Kia Twin-Shock Exeter Two Day
The 2017 Kia Twinshock Series Championship has once again provided a wide and varied championship, covering the whole of the UK to provide a very traditional series for everyone to enjoy over its nine rounds. Since the start of this championship a few years ago it’s seen a wide variety of old machinery come out of the sheds and garages to be ridden and enjoyed. This is the true spirit of the championship. It has also got riders from the past who had disappeared from the motorcycle scene back in the seat and competing, and in some cases winning. The wide and ofetn varied machinery has attracted much interest, from the guy who wants to ride a very traditional machine to the guy who wants to take the older machines into the modern era. With a choice of four classes on both the Expert and Clubman routes it gives the riders to enjoy a day’s sport at a level of competition that they are happy with, and judging by the smiles on their faces the formula has worked very well, attracting good strong entries at the majority of the rounds.
Expert Championship
With the opportunity to drop two rounds from the total of nine it’s allowed the series to develop the championship as the season has progressed, leaving a few twists and turns in the outcome. On the Expert routes the experienced Stephen Bisby on his distinctive Orange 250 Ossa ‘Gripper’ has been a consistent force to be reckoned with in the Historic Spanish class, winning two rounds and the championship. Winning the only three rounds he competed in Gary Younghusband (Bultaco) showed excellent form, with singleround wins from David Wood (Ossa) and James Moorhouse (Bultaco).
In the Monoshock class it’s been quite a different story as the winners and machinery have been varied. Dan Sanders (Yamaha) took the title with two wins but second placed Rob Faulkner (Yamaha) only won one round all season despite contesting the whole series. Another rider contesting the nine rounds was Dean Devereux (Honda), who came home third despite not winning a single round. Other wins came from Steve Bird (Yamaha), who won two, and one from David Carter (Gas Gas), last year’s champion Colin Ward Snr (Yamaha), John Cowley (Honda) and youngster Chris Alford who had a run out on a Yamaha.
For some reason or other the Britshock Pre-72 class was not that well supported. It still produced a winner in Nigel Scott (Triumph) who took four victories, with the others coming from Ian Peberdy (BSA), James Francis (BSA), Phil Houghton on his ‘rasping’ Triumph Twin, Martyn Wilmore (BSA) and another ‘Big Bike Rider’ Mark Stokes on his fearsome Trifield.
Very competitive due to the nature of the machinery the Twinshock class was won by four-stroke Honda mounted Richard Allen who included two victories on his way to the title. Second placed Olly Wareing (Fantic) remained at the podium on many occasions despite not taking any victories. In third position Roman Kyrnyckyj (SWM) had two wins as the elder of the two Hipwell brothers Andy steered his Honda to a single victory and fourth in the series. Sheffield based Darren Wasley contested three rounds on his 240 Fantic and won two of them, with Nic Draper taking a single win on his Yamaha alongside Wayne Jones (Fantic).
Clubman Championship
Riding slightly easier hazards the Clubman Championship still remains very competitive. Proving how good the 175 Yamaha from the early seventies still is Eirian Davis took three wins on his way to the Historic Championship win. Both Yamaha mounted, James Waters and Steve Fletcher finished second and third with Waters taking three wins to really push Davis for the title. Ossa mounted Gary Daykin took a round win, as did Joe Evans-Luter (Yamaha) and David Ingram on his Bultaco.
‘Rockshocks’ main man Gary Fleckney continues to develop his products in events and will be very happy to have won this Monoshock class despite not winning a single round on his Honda. This was also the case for second placed Paul Hobson (Honda). Gary Hawkins (Honda) only contested the latter part of the championship, winning a single round in the process. Fifth overall in the championship and winning two rounds was Martyn Goodall (Yamaha), which was matched by Colin Pedley (Yamaha) with two class wins. Single-round wins were taken by Paul Whittaker (Fantic) and Keith Normington (Honda).
Two round wins would take Peter Edwards on his 185 BSA Bantam to the Britshock Pre-72 title followed by Jonathan Souch on a four-stroke BSA with a single victory. Other round winners included two from Jim Pickering (BSA) and single-round wins from Owen Hardisty (Triumph), Keith Wells (BSA), Darren Palmer and BSA mounted Nigel Greenwood.
Once again a very competitive class, the Twinshock was dominated by Stephen ‘Butch’ Robson on his Fantic winning six of the nine rounds. The other three were won by Martin Gilbert on his little 85cc Honda, Paul Norman (SWM) and, in total contrast, Jim Williams on his 350 ‘Jumbo’ SWM.
Please visit the website: www. twinshockchampionship.org.uk for more information of events, venues and classes.