Back on the weekend of August 3rd & 4th, the North Devon Atlantic Classic Motorcycle Club hosted its annual two-day classic Scramble at what is one of the most picturesque tracks in the country, which is Sloley Park, Berrynarbor Nr Combe Martin in North Devon. This year’s event at Sloley Park was the 25th anniversary at this venue, having started back in the year 2000 and had attracted a big entry with over 200 competitors, which was good to see.
Race Report and Images by Dave Rich
The track had been laid out much to the rider’s approval, and the club had done its best to minimize the dust on the Saturday, with more water put down Saturday evening, but with the sun out and a slight breeze on the Sunday the track became dry in places as the day went on with it getting dusty in places. In total, over the weekend, there were thirty-six main races plus a special race at the end of the day on Saturday, which was called the anniversary race which was all in aid of Prostate Cancer UK with the first forty riders that wished to take part in this race having to pay a minimum entry of £10 each. A lot of hard work had gone into running this event, and every effort had been made to raise as much money as possible for Charity and the club was overwhelmed with the generosity of the riders and spectators alike as in total at the end of the weekend; they had raised somewhere in the region of £3000 which was a great achievement.
There was some good racing on both days, which was appreciated by the many spectators in attendance.
In the Twinshock A class, there was a surprise entry from one of the legends in the past and former GP rider Brian Wheeler, who still competes at a high level now, who had never been to this venue before and said it was a proper old school track and he was looking forward to racing on it, but unfortunately for Brian who did do practice, he was forced to withdraw from the meeting after he had a cracked casing. The class was thrilling to watch, with some good battles going on, but at the end of the weekend, there was a clean sweep of wins in all six races for the 250 Maico rider Kristian Marshall, who was to produce some excellent speed and thrilled the spectators even kicking up the dust in the latter part of Sunday’s racing. Second overall went to the 250 Beta of Matt Holcombe, who did push Marshall on the Sunday but to no avail and third overall was taken by the YZ 250 Yamaha of James Hudson who had been consistent on both days.
In the Twinshock B class, there was some close racing, and with plenty of local interest, there was a lot of cheering going on in each race. Most of the cheering was for local Barnstaple rider Alex Buckingham on his CR 250 Honda, who did win two of the three races on the Saturday and ended the weekend taking third overall behind Dan Roberts, who did finish on the same points as Buckingham, but with the better result in the last race, Roberts was to take second overall behind Derek Adams who with a scorecard of 2,1,4,6,1,1 took the overall win.
The Twinshock C class saw Chris Woodward take three of the six race wins on his CR 480 Honda, which helped him to take that third spot on the podium behind David White onboard his 490 Maico, who did take one of the other wins. However, the overall was to go to Ben Dyer on his 640 KTM. Even though Ben didn’t take a single win over the two days, he was the most consistent rider there, with four second-place finishes and two thirds.
In the Twinshock D class, it was Steve Ramshaw on his 490 Maico who took the overall. Even with Steve having a disastrous opening race on Saturday, finishing eighth, he made up for it in all the other five races and won them all. Second overall was to go to the 400 Maico of Ben Mason, with Jack Courtney on his YZ 490 Yamaha taking third overall.
The Twinshock E class saw a fine performance from the big YZ 600 Yamaha of Kevin Pettit, who was to take four of the six race wins to give him the overall, with second overall going to 440 Maico of Charlie Bristow, with Wayne Pidgeon taking third overall on his CR 480 Honda.
In the Pre 83 125cc class, there was some close racing. James Bartholomew eventually came away with the overall after taking three race wins. Gary Benham took the second spot on the podium on his YZ Yamaha by literally one point from the RM Suzuki rider Alan Thomas, who was third overall.
The Pre 60 class saw a fine display of riding from Thorne Pett on his 1957 500 BSA Goldstar, who dominated all the races over the weekend with a clean sweep of wins with the 650 Trisba of Jeremy Lile taking second overall with third overall going to John Stoker on his 600 Mabsa.
Unfortunately, there was only one competitor in the Pre 65 under 251cc class, Mike Jones, on his 250 Twin Port CZ. However, in the over 251cc class, there was no stopping Kristian Marshall on his 350 Cheney BSA. He proved too strong for the rest of the field and took a clean sweep of wins over the two days. Second overall went to Colin Hickie’s 350 Hickie BSA, with Paul Arnold on his 650 Triumph Metisse taking third overall.
The Pre 68 class saw Lee Kelly take the overall on his 441 BSA Victor with five wins out of the six races, only being denied a clean sweep after a mistake in the third race on the Saturday which he eventually finished in third behind 500 BSA Victor and Luke Hickie on his 500 Hickie BSA who was consistent on the Sunday with three good rides and took second overall with third overall going to the 350 BSA of Ben Green.
The Pre 74 class was in memory of a fellow Pre 74 rider, Mitch York, who sadly passed away back in September 2023 at just 30 years of age. The family of Mitch attended Berrynarbor and had donated a perpetual Trophy to be awarded to the winner in this class. It was Marcus Denham, a close friend of Mitch on his CZ 380, who was to win the opening two races on the Saturday just missing out on a clean sweep in the third race where he was beaten by the 350 Hickie BSA of Adam Butt who originally wasn’t going to ride in this class but after his gearbox on his 500 Curtis Honda broke in the opening Twinshock A race, he decided to compete in this class. Butt was to continue his winning ways on the Sunday, beating Denham in all three races, but at the end of the weekend, it was Denham who took the overall and the Mitch York Trophy from the CR 400 Husqvarna of Nathan Jones, with Kurtis Bence taking third overall on his CZ 380. Butt took fourth overall as he missed the opening race on the Saturday.
In the 25th anniversary race, which was a charity race for Prostate Cancer UK, there was a full line-up of forty riders, but there could have been more, with many riders who didn’t get in the race still donating money to the charity’s coordinator, Nigel Cox.
The race was a thrilling race to watch, with Kristian Marshall leading the way after the opening lap and really had the throttle wound back, but there was a good tussle going on behind him between Adam Butt and Jack Alderton, with Alderton eventually getting past Butt who was soon to have Matt Holcombe breathing all over him with some really close racing but they weren’t going to catch Marshall who took the win, Alderton took second with Butt taking third by literally .004 of a second ahead of Holcombe.
Results
25th Aniversary race - SUPPORTING PROSTATE CANCER
PRE 60-65-UNDERS AND 125 - OVERALL
