Twinshock
Scramble Club Scotland
Round 2
F.C.O.M.C
Cardenden
20th
April 2008
Report by
Chris
Montignani
After a hugely
successful opening round at Penicuik the Scottish Twinshock boys moved their
racing entourage to the Fife Community racetrack at Cardenden in Fife.
This superb facility
still boasts amenities that other tracks are envious of, with it’s mains
running water and flushing toilets, hard standing paddock area, an on-site shop
for all your motocross consumables, and of course two superb motocross
racetracks.
With a week of
reasonably good weather the circuit was in prime condition for the Twinshock
lads visit as Jim Richardson had been hard at work for days with his machines
grading the track and constructing a superb “whoops“ section for all to enjoy,
but there appeared some panic among the big Jessie’s who intended to ride their
bikes on the Sunday at the very thought of a whoops section on the racetrack,
so an escape road or “diddy’s lane” was quickly constructed, but as it later
transpired not one rider actually used the diddy’s lane during racing, I think
it was just down to embarrassment in case anyone would actually see them using
it.
A good contingent of
campers set up home on the Saturday night at the track and enjoyed the banter
with all the other like-minded racers, least to say there was never a dull
moment with the Ayrshire boys in the company, where apparently Davie McKell
managed to inflict a small head wound on his napper which he says he thinks he
got while in the Cardenden woods during the night, now the mind boggles as to
why an Ayrshire man would be fumbling around in the woods on a Saturday night,
(or maybe that’s just normal practise for them where they come from).
Sunday morning at the
track took on the look of a Twinshock Grand Prix meeting as vans and rigs of
all shapes and sizes filled the paddock to bursting point, as apparently there
was supposed to be a Scottish Motocross meeting at Rhinnie in Aberdeen the same
day but the event unfortunately had to be cancelled due to “lack of entries”,
some others say that it was because the Twinshock meeting was on at Cardenden
that riders did not attend, but just make up your own mind as to the reasoning
behind the cancellation.
The Pre77 riders were
first to the line for race one, and as it turned out it was a hugely successful
day for young Shaun Clark on his CCM Yamaha hybrid who took the overall win
from Davie McAulay in second on his vintage Maico, Tom Dickie was also on top
form and brought his little CR125 Honda home in third.
The ever increasing
popularity of the over 50’s class was almost full to capacity as they lined up
at the start gate, Mick Collier made this class his own for the day with three
straight wins on his Maico/ Rotax hybrid concoction, Willie Brown also made a
welcome return to Twinshock racing (no wellies on his feet this time) and
finished a very credible second overall on his Honda CR 250.
Wee Jock McKell very
kindly volunteered to do a “Riders Profile” for me to display on the F.C.O.M.C
website where we found out a few little secrets of the wee man’s racing and
personal background, so look out for that on the website in the coming weeks.
In the over 40’s last
years champion John Mitchell could only manage third position overall on the
day as this was due to him falling from his 490 Maico in races two and three,
and unfortunately it just happened to be in exactly the same place in both
races just before the infamous “whoops“ section (chalk up another victim for
the whoops), Calum Sangster faired slightly better with a runner up spot on his
Maico, but the class of the field on the day was Robert Smith who rode three
superb races to finish on the winners rostrum at the final whistle.
Cairneyhill man Ian
Shedden took a maximum points score in the Twinshock 250’s and increased his
lead in the 2008 championship after just two rounds, Alec Joiner did just
enough to take the runner up spot on the podium from Ian Robertson on his extremely
quick YZ Yamaha, Mr consistency Jim Colligan once again put points on the board
and finished in fourth place at close of play.
The Fourstroke riders
laid on some great racing for the massive crowd of spectators, the old
campaigner Ian Charlton was back to his winning ways after missing out in the
first round at Penicuik and romped to three straight wins on his big CCM and
was virtually unchallenged the entire afternoon, Andy Malloch did brilliantly
to bring his Rotax home in the runner up position from Ian Clark on his new
CCM/Yamaha in third, father and son team Joe and James McLean finished fifth
and fourth respectively.
John Howard was in
fine fettle riding his Honda CR 250 in the Evolution class and totally
obliterated the opposition with three fine wins, while recent convert from the
modern bikes to the Evo class this year Bill Bruce did well aboard his KX
Kawasaki to take the 2nd position from Mark Kenny in third, Mr
“whoops” himself Davie Pullar enjoyed the layout at the Cardenden track and
managed to take the fourth place spot for his heroic efforts.
Although still riding
with a shoulder injury Paul Chiappa still cruised home to win the Twinshock 500
class, John Richards made a token challenge on his Maico 490 in race 2 to try
and gain some ground on Chiappa but it was not to be and Richards would have to
settle for the second prize trophy this time round, Richard Charlton finished a
very comfortable third overall aboard his CCM and was well happy to take home
some silverware for his day’s toil, Brian Allardyce was the best of the rest in
fourth position despite coming a cropper in the dreaded whoops part of the circuit
in race two…….(oh dear those bloody whoops again!)
It was the inevitable
fast and furious racing from the Monoshock B class racers as Jamie Duncan
stormed to the overall result on his YZ Yamaha, in race three young Ryan Dick
led most of the moto and put in a fine display to keep the pressure on Duncan,
but Duncan’s experience soon wore him down and he grabbed the chequered flag,
Greg Maxwell kept a watching brief on the front two runners and was never far
from the action and he would eventually take the final podium place.
But my man of the match award had to go to the
absolutely flying John Soutar in the Monoshock A class as the Forfar lad
whipped his four stroke Suzuki to within an inch of it’s life and entertained
the large crowd of spectators with a virtuoso display of racing skill, Jason
Martin was also very quick on the TM and took the lead early on in race one and
two, but Soutar was in electrifying form and would win the class overall with
three superb wins, Craig Stevenson gave young Soutar a run for his money in
almost every race and finished in third position overall, the far travelled
Helensburgh man Sean Docherty was also superb to take the third spot.
I also noticed during
one of the Monoshock races that a certain Scottish Twinshock website man (who
shall remain annonimous) had a near thing as he tried to cross the track
without the attendance of the green cross code man and miraculously just missed
being wiped out by a flying Jamie Duncan on his YZ Yamaha........maybe he
should have asked one of the marshalls if they could see him across the track
safely.
Special thanks have to
go Jim Richardson who never had a break all day between operating the start
gate and pulling vehicles out of the overflow car park with the club tractor,
and also thanks to Linda Martin who braved all the dust and the cold easterly
wind to do the lap scoring on the day.
The next Twinshock
extravaganza will take place at the fantastic Carden Farm track at Powmill on
the 25th of May so don’t miss it as it promises to be a cracker
where there will be more opportunities to stand in awe and appreciate the
superb organisation skills and fantastic racetracks of the Scottish Twinshock
Scramble Club……..the adventure continues.
Chris Montignani (Monty)
Results
Over 40’s
1 Robert Smith
2 Calum Sangster
3 John Mitchell
4 Mike Dobie
5 Gary Whyte
6 Rick Caldwell
Over 50’s
1 Mick Collier
2 Wullie Brown
3 John Walker
4 Jock McKell
5 Dougie Thomson
6 Andrew Richards
Evolution
Class
1 John Howard
2 Bill Bruce
3 Mark Kenny
4 Dave Pullar
5 Stuart Thomson
6 DavieWatson
Pre 77 Class
1 Sean Clark
2 Davie McAulay
3 Tom Dickie
4 Sy Greig
5 Richard McFadden
6 A King
Fourstroke
Class
1 Ian Charlton
2 Andy Malloch
3 Ian Clark
4 James McLean
5 Joe McLean
6 J Fullerton
Twinshock
250 Class
1 Ian Shedden
2 Alec Joiner
3 Ian Robertson
4 Jim Colligan
5 Mike VanDerMerWe
6 Lee Wilson
Twinshock
500 Class
1 Paul Chiappa
2 John Richards
3 Richard Charlton
4 Brian Allardyce
5 Alistair Aitken
6 Craig Smith
Monoshock A
Class
1 John Soutar
2 Jason Martin
3 Craig Stevenson
4 Sean Docherty
5 Kevin Blackwood
5 Angus McLeod
Monoshock B
Class
1 Jamie Duncan
2 Greg Maxwell
3 Ryan Dick
4 D Plant
5 C Rennie
6 B Tall Guy