The twentieth annual running of this event, which was also the penultimate round of the Eastern Centre Pre-70 Championship, was held at Bakers Lane Pit, Westleton. It was staged over four laps of 12 sections set out mainly on the steep wooded banks, with some loose stuff thrown in for good measure. A total of 62 riders started the day, 27 on a wide range of Pre-70 bikes and the remainder on the usual mix of Twin-Shock machines.
There were clear winners in all three Pre-70 classes on the hard route, where the riders ability to find traction in the very dry and loose gravel at the base of a steep climb in section 5, and then having the bravery to tackle the cross cambered step high up the bank of section 6, pretty much led to their victories.
Pre-Unit winner, James Williams (Royal Enfield 350), took a single dab on his first and last attempts, with two cleans in between on section 5. On section 6 he had three cleans and a two, he was the only Pre-Unit rider to make it to the top of either section all day. In the Unit class Chris Collins (BSA 270) had a dab and a fail on his first two attempts at section 5 plus two cleans, and was the only rider, across all classes, to stay clean all day on section 6. Daniel Carter (Triumph 400) finished a somewhat distant second, but put in a good enough performance to win the John Easty Shield (Hard Route) for the fifth consecutive year. It was only bad luck that robbed Graham Brown (James 246) of going clean all day on section 5, his chain snapping as he landed at the top of the step in the final climb, on his final attempt. With only a single five on section 6, he took the honours in the Two-Stroke class by a huge margin.
The hard route in the Twin-Shock class was an entirely different matter, producing the only real close fought battle of the day, with Richard Norman (Suzuki 250) and his son Tom Norman (Fantic 200) running close all day. Both had fives on their first attempts at section 5, Tom then lost a three to Richards clean on section 6, by the end of lap 1 Richard had a four mark lead. He held on to his lead for two laps, holding a margin of three marks as they entered their final lap, they both cleaned the first three sections. Tom continued clean for the next three, while his father suffered his worst run of the day by dropping two, two and five on sections 4 to 6. At the halfway point of the lap Tom had a lead of six, and ended the day with a winning margin of four.
On the intermediate route, Stephen Parker (Royal Enfield 350) was the sole Pre-Unit rider. There were three starters in the Unit class, Kevin Bishop (Triumph 230) taking a comfortable victory over second placed Colin Sadler (Triumph 199), who struggled with the stepped climb into section twelve all day, failing it on three occasions. The Two-Stroke class was contested byhalf a dozen riders, the top three finishing in close order, with Trevor Hill ( BSA 185 ) having a six mark advantage over Craig Crowfoot (BSA 175), and Bob Clarke (BSA 175) just a single mark behind for third place at the end of the day.
In the Twin-Shock class Kevin Plummer (Fantic 156) started the day with a first lap score of three, putting him at the head of the field, a place he would go on to hold all day. Likewise, Mark Teager (Fantic 212) held second place from start to finish, a performance that was good enough to win him the second John Easty Shield.
On the easy route Kevin Goldsmith (Royal Enfield 350) was un-opposed in the Pre-Unit class. In the Unit class Brian Fletcher (Royal Enfield 250) and Richard Challis (BSA 249) ran close all day, Fletcher taking the win by just four marks. Eddie Hood (Frances Barnett 197) took a comfortable win in the Two-Stroke class, as did Brian Neale (Honda 125) in the Twin-Shocks. Neale being the only rider on the day to record a single figure score.
Report by Trevor Andrews Photographs by Phil Smith
Results
Pre-Unit
Hard route
James Williams Royal Enfield 350 25
Kevin Hood Royal Enfield 350 69
Intermediate route
Stephen Parker Royal Enfield 350 54
Easy route
Kevin Goldsmith Royal Enfield 350 34
Unit
Hard route
Chris Collins BSA 270 11
Daniel Carter Triumph 400 43
Intermediate route
Kevin Bishop Triumph 230 43
Colin Sadler Triumph 199 65
Easy route
Brian Fletcher Royal Enfield 250 21
Richard Challis BSA 249 25
Two-Stroke
Hard route
Graham Brown James 246 20
Roy Palmer DOT 250 64
Intermediate route
Trevor Hill BSA 185 27
Craig Crowfoot BSA 175 33
Easy route
Eddie Hood Frances Barnett 197 12
John Carter James 250 31
Twin-Shock
Hard route
Tom Norman Fantic 200 25
Richard Norman Suzuki 250 29
Intermediate route
Kevin Plummer Fantic 156 15
Mark Teager Fantic 212 20
Easy route
Brian Neale Honda 125 7
Gus Farnes Honda 200 13
John Easty Memorial Shields
Hard route - Daniel Carter
Intermediate route - Mark Teager