Another bumper line-up turned out in force last weekend for the newly re-branded STOMP club’s inaugural Titans of Tallington Grasstrack event. The meeting returned again to the popular Tallington venue for the second season in a row. Keeping the dust to a minimum was a tricky task, and the inevitable watering of the circuit made the racing surface tricky for some, but produced some spectacular racing in all classes.
The Rushen family must have gone home with smiles on their faces. Father Karl was in a class of his own in the GT140 class, winning every race emphatically. Shaun Harvey picked up a good second place, following up nicely from his win at Ledbury last weekend. Whilst Dad was dominant in the GT140 class, son Cooper was equally as impressive in the Youth Cadets. Two wins for the Rushen family meant a great day out for father and son!
The 1000cc sidecars were as competitive as ever, but reigning British Masters champions Gareth and Billy Winterburn were simply stunning. They won all of their heats and the final in tremendous style. They are clearly determined to hang on to their Masters title. George Penfold, crewed by Bradley Steer rode very well, but they pulled out of one heat whilst leading which meant that they missed out on the final, despite looking impressive in the heats.
World Longtrack Series regular, Yorkshireman Richard Hall won the winner-take-all final, although the race was curtailed during lap 3. Charley Powell had been the man to beat in the heats, but Hall was quick enough away from the tapes in the final to secure his first win of the season.
Another victorious Yorkshireman came in the form of David Knowles in the 250cc solo class. Knowles looked very fast all day and was the only man to beat last week’s Ledbury victor Luke Harris all day. In the final, he once again had the beating of Harris, only for the youngster to pull up on Lap 3. Graham Thomas finished in 2
nd. Gradings List Champion Tim Greig suffered a spill in his opening ride and was not seen again.
Kent racer Mark Giles continued his excellent start to 2019, winning all-but one of his heats to claim the 350cc win. Local rider Jamie Fenn-Smith was the only rider to beat Giles all day.
Upright racer Tim Curnock was once again completely dominant in the Upright class, and Chris Mackett was impressive in the Pre 75 class. Returning racer Neil Copestake gave Mackett a scare by winning the opening race of the afternoon in the class, but Mackett more than paid back the favour by taking three straight wins after this.
Archie Rolph and Oliver Bovingdon once again clashed in the youngest Youth class of the day (Autos). Rolph once again came out on top but both of the boys looked impressive once again.
Austin Riches, whose parents have been putting in extra miles for 2019, paid back their dedication by taking an excellent win in the Junior class. This is surely the young Norfolk rider’s best performance to date in an increasingly competitive Junior class.
Another Norfolk star, Jake Mulford, finally saw things go to plan in 2019. The youngster has been fraught with bad luck so far this season. But all came good at Tallington as he stormed to three wins out of four. Vinny Smith had one of his best performances of his short career by riding consistently to take second. Danny Curl, who has already put in some solid rides this season, was the only other race winner besides Mulford. Sadly, things were not so rosy for local hopeful Mickie Simpson. The diminutive Lincolnshire racer had a horrific looking accident in his opening ride and suffered a nasty fall. This ended the day for him, but hopefully he’ll be back soon to continue his impressive 2019 campaign.
Sadly, the 500cc sidecar class was down on numbers. Welsh second generation racers Shaun Hughes/Louis Bennett won all four heats.
The Lefthand sidecar class, however, had a few promising new names, as well as a returning British champion in the form of Richard Webb. It was an experienced hand, however, who rose above the rest in the form of Tommy Penfold and his passenger William Naden. It was far from an easy win though for the Kent pairing. British Number 2 crew Rob Heath and Kyle Fish had beaten Penfold/Naden twice going into the final heat. However, they failed to finish giving the win to Penfold/Naden overall. New crew Jay Sullivan/Steven Bickley got quicker and quicker as the day progressed, finishing with a second place behind the eventual winners in their final ride.
Nick Wright continued his dominance of the Quad class, beating brother Chris in all four races. Four-wheeled stalwart John Elliott filled the rostrum by claiming third.
This was another good club meeting by this organisation, running through 52 races altogether and providing plenty of talking points going into this season. They have more events scheduled for later in the year including the Tallington Twister at the end of October.