Back on Sunday 25th October the Somerset Scramble club ran their Best in the West Winter Scramble at a new venue at Kilmington Nr Axminster in Devon which was their last event in 2020.
Report and Images by Dave Rich
Entries for the event were nigh on full, but unfortunately, many riders didn’t turn up on the day thinking that the event would be called off due to the rain that had fallen prior to the meeting, but the club persevered and said that it was ridable and were determined to run the event. The club had decided to change the format of the event and ran longer races, but only ran two blocks of racing which seemed to go down well with the riders. The track was a bit damp early morning for practice, and we had a few slipping off, but as the racing got underway the track was drying all the time and produced some top-quality racing.
In the Pre 89 Evo class there was only going to be one winner at the end of the day and that was James Kensington who relishes in the wet conditions. Phill Studley had the best start in the opening race but turned the power on too quickly exiting the first corner and went down with several other riders running in the back of him. Sam Russell took over the lead and led for most of the opening lap before Kensington took over and showed his class in the wet and took a comfortable win by some 24 seconds from Russell with Studley 3rd. In race 2 again it was Russell who led early doors and was to lead for the first 4 laps, but right in his wheel marks all the time was Kensington who was waiting for his opportunity to get pass which came on lap 6 when Russell ran wide on a lefthander and left the inside line open for Kensington to go through and from there he stormed away even after he had no back brake to take another win, Russell took 2nd with Toby Wright taking 3rd.
The Classic class had attracted a huge entry with many different bikes from years gone by. In the opening race again, there was carnage at the first corner with several riders going down, but emerging with the lead was Greg Speed on his 350 Cheney/BSA 500 who led for a couple of laps from Kristian Marshall and the 350 BSA of Adam Butt who was soon to move into 2nd when Marshall came to a halt. Butt did close in on Speed in the closing stages, but it was Speed who took the win from Butt with Ross Wormer on the 380 Cz taking 3rd. Race 2 saw a flyer off the line from Marshall, but it was Speed again who led out of the first corner with Butt in 2nd just a head of Marshall. Speed held off Butt for a couple of laps before Butt took over 4 laps in and Marshall was to pull up after hitting a post which let Wormer in to 3rd. Butt was to go on to take the win from Speed with Wormer again finishing in 3rd, but it was Butt who took the overall by virtue of beating Speed in the second race.
In the Twinshock A class it was fast at the front with former GP rider from the 90’s Wayne Butt showing that he can still run with some of the younger competitors. Wayne was to put on a classy performance in the opening race beating Kristian Marshall by some 12 seconds with Marcus Clare taking 3rd. In the second race Butt led from the off and from there went on untroubled to take the win from Allen Waring with Marshall this time finishing in 3rd.
In the Twinshock B class it was Dave Male who won the opening race from Neil Aldridge with Louis Harmer taking 3rd, but it was Harmer who won the second encounter from Aldridge with Male 3rd which left Harmer and Male tying on points, but by virtue of the better race result in race 2 the overall was to go to Harmer.
In the Twinshock C class it was Chris Stone who took the overall with a win and a second with James Sawatzki second overall with a 3rd and a second with Keith Newman taking 3rd overall.
Twinshock D was to go down to the wire with a win and a 2nd each for Richard Woodham and Martin Garry but with Woodham winning the second encounter he took the overall from Garry with Aaron Baker finishing 3rd in both races to give him 3rd overall.
Overall Results
Pre 89 Evo
1st James Kensington
2nd Sam Russell
3rd Phill Studley
4th Toby Wright
5th Luke Brine
6th David Russell
7th Jordan watts
8th Matt Yates
9th Steve Locke
10 Steve Coate
Classics
1st Adam Butt
2nd Greg Speed
3rd Ross Wormer
4th Andrew Maddox
5th Steve Thorne
6th Colin Hickie
7th Steve Dent
8th Andy Sollars
9th Mitch Yorke
10th Sam Gittoes
Twinsock A
1st Wayne Butt
2nd Kristian Marshall
3rd Marcus Clare
4th Allen Waring
5th Tom Paulley
6th Mark Gleadhill
7th Glyn Newton
8th Matt Yates
9th Rob Daffey
10th Andrew Bowles
Twinshock B
1st Louis Harmer
2nd Dave Male
3rd Neil Aldridge
4th Mark Lewis
5th Jason Jenner
6th Andy Scudamore
7th George Wolff
8th Ade Dark
9th Karl Ingarfield
10th Mark Dean
Twinshock C
1st Chris Stone
2nd James Sawatzki
3rd Keith Newman
4th Chris Toulson
5th John Pearce
6th Steve Brenton
7th Philip Smith
8th Clifford Stone
9th Jake Slocombe
10th Kevin Butt
Twinshock D
1st Richard Woodham
2nd Martin Garry
3rd Aaron Baker
4th Louis Butt
5th Tom Wilkins
6th Gavin Stern
7th Chris Walker
8th Kate McCauley
9th Giles Lovegrove
10th Paul Ebsary
