Monday February 27, 2012 at 1:37pm
You know the new season has arrived when the regs for round 1 at Binsted come out! South Hants Scramble Club’s first meeting, which was postponed from the week before, was a good days racing with beautiful weather thrown in for good measure. For an early meeting, after all we are still in February, 18 sidecars lined up for race 1; a good omen for the rest of the year? These crews also included two who clocked up a fair few miles to get to Binsted having set off from Cornwall.
The first meeting of a new season is always confusing with people asking who’s riding that number or who’s that in ‘yellow’ or who’s that in the chair!!! For some teams there was no change, same bike, number, colour and riders, although that may change when we get to the bigger championships! A few had temporary passengers and some were saving their new kit until later meetings. The day was to see two passengers coming back to the sidecar fold; one a name from the past and one from the not so distant past. Peter Logan, who hopefully won’t mind seeing his age in print, back in the chair at 62 years old. Yes you read that right 62 and he hadn’t been on a sidecar for 25 years! Peter has passengered for some great names in the past such as his brother Kim and Nick Thompson to name just two. Another passenger making a comeback was John Murch. John was in the chair with Rob Oldfield after a gap of only 3 years! Unfortunately Rob’s normal passenger Gary Kinge is out injured and will possibly not be able to ride this year.
Along with passengers it was also good to see two of last season’s bikes having gone to good homes. Scott Wilkinson’s bike is now in the hands of a team from the Isle of Wight, Bret Coyne and Darren Caws who made their debut last season. Despite the obvious travelling time and costs of having to cross the water before they can even start their journey to meetings they enjoyed sidecars so much they wanted to continue. Brett Wilkinson’s old bike is now in the hands of a new team who have made the transition from two wheels to three. Andy Charman and Mark Alp have decided to race sidecars and this was their first foray into the world of sidecarcross.
The racing was good with Rob Oldfield/John Murch showing the way with three holeshots, John obviously hadn’t forgotten what to do! Jack Etheridge/Ryan Humphrey having finished fourth in last seasons British Championship showed why they were riding the number 4 with a hat trick of wins. The unluckiest team of the day had to be Steve/Chris Pannell having started races 1 and 3 in third and race 2 in fourth the gremlins came to visit. A rear wheel puncture in race 1, whilst chasing Oldfield/Murch for second left them crossing the line in eighth, race 2 saw the seat come loose dropping them again to eighth and in race 3 the bike died on the last lap! It seemed carburettor problems the reason. Neil/Mike Franks didn’t even get off the line with electrical problems and fault finding resulting in discovering a crack in the flywheel! Dave Keane, with his new passenger Jonnie Waters, claimed a consistent days racing with three third places.
Seemond Stephens/Mike Curnow made their trip from Cornwall worthwhile with three good results giving them fourth overall although they had to relinquish a second place in race 3 after an incident going into a corner left Curnow on the ground! Ross Bowers/Guy Eastman, who had got together as a team towards the end of last season, had a good start to their year with a fifth overall.
Overall results:
1. Etheridge/Humphrey
2. Oldfield/Murch
3. Keane/Waters
4. Stephens/Curnow
5. Bowers/G.Eastman
6. Goddard/Sheppard
7. J.Pannell/R.Eastman
8. Williams/Morford
9. Field/Hutchman
10. Collins/Huntley