Owslebury, the home of Winchester Motorcycle Club, saw its long-awaited first meeting of the year earlier this week. With a huge entry in attendance, it turned out to be a great meeting that included big names and some close racing on a well prepared, old school track. This was the clubs first meeting under the MCF.
Report by Fraser Line – Images courtesy of Holeshot Imaging
After timed qualification, MX Solo was split into three groups. In the A group, it came down to the two local big 250 names, Taylor Hammal and Charlie Cole. Both living within a few miles of the track. Hammal, fresh off of his first ever MX national win the week before, didn’t have it all his own way and had to come up from behind in the first two motos, with Cole setting the pace after two holeshots before getting caught in lapped traffic late on. In the third race Taylor managed to get his first holeshot of the day and took a gate-to-flag win, although he was pushed hard the whole way taking the overall victory with a “1 1 1”. Mark Atkinson produced three solid results to get third overall on the day, with the local favourite Charlie Cole taking 2nd.
The B group produced some very close racing. Ryan Furnell was 1st out of the gate in race one but eventually slipped back to 5th with Matt Ward taking the win, this was the start of a good day for Ward who took the overall win. Luke Pritchard who only managed 12th in the first moto managed to improve to 2nd overall on the day with a 2nd and 1st place finish in the last two motos. Third place on the day went to Terry Veal who managed to get better results as the day went on which included a 2nd place in race 3.
The C group was introduced for the first time at Owslebury and made for an entertaining watch with Darren Othen, Joe Cross and Taylor Othen finishing in the podium positions. Notable rides to mention in this class from Charlie Green competing in his first motocross event and former American flat tracker Dave Shephero showing his skills for a different type of two wheeled racing.
The rookies were introduced for the first time at Owslebury, riding in with adult solo and being placed in the group that they would have qualified in if they were an adult, left the young riders battling with adults of similar pace. Charlie Nightingale, came out on top, the 125 MX national rider taking three comfortable wins which saw him finish inside the top 10 of the A group. Jacob Ball and Jack Milstead saw out the remaining podium places.
Phil Mercer took three comfortable wins in the Vets class to claim the overall victory, with lap times that would have seen him be near the front in the A group. Paul Whillians and Darren king were left to fight it out for the final two podium positions. Whillians coming out on top with a “2 2 3” on the day, King managed to beat Whillians in the final moto but it was only enough to give him 3rd on the day.
The twinshock class has always featured heavily at Winchester MCC and it was no different this time as a full gate of 40 riders took to the gate. Graham Noyce watched on as Harvey Cashmore won the first two twinshock races on his Honda Red Rocket taking the overall victory. Ross Kerr and Marcus Feltham saw out the rest of the podium with strong finishes. Scott Wilkinson saw off club legend Norman Emery to take the win in the over 50 class (Jeff Freeman Memorial) with Steve McCormick good value for his 3rd place finish on his pre 83 125.
Winchester MCC welcomed 85cc riders for the very first time, the strength of the field certainly did not disappoint with some of the fastest 85cc riders in the UK. Charlie Richmond taking the overall victory after a solid showing at MX nationals the previous week, 417 Harrison Greenough took the win in the first moto but could only manage 2nd overall with Richmond proving to be to the better rider on the day. Josh Vail produced three very good rides to claim the final podium place.
Results
TWIN OVER 50 OVERALL TWIN CLUB OVERALL VETS OVERALL c overall b groupoverall SOLO A OVERALL 85’s 0verall
