The Normandy Motor Cycle Club staged the first of ten ACU Wessex Plant Hire sponsored Sidecar Championship events at Dunsfold, Surrey on Sunday.
The Ray Thomas Sidecar Trial brought in a rise in entry numbers which will no doubt gather momentum. Clerk of Course Richard Thomas and his team plotted thirty-six quadruple section route at the Rams Lane venue of Sethern Farm. Twenty-eight crews started.
The weather forecast for Sunday was rain and it duly arrived on schedule late on Saturday turning well planned sections into muddy conflict. The scores after two laps said it all. Paul Fishlock and Sam Atherton turned in a fourteen and nine which was enough to take the Clubman class from Karl Jarvis and Jana Grossman by twenty-four marks. Jake Pope and Harriett Shore were only four marks down on Jarvis and Grossman.
Wessex Plant Hire director Phil Sparkes and passenger Izzy Saunders pulled out after ten stops in fourteen sections. Phil said "We were on a brand new TRS outfit that had not been run in. I was revving it in every gear and opted to pull out rather than risk wrecking a new bike"
As far as the Inters it was the same story - sky high scores. Manx crew Jack Corlett and Beth Thomas dropped seventy-seven leaving Sean and Paul Cuckow to pick up the seventeen points a distant twenty-nine points in arrears.
At the sharp end experience seemed to tip the scales as Jon Tuck and Matt Sparkes set the standard on both laps with an opener of twenty-two four under champions Josh and Luke Golding. The second circuit produced a ten-mark difference. Nigel and Gracie-Mae Scott trailed in their first premier class contention, but the reward was fifteen championship points.
The Wessex series rest until April 6 when the Peveril MC & LCC stage the Andy Smith/David Craine Trial at Knock Froy, Santon.