Yatton victory for Millichap! 2023 Bath Classic Scramble – Race Report & Results

Last Sunday, 4th June, the Bath Classic Motorcycle Club held their rescheduled Classic Scramble at Yatton Keynell in Wiltshire.

Report and Images by Dave Rich

In other years this venue has hosted a round of the British Classic Championships, but unfortunately, the club decided to run just a normal meeting in 2023, and they were very well supported with a big entry of Classic bikes as well as one group of Twinshock’s. The track, as with most tracks this year, was very dry due to the recent hot weather and hard, and once the grass had been taken off, it became a bit dusty in places; never the less there was still some good racing to be witnessed, but unfortunately due to an incident midway through the second block of racing time was against the club and some of the racing didn’t take place in the third block.

No 181 Jed White heading No 196 Mike Gillingham in the Memorial class

The Pre 65 class had two races where in the opening race, it was Dave Bell on his 750 Triumph Metisse who took the win from Chris Hacker on his 650 Rickman Triumph Metisse, with Martin Coleman taking third on his 500 Jawa Wasp, whereas in the second race, it was Coleman who took the win from Bell with Thorne Pett on his 500 Jawa MRD taking third in this one.

Christopher Hacker holding on to his 650 Rickman Triumph Metisse in the Pre 65 class

The Pre 68 unlimited class only had a single race and turned out to be one of the best races of the day, and it was filled with drama after Wayne Partington on his 360 Cz Twinport had led on the opening lap and was put under a lot of pressure from Sam Pocock on the 500 BSA B44 who eventually found a way past Partington, but Partington was to keep with Pocock ready to pounce on any mistakes if Pocock was to make any. Going into the last lap, Pocock had a two second lead and had to keep his concentration, and with half the lap completed, it looked as if he had it in the bag until his front wheel washed out on a righthander, and this was enough for Partington to come through who was to go on to take the win with Pocock second ahead of Colin Hutton on his 380 Cz Sidepipe who finished in third.

In the Pre 74 under 250cc class, there was no stopping the 250 Greeves Griffon of Jos Goddard, who really had his throttle twisted back as he took both race wins by some margin, beating Neil Aldridge on his 250 Husqvarna who took two second-place finishes with the Cz 250 of Glenn Morgan taking third in both races.

The Pre 74 over 250 class, it was Jos Goddard, this time on a 380 Greeves Griffon taking the win in the opening race ahead of the 360 Cz of Wayne Partington, with fellow Cz 380 rider Keith Rice taking third, whereas in the second race this time it was Partington who took the win from Rice with Goddard third.

No 87 Scott Baker heading No 507 Jos Goddard and No 266 Keith Rice in the Pre 74 over 250cc clas

During the day, there were two over 55 years of age Memorial races in Memory of Mac Taylor and Pat French, two former Bath Classic Motorcycle Club members. Both races were well supported, with Keith Best on his Pre 68 250 Cz proving to be unstoppable as he was to win both races from Cheney Jawa 500 of Kevin Reed, with Martin Coleman third in both races.

Because of the time lost and many riders deciding to go home, all the Classic riders that were still there were invited to a Classic mixed race to give them another ride which was won by Wayne Partington ahead of Neil Aldridge, with third place going to Scott Baker.

No 6 Kevin Reed being pursued by No 160 Keith Best in the Memorial class

The Clubman class only had one race during the day, which Max Bennett won on his 500 XR Honda, with Dan Drake taking second, just holding off Nick Hardiman at the line, who took third.

The Twinshock class had three races which were stacked with talent, including Tim Dallaway on the big Hickie racing 500 BSA, who just managed to pip Ben Millichap on his 500 Can am Sonic by literally two-hundredths of a second at the line in the first race with Scott Reed taking third. In the second moto, it was a real tussle again at the front between Dallaway and Millichap on the opening lap, with Dallaway eventually taking the lead and was soon to start to ease away and was looking good for his second win until his chain came off mid-race, which was to give him a Dnf, and it was Millichap who took the win from Reed with Luke Hickie on his 600 Hickie BSA third. In the last moto, Dallaway was back on the line. He was out to make amends and soon hit the front and was to ease away from Millichap, who was in second, but he had no answer to Dallaway, who went on to take a convincing win from Millichap with Neil Aldridge third in this one. Still, the overall was to go to Millichap with a 2,1,2 scorecard, with second overall, going to Mark Sparrow with three consistent rides beating Kelan McDermott by one point, who took third overall.

No 931 Sam Pocock and No 302 Wayne Partington battling it out in the Pre 68 unlimited class

Results

For the Full Results >>CLICK HERE<<