Race Reports
Lochgilphead 2016
Twinshock Scramble Club Scotland – Race Report from round 2 .Argyll Moto Parc ,
Lochgilphead 24-4-16 .
Words Joe Mclean Pictures ,
Round 2 of the Scottish Scrambles Championship saw a massive turnout of riders travel to the north east corner of Scotland to the superb Lochgilphead venue which was in pristine condition for the second round .First up were the combined 4 stroke and pre 77 classes, a full line up of classic machinery ready to blast off round the well laid out Argyll track. The top man on the day was Grant Mcclure with a win and 2 seconds to take the overall from Allan Adair who rode well to claim second with top eco rider John Fullerton in third . The 4 stroke class is growing by the day and a large contingent of the thumpers put on a superb show of twinshock racing with ex 250 twinshock national champion Kev Maguire taking to this class like a dog to water with three well deserved but hard fought for wins just beating class leader Kris Crawford into the top spot with current champion Rick Caldwell in third .The over 50s saw the return of last years champ Dave Pullar make a late start to the season due to gardening duties on the same day as round one,however wth garden done and a clear head to concentrate on the job in hand he certainly made the evo honda scream round the technical sections of the track and carved himself three good wins to set him up for a real chance to retain his crown in this class in 2016, the runner up was Archie Baird who was hounded all day with the advances of Johnny Rutherford and Keith Birse, these 3 top riders swapped places and battled in all 3 legs and put on a great show for the large crowd of spectators but couldn,t put a dent on Pullars lead and at the end of the day fished in that order.
The open twinshock class saw another large turnout of top riders,Tony Caig getting back on song after a layoff looked all over
the winner of race 1 but a seizure near the end saw hm hand the win on a plate to the old campaigner Paul Chiappa who was never far away and young gun James Mclean claiming second and the rejuvenated Alistair Aitken putting in one of his best performances ever on his home track to claim third .Race 2 saw Caig again take the lead only to succumb to the pressure of Chiappa and lose it at the top of the track and drop to 3rd where he remained till the end just behind Mclean again in second.Race 3 again saw Caig take an early commanding lead only to pick up a rear puncture halfway through the race ,Chiappa must have sensed blood as he upped the pace and took the lead for anther win from the unlucky Caig with Mclean again just behind in third and a well deserved mention must go to Dougie Dryden who rode well on the day to claim third overall on the day.
The 250 twinshock class goes from strength to strength in this club and 4 ex club champions were at it hammer and tong all day with positions changing regularly ,in the end it was the wily old head of Alex Joiner that came out on top for the overall with his team mate Mike Vandermewrwe in second and Richie Mcfadden just pipping Graeme Miller for third.
The evolution classes saw another fantastic turnout of riders ,British Champ Gav Robertson made a rare appearance and put on an excellent show for the crowd and said he was so happy with the way the club runs things that he will be rescheduling this year so he can take in more rounds of this championship,three wins saw Gav take the overall but the minor placings were fought hard and long as Brian Alexander ,Tom Grant ,Gordon Morrison and Morton Hannah all had thoughts of glory and swapped places in all races throughout the day with the overall ending up as listed.The 125 evo lads put on a great show as well and the new super kid on the block is the well bred Kieran Smart who is taking this class by storm with three wins for the overall .
The 2 stroke class was its usual massive line up of howling nippers ,the top man on the day was Andrew White who seems to have made the move from the old four banger class a real crowd pleaser with three wins for the overall ,and he was flying on his new yz zinger ,second overall was Brian Colligan with Dean Hill in third .
Monoshock open was the final class of the day and these guys know no bounds with riding skill and sheer bravery over some of the rugged Argyll terrain ,it was a pleasure to watch. We saw the return to top flight motocross in Scotland of young John Adamson after a year out and boy was he motoring ,three wins gave him the overall from the fast gating Mark Wilson who now leads this championship and Neil Chatham who tried in vain but could not get to grips with the terrain as a wrong tyre choice made his life hard .
Results.
Pre 77 1st G.Mcclure 2nd A.Adair 3rd J.Fullerton 4th C.Robertson 5th J.Mitchell 6TH G.Britton
4 stroke 1st K.Maguire 2nd K.Crawford 3rd R.Caldwell 4th J.Mcinally 5th J.Mckell 6th =D.Mckell+ J.Mclean
OVER 50s 1ST D.Pullar 2nd A.Baird 3rd J.Rutherford 4th K.Birse 5th D.Mcnab 6th G.Whyte
Twinshock 250 1st A.Joiner 2nd M.Vanderwerne 3rd R.Mcfadden 4th G.Miller 5th C.Sangster 6th J.Colligan
Twinshock open 1ST P.Chiappa 2nd J.Mclean 3rd D.DRryden 4TH A.Aitken 5th W.Pentland 6th T.Caig
2 Stroke 1ST A.White 2nd B.Colligan 3rd D.Hill 4th S.Robertson 5th S.Foote 6th K.Livingstone
Monoshock 1ST J.Adamson 2ND M.Wilson 3rd N.Chatham 4th DJ.Bruce 5th G.Maxwell 6th I.Macqueen
Evo open 1st G.Robertson 2ND B.Alexander 3rd T.Grant 4th G.Morrison 5th R.Potts 6th M.Hannah
Evo 125 1st K.Smart 2nd G.Peterson 3rd W.Penrice 4th J.Young 5th D.Carter 6th M.Watson
Round 3 29th May at Powmill.