Over the weekend of August 17th and 18th, the Best in the West held their annual Badgers Bash scramble at Cotley Nr Chard in Somerset. This meeting, as in previous years, was a very popular event, attracting nearly a full entry of riders and many spectators.
Race Report and Images by Dave Rich
Unfortunately, the hot weather leading up to the event made the track very dry and hard, which made it a little bit dusty on Saturday. On Sunday, the dust became a big problem, and the decision was made for safety reasons not to run the last block of racing.
The Classic class was a mixed class, which was to produce some good racing in all five races, with Martin Stephens on his 360 Yamaha MX winning the opening race. Still, he had no answer in the other races to the big 500 BSA Victor of Paul Webb, who didn’t have the best opening race but made amends and was to take the wins in all the other races. By beating Stephens in the last race, he was to take the overall by two points, with third overall going to the 360 Bultaco Pursang of Chris Elderfield, who was back riding as a one-off meeting and had been consistent all weekend.
In the Evo under 50’s class, it was fast and furious at the front in the opening two races on the Saturday with young George Hopkins on a 500 CR Honda winning both races ahead of Kristian Marshall on his 1989 YZ 250 Yamaha whereas in the last race on the opening day it looked as if Hopkins was going to take the win until he came to a halt after his chain came off and taking the win in this one was Calum Priddle on his 250 CR Honda. On Sunday, there was no stopping Hopkins, who literally, once he hit the front, didn’t look back and took two convincing wins. Still, consistency was the name of the game as to who would take the overall, and that was Marshall, with Priddle taking second overall with the 250 RM Suzuki of Tyler Green taking third overall.
The Evo over 50’s class was to produce some of the best racing of the weekend, with the fast-gating Jason Alba on his 490 YZ Yamaha taking two of the three race wins on Saturday, with Ben (Lenny) Braddick winning the other race on his 250 CR Honda. Alba was a nonstarter on the Sunday having picked up an ankle injury and it was Braddick who was victorious on the Sunday winning both races in fine style, and this was to give him a well-deserved overall win with the 125 KX Kawasaki of Justin Carpenter taking second overall ahead of Darren Hoult on his 125 RM Suzuki who was third overall.
In the Twinshock A class, there were great expectations as a star lineup was in attendance, and making an appearance for the first time on a motocross bike on the big 545 Triumph PDS was former World BMX Champion in the shape of Mark Cornick. In the opening race, it was the 440 Maico of Kristian Marshall who was to set the early pace from Matt Nash on his 295 CR Honda, with Luke Hill back in third after not the best of starts on his 500 CR Honda, but Hill was soon on it and passed Nash on the second lap and was closing on Marshall as they went into the wooded section, Marshall was still there at the front with Nash now in second, Hill had gone down after his front wheel washed out and was well down the field. Marshall was to power away from this point and took the chequered flag, with Nash just holding off Matt Wells in the closing stages to take second. Hill was a bit annoyed with his mistake in the opening race and was out to make amends, which was exactly what he did and was to win the next two races on the Saturday ahead of Marshall and the opening race on the Sunday, with Marshall again finishing in second which gave Hill a two points advantage over Marshall going into the last race so Hill needed to beat Marshall if he was going to take the overall. With the track by this time starting to get dusty, the start was vital, and Hill was to head the pack from the off and of course, he had a clear vision in front of him and used it to ease away and went on untroubled to take the win and the overall with Marshall finishing second again to claim second overall with third overall going to Nash.
The Twinshock B class saw the big 640 Rotax JEK of Mark Lewis take the opening race from Ryan Baker, but it was Baker who was triumphant in the other two races on Saturday, beating Lewis on both occasions. Sunday saw Jonny Orchard on the scene on his 250 YZ Yamaha who was to win the opening encounter, beating Baker and Lewis, who were second and third, respectively, but in the last race, there was only one winner, and that was Baker who took the win by some nineteen seconds which also gave him the overall over the weekend with Lewis taking second overall with third overall going to Graham Cross on his 125 YZ Yamaha who had been pretty consistent in all five races.
The Twinshock C class gave the many spectators something to cheer about as the racing was close to the front. On the Saturday we were to witness three different winners where in the opening race, it was the 500 Honda of Chris Stone leading the proceedings on the opening lap and was soon to come under huge pressure all through the race from the 250 CR Honda of Andrew Batten who was to give his all right to the chequered flag and was literally .239 of a second to Stone at the line with Chris Woodward on his 480 CR Honda a close third and Ben Dyer on his 604 KTM MX also a close fourth with literally the first four finishers just over a second apart. In the second moto, it was a win for Wayne Twiddle on his 250 CR Honda, who piped the 490 YZ Yamaha of Buzz Goudie by a second at the line, with Steve Matthews taking third on his 250 CR Honda. Matthews was to head the last race on the Saturday and looked good at the front but in the closing stages he was hunted down by Ben Dyer who was all over Matthews, but Mathews held his nerve and just held on to take the win by .421 of a second from Dyer.
Matthews again had the upper hand in the opening race on the Sunday, and it was nearly a carbon copy of the last race on the Saturday, with Matthews this time just holding off David Wite this time on his 490 Maico, who just missed out at the line, by .616 of a second to Matthews. The last race again was to see some good close racing at the front, this time between Ben and Steven Dyer, who were at it all through the race, but in the end, it was Ben Dyer who took the win from Steven which was to give Ben the overall over the weekend by two points from Matthews who was second overall and third overall went to Batten.
The Twinshock D class saw different winners in each race, including Alan Obrien, Joe Pavitt, Kevin Spiller, Kieran Webb, and Adrian Toy. However, the rider who was to take the overall was Jack Courtney, who, over the weekend, finished second in every race. Toy took second overall, and Webb took third overall.
In the Twinshock E class, Luke Trim won two races and Kevin Baker won one on Saturday. Shane White, who was having his first ride on a Twinshock, and James Pellow each won on Sunday. However, Trim won the overall race from White, with Cameron Butler taking third.
Results
TWINSHOCK E - OVERALL (1)TWINSHOCK A and B - OVERALL (1)
