Grahame and Lloyd extend their Clubman Sidecar Championship lead

Last Sunday saw the 6^th round of the SMCA Clubmans Championship at Asham Woods near Frome. Unlike the previous round in the depths of Cumbria, the weather was glorious and everyone was looking forward to an amazing day’s racing.

The first race saw an impressive holeshot from Rob Oldfield/Ross Parmenter, followed closely by Ross Bowers/Dan Phelps and Danny Gray/Lewis Gray, whilst championship leaders, Tony Grahame/Scott Lloyd found themselves caught up in the pack in 6^th. However, after just a couple of laps, Grahame/Lloyd were up to 3^rd, followed closely by Gray/Gray, Foden/Woods, Thomas/Blythe, Parr/Last. With the track extremely fast and kicking up a lot of dust, it made for some great racing, and the crowd were going mad. With the twinshock sidecars thrown into the mix, we saw the crews of Rob Wilkinson/Ryan Humphrey, Andy Breacher/Tim Breacher, Paul Pelling/Colin Dunkley, Paul Butler/Chris Pannell, battling with the top 10 Clubmans crews. We also saw local boys, the Daniel Millard/Joe Millard, have a day out, and it’s fair to say that the brothers have not skipped a beat whilst being out with injury. The entire race saw a brilliant battle between Oldfield/Parmenter, Grahame/Lloyd. Behind the leaders, there were so many battles going on between both modern and twinshock bikes. As the chequered flag was waved, it was Oldfield/Parmenter who took the win under a yellow flag, with Grahame/Lloyd taking second, local crew Bowers/Phelps taking 3^rd, Gray/Gray 4^th, Walton/Barnes 5^th and Foden/Woods 6^th. The twinshock class saw Wilkinson/Humphrey take the win, with Breacher/Breacher close behind in 2^nd, Pelling/Dunkley 3^rd, Butler/Pannell 4^th and Steve Cook/George Wulff 5^th.

Race 2 sees Grahame/Lloyd take the holeshot, from Gray/Gray, Oldfield/Parmenter, Walton/Barnes, Bowers/Phelps. Very quickly, Oldfield/Parmenter moved into 2^nd, whilst the Millard brothers moved quickly into 4^th, just behind Gray/Gray. Further down the pack, we again see Wilkinson/Humphrey take the lead of the twinshock class, followed by Pelling/Dunkley, Breacher/Breacher and Butler/Pannell. The Millard brothers soon come through to take 2^nd and are quickly chasing down Grahame/Lloyd, putting Oldfield/Parmenter into 3^rd, Bowers/Phelps 4^th, Walton/Barnes 5^th, Gray/Gray 6^th and Pete Thomas/Ben Blythe 7^th, helping them secure their highest championship finish to date. Millard/Millard went on to take the win after a good battle with Grahame/Lloyd,  with Oldfield/Parmenter in 3^rd, Bowers/Phelps 4^th, Walton/Barnes 5^th, Thomas/Blythe 6^th. Meanwhile in the twinshock class, Pelling/Dunkley took the win, from Breacher/Breacher, Wilkinson Humphrey, Butler/Pannell.

Race 3 sees Grahame/Lloyd steal the holeshot from the Millard brothers, closely followed by Foden/Woods, Walton/Barnes and Oldfield/Parmenter. Unfortunately mechanical problems for Oldfield/Parmenter sees them fail to finish. Within the first couple of laps, Millard/Millard have taken the lead from Grahame/Lloyd, whilst Walton/Barnes moved up into 3^rd, from Foden/Woods, Bowers/Phelps. Another mechanical fault, this time for Foden/Woods, sees them forced to pull in, leaving Bowers/Phelps to take 4^th and eventually 3^rd. Walton/Barnes take 4^th, Wilkinson/Humphrey made their way up into 5^th on the twinshock, followed by Pelling/Dunkley, Breacher/Breacher. Thomas/Blythe took the 8^th position in the race, 4^th out of the Clubmans riders. Tom Smith/Andy Smith take 5^th, Matt Avis/Chris Huntley take 6^th, followed by the 4^th Twinshock crew of Butler/Pannell.

The overall Clubmans results for the day saw Grahame/Lloyd take another win, Bowers/Phelps take 2^nd, Walton/Barnes take 3^rd and Thomas/Blythe take 4^th. The twinshock  class saw Wilkinson/Humphrey take the win, Pelling/Dunkley 2^nd, Breacher/Breacher 3^rd, Butler/Pannell 4^th.

We now see Tony Grahame/Scott Lloyd lead the championship by 57 points, from Bowers/Phelps, Walton/Barnes, and Gray/Gray. The next and final round of the championship will be held at Ringmer, near Lewes, BN8 6PJ, where we will see if Grahame/Lloyd can complete the season with a championship win.

Words and Pictures by Polly Chewter