There’s a brand-new venue at Blewbury, Didcot, OX11 9ED, arriving on the grass track scene this coming Sunday, 8th June, as the Dalton Club hold their Summer Trophy. And with top 1,000cc Right-Hand sidecar Michael Austin at the Dalton club helm, it’s going to be good with racing for Cadets, Autos, Juniors and Intermediates Youth solos, 250cc and 500cc Adult solos, Old &New Sidecars and of course 1,000cc Right-Hand Sidecars.
Words and Images by Mike Wood
Indeed, the Summer Trophy has attracted a super entry in all classes, so let’s start with those stars of tomorrow, the Youths. In the Auto’s, Lilly Bence, Levi Collins, Savannah Polden and Dalton Wright come to the tapes as Leo Mudgway, Alfie Mudgway, Albie South and Dakota Wright feature in the Cadets contest. Archie Whitelam, the runner-up in the 2024 ACU British Championship, tops the Dalton Juniors entry, where he will face AJ Bence, Brayden Blyth, Harry Little, Luton James McAlinney, Caelen Ratcliffe, Roman Ratcliffe, Daisy Torres and Rex Austin.
Moving out of the Juniors to take on the big boys in the Intermediates is 2024 ACU Champion Finley Theobald and at Blewbury, Finley will come up against the likes of Archie Rolph, Ollie Binns and Dylan Huthwaite amongst others. Huthwaite has already cut his teeth in adult racing, taking the 250cc win at the recent Ledbury MCC-promoted Herefordshire Grand Prix event. Although Dylan is not in the 250cc entry this weekend, it still promises to be a very tasty contest! Mixing it with youngsters Max Derrick, Jessie James and Liam Cox, who produced a strong result at the rerun Herefordshire Grand Prix, will be a whole host of serious challengers. That list includes the likes of Ben Phillips, Karl Beddingfield, Steve Garside, Ashton Vale, Austin Riches, Shane Knight and Adam Hawker.
What an entry there is assembled for the 500cc solos as they race for the David Durham Memorial trophy. With a gap in his increasingly busy racing schedule, World Under-23 Long track Champion and recent SGP2 qualifier Jake Mulford tops the list, but there’s a whole host of very serious challengers looking to claim a major scalp! Also coming to the start line will be names such as Arran Butcher, Daryll Ritchings, Luke Harris, Charlie Wood, James Wright, Mickie Simpson, Cameron Taylor and Jack Roberts. In total, the 500cc entry totals 20 riders and is overflowing with quality, so expect the race for honours in the class to be simply red hot!
Buoyed by his fabulous, confidence-boosting win at the recent Battle of Britain event, can Robbie Simmons/Frankie Courtney make it a double at the Dalton event? Well, just like the 500cc solo’s, the 1,000cc Right-Hand Sidecars have attracted a simply superb entry. And as an extra, tasty incentive, the crews will not only be racing for the Chris Townsend Memorial but also a big £800 prize fund donated anonymously and going to the winners. Along with Simmons and also after that prize money are most of the Countries top crews and just for starters the entry includes Rob Heath/Sam Heath, Clint Blondel/Reece Blondel, Matt Fumarola/Andi Wilson, Terry Saunters/Liam Brown, the returning Mark Cossar/Carl Blyth on their new Yamaha R1 outfit, Will Offen/Ricky Pay and of course home club promoter Michael Austin/Wayne Rickards. The above crews are just a flavour of the quality in this contest, with any of the 18 starting crews being more than capable of pulling off a win!
Completing the Dalton action is the Old & New Sidecars class, with eight crews entered. Featuring most of the usual suspects, will it be the always consistent Mark Courtney/Leon Torres, Liam Brown/Frankie Courtney, Dean Kitchker/Liam Kitchker or Brian Hatch/Lewis Wharton taking the overall win, or will it be young Luca Whitelam/Michael Day proving to be victorious? The only way to find out the answer to that and indeed the destination of the honours in all the Dalton classes is to make sure you are at Sheencroft Farm, Blewbury, Didcot, OX11 9ED this Sunday, 8th June.
Practice will be starting at 10.15am with the first race due off at 12.30pm. Admission costs are £15 Adults and Children Under 16 FREE and there’s also the option to make a weekend of it and camp for FREE at the venue from 12pm on the 7th June until 9pm on the 8th June.
