The Horspath Recreation Ground was the location for a special meeting to celebrate Geoff Gamage’s 50th anniversary with the club he joined in March 1969. The meeting comprised of an Orchid International between England Veterans and a Eurovets Select.
The Orchid International opened the action and saw England open up with a 6-4 as former Horspath rider Steve Harris took the win ahead of Eurovets captain Paddy Wenn, Jason Ashford and Gary Colby. Heat 2 saw Mark Whitehead & Dave Hemsley take maximum points over Nicky Whitehead & Dave Frith. The Eurovets then scored a 7-2 in heat 3 courtesy of Mark Winwood & Craig Norton over England captain Norman Venson following a gate exclusion for Jason Keith. This reduced the gap to 1 point but England took a 7-2 of their own courtesy of Paul Timms & Harris over Dave Murphy as Wenn failed to finish. Timms was lucky to be in the race as he clearly moved under orders but the referee didn’t spot it. England went on to win by 90 points to 64. Hemsley top scored for England with 16 points and 3 bonus with Harris scoring 15+1 and Venson 14+3. Norton topped the Eurovets scorechart with 16+1 with Frith and Winwood scoring 10+1 each

England: Dave Hemsley 16+3, Steve Harris 15+1, Norman Venson 14+3, Jason Keith 14, Jason Ashford 13+2, Mark Whitehead 13, Paul Timms 5

Eurovets: Craig Norton 16+1, Dave Frith 10+1, Mark Winwood 10+1, Dave Murphy 8, Nicky Whitehead 8, Gary Colby 8, Paddy Wenn 4

Referee: Colin Simmons

The next events were 2 individual events for the Wally Grant Memorial Trophy and a separate event for the Peter “Chalky” White Trophy. Nicky Whitehead took the Wally Grant Trophy after defeating Danny Harper in a run-off, both riders scoring 19 points. Harper dropped his only point to Nicky in his first race whilst Nicky dropped his only point to his brother Craig Whitehead in his last race. Craig’s 18 points were enough for him to finish 3rd. Dave Murphy scored 17 points to finish 4th overall to win the Robyn Carter Memorial Trophy for the top scoring Over 50 rider whilst Mark Grantham took the Steve Galloway Memorial Trophy as highest scoring Over 40 rider in joint 5th.

Nicky Whitehead 19, Danny Harper 19, Craig Whitehead 18, Dave Murphy 17, Mark Grantham 16, Paul Timms 16, Paul Graham 14, Colin Simmons 13, James Collier 11, Phil Hemming 11, Paul Matthews 11, Martin Glover 9

New England international Terry Kirkup emerged as the winner of the Peter “Chalky” White Memorial Trophy with a maximum 16 points. Newport rider Steve Clark was runner-up with 15 points, losing only to Kirkup. Steff Whitehead & Chris Ward tied on 13 points for 3rd so they needed a run-off which was won by Whitehead.

Terry Kirkup 16, Steve Clark 15, Steff Whitehead 13, Chris Ward 13, Steve Copping 11, Ash Patterson 10, Chris Cooper 10, Pete Sadler 7

Referee: Mark Winwood

The featured photo is of Geoff mounted on Terry Kirkup’s golden bike and was taken by Terry.