Whilst the Great British weather made the headlines by hitting the hottest temperature ever recorded on these shores, the Grasstrack Banter Promotions team had their own headlines to create by staging a Trophy event at Owslebury on Sunday.
Report and Images by Mike Wood
First though there was a serious issue to overcome as the recent scorching heat meant that ground conditions were parched and horrendously dry, thus meaning that stopping the threat of dust would be just about an impossible task regardless of any equipment available!. Doing their very best though to minimise the problem, the Grasstrack Banter team watered the Whaddon Farm circuit both before and during the action in an attempt to give the riders the best vision possible and help to complete the event. And despite that constant dust menace, a full programme was managed producing some great action as the spotlight fell on the Youth riders who took centre stage to compete in Junior Bantasia.
Showing just how talented the kids are, the meeting started with a classic Auto Cadet battle as Rex Austin, the nephew of 1000cc Sidecar racer Michael Austin snatched victory right on the line from recently crowned British Champion Esme Theobald. These two riders then produced another two very entertaining, extremely close clashes, swapping wins in the following heats to set up an interesting last race decider for the overall first place trophy. In that one, Theobald took victory by the narrowest of margins despite the very best efforts of Austin meaning that the two battling Auto Cadet pilots finished the meeting on 40 points each. By being first past the chequered flag though in that last heat, it gave the very talented Theobald top step on the podium as Dakota Wright, son of speedway rider James Wright took a very consistent 3rd spot.
At the recent ACU Youth Championships, Oliver Bovingdon, Thomas Vining and Archie Rolph were top four finishers in the Junior class and at Owslebury on Sunday they were at it again. Vining won 3 out of the 4 heats, his only defeat coming in the second clash when Rolph was first past the post. In that one though, the ultra-consistent Vining was still 2nd with Bovingdon, Kane Newby and Kayden Mundy in the frame. With Rolph then only managing a 6th place in his third outing it meant that if left him 8 points down on Vining in the overall classification.
There was no doubting the winner of the Youth Intermediate class as Ashton Vale won all four of his heats with Austin Riches and Charlie Wood taking 2nd and 3rd places respectively during each outing. So with the above lads in such fine form. It meant that recent ACU British Champion Zak Batey had to settle for 4th overall with Kenzie Cossey and Oliver Rogers the next best.
Mark Scopes (2), Ian Clark and Kevin Gwilliam all recorded heat wins in an entertaining GT140 class. Gwilliam’s success in the last heat of the day was particularly thrilling as he fought off Clark and Scopes for the entire duration of the contest with the verdict going right down to the wire. On the podium it was Scopes, Clark and Gwilliam with Luke Wicks 4th and Lester Denham 5th.
In fantastic form, Chris Still won all four 250cc heats as Tim Greig (2), Aidan Arthur and Karl Bedingfield chased him home as runners-up. Whilst that 2nd place was to be Arthur’s only points of the day, in contrast Greig and Bedingfield were very consistent throughout and thoroughly deserved their eventual podium places.
Two riders who would normally also come to the tapes in the 250cc battles are Cameron Taylor and Luke Harris but on Sunday they instead appeared in the 350cc class. Showing their quality they were to earn the top two overall places as Steve Garside got home in 3rd. Earlier, Taylor after being defeated by Harris in the opener then reeled off a hat-trick of wins. There was though a slightly anxious moment in the last one for young Taylor when he touched the tapes and clerk of the course Adrian Croft ordered a restart and warning to the Gloucestershire ace!
Making a very welcome but rare appearance on the grass, Scunthorpe speedway star James Wright showed that he is definitely still ultra-fast and competitive. With his smooth, untroubled style, James won all four 500cc heats with Chad Wirtzfeld proving to be the closest challenger in the opening three clashes. In the final contest though it went horribly wrong for the fast South Coast charger as he fell in turn one when both his front fork bands snapped whilst going for a big outside blast round the pack! Thankfully Chad was ok and now looks forward to the British Masters event this coming weekend. That last race incident allowed the consistent Gareth Hickmott to take 2nd overall in this class.
Completing the solo action was racing for the Upright and Pre-75 classes. In the Uprights, Cornish rider Jason Prynne cruised to victory winning all four heats. With Prynne immaculate and in total control, just 3 points separated the riders in contention for the remaining podium spots. Eventually taking 2nd was Mike Dowling with Dave Hammond 3rd. Gloucestershire based Hammond was also in action in the Pre-75 and in that contest, he won 3 out of 4 heats to earn the overall victory as Luke Tuck and Giles Dismore completed the podium.
There may have been only three 500c Sidecars on the start line at Owslebury but what great action they were to serve up. Jordan Smith/Joe Page and James Hogg/Scott Goodwin locked horns at the front in four epic battles with Smith winning three before Hogg took the last one. Third place finishers in this class were Sam Hurst/Damon Hurst.
After winning the opening two Old+New Sidecar heats, Mark Courtney/Leon Torres was on course to make it a treble as they led heat three. Two laps in though and Courtney picked up a rear-wheel puncture dropping him down to 5th as Joe Mogg/Wayne Rickards claimed the victory from Brian Hatch/Lew Wharton, Herman Paul/Ash Pierce and Paul Nelson/Lewis Wharton. In the last one, Courtney then returned to winning ways which was enough to guarantee the podium top step.
The 1000cc right-hand sidecars were the only class which was to be decided by a winner takes-all final and in the early heats, Neal Owen/Jason Farwell appeared to be right up for the fight by scoring a very quick opening heat win. In their second outing though, Owen spun off but was able to remount and still finish the race. After three legs of the contest, multi British Masters Champion Mark Cossar/Gareth Williams was unbeaten with Paul Whitelam/Richard Webb, Trevor Heath/Sam Heath, Owen, Dale Fish/Jordan Fish and Clint Blondel/Jordan Smith also safely through. With Owen, Whitelam and Heath picking up heat wins along the way, the final looked set to be an intriguing contest until a late announcement was made that Owen had been forced to withdraw due to mechanical issues. That meant that Michael Austin/Vinny Branch were now promoted to the big ‘A’ bash and what a performance they were to produce earning their first ever Sidecar podium in 3rd.
Taking the win was Cossar following a fantastic scrap with Heath. In a rip-roaring contest, Heath even managed a stunning inside pass to get infront before Cossar came storming back for the win. After finishing 2nd in the qualifying scores, the final did not go to plan for Whitelam, spinning off and finishing in last place. In the 1000cc ‘B’ Final, Rick McCauley/Alan Hoskin was also involved in a classic, fighting off Stef Blyth/Morgan Blyth as Kieron Newman/Corey Taylor took 3rd.
Results
