Once again, the unique, permanent venue at Roche, Cornwall will play host to British Championship Grasstrack racing this Sunday, as Mid Cornwall Premier Motorcycle Club present the 2018 British Classic Upright Championships. As well as the title being on the line, their annual ‘Boarded Bash’ title will also be available for 1000cc sidecars.
Heading the highly-competitive 500cc solo line-up is Worcestershire visitor Tim Curnock. He has been in dominant form throughout the season and surely heads to Roche as meeting favourite. He was set to compete at the track earlier in the season to compete for the British Pre 75 Championships, but machine failure in practice ruined his chances. This Sunday, he has a chance to alleviate all of the frustration caused by that disappointing day.
Trying to stop him, though, will be Gloucestershire brothers Mark and Neil Taylor. The brothers, whose father is famous RTS frames manufacturer Roger, have turned to the Upright class this season after both having successful careers in several other solo classes- Neil is a former British 250cc Champion, and Mark has been very close to adding his own British crown in recent times. Now the brothers concentrate on the Upright class and have already shown great competitiveness.
All of the riders will have to deal with two relative ‘youngsters’ in this class. Plymouth Devils speedway racer Richard Andrews has contested this title before and has never managed to quite grasp the title. The Devonian will desperately want to finally claim a British title on the Grass having performed a solid season on the shale. And a threat from the East comes in the form of Rhys Wilding. The former speedway regular travels all the way from Ipswich for the event, and has already put in some great rides on the Upright this season.
With experienced talent Mike Dowling coming down from the Midlands, returning campaigner Shaun Bickley travelling all the way down from Workington in Cumbria and Bristolian former Cornish champion Chris Malone all making their way to the raceway on Sunday, the class is as wide open as ever. Sadly, reigning champion Bob Dolman will not be present, meaning that a new 500cc champion will be crowned on Sunday.
The same cannot be promised from the 350cc class, as once again Coventry Bees star Luke Harris looks set to defend his 350cc title which he won at this venue last season, and again the season before. Trying to finally topple Harris’ era of dominance will be a former National League speedway rider Wayne Broadhurst. He returned to the sport last season and looked like he’d never been away.
In the 250cc class Lincolnshire racer Tim Greig will hope to claim a Championship this time around. Earlier in the season he narrowly missed out on a British Pre 75 title and will want to make no mistakes this time around. Again, several threats to this will be present, including evergreen racer Chris Mackett. The Kentish racer continues to win races in a number of classes across the country, but for this Sunday he concentrates solely on the 250cc crown.
The British Championships will be supported by several classes racing for Boarded Bash titles. The super-exciting 1000cc sidecar class is headed by reigning Boarded Bash champions Neal Owen and Jason Farwell. Owen, who travels from South Wales, is passengered by local man Jason Farwell for the event. The crew came close to winning the meeting at this venue earlier in the season, but were thwarted by another local man, 20-year-old Kieran Hicks and his passenger Kieron Ivy. The young pairing had a less-than-satisfactory run to the final, but in the exciting winner-take-all final, did everything right. These two crews will clash once again on Sunday, along with rapidly improving Guernsey crew Clint Blondel and Kev Bennett.
The Old/New sidecar class and Quads will be in action too- both of these crews have proven to be spectacular at this unique, multi-cornered circuit. And youth racing will also take place, headed by new British Junior champion Cameron Taylor.
All is set for another fantastic event at the only permanent Grasstrack venue in the country. Action takes place at Trebilcock Farm in Roche. The venue is easily located, straight off of the A30 at Victoria Interchange- conveniently next to a McDonalds, children’s soft play area and a Premier Inn- all within walking distance of the circuit.
Camping is available, so it is recommended to make a full weekend of it!