A good crowd were treated to plenty of thrills and spills at Frittenden & DMCC’s first meeting of the year – ‘The Battle of Britain’ Grasstrack.
Report by Darren Nokes – Action Images courtesy of Amanda Morrison – Result Images courtesy of Gareth Bemister
The seven different classes all had strong entries and practice suggested the racing would be tight but fast! The opening legs started with the 350cc class that operated on a round-robin basis and opening honours went to Andrew Whitaker who was out-gated by Dave Mears but soon powered round him for a comfortable win. Whitaker would go on to beat Mears in each of their three qualifying rides, going into the final unbeaten.
Martin Cuff won the opening left hand sidecar race, beating Will Penfold who had missed the start but worked his way through the field. There was a very scary incident in the second race of the left handers when Darren Morris got out of shape in the pit bend and ended up in the ropes but running over the clerk of the course in the process. Fortunately, after a thorough check up, Graham Hilton was ok to return to duties. The re-run of the race was won by Will Penfold and Bradley Reynolds which was one of two. The class looked as though it would be very open with some close racing and different heat wins during qualifying for Danny and Harry Hill, Alex Balman and Mark Hopkins, Michael Phillips and Ian Bedingfield and finally Rob Heath and Kyle Fish. An engine failure in his second ride ended Martin Cuff’s day.
The 250cc solos were dominated by Luke Harris who won all three legs with Cameron Taylor having a win and two seconds (each behind Harris). Chris Still was the best of the two-strokers with the fast starting Karl Bedingfield, Tim Greig and Russell Little always in the thick of the action.
The upright solos saw some great battles between Bob Dolman and Rodney Mcdonald with Dolman coming out on top in the two heats they met with them both winning their 3rd leg rides when they were separated. Jason Prynne was always close and qualifying race of the day in this class was race 20 where the evergreen Chris Mackett was chased by John Cox. Cox tried to go under Mackett on the last bend and the bikes became tangled whilst slowing down all the time. Mackett managed to break free in time to just beat Robin Pilcher on the line and the unfortunate Cox ended up 4th with Prynne coming third.
It was great to see three women drivers in the 500cc sidecar class but it was multi-time champions Josh Goodwin and Liam Brown who would qualify for the finals unbeaten. The closest challengers looked like it would be Shaun Hughes and Louis Bennett but they were struggling to get off the line and this cost them an unbeaten qualification when Dan Berwick and Mark Hopkins held them off in leg 3. Natasha Bartlett and Josh Russell picked up two second places and Paul Whitelam and Richard Webb in only their second meeting on a 500cc sidecar continued to make the smooth transition, comfortably qualifying for the final.
The 500cc solo entry looked like it could be a fascinating duel between the experience of Paul Hurry, Charley Powell and Martyn Sturgeon against the youth of Jake Mulford and Aaron Butcher with the already quick on grass, speedway man, Alfie Bowtell. Experience won the first race when Martyn Sturgeon beat Aaron Butcher but the second race saw a shock when first Bowtell flipped on the line and then Paul Hurry fell having made the start, allowing Jake Mulford to beat Charley Powell. After a rain shower before the second legs, Kai Ward unfortunately high sided and had to be taken to hospital with what looked like a shoulder injury. The restart saw Powell beat Mulford this time but Hurry only managed one lap before realising he had suspension damage from his first ride that would end his day. Butcher then fell in his second ride which ended his day but Bowtell took the win. A now slightly depleted field saw Stuart Mears win leg 3 before Mulford beat Powell, Bowtell and Sturgeon in the last qualifying race.
The right hand 1000cc sidecars looked like it would be a case of, could anyone beat Mark Cossar and Gareth Williams. Three comfortable heat wins suggested not but Matt Fumarola and Andi Wilson started strongly and Trevor and Sam Heath were very impressive in their first race win. The drama was unfolding behind Cossar when Whitelam/Webb took a heat win in leg 2 along with Will Offen and Ricky Pay. The Heaths had a second, Fumarola/Wilson could only manage a 4th and Colin Blackbourn/Carl Pugh plus Terry Saunters/Liam Brown both had a second and third to their name. A vital leg 3 to make the A final saw Heath follow Cossar home to make it, Saunters and Brown beat Whitelam/Webb which was good enough for both of them and a win for Blackbourn/Pugh sealed a spot for them.
The 1000cc ‘B’ final had a spot in the ‘A’ final for the winners and there was huge drama. Offen/Pay and Neal Owen/Jason Farwell made great starts, touching as they went into the first bend then after leading for a lap, Offen appeared to hit a bump that lifted the front wheel. On landing the bike ground to a halt throwing Pay off who fortunately was avoided by the chasing pack. The cause of the sudden stop became clear as the front of Offen’s bike had collapsed with his engine ending up on the track and a lot of scratching of heads on how to move the stricken outfit. This allowed Dale Fish to come into the re-run and he made a great start, leading for 3 laps until Owen managed to get round and qualify for the big one!
Having beaten Dave Mears in all three qualifying legs from behind, Andrew Whitaker must have been confident of again getting round as Mears made the start in the final but this time he had no answer as Mears won from start to finish. Luke Clifton came in a very impressive third, holding off Ricky Sandford.
The 250cc final saw Luke Harris miss the start again but soon sweep round the field to take a comfortable win with Cameron Taylor an equally comfortable second. Chris Still remained the best of the two strokes, claiming third and not being involved in a very tight race for 4th to 7th which was eventually claimed by Russell Little.
The status quo of qualifying continued in the Upright Final with Bob Dolman taking the win to go unbeaten all day from Rodney McDonald and Jason Prynne finishing 3rd. The left hand sidecar final saw Will Penfold going in as top points scorer but Rob Heath and Kyle Fish had looked as quick in qualifying. It was Heath who made the start but Penfold soon overtook him on the back straight after a great pits bend and never looked back. Heath comfortably came second whilst Danny and Harry Hill had a great third place after being in a tight battle with Balman and Hopkins before they lost a chain.
The 500cc sidecar final was a story of what could have been – Josh Goodwin and Liam Brown made the start and led from start to finish whereas Hughes/Bennett missed it and went into the first bend 4th. They soon got to second but had a half a straight to make up. Going wide in the penultimate lap made it tighter for Goodwin than it needed to be but the poor start was too much for Hughes to recover from. Berwick and Hopkins came in third, holding off Natasha Bartlett and Josh Russell.
The 500cc final was the best race of the day in this class which saw Charley Powell lead Jake Mulford and Alfie Bowtell at a great pace holding on for 2 laps before Mulford managed to get passed and take the win. Bowtell made an error also pushing which resulted in him settling for third (therefore Powell second) and Gareth Hickmott claimed a credible fourth with Martyn Sturgeon having a disappointing final and finishing 5th.
Results
