Twinshock Scramble Club Scotland

Gary Allan Memorial Scramble

Lochside Farm Forfar

Sunday 30^th December 2007

Report by

Chris Montignani

At a bitterly cold and partly frozen racetrack in the north of Scotland the Scottish Twinshock Scramble Club held their annual Gary Allan memorial scramble at Lochside Farm Forfar on Sunday.

There was a good turnout of riders to fill both classes for the Monoshock and Twinshock machines, as this end of the year event is always an enjoyable meeting and a great excuse to get rid of some of the excess calories and any other over indulgencies left over from the xmas period.

A hard overnight frost tempted only the very hardest and elite of motocross riders to sign-on and take the challenge of racing on the very precarious and slippy racetrack, but soon the sub zero temperatures gave way to a bright sunny December morning as the racetrack partly thawed and was in almost prime condition for the Scottish Twinshock boys to be let loose.

I also heard a wee story from my time in the paddock prior to racing, that apparently Ian Robertson (or “Luggs” as he is known to his friends ) while trying out his YZ Yamaha the day before the race on the main road opposite his house he popped a wheelie and sent his bike tumbling down the street much to his frustration and his now aching sore back, and not only that he also received a severe bollicking from his dad about what a plonker he was, and so Ian decided not to race on Sunday on “medical grounds“ as his back was giving him jip.

Also while chatting with Jason Martin just after race practise to ask what he thought of the condition of the track it transpires (and unknown to me) he took a bad tumble on the stubble field section of the racetrack during the practise and went arse over head big style but thankfully no broken bike or broken bones, but I think it was just his own personal tribute to the late great Evel Knievel.

In the Twinshock class Ian Shedden on his CR250 Honda would be the eventual winner of the Gary Allan Memorial Trophy as he would turn out to be the more consistent rider of the class on the day, but Brian Allardyce was also in top form as he took his old 490 Maico out for a spin, Brian managed two hole shots and two race wins from the three motos and did most of the front running in each race, but a clash of machines in race three while trying to pass another rider after a jump would see Allardyce hit the deck in a heap and would soon remount to take the finish, but despite his two race wins that tumble would cost Allardyce dear and the Gary Allan Trophy and hand the overall win to Ian Shedden.

Runner up in last years Twinshock 250 class Jim Colligan also took a wee slide- off in race one in the “jumps” part of the track but there was no serious damage other than a broken gear lever on his new 490 Maico. It was also good to see Archie Baird back racing on his Maico, and after a consistent afternoons racing and a holeshot in race two he would finish in third position overall at the end of the day.

The Monoshock B boys were in fine fettle and certainly appeared unfazed by the frozen racetrack as they stormed their way round the Forfar circuit, motocross and Enduro rider Kevin Murray was absolutely flying on his little YZ250 Yamaha with two race wins and the Grand National event to add to his tally at the end of the day, Jamie Duncan put up a good fight on his YZ Yamaha with a second place finish in race two, but unfortunately had to retire from a front running position in moto 3 with mechanical problems, Liam Carr on a very rapid KX Kwacker narrowly took race three from Murray in second.

Fourstroke Suzuki mounted Craig Stevenson was the man to beat in the Monoshock A class as he and Jason Martin on the TM went wheel to wheel in a cracking bar bashing contest, in race two Martin opened a commanding lead on Stevenson, then after some heroic riding Stevenson closed the gap on Martin and tried a do or die passing manoeuvre from a jump, went wide and fell from his machine, Stevenson immediately remounted and proceeded to make up lost ground but then as if by a twist of fate Jason stalled his machine mid-corner handing Stevenson the win, the superb racing certainly supplied the large crowd with great entertainment on a freezing December afternoon.

I would like to say a special thank you to Vic Allan for attending the meeting along with his family, and we always hope that by running this meeting every year we can still continue to remember his late son Gary who of course was an ardent racer at this club and who is always very dearly missed.

Thank you also to the Soutar family for supplying the venue and constructing the track, it was good that the meeting was not cancelled this year and that all your hard work did not go to waste, as in previous years we have not been lucky with the weather for this event.

All in all it turned out a superb meeting with some great racing, the track was in superb condition near the end of the day with the stubble field section supplying plenty of grip for fast racing, but the jumps and whoops part was unfortunately like concrete and never really thawed, and thankfully no-one was seriously injured on the day which is always a plus.

The next meeting for the Scottish Twinshock Club will be Round 1 of their 2008 championship at Wellington School Penicuik on March 23^rd

And it looks like 2008 will be another interesting season with the brand new Over 50,s class to be introduced to the racing format, so we hope to see you all at Penicuik for more Twinshock racing adventures from the best run club in Scotland.

“The Scottish Twinshock Scramble Club”.

Chris Montignani (Monty)

Results

Twinshock Class

1 I Shedden

2 B Allardyce

3 A Baird

4 I Clark

5 G Whyte

5 G Watson

Monoshock (A) Class

1 C Stevenson

2 J Martin

3 C Davidson

4 M Harper

5 A Haddow

6 S Pollock

Monoshock (B) Class

1 K Murray

2 L Carr

3 G Smith

4 L Farrow

5 J Duncan

6 S Murray

Gary Allan Memorial Winner

Ian Shedden