Six of the best for Best, five for Dallaway and four for Lovegrove! AMCA Classic Scramble – Race Report and Results

Bath Classic Motorcycle Club and Llanthony Classic Motorcycle Club came together to organise a superbly run classic scramble meeting at the Yatton Keynall circuit near Bath.

Report by Andy Withers – Images courtesy of Awsportsphoto

On his immaculate CZ, Keith Best took six victories in the bright September sunshine as grids were packed and racing close with battles throughout the field. Three victories were in the Memorial Races, in memory of Pat French and Mac Taylor, in each race the fast starting 650cc machines of Phil Edwards on his Triumph twin and Peter Hollinshead on his Twin BSA led off of the line with Best playing catch up. By lap three Best had overpowered both of the British twins in all the races, but in the third race Nick Archer pushed his way through to second on his Faber BSA.

Matt Fry wrestling with the Tribsa

Best and Hollinshead locked horns again in the Unlimited Pre60/ Under 350cc Pre68, although riding in different classes, the pattern was repeated with Hollinshead making the hole shots and Best coming through for three Under 350cc victories. Sparing partners Colin Hickie and John Dallaway finished second and third in the smaller class. Shaun Lovegrove riding Ian Lovelock’s Tribsa failed to finish the first race but got in the mix with Pre60 class overall winner Hollinshead in races two and three including taking the race three win. Derek Brice on his Tribsa, John Little on the Matchless were spectacular in second and third whilst Matt Fry back on a Tribsa for the first time in many years let it all hang out on the big machine taking a second and third in the first two races.

Tim Dallaway – five victories on the Hickie BSA

Tim Dallaway on his Hickie BSA was looking good for six wins, three in each of the Pre68 and Pre74 over 350cc classes, this was no mean feat as the two classes were run one after the other without a break. In the Pre68’s John Cash took a couple of hole shots but Dallaway took the lead by the end of the first lap taking three comfortable victories each from Cash. In the Pre74’s, fast starting Greg Speed took the lead with the hard charging Adam Butt, Aaron Graves, Wayne Partington and Tim Dallaway in pursuit. In the first two races after the steady start Dallaway moved through to win the races from Butt on his 350cc BSA. However, in the third race Dallaway came out on Colin Hickie’s BSA and could only manage fourth which gave Butt the overall victory from Dallaway and Graves.

Nick Thorne and Shaun Lovegrove battle in the Pre65’s

Shaun Lovegove added to his tally of wins with three in the Pre65 class after race long battles with Nick Thorne on his 500cc Jawa. However, in race one veteran Phil Edwards made the hole shot before being shuffled back to third, coming up the fast climb mid race he said he had a ‘senior moment’ missing the change down for the corner resulting in an upside down machine and a few missing stakes. He walked away with a smile and a good story! Another fall in the Pre74 under 250cc class cost Allen Waring the overall class win, falling on one of the downhill sections in the middle of the third race. After two wins he could only get back to fifth giving Martin Stephens an excellent overall first, second and third places, waring was second and Luke Winn on his unusual Can Am claimed third.

Butt and House lead the Twinshock field

In the open twinshock class Terry House and Wayne Butt served up three great battles with House coming out on top with three wins on his first visit to the track. Butt was second overall with three second places. Brad Coleman pipped Dad Martin for third place, Brad finishing ahead of Martin in two of the three races, but he didn’t manage to get as high as his dad over the final jump.

The two classic clubs shared in the organisation of a great meeting which was Covid safe and ran like clockwork, well done to all those involved!

Keith Best – Six wins

Overall Results

Memorial
1 Keith Best (CZ)
2 Peter Hollinshead (BSA)
3 Nick Archer (BSA)
4 Phil Edwards (Triumph)
5 Ade Dark (Metisse)
6 Andy Watkins (BSA)

Pre 74 up to 250cc
1 Martin Stephens (Honda)
2 Allen Waring (Honda)
3 Luke Winn (Can Am)
4 Jake Humphreys (CZ)
5 Rob Matheson (Bultaco)
6 Alistair Devell (CZ)

Pre 60 Unlimited
1 Peter Hollinshead (BSA)
2 Derek Brice (Tribsa)
3 John Little (Matchless)
4 Paul Arnold (Tribsa)
5 Terry Doman (Tedious)
6 Mike Gillingham (Matchless)

Martin Stephens – Flying to an overall Pre74 Under 250cc victory

Pre 68 up to 350cc
1 Keith Best (CZ)
2 Colin Hickie (BSA)
3 John Dallaway (BSA)
4 Phil Anslow (BSA)
5 Conor Crudgington (BSA)
6 Nick Thorne (BSA)

Pre 68 Unlimited
1 Tim Dallaway (BSA)
2 John Cash (BSA)
3 Nick Archer (BSA)
4 Mitchell Harris (BSA)
5 Martin Kemp (BSA)
6 Chris Hacker (BSA)

Pre74 Over 250cc
1 Adam Butt (BSA)
2 Tim Dallaway (BSA)
3 Arron Graves (BSA)
4 Wayne Partington (CZ)
5 Greg Speed (BSA)
6 Phil Nicholls (CZ)

Pre65
1 Shaun Lovegrove (Tribsa)
2 Nick Thorne (Jawa)
3 Martin Kemp (Tribsa)
4 Derek Brice (Tribsa)
5 Simon Capp (Matchless Metisse)
6 Paul Arnold (Metisse)

Twinshock
1 Terry House (Maico)
2 Wayne Butt (Maico)
3 Brad Coleman (Husqvarna)
4 Martin Coleman (Husqvarna)
5 Luke Hickie (BSA)
6 Ed Spear (Yamaha)

John Little – spectacular on the 500cc Matchless