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23/6/10 June saw two weekends of Classic Racing action in Scotland, with the CRMC's first visit to Knockhill followed the SCRMC's annual Bob Mac memorial meeting at East Fortune. Merv Took the Greeves up for the Knockhill weekend and scored some third places & a win in the 250cc singles class in Sunday's awful weather! We took the faithful Rudge to the Bob Mac meeting to please the crowds & Upset the apple cart amongst the more modern machinery. The weather couldn't have been any different from the previous weekend, with scorching sunshine. Merv was entered as usual in the 250s, and Saturday's first outing saw Merv take a narrow fourth place from Suzuki T20 mounted Bill Robertson after coming across a back marker on the last corner. Thomas Moore on a Kawasaki A1R took the win. In the second race Merv had a cracking start out braking everyone into the hairpin only to be attacked by a massive bug milliseconds later, obliterating the view from his visor!, He tried to clear it only making things worse! So the race was done with visor up, only it closed every time he got his head down, so a few blind corners were taken! Merv managed fifth in the end of this one, with Bill Robertson reversing the first race result and the win going to John Davison on his Yamaha TD1C. Merv was also entered in the Team challenge for the welsh team! But he elected to miss this one, saving the Rudge for Sunday's action. Sunday's action saw the full heat of the weather and three races for each class. In the first 250cc race Merv battled for third with Tom Jackson (Suzuki T20). Merv out braked him into the hairpin to take the position then held him off & out braked him once more for the Hannah's chicane to stamp his authority on the third place which he held to the flag. Davidson took another win, with Ducati mounted Chris Wallace taking second. The second race saw Merv take the lead on lap one again with some good out braking manoeuvres & too the cheers of the crowd as he came round to complete the first lap! The speed of Davidson's Yamaha took the lead on the second lap, as Merv battled with Chris Wallace for second, with Wallace eventually getting the position & Merv taking third. The final 250cc race saw another third place this time behind Wallace & Jackson. Another great meeting at the Bob Mac, in what has to be one of the best meetings all year. We should get some more Vintage bikes up there to upset the other classes! How about it Mr Farrall? Next outing is the VMCC-BHR meeting at Lydden 31st July/1st August. Roy
18/5/10 The second round of the 2010 VMCC BHR championships took place at Three Sisters on 8/9th May. We were lucky with the weather for the weekend as all around seemed to have rain, but we escaped with just an overcast but cold & windy day for Saturday. As with the Mallory meeting Rudges in action were just three 250's with Merv and Mike Whittaker on 4 Valvers & Miki on his 2 Valver. Merv's first race was in the Pre '34 class, the race being run as a split grid behind the up to 1962 500 class. Ian Cramp (500 Velocette) got the whole shot off the line with Merv in tow. The Pre '34s soon caught the tail enders of the 500 class but with the Three Sisters track being tight & twisty, passing can be a problem. Cramp got past the first of the tail enders as Merv caught them in the wrong place & got badly held up allowing cramp to get away and take the win. Merv took second with Roger Moss (640 Scott) third & Miki taking 4th. The second pre '34 race later in the day, saw an almost repeat race except with Merv catching the end of the 500s in a different place yet getting equally held up! This time Miki took 3rd on the 2V 250. Saturday's 250cc races saw Rob Charles (NSU) giving Merv some close attention for the first couple of laps, but in both races Merv shook him off to take the wins by 6.7 & 6s respectively. In the first race Mike Whittaker took 8th on his ex-Peter Doughty 250 4 Valve and in the second outing he lent it to Jay Wood, who was entered on a BSA C15 & he took the Rudge to a fine 7th. Later in the day however clutch slip prevented the bike taking any further part in the weekend. We had to do a gearbox change on the Stratford-Rudge during Saturday evening as it was caming out of 2nd towards the end of the day, this proved slightly more tricky than planned as we had left some important tools at home! Sunday saw a brighter day & Merv headed out for a few laps of practice to check the new gearbox out, reporting back everything ok. The programme saw a repeat of Saturday, so again first race for us was the pre '34. Cramp again made the best of the starts with the extra power of a 500, but this time the tail enders of the pre '62 500s didn't cause so many problems & Merv was able to give him a bit closer attention. However both races again saw Cramp taking the wins with Merv 2nd. Miki took 5th in the first but was a non-starter in the second. Merv now leads the pre '34 championship from cramp because of the handicap scoring system. Merv took a brace of wins in Sunday's 250cc races to increase his lead in this championship also, with Rob Charles on the NSU again taking two 2nd places. Next outing for the Stratford-Rudge team is the CRMC meeting at Knockhill on 12/13 June with the Greeves followed a week later by the Bob Mac Memorial meeting at East Fortune with the Rudge on 19/20th which also unfortunately clashes with the VMCC Cadwell meeting. Roy
7/4/10 The opening round of the 2010 VMCC British Historic Racing championships got underway at Mallory Park on Easter Monday (5th April). Conditions were cold & damp at first, but thankfully it stayed dry all day. The Rudge entry was down for this first meeting with just three entered and all 250s, Merv on his 4 Valver, Miki Sprosen & Chris Wicketts on 2 Valvers, both belonging to Miki. This was Merv's first outing since Cadwell last year, as he elected to skip the VMCC practice day at Mallory in early March, then we cancelled last Wednesday's planned test at Mallory due to the threat of the weather. So all experiments were carried out in practice and the first race!, a freshly rebuilt gearbox & new experimental Avon tyres front & rear. Everything seemed ok for practice, the first race was the 250s. A minutes silence was held at the start in memory of Titch Allen, although the bikes on the grid were allowed to keep their engines running, which seemed quite apt! Merv got a good start from the second row and took the lead on the opening lap, Tony Webb (Greeves) moved up to second whilst Rob Charles (NSU) & Nigel Lines (Velo) battled it out for third. Merv took the win from Webby, with Rob Charles taking third. Chris Wickett took 12th place on Miki's 2 Valver in his first race on the bike. Next up was the Pre '34 race, Ian Cramp (500cc Velocette) took the lead, with Merv settling in too second place where he remained to the flag. Grant Sellers took third on his 500 Norton with Rudge pairing Chris Wickett & Miki Sprosen taking 5th & 6th respectively. The New front tyre was working well, although now things had 'warmed' up a little the rear compound was proving a little soft, so a rear wheel change was needed before the second 250 race. We switched the rear to the slightly harder experimental compound tyre from last year. Merv took another win in the 250's from Tony Webb & Rob Charles, with the rear tyre proving better. Chris Wickett took 8th this time on the 2 Valver The last pre '34 race was the most eventful of Merv's races during the day. Ian Cramp took the lead again, but this time with Merv chasing hard in second. Crampy had a big moment at the Bus stop chicane with the Velo airborne! somehow he stayed on & somehow Merv managed to pull the Rudge up & avoid him, preventing them both going down in a big heap! unfortunately though Ian's mishap lost Merv his momentum & he managed to get away & take the win. Merv took another second & Chris 5th. Next meeting is Three Sisters 9th/10th May Roy
11/2/10
Some sad news to report. We
have just heard that long time Rudge man Gerry Turner has passed away. Gerry's 250 at Silverstone in 1953 Roy
See the News Archives for all previous reports
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