Lord of Lydden…
The scooter racing finale to this very strange year’s racing was the Lord of Lydden meeting held at the Kent circuit… and what a fabulous end to the year it was!
The scooter racing finale to this strange year, the Lord of Lydden meeting… and what a fabulous finale it was!
With no British Championship up for grabs this was billed as the BSSO Southern cup meeting and was generously sponsored by Cornwall Scooter Centre. With four races per day, two each for stock scooters and super-scooters, the BSSO also dropped in an open class so that pretty much all riders could actually get four races per day, giving them some great track time at this natural amphitheatre of speed. Lydden Hill is absolutely brilliant for spectators, with almost every part of the circuit visible but the weather made it hard work at times for both riders and spectators.
The track conditions were generally either wet, or that frustrating and tricky dry/ drying with lots of wet bits, making tyre choice for some of the races difficult for the riders. The stock races saw the mixture of Production classes, Group 4 and Group 4E bikes, topped up with Open class. There was some terrific racing despite the awkward conditions when it seemed at times that rain fell just before scooters were started up!
In Production class Graham Tatton had a great weekend, taking three out of four wins, with Jeremy Steel taking the other. This win was Steel’s first and such is the spirit within racing there were happy faces all around that someone had won their first race! But one of the stars of the weekend was veteran Keith Terry, who was right on it and was pushing guys half his age. Although he did overdo things in one race and ended up sitting on his ass in the middle of the track... still with a beaming smile on his face. He took home two second places and a third, showing that pensioners can definitely still do it!
Fellow veteran Bob West was, amazingly, racing his 50th year and had a very solid weekend of results. Bob’s distinctive style in the iconic Taffspeed colours is a pleasure to see – an amazing achievement.
In 4E it was Justin Price who took the honours on Saturday before Stuart Day got
the bit between his teeth on Sunday to take a pair of wins. Hornet Racing’s Ian Scutt continues to get ever more competitive and took a second place to add to his three third places. Barry Braithwaite had a solid weekend but a new entrant to this class was Phil Hallam, who had an engine upgrade from his production engine and got stronger all weekend as he got used to the new-found power and was even undeterred by a trip into the gravel at one point.
Unfortunately Dave Bristow suffered engine problems and opted to watch his team-mates, leaving SRP’s Chris Geyton to be the only Group 4 bike on track.
But overwhelmingly the star of the show was Ioannis Chitoglou... who has become known as John the Greek, which is much simpler. What a totally natural talent the Hornet team have found in John. In the first 10-lap race he lapped everyone up to fifth place and was just gone into the distance, sliding his scooter and getting it sideways on a regular basis. In the second stock race he was under a team order to just start at the back and not interfere with the race (as he was in his own class) so respectfully he sat at the back of the grid and just let the field go before he eventually eased off the line when they had cleared the start straight. Needless to say he stormed through the whole field in seven laps and then
just sat behind
the leader (Justin Price) and let him take the glory. Watching John race has been an absolute pleasure this year and he is a genuinely good guy too.
In the super-scooter specials class most riders from the stock class had also entered for extra track time so we were treated to a decent-sized grid and some great racing throughout the field.
On Saturday it was John the Greek and Steve Wright pushing each other to some terrific racing, with Wright pushing John the Greek into an uncharacteristic error through Paddock Bend which saw him lose the bike and suffer a pretty big crash which unfortunately bent the Hornet Vespa in ways it really shouldn’t be bent. Steve Wright took three wins from the weekend but one of those involved a frantic race against time for his team to swap a broken clutch cable and even while the scooters were going out to the grid the team were still spannering away.
But just in the nick of time he formed up on the back of the grid and, with adrenaline rushing, had probably his best race of the year to force through for a win. Even running over a loose side panel wasn’t going to stop him. Stuart Day had a pretty good weekend with three second places to finish up this awful year.
But once again on Sunday all eyes were on John the Greek. With John’s Vespa bent and twisted, Chris Geyton opted to give up his Group 6 Lambretta and in a great gesture offered it to John the Greek to race. Now John has never raced a Lambretta before...but perhaps unsurprisingly he was right on the pace on this unfamiliar machine and in his first race came an incredible third behind Day and Wright. He had even been sliding the rear of the SRP Lambretta as you can see from the incredible sequence captured by Tony O’Brien.
Despite the vicious wind and frequent rain there were smiles all round as the year’s racing was brought to a close with presentation of bubbly and beers with commemorative labels courtesy of Cornwall Scooters. With limited races there is no overall championship but in a funny kind of way this didn’t actually harm the quality of the racing, nor the buzz and smiles of everyone involved. With the second wave of Covid very much upon us we can only pray that the world can get on top of this so that life can start to return to more normality and we live in hope that somehow next year we will get a more complete season. Fingers are crossed.
The BSSO committee has worked extremely hard to pull some races out of the hat this year and the whole paddock very much appreciates these efforts. See you trackside next year – I hope.
Words: Paul Green
Photographs: Tony O’Brien