Merton triumphs at the field of dreams! 2021 Wulfsport King of the Castle – Race Report & Results

The Cumbria Twinshock Club ran another hugely successful Wulfsport King of the Castle meeting at Farleigh Castle last weekend, and it was the most popular yet as close on 400 riders made the pilgrimage to the hallowed field of dreams.

Report by Geoff Shuttleworth – Images courtesy of Matthew Rudd Photography

The entry full signs had been up on this one since March as the clamour for entries outstripped the number of places available. As usual a full week of work had gone into the layout and prep of the track, and for the first time since 2019 spectators were allowed and they were treated to some spectacular twinshock action. The early morning rain on Saturday made the going very slippy and a loop of the track had to be removed, but it dried out for the second block of racing, and but for some late rain on Sunday the track was perfect.

Mark Dean

There isn’t room on these pages to go into full detail of all the 40 races that took place, but suffice to say that the Experts class was the one to watch as the cream of British Twinsock racing took to the line.

Jimmy Margetson

It was really spectacular to watch these 40 year old machines being thrashed to within an inch of their lives, and there were plenty of twists and turns over their four races. But it was Northern Irelands Tommy Merton who emerged victorious, with two wins and two second places. Tommy just edged out Jimmy Margetson by two points at the final reckoning, with Jimmy winning two races as well. Third place went to last years winner Brad O’Leary, with Terry House in fourth and Luke Hill in fifth.

Jason Winstanley

The 250’s raced alongside the Experts and top dog was Anthony Twidle in first and Kurtis Bence in second.

The Clubman class was another tight affair, with Matt Yates taking the laurels from Paul Winston and Glyn Newton.

Duncan Coley

The full line up of four strokes gave it their all, and George Fountain was the man on fire as he took three from four to pip Matt Thomas on a tie break.

The Northern Irish lads had a great weekend and Terrie Baillie won the Over 50 B class after some great battles with team mate Andrew McAlpine, but Andrew has a DNF in race one which meant Paul Ford bagged the runner up spot.

Ed Spear

The Clubman 2 class was won by Tim Cole, who battled away with Todd Liell, and both riders had two wins apiece.

Andy Hinchliffe was in a class of his own in the Classic class on his Elsinore and won all four races from Luke Parsons and Phil Nicholls.

Chris Pollard

The Over 60 class was once again won by evergreen Pete Mathia who won three races, and nearly made it four but for a bit of whiskey throttle in race three, but he took home the Stuart Miller Memorial Trophy for the second year running. Martin Coleman was second with Tom Lowe third.

Pat Rowe

Jon McBride won the Over 40 class with three wins, and Dean Warren was runner up from Simon Dearing.

The Over 50 A class was another cracker as Willie Burgess, Kevin Reed and Kelvin Tatum went at it in all four races, with Burgess showing his class taking all the race wins.

Terry Bailie

Jake Chamberlain was a busy lad, and won the Pre 83 125 class with two wins, and the other races were won by young Oliver Ruddock and runner up Rob Mead.

Andy Hinchliffe was out again in the 125 Twinshocks and took it by storm, but race one winner Ian Knight came home with second overall from Jason Slater in third.

Jeremy Philp

The West Mids Evo classes had full houses and Jake Chamberlain won the 125’s, Dave Russell the 250’s and George Gough the 500’s, although Richard Mason chased him hard in all four races.

Ian Knight

Results

Clubman 1
1 Matt Yates, 2 Paul Winston, 3 Glyn Newton, 4 Dafydd Davies, 5 Lee Morton, 6 Tom Salt.

Four Stroke
1 George Fountain, 2 Matt Thomas, 3 Shaun Church, 4 George Wolff, 5 Michael Smith, 6 Dan Evans.

Over 50 B
1 Terrie Baillie, 2 Paul Ford, 3 Greg Pascoe, 4 Andrew McAlpine, 5 Steve Davey, 6 Matt Milsom.

Andy Scudamore

Clubman 2
1 Tim Cole, 2 Todd Liell, 3 Mark Dean, 4 Jason Jenna, 5 Kane Winston, 6 Rick Gardner.

Classics
1 Andy Hinchliffe, 2 Luke Parsons, 3 Phil Nicholls, 4 Tony Verbeeton, 5 Wayne Stratford, 6 Stephen Hinchliffe.

Over 60 (Stuart Miller Memorial)
1 Pete Mathia, 2 Martin Coleman, 3 Tom Lowe, 4 Norman Emery, 5 Jon Wood, 6 Andy Long.

Lewis Trickett scoring the holeshot

Over 40
1 Jon McBride, 2 Dean Warrren, 3 Simon Dearing, 4 Martin Cuddy, 5 Richard Benham, 6 Matt Gurke.

Over 50 A
1 Willie Burgess, 2 Kevin Reed, 3 Mark Roberts, 4 Chris Koch, 5 Kelvin Tatum, 6 Mike Davies.

Pre 83 125’s
1 Jake Chamberlain, 2 Rob Mead, 3 Jordan Hands, 4 Oliver Ruddock, 5 Stuart Spalding, 6 Jason Alba.

125 Twinshock
1 Andy Hinchliffe, 2 Ian Knight, 3 Jason Slater, 4 Tim Young, 5 Chris Lambourne, 6 Paul Groom.

West Mids Evo 125
1 Jake Chamberlain, 2 Zac Hackett, 3 James Hudson, 4 Danny Sansom, 5 Jason Davies, 6 Neil Williams.

West Mids Evo 250
1 Dave Russell, 2 Phil Newman, 3 Seb Dexter, 4 Kyle Noble, 5 Bradley Stokes, 6 Kevin Butcher.

Experts
1 Tommy Merton, 2 Jimmy Margetson, 3 Brad O’Leary, 4 Terry House, 5 Luke Hill, 6 James Kensington.

250 Twinshock
1 Anthony Twidle, 2 Kurtis Bence, 3 Ross Kerr, 4 Matt Fews, 5 Matt Bennett, 6 Steve Cadd.

West Mids Evo 500
1 George Gough, 2 Richard Mason, 3 James Reeves, 4 Scott Faulkner, 5 Jake Mason, 6 Sam Pocock.

Chris Kirkbride & Tim Young