Sky Sports it’s just a bit of fun between the riders and their hanger’s-on when we turn up for race day. But if you have a particular point or some other scheme that would maybe get a laugh just see myself or the Murray Walker of Twinshock racing big Rick Caldwell.

When racing got underway in the Over 50’s class it was a well-earned clean sweep of wins for Graham Naismith on his very quick Kawasaki. Naismith took two holeshots and three victories from Davie Pullar second and a two-way tie for third spot between Johnny Rutherford and Donny Bruce. These two actually had a great day’s racing and were banging bars with each other constantly over the course of the first race.

The wet and slippy conditions underfoot did not faze Paul Chiappa in the slightest in the Twinshock Open class as he strolled to a relatively easy overall win. There was also a three way tie for the runner up spot in this formula between James McLean, Craig Robertson and the far travelled Wigan man Alan Bott. Actually Alan deserves a special mention here as he was telling me he was still in London Saturday morning, then drove his car to his home in Wigan swapped vehicles and picked up his race-home and drove the hundreds of miles through the day to race at Lochgilphead, and some people complain of a 50 mile drive to some Twinshock events. Oban local Alistair Aitken put in a sterling performance and finished in a very credible sixth place overall at the end of the day.

Ritchie McFadden took the overall in the Pre 77 class from John Fraser in second place, although the ever thickening mud made the going very tough on these old vintage bikes. Gary Britton had one of his best performances in recent years at Lochgilphead and he would take the third and final podium spot for his efforts on the day.

In the Over 40’s formula it was Davie Watson who increased his championship points for 2014 with an emphatic win over Grant McClure in second and Gordon Forbes third.

The increasing wet and slippery conditions were just what the doctor ordered for enduro rider Graham “Zippy” Smith on his I.T Yamaha as he romped home to the class win in the Twinshock 250’s. Graham Miller was equally quick on the 250 Husqvarna although he could not match the pace of Smith to challenge for pole position over the three legs and would take the runner-up spot. Mike Dobie had a good day with a superb podium spot in third from a recent returnee to racing Kevin McGuire in fourth.

It was heavy going for the little Pre 1990 Evo 125’s machines to plough through the sloppy mud at Lochgilphead as their willing but now extremely white-hot motors were popping and banging trying to make some headway through the mire. Bryan Colligan was the eventual winner on the day from Peter O’Neil second and John Lamont in third.

Possibly the most entertaining racing of the day was supplied by the Evolution class. Current British Championship Evolution series leader Gavin Robertson put in an appearance for a bit of practise and to maintain his fitness for the next round of this very popular series in August. Robertson naturally was a class above the racing pack and finished more than half a lap ahead from his second spot pursuers. Although he won the class he was not registered in this current Scottish championship and subsequently would not score any points toward the overall win. Gordon Morrison was the rightful victor of this formula from Tom Grant second and “Bobiss” Alan Reid in third.

The newly formed Two-Stroke class still continues to attract many riders to this fledgling formula. John Kenny took the chequered flag in race one, but regrettably this would be their one and only moto of the day due to the worsening weather conditions. To take the runner-up position Dougie Allan crossed the line in second from Dillon Garden in third.

The Fourstroke riders appeared to have the proper machines to circumnavigate the very treacherous conditions at this Round 6 event as their torquey motors made short work of the deepening mud. Findlay White took the overall win on his C+J Honda from Rick Caldwell second and Calum Wilson in third.

The modern Monoshock support class filled the start-line to capacity and the squirmy conditions underfoot made it equally difficult even for their top of the line up-to-date machinery. Ross Fitzsimmons took the honours in the Mono A Class from Alan Shields second and Sean Doherty in third.

Unfortunately though just as the Evolution class were about to start their second race of the day the heavens opened up into full-on monsoon mode and completely flooded the track. A riders meeting was then held to gauge the competitor’s views on whether the event should or should not continue whereby a vote was then cast and the meeting was then unfortunately brought to a swift but premature conclusion.

At the end of the day the final results were not really a true reflection on how the days racing transpired due to the fact that most classes only managed just a single moto. But based on what was initially a good start to the day’s proceedings the heavy deluges of rain soon put paid to what might have been a Lochgilphead classic. Although in my personal opinion there was really only one winner in the end . . . the unpredictable Scottish weather.

I still managed to film an hour of video of the first block of racing so I will still put this on DVD for any interested parties to purchase at the next round at Tinto, so if you would like a copy see me there or text me to reserve one on 07733 130 300.

Finally please remember if you order or would like copies of these DVD’s please make an effort to see me on the day because as you know I have plenty going on when its race-day and I don’t always have the time to go looking for whoever asked for discs.

See you all at Tinto.

Results

Over 40’s Class

1 D Watson

2 G McClure

3 G Forbes

4 S Wheel

5 S Eccles

6 P Greek

Over 50’s Class

1 G Naismith

2 D Pullar

3 J Rutherford

3 D Bruce

5 D Penrice

6 J McLean

Pre 77 Class

1 R McFadden

2 J Fraser

3 G Britton

3 R Sharp

5 J Britton

6 B Robertson

6 C King

Fourstroke Class

1 F White

2 R Caldwell

3 C Wilson

4 D McKell

5 A Tweedie

6 A Adair

Pre 1990 Evo 125 Class

1 B Colligan

2 P O’Neil

3 J Lamont

4 A White

5 C Meehan

6 P Campbell

Twinshock 250 Class

1 G Smith

2 G Miller

3 M Dobie

4 K McGuire

5 D Kilgour

6 G Whyte

Twinshock Open Class

1 P Chiappa

2 J McLean

2 C Robertson

2 A Bott

5 A Aitken

Evolution Class

1 G Morrison

2 T Grant

3 A Reid

4 M Hannah

5 S Pullar

6 D McFadyen

Two-Stroke Class

1 J Kenny

2 D Allan

3 D Garden

4 J Birse

5 J Harley

6 M Osinski

Monoshock B Class (Day Members)

1 L Campbell

2 L Black

3 S White

4 C Meehan

5 S Johnstone

6 P Rennie

Monoshock A Class

1 R Fitzsimmons

2 A Shields

3 S Doherty

4 G Peterson

5 J Doherty

6 J Lamont