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On a gloriously sunny day the trees around the East Park track kept things pretty cool in the pits, including the atmosphere for much of this, the penultimate round of the 2015 series. The track preparation was top class and although first impressions suggested a slippery surface, and there were a few slides, most of the happy gang got it sorted smartly with no problems.
Once again considering the Midlands venue, numbers were down but that didn’t deter our diehard southern cousins Eddie Ridley, Martin Hollebon, Paddy Wenn, Pete Chant and Kevin Greaves from attending, simply phenomenal support from these boys.
As in previous rounds we ran two side-by-side formats, the first accommodating the Over 40s in a ten-rider programme based on the standard 16 heat Indy formula, and the same layout for the combined Over 50s and 60s. Unfortunately that meant a few occurrences of two and the odd one-man race, but it all carves out evenly at tot-up time.
I can’t remember now which group led off, so I’ll start with the 40s where Mark Winwood continued his fantastic run of first places after shooting from the gate, as we’ve come to expect now. Norman Venson held off the pressing challenge of Mick Knowles. There was a shock in heat 2 when the World Champion, Craig Marchant, slipped coming out of turn 2 and gave up first place to the watchful Jason Keith with Dave Meanley chasing. Heat 3 saw an almighty scrap between eventual victor Martin Hollebon, Pete Chant , Paddy Wenn and Eddie Ridley, finishing in that order.
One ride each and a familiar pattern already emerging, but there was even worse news for the Champ in his next ride when he was deemed to have moved at the tapes, the Referee having no hesitation in pointing to the pit gate! With Pete and Mark out there it should have been a corker, but the meagre gaggle of onlookers (six of them there to support Northumbrian Jim Graham!) was denied.
Mark went on to complete a flawless maximum while Craig’s total wasn’t enough to get him into the “A” Final this time. Meanwhile Martin and Jason kept banging in big scores to finish on 18 with Pete and Norman claiming 16 each, Dave, Craig and paddy next best.
So to the kiddies’ finals, and Mark again blasted away to keep a clean sheet and win the meeting comfortably in the “A” Final followed by Martin, Norman (in on countback over Pete) and Jason. The “B” Final saw another great race with Craig making no mistake to win it followed by Pete, Dave and Paddy, who is now considering the switch to big tyres like the majority of the enemy use these days.
Next up the 50s and 60s action (note both matches ran concurrently, one heat from each de-da de-da as usual). With Bob Prince looking sharp, regardless of his apparent rib damage, Paul Timms almost back to full strength and Stevie Hodgkinson in magnificent form lately, those three were odds-on for today’s silverware. However, Phil Hemming and Joe McLaughlin had other ideas, both in great form today and there were some great scraps in this one to decide the finalists.
Bob dropped his only point to Joe after squeezing past Paul in his next to finish top on 19. Behind him were THREE riders on 18 points – Joe, Paul and Phil! Behind them also, Kevin and Terry were tied on 15 each.
That left Stevie muscled out of the “A” Final this time, which could prove crucial in the final reckoning. Bob duly won it from Paul who kept Joe and Phil at bay to the flag. Steve made no mistake in the “B” Final doing all he could to keep the gap as slender as possible between himself and Bob, while Kevin comfortably kept Terry behind until Mick Aris made a brilliant pass to grab third spot.
The Over 60 “A” Final would have been a complete anti-climax with Bob just doing enough to stay ahead, were it not for that man Mick again who once more swooped under a slightly disinterested Northumbrian to claim runner-up spot with Fred Rothwell just behind.
Jim Graham was awarded a Man of the Match prize, and I think that was in recognition of his crowd-pulling ability!
Thanks to all at East Park for their preparation and smooth running of the event.
A beautiful afternoon in the Scottish Capital saw Round Seven of this year's Grand Prix series unfold on a tricky track with plenty of surface movement, but surprisingly no spills!
The rider list wasn't the only short item today, the home Club also down on support numbers due to other commitments but the skeleton crew performed admirably, and it was great to see Alan Hewitson back in the middle refereeing for us when it's pretty well known he doesn't do this any more! Great job Alan mate, thank you.
Nice also to see Glasgow's two boys Jim Alexander and Colin Gray turn out for their first dabble of the year after their 2014 debuts and getting quicker with every race, as was Falcons new boy George Mitchell who similarly kept the pedals turning all the way to the flag and even snatched a cheeky point from a quick looking Eddie Ridley who had left his legs in the pits for his last race! This round was perhaps not the greatest spectacle we've ever witnessed but the atmosphere around the track makes up for that at almost every round and did so again today, the weather no doubt helping.
The combined 50's and 60's got the match underway with their first three races, Lee Lawrence looking sharp after his great win in the British Over 50s the previous weekend even though he lost out twice in the heats being wary of the tricky surface, as were a few others. Looking even sharper in the heats was the resurgent Steve Hodgkinson, absolutely flying this year and very difficult to pass. Phil Hemming had one of his better days and just lost out on the "A" Final to Joe McLaughlin after countback, but won the "B" Final from Mick Aris while a strangely relaxed (not ramming today!) Joe came from the back in the 50s "A" Final.
Meanwhile, in the Over 40's, there was no-one to touch a flying Mark Winwood today as he simply stormed away from the starts in all of his races with supreme ease. Poor Mark rarely gets my personal "mark-up" (excuse the pun) as Man of the Match because we've become accustomed to seeing him in devastating form, and today he misses out again as my award is shared by the Referee and the mesmerising Paddy Wenn. I keep forgetting to ask Paddy what he ingests before a match these days as he's absolutely on fire, this time relegating super-reliable Martyn Hollebon to third place in the "A" Final. Marty, however, still retains a narrow lead in the 40's and could benefit should Mark slip up in the final two rounds. Once again the swashbuckling (I may have used that word before to describe Mick's style, but it's the right one) style of Mick Knowles served up plenty of entertainment. Probably the most disappointed E-V regular was Jason Keith who's form was up and down, missing out on the "A" Final but winning the consolation race and the raffle! Norman Venson was also a wee bit down on speed, even on his newly aquired, brand-spanking Trelleborgs. I think the lack of tension in his front spokes may be catching up with him.
With only four Over 60s present the finishing order matched the grid positions.
If anyone has any action photographs from today we'd appreciate the odd one for this page.
Let's see if we can get a bumper entry for the last two rounds.
We snap the Snapper!
Ace photographer and Short Track fan Brian Barnett, once again doing a fantastic job with his camera down at sunny Hellingly on Saturday 18th July for the sixth round. Here he captures the top four from the Over 40s "A" Final -
Pete Chant (2nd) of Poole, Steve Harris (4th) of Swindon, home star Martyn Hollebon (3rd) and Leicester's victorious Craig Marchant.
Here’s the results from yesterdays Eurovets round 6 action from Hellingly.
Over 40s
A – Craig Marchant (25), Pete Chant (23), Martyn Hollebon (22), Steve Harris (21)
B – Jason Keith (20), Paddy Wenn (18), Norman Venson (17), Eddie Rigley (16)
Over 50s
A – Steve Hodgkinson (25), Paul Timms (23), Bob Prince (22), Ray Pike (21)
B – Joe McLaughlin (20), Phil Hemming (18), Martin Glover (17), Terry Kirkup (16)
Over 60s
A – Bob Prince (25), Terry Kirkup (23), Mick Aris (22), Fred Rothwell (21), Jim Graham (20)
On a beautiful summery afternoon the meeting began with the first three races from the 12-man Over50s/Over 60s combined field and for Northumbria's Terry Kirkup it was a bit of an eye opener after raving about the track from the moment he arrived there at 11:00 am with fellow Geordies Jim Graham and Jason Keith. Why so? Well to start with, the surface is unusual. Nothing unusual there then? Well, there shouldn't have been as he was bred on pure, green grass and polished, brown earth before shifting onto deep, black ash and then shiny, yellow Dolomite followed finally by fine, red shale. Now you'd think that would have given him a decent share of multi-surface experience, and you'd be right. However, there is another slight querk to the exquisitely situated Sussex track, that being the 200 mm fall from home straight to back straight. I reckon the back straight is in Lower Dicker and the front in Higher Dicker. Essentially that means you drop off a hill going into turn one and shoot down the slope before the decently long straight then presents you with a climb out of turn three, and you can really feel a high gear pulling at your legs if they're as spindly as the author's! It also means, unavoidably, that without any banking the second bend is well off-camber and hence the track's reputation as a bit of a "thinking man's" circuit.
To cut that very long story dead, TK hit the fence in the very first heat after gating nicely and there followed a whole rash of fence or outside kerb clipping as many or most of the riders tried to get to grips with the slippery nature of the surface and that downhill flurry. All except local experts Eddie Ridley and Martyn Hollebon who of course used their home track advantage to the full, as indeed most regular visitor Pete Chant did to even greater effect. The hot sun and light breeze conspired to make the hosepipe virtually ineffectual, and when it was used in anger for the final few races it became even more slippery for the first race afterwards! And as time went on the exit of the pits bend also became a virtual graveyard for race leaders as time after time they succumbed to the edge of the loose berm kicked up gradually race by race, and even costing home expert Martyn a scare or two. Same for everyone though - as always, everywhere.
Over 40s
Unexpected arrival, World Champion Steve Harris turned out again to spice up the Over 40s, and he sure did that with three impressive wins, his only defeat in the heats coming at the hands of eventual winner Craig Marchant when they met in the penultimate heat of the disappointingly low 8-man field, with Craig himself losing out to Martyn in his second ride. Steve’s defeat of Martyn could potentially have been the game changer but because the home flyer had the best record on countback with all three on 15 points, he still got the grid one choice but fortune wasn’t with him as expected when he got the worst of an intimate first bend with Craig! The ensuing hullabaloo also saw Steve slip (literally!) to the back after almost entering the starting hut and Pete slip (ditto!) into a brilliantly taken second place after a rare mistake by Martyn. A great race to top off the day.
Although these four stole the limelight there was only two points separating the other four – Jason Keith, Norman Venson, Eddie Ridley and a very unlucky Paddy Wenn. Paddy’s tyres seemed to be having a love-hate relationship with that fourth bend rut and he lost several higher placings because of those slippages. Second crash of the afternoon came after Norman had clipped Jason Keith’s back wheel in his first race but much to everyone’s relief got back to his feet and shrugged it off. God save the hip replacers.
Pyke’s Peak (50s & 60s)
The steady improvement in Ray Pyke’s 2015 Euro-Vets form hit the peak of the graph in this round, the Kesgrave racer producing a brilliant display to join table-toppers Steve Hodgkinson and Bob Prince on 18 points. Countback gave Ray the inside and the general feeling as they lined up for the “A” Final was that he’d take some beating from there, the East Anglian having a lot less trouble with the track than most.
However, as the order was given, there was a distinct lurch into the tapes followed by the shrill tweet of a whistle, and Ray found himself excluded by the Referee who was on one knee right in line with the gates for the start. The huge gasp of disbelief (disgust?) that erupted from the pits was matched only by the look on Ray’s face for shock value, the real culprit having been a Birmingham rider on grid three (Hope my mate Bob Prince isn’t reading this!).
So that left three to contest the 50s “A” Final – Steve, Bob and defending Champion Paul Timms. The resurgent 2015 version of Stevie took full advantage of his promotion to the inside gate position to stay ahead of the other two with a cautious inside ride while justice was seen to be done when Bob took a tumble and finished last of the trio, Ray still totally deflated back in the pits, and justifiably so.
If you’ve been so bored that you’ve read some of my previous drivel on these pages you’ll have probably noticed my use of the phrase “Gentleman’s Racing” or similar, as I use it widely to refer to the Euro-Vets virtual philosophy. We all respect each other and enjoy the company on race days. It was therefore very surprising not to see Bob be a Good Sport and own up to his error, or if he did (my apologies Sir!) and it didn’t affect the Ref’s decision then I’ll accept that as I’m sure Ray will, albeit very grudgingly. I would have claimed responsibility and turned for the pits immediately as would many others I’m sure after such a blatant mistake.
Amongst the other runners in the older category, co-favourite for both titles Mick Aris had a day he’d rather forget, the track costing him big time on several occasions and he looked a little disinterested at times, most uncharacteristic. With only three riders per race after heat three there was a real clumping of final totals. Steve had another great day taking no liberties with the tricky surface and benefiting hugely while Birmingham teammate Paul Timms tagged Terry’s back wheel in his last ride when a win was surely on the cards, Fred Rothwell taking advantage of his tumble. Once again the Quiet Man, Northumbria’s Jim Graham was like a few others, happy to be visiting a new track and just enjoying his racing, steadily finding better lines race-by-race and enjoying his overtake of Terry in the first race.
Phil Hemming was back again today after missing Newport and rode steadily to join another rapidly improving Oldie, Martin Glover in the “B” Final together with Terry and a very battered Joe McLaughlin. Joe was in the wars several times, mainly self-inflicted with Elite-League style suicide dives, the kind we don’t like to see in this competition, but he doesn’t seem to mind the distress he lands himself in (not sure if his Minder agrees!). He did manage to win this one with Phil chasing hard and Martin overhauling Terry starting lap three.
Brilliant pic from Brian Barnett: Joe tests the elasticity of the Hellingly fence assisted by Mick Aris while Steve Hodgkinson is blissfully unaware of the fun he's missing. Mick appears to be lifting Joe's shirt but I can't think why.
The 60s “A” Final saw Bob continue his winning ways while a still unhappy Mick wasn’t able to squeeze past Terry in another very slow OAP’s final with Fred waiting to capitalise on any mistakes. This was the race which was more like ice racing after the heaviest watering of the day which almost cost TK another visit to the 2nd bend fence.
There’s something on my foot
As a footnote I think it’s fantastic that we have the seen-it-all done-it-all won-it-all World Champion taking part in a few of the Euro-Vets events this year, it adds some spice and kudos to the whole campaign. And Steve, even after finishing fourth in the final probably had the biggest smile of the day as he received his trophy from George Hollebon, way to go. What we need to go with this extra boost is a much bigger entry in all classes, so come on kiddies, get your wheels out again and join us!
Thank You Hellingly
This was my first visit to any track south of Bristol and it was great. The weather was a bonus but the whole setup was really exceptional. I enjoyed a nice long natter with George Hollebon who has kept the place going since designing, building and maintaining the place almost single-handedly since 1952!
Thank You to George and his family, and to the boys and girls who helped out with track prep and refreshments, the after-meeting on-site buffet being very welcome and very tasty. And although I'm not too clever at points gathering I did win another raffle prize!
Round Five at Newport, Saturday 4th July 2015
Here's Steve Hodgkinson's review of the meeting:
The Eurovets series rolled into Newport for Round 5 on Saturday. A rather disappointing turn out with 18 in total saw two draws with nine mixed groups in each. With only four over 40s, it meant they all made the final, so points in the heats determined grid positions. Mark Winwood went unbeaten to take grid one whilst Jason Keith won round 2. Winwood continued with a clean sweep in the final.
Over 40s Result
Mark Winwood 25, Jason Keith 23, Martyn Hollebon 22, Paddy Wenn 21.
The 60s had six fighting for final places. Aris (12 in group 1) and Prince (13 in Group 2) led the way into the final with Aris drawing grid one which proved vital in the end with a tapes to flag win under constant pressure from Prince, who was also under pressure from Kirkup.
Over 40s podium from the left; Mark Winwwod (Lost it), Jason Keith (Teeth missing), Martyn Hollebon (Blunt), Paddy Wenn (Virgo Intacto). Pictures: Daniel Wharrier.
Yes of course, it's which shavers they use!
Over 60s Result
Mick Aris 25, Bob Prince 23, Terry Kirkup 22, Fred Rothwell 21, Pete Sadler 20, Jim Graham 18.
The Cool Dudes, aka OAPs: Terry Kirkup, Bob Prince, Mick Aris, Fred Rothwell
The 50s were dominated again by Birmingham riders. Steve Hodgkinson scoring 14 in group 1, whilst Paul Timms was back to his brilliant best with 15 points in group 2, both went direct to the final and crucially Hodgkinson picked grid 1. There was a 4 man race off for the last 2 places which saw Coventry man Joe McLaughlin and home man Colin Simmons join the pair in the final. There was a further B final race for points also, won by Prince.
In the final Hodgkinson made no mistake to secure the win whilst Timms maintained 2nd, with Simmons third.
Over 50s Result
Steve Hodgkinson 25, Paul Timms 23, Colin Simmons 22, Joe McLaughlin 21, Bob Prince 20, Mick Aris 18, Kevin Grieves 17, Ray Pike 16, Terry Kirkup 11, Pete Sadler 10, Jim Graham 9, Paul Matthews 8.
The Middle Agers: Steve Hodgkinson, Paul Timms, Colin Simmons, Joe McLaughlin
Terry's Tot-Up:
This was a weird one! With plans now well established and the pattern followed annually, the start time for the Welsh round is set for 11:00 am to allow the riders plenty of time to get up to Cardiff should they wish to attend the annual British Speedway Grand Prix there which now starts at 5:00 pm, a great idea and a real enabler for enthusiastic speedway supporters who happen to be cycle speedway veterans.
Somehow today this wasn't enough to encourage the expected hefty turnout to the Newport track with a devastatingly low figure of just FOUR Over 40's competitors turning up. That of course meant mixing all three age groups which is never ideal and can lead to anomalies in the GP points totals for some of the regulars which is a real shame. It was even more surprising knowing how many of the expected non-arrivals were indeed in Cardiff for the GP anyway!
So, something of a disappointment numbers-wise made the event feel a little flat, but that didn't stop the keen activity continuing on track, and very smoothly on a hot and breezy afternoon, thanks to the diehard Newport support staff and their riders.
Series points leader and surely class favourite Mark Winwood was so fast today, a good half straight at least ahead of the opposition, that I doubt if any of the absent 40-plus folk could have stayed with him. Behind Mark there was still a lot going on, Martyn Hollebon looked quick if not quite with the flair he showed in 2014, with Jason Keith flying the Northumbrian flag. And once again Mr Winwood led the charge of Midlands Marauders with Steve Hodgkinson and Paul Timms heading up the Over 50's "A" Final ahead of local and indeed World legend Colin Simmons making up the podium.
Stevie really is on fire this year as he chases his first Over 50s title very keenly. Teammate Paul Timms also looks to be regaining his customary speed, particularly in his defeat of Over 40s contender Jason Keith as his leg injury continues to improve, so we should see a great scrap for this crown over the final four rounds. Once again Coventry's Joe McLaughlin provided plenty of determined excitement and maybe a few bruises along the way while Kevin Greaves and Ray Pike were always in the mix. Paddy Wenn had a few fast charges but tired due to a previous bout of exercise. To make it a clean sweep for the Midlands a flying again Mick Aris made full use of his grid one to take the Over 60s with Bob Prince chasing, these two dominating the mature class this year.
Just a word of solace for poor Eddie Ridley, the Hellingly rider arriving here ready to go as he always is, only to crick his back while lifting his racing gear or himself out of the car!
The Newport track looked pretty slippery in the afternoon sun, baked hard with a very loose skin from whatever racing took place on it before Saturday, but it rode well thanks to the banking and generosity of the bend radii. The staging club damped it down a few times during the meeting and it never became a problem for the riders, and of course it looked superb. It also felt very fast unless the lack of sleep and long travel just made it seem that way!