On Sunday, April 7th, the Devon Classic Motorcycle Club decided to run their Badger Goss Trophy Scramble at Widworthy near Honiton in Devon. The event had originally been scheduled to take place on Easter Sunday, but due to the sodden ground, they were forced to postpone it and decide to run it a week later.
Words and Images by Dave Rich
The club was determined to run the event even though rain again had made things awkward, but the club pulled out all the stops and made a road into the event using mats, which was to work a treat. The track was nigh on prime Saturday evening. Still, rain was to fall again during the early hours of Sunday morning which made things a bit slippery in places and with it had put many competitors off coming. Still, they were to miss a good day as the track was too dry during the day and with it produced some good racing and; I have to say hats off to the club for persevering, and from the comments I have seen, I am saying this on behalf of many other people and riders.
Unfortunately, no finishers in any of the three races in the Pre 60 class were present. It was good to see a 1957 350 Velocette Viper in attendance, but the conditions were a bit too much for what is a very heavy bike.
The Pre 65 over 350cc class saw a fine display of riding from Martin Perrett, who was out on a 500 Triumph Rickman Metisse who won the opening race and the second race, but he had to work hard for the win in race two as his bike cut out just after the start which was a problem with his cut off switch and he had to fight his way through the rest of the pack and with it became the only rider to clock up a sub three minute lap in the shape of 248.32, but Martin was denied a clean sweep of wins in the last race after a couple of mistakes which was won by the 500 MRD Harris Jawa of Nick Thorne who had done enough to take second overall by one point from the big 650 Triumph Rickman Metisse of Chris Hacker. Nick Archer won the under 350cc class on his 500 BSA Victor who notched up a hattrick of wins from the 350 Hickie BSA of Ian Baldock who was to take second overall with a hattrick of second place finishes with third overall going to Paul Andrews on the 250 Greeves Challenger.
In the Pre 68 class, Luke Hickie on his 500 Hickie BSA won the opening race from Richard Palmer on his 441 BSA Metisse. However, Palmer was to take the other two wins to give him the overall win. Wayne Stratford on the 250 Sidepipe Cz took second overall, and Hickie, with only the opening race points, took third overall.
In the Pre 74 over 250cc class it was Darren Knowles 380 Cz who dominated the opening race from Ian Grout on his 520 CCM and Martin Coleman on a 350 SL Honda, but there was no stopping Grout in the second race who took the win this time from Mike Popperwell on his 380 Cz with the 450 CR Husqvarna of Jeremy Lile taking third. The last race, there was only one rider in this class, and that was Grout, who, of course, was to take the win and with it, the overall, with Mark Knowles taking second overall with a 4-4-0 Scorecard with, Popperwell taking third overall, whereas, in the Pre 74 under 250cc class, there was no stopping Nick Thorne 250 DT2 Yamaha who took a clean sweep of wins with Steven Thorne on the 246 MX Yamaha taking second overall with the 250 DT Yamaha of Oliver Thorne third overall.
In the Pre 78 class, there was some good riding from Steven Ruddock, who once he hit the front, was to race away and take the chequered flag in all three races from Steve Dagger on his 400 IT/Yz Yamaha, who took a hattrick of second place finishes behind Ruddock to give him second overall and third overall was to go to Steve Owen on the 400 Yz Yamaha.
In the Twinshock A class, it looked as if it was going to be a runaway victory for Luke Hill in the opening race on his 500 CR Honda, who within a lap had a commanding lead over Stefan Little, but towards the end of the second lap Hill ground to a halt as his faithful or not so faithful Honda had seized which put an end to his race and it was Little who went on to take the win from the 500 Hickie BSA Racing Twinshock of Tim Dallaway with Andy Muller on the 490 Yz Yamaha taking third. In the second race, Hill was out on a borrowed bike and, just as he did in the first race, was to be well in control of the race at the front until again, on lap 2, he came to a halt with an issue with the bike, and it was Little again who took the win this time from Jack Alderton on his 490 Maico with George Bowerman taking third on his 465 Yz Yamaha. The last race saw a good battle early on between Alderton and Little, and soon to join in was Kristian Marshall on his 450 MX Maico, but it was Alderton who went on to take the win from Marshall, with Little third, but third for Little was all he needed to take the overall from Alderton with Marshall with the better result in the last race taking third overall from Bowerman.
The Twinshock B class saw Mike Wheeler on his CR 250 Honda take the win in the opening race from fellow CR 250 rider Alex Buckingham, with the CR 300 Honda of Greg Pascoe taking third. In the second moto, there was no stopping Buckingham, who blitzed the rest of the field and took the win by some 36 seconds, with Matthew Milsom taking third. In the last race, there was only one winner, and that was Buckingham, who was to clinch the overall, with Wheeler second overall and Milsom taking third overall.
In the Twinshock C class it was Steve Matthews who was to win the opening two races but was denied a clean sweep of wins in the last race by Andrew Batten. Matthews took the overall with Adrian Dark with a scorecard of 2-2-3 taking second overall and Batten third overall.
The Twinshock D class was to produce some excellent battles, and, in the end, it was consistency that was to be rewarded. Stephen Warwick was to win the opening race, with the other two races being won by Joe Goodman. Still, the overall was to go to Jason Broomfield with a 2-3-4 scorecard, just piping Clifford Stone by two points, who was second overall, with third overall going to Jon Elliott where, as in the Twinshock D1 class, it was Steve Ramshaw who won the opening two races with Blake Winston winning the third race and with Winston, with a second and a third in the opening two races he was to take the overall with Triss Macey second overall and third overall by virtue of the better result in the last race went to Billy Alderton.
In the Twinshock E class, it was Gary O’Shaughnessy who took the overall with two wins and a third with Chase Thomas second overall with a hattrick of second place finishes, just piping Jeremy Knight by one point, who had won the other race.
In the Novice class, Jack Pellow took the overall from Joe Goodman, with Ian Burton taking third overall.
In the Ladies class there was two wins for Mia Milsom with the other win going to Danielle Rutherford.
Results
D1 AND PRE 78 - OVERALL
TWINSHOCK E and Novice - OVERALL
