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SUDBURY MOTOR CYCLE CLUB
EVENT REPORT 09-04-2017
Roger Chaplin.

A glorious sunny day greeted the competitors for the first round of the Dave Barkshire Motorcycles Two Man Championship with temperatures soaring to 26C in the afternoon. This is the first time a Two Man event was run at Strait Mill Bocking by the Sudbury Motor Cycle Club who were rewarded with a full entry.

There was hot competition in the Championship Class throughout the morning and afternoon sessions with the lead changing constantly right to the end. The Roper brothers Rick and Jamie (both Sudbury) edged the win on 45.83 laps just .16 of a lap ahead of Sam Mitchell (Woodbridge) and Brendan Mayers (Halstead). The pairing of Harvey Mutten and Toby Morley (both Woodbridge) 3rd on 43.67 laps, Braintree pairing Will Hughes/James Yearley 4th on 41.00 laps, Steve Roper/Adam Norton (both Sudbury) 5th on 39.00 laps and Will Kerry (Woodbridge)/Chris Hockey (Sudbury) 6th on 37.5 laps.

The Expert Class resulted in a close finish for the first three places with a win for Ben Grice (Lowestoft)/Kevin Palmer (Norwich) on 43.00 laps followed in 2nd place by Mark Mitchell/Joe Marsh (both Halstead) on 42.83 laps and 3rd place Lewis Weller (Diss)/Lee Monger (Sudbury) on 42.67 laps. This is a good start for Palmer in the Expert Class as he won the Clubman Class last year with a different partner. Alex Barkshire (Diss) son of the Contest Sponsor with partner Daniel Wright (Diss) were 4th on 41.33 laps with Phil Roper/Paul Belton (both Sudbury) 5th on 40.67 laps and Nigel Ross/Graham Mays (both Sudbury) 6th on 40.33 laps.

There was a tie on net laps completed in the Clubman Class between Paul and Daniel Hunt (both Diss) and Matt Smith/Marc Norton (both Sudbury) both teams riding 41.17 laps. It was down to the Special Test times to decide the winner team and the Diss pairing got the win by 1.08 minutes with the Sudbury pairing having to be content with 2nd place. Third were Andy Blackman (Castle Colchester) and Gary Vines (Sudbury) on 40.17 laps, 4th Will Nice (Bury St Edmunds)/Ben Marsh (Halstead) on 40.00 laps, 5th the Diss pairing of Kyle Betts and another son of the Contest sponsor Aaron Barkshire on 39.67 laps. Sixth and seventh places were taken by two Sudbury pairings of Adam Kempster/Keith Potter on 39.17 laps and James Barker/Brett Hallworth on 39.00 laps.

Results

These are provisional results subject to change and Round 2 is on 30th April at Iken organised by the Woodbridge Club.

Photos by Paul Harding Payne - #119 Lee Monger (Sudbury). Next photo " A trio of Sudbury riders competing in three different Classes, #139 Brett Hallworth (Clubman), #128 George Eustace (Expert) and #102 Rick Roper (winner of the Championship Class with brother Jamie)".