South Shropshire M.C.C. 1st Round Club Championship
SSMCC 1stRound Club Championship Report by: Kirsty Foulkes
It was 3rd time lucky for South Shropshire MCC as after two cancellations earlier in the year, they managed to run the first round of their club championship. 100 riders turned out in support of the club with many familiar faces welcoming some new riders to the event and the only drawback to the fantastic entry was some queuing through a few sections. We thank the riders who stuck at it for their patience and will make sure there is a long ride round at our next event.
Martin Podesta led the expert class on 33 whilst youth expert Jack Welch halved this total to take an easy win on 15. Iwan Roberts was seeking out some practise on his new Beta and followed Jack to 2nd spot in the youth expert on 31 with Connor Evans hot on his heels with 33. It just shows the quality of these youngsters who are all contesting the National ‘B’ class that they would have taken the top 3 places even if riding in the adult expert class.
Kevin Taylor, showed that he has recovered from all the hard work of organising the Red Marley Hill Climb, as he fought off Tom Hinckley in the Inters with Andy Onions and Jon Yeomans taking full advantage of the 50/50 route to fill 3rd and 4th spot respectively. Again the youths showed that energy and drive goes a long way as Central Wales’ Jonathon Rowlands, riding up on the Inters route for the first time, demonstrated that he was well ready for the challenge as he took the honours for a loss of 37. South Shropshire’s National Youth ‘C’ contenders, Thomas Minta and Sam Yeomans continued to challenge themselves as they took 2nd and 5th place respectively.
A strong entry in the Twinshock and Pre-65 Clubman class allowed Dave Wood to show his prowess on the older bikes as he held off Kevin Aam’s challenge and his score of 23 would also have been enough to take the lead in the Clubman class. It just goes to show that you don’t have to have a modern and fancy bike to ride well. A mention must go to Merv Powell who steered his Matchless 350 around the course to 2nd spot behind Mick Bradley in the Sportsman Twinshock/Pre-65 class.
Dad and son team, Nik and Dan Aldridge thoroughly enjoyed running in their newly acquired Beta’s and finished in the placings too. Nik showed that a year or so out has done him no harm as he closely followed Tony Field in the strongly challenged O/50 class, with both these riders just nudging Roger Brown off his usual top spot. Dee Mullard-Davies also got to grips with his new bike on the Sportsman route with a loss of 29 being enough to give him full championship points.
Jamie Cave, a regular supporter of South Shropshire took a well deserved in the youth clubman class with Andrew Rowlands, riding up a route for the first time, just held off South Shropshire’s Stuart Richards.
Fred Bailey showed that riding the National ‘C’ class has improved his skill and technique tremendously as he took an easy win in the youth sportsman class. However, home grown riders, Calum Evans, Conan Mullard-Davies, Matthew Cunnington and Jack Speke all proved the importance and success of running Conducted events to help initiate youngsters into trials as they moved onto the white route to fill 3rd to 6th place respectively.
The Conducted route was again well supported with seven riders at various stages of their trials careers all showing skill, determination and enjoyment as the Lawley family guided and supported them around their route and through the sections. Tom Watkins led all the way, cleaning 6 out of the 8 sections ahead of Thomas Hughes. A mention must go to Lucy Hart on her OSET. She started the trial as a very dubious youngster but by the time she got section 3 in the water, her face was one big beam!Once again, thank you to all who supported the trial and we look forward to seeing in the near future.
Expert: Martin Podesta (Gas Gas 250) 33; Gary Huxley (Gas Gas 250) 77; Gordon Brown (Beta 270) 86
Inters: Kevin Taylor (Gas Gas 300) 54; Tom Hinckley (Gas Gas 300) 55; Andrew Onions (Gas Gas 300) 69
Clubman: Ian Price (Beta 250) 26; Bryan Welch (Beta 250) 30; Dan Aldridge (Beta 250) 35
O/40’s: Phil Dearden (Gas Gas 300) 8; Andie Swift (Beta 200) 31; Simon Yeats (Beta 250) 49
Twinshock: Dave Wood (Yamaha 320) 23; Kevin Adams (Fantic 240) 31; Colin Leese (Honda TLR 200) 37
Sportsman: Dee Mullard-Davies (Sherco 290) 29; Nick Jones (Gas Gas 250) 34; Phillip Howells (Sherco 250) 108
O/50’s: Tony Field (Beta 250) 8; Nik Aldridge (Beta 250) 12; Roger Brown (Montesa 4RT 250) 27
Pre-65: Mick Bradley (Honda TLR200) 47; Merv Powell (Matchless 350) 75
Youth Expert: Jack Welch (Gas Gas 125) 15; Iwan Roberts (Betws Beta UK 125) 31; Connor Evans (Beta 125) 33
Youth Inter: Jonathon Rowlands (Gas Gas 125) 37; Tom Minta (Beta 80) 73; Sam Hughes (Gas Gas 125) 88
Youth Clubman: Jamie Cave (Gas Gas 125) 65; Andrew Rowlands (Gas Gas 125) 80; Stuart Richards (Sherco 125) 83
Youth Sportsman: Fred Bailey (Beta 80) 29; Rob Swift (Beta) 40; Calum Evans (Gas Gas 125) 44
Medium Wheel Conducted Class: Tom Watkins (Gas Gas 80) 9; Thomas Hughes (Beta 50) 15; Neve Clapton (Beta 80) 21; Josh (Beta 50) 55
Small Wheel Conducted Class: Sam Minta (Gas Gas 50) 34; Aaron Wilson (Gas Gas 50) 148; Lucy Hart (OSET) 155