Classic Fantastic! 2023 Badger Goss Trophy Scramble – Race Report & Results

Back on Easter Sunday, the Devon Classic Motorcycle Club hosted the first Scramble event for 2023 in the South West at Widworthy Nr Honiton in Devon which was the Badger Goss Trophy event. There was a huge entry not just in the shape of Twinshocks but also Classic machines from yesteryears with one of the biggest entries of Classics seen in the South for some time and topping it off was top commentator “Are you Ready” Paul Hardy who entertained the many spectators in attendance with his knowledge and wit.

Report and Images by Dave Rich

In the Pre 60 class which consisted of just two riders both were not classified in the opening race, but it was Matt Fry on his 650 Triumph Trisba who won the other two races over John Stocker on his 600 Mabsa.

Thorne Pett on his 500 Jawa took the overall in the Pre 65 over 350cc class

The Pre 65 Over 350cc class saw the 650cc Rickman Triumph Metisse of Chris Hacker dominate the opening race and the last race, but a non-scoring second race saw him out of the equation and the overall on the day went to Thorne Pett on his 500 Jawa who won the second race and backed it up with a second and a third in the other two races pipping Martin Kemp on his 650 Triumph Metisse by three points with Dan Field taking third overall on his 500cc Norton Metisse.

In the Pre 65 Under 350cc class, there was no stopping the 350 BSA of Colin Hickie who was to take a hattrick of wins with Neil Hammersley second to Hickie in all three races on his 350 Hickie BSA B40 taking second overall and Kevin Wilmer third overall on the 250 BSA Starfire after finishing third in all three races.

No 663 Neil Hammersley holding off No 390 Ian Baldock in the Pre 65 under 350cc class

The Pre 68 class saw Luke Hickie in dominating form who was to race away once he hit the front to dominate all three races on his 500 Hickie BSA with Mike Jones on his 360 Twin Port Cz and Ian Verrinder on the 441 BSA Victor battling it out, especially in the last race tying on points at the end of the day, but with Jones taking second ahead of Verrinder in the last race it was Jones who took second overall.

In the Pre 78 class, it was the 370 RM Suzuki of John Young who was victorious in all three races with the 250 Phantom Ossa of Gary Warr ending the day second overall ahead of the 450 XL Honda of Thomas Layton who took third overall.

In the Pre 74 Over 250cc class it was Adam Butt onboard his 350 Hickie BSA who was to blitz the rest of the field and notched up a convincing hattrick of wins with Martin Stephens taking a hattrick of second-place finishes on his 360 Yamaha MX and third overall went to Paul Mollet on his 380 CZ whereas in the Pre 74 Under 250cc class there were three different winners with the opening race won by Neil Aldridge on his 250 Husqvarna, the second race went to Stuart George on the 250 Bultaco Pursang and the last race went to Richard Hall on his 250 single port Cz and with Richard with a 3-2-1 scorecard he took the overall ahead of Kevin Pidgeon who even though he tied on points with Paul Andrews at the end of the day Pidgeon was rewarded with second overall after beating Andrews in the last race.

Luke Hill showed his class at Widworthy in the Twinshock A class

In the Twinshock A class, there were some quick riders taking part and they didn’t come much quicker than Luke Hill on his CR 500 Honda who was to take a hattrick of wins. Tim Dallaway had a flyer off the line in the opening race on his 500 Hickie BSA and looked like he was going to set the pace early on but after exiting the first corner Hill had taken over at the front. Kristian Marshall on his 440 Maico was soon making up ground after not the best of starts as was the 490 Maico of Wayne Butt and these two were having a good tussle towards the end of the race with Marshall holding on to take second with Butt a close third.

In the second moto Hill led from the off and was soon to ease away, but not the best of opening laps for Marshall who unfortunately ground to a halt when his Maico seized, Butt also had a bad start in this one and was well down the field. Hill was to go on to take a convincing win, but there was a real tussle for second which eventually went to Scott Faulkner on his 560 KTM with Dallaway taking third less than half a second behind Faulkner at the line. In the last race again, it was Hill who hit the front from the off and with a clear track in front of him he was soon on his way. Marshall was out on his spare bike and was some going in this one and took second behind Hill, but the battle was on for third between Dallaway and Butt which went right down to the line with Dallaway just holding on. Hill was to take the overall from Dallaway with Marcus Clare with a scorecard of 5-4-6 taking third overall.

The Twinshock B class was to produce some of the best racing of the day with Shaun Church taking the overall by winning the opening two encounters, but he was denied a clean sweep in the last race and was pipped to the line by Mitch York who with a 3-2-1 scorecard took second overall by three points from Jason Jenner who took third overall.

In the Twinshock C class, it was Shaun Atkins on his 400 Butler Maico with a convincing win in the opening race but the other two races were won by the 250 CR Honda of Danny Nash who even though only managed a 13th in the opening race this was enough to give him the overall by three points from Neil Jones with Mike Fredriksen taking third overall.

No 129 Chris Shorland & No 106 Keith Worden battling it out in the Twinshock D class

The Twinshock D class belonged to one of the sponsors of the event in the shape of Steve Dyer from Dirtbike Express on his 490 Maico who was to take a clean sweep of wins and taking second overall was the 520 HPF Honda of Geoff Wiltshire with a 2-5-4 scorecard with Keith Worden also consistent in all three races taking third overall.

In the Twinshock E class Jonny Orchard notched up three wins to take the overall but second overall was to go down to the last race as both Joshua Church and Robert Williams were tied on points, and it turned into a real battle with Church eventually taking second in the race just ahead of Williams which was to give Church second overall and Williams took third overall.

Results