As autumn turns in to winter so our autumn evening soirees draw to a close. But we didn’t let this pass unnoticed and determinedly marked the eclipse with a bang. Farmer Jack, who’s been having lots of fun at the gatherings, kindly offered the use of his Dual track. Built by Peaty, Cheggars and a host of other spade wielders for the Wharncliffe weekender it was where we held the Dual World champs earlier this year. It’s a brilliant track with enough berms to rail to keep you beaming from ear to ear. It’s not all smooth sailing though and takes a lot of skill to set a good time on, especially when it rains, which it did at about 7pm just before we started racing. As we were on a private track we thought we might as well turn this gathering in to a race and got the clocks out. Paddy Baker was even kind enough to lend us his 2 man gate for the night which only added to the tension on the start line.
Ruari Putting his flat cap to good use (Photo: Duncan Philpott)
The track (Photo: Dom Worrall)
After a summer of being trodden on by cows the track did need a bit of fettling. A few of us turned up early to work the spades which brought the berms back to their former glory. Peaty had already strimmed back the over growth so the work done by Ruari, Joe, Rob, Bilsey, Dean and others left them looking lovely. Jake Peat also did his bit on his quad to get the track bedded in. Getting the lights and gate set up also took a while but once done, the scene was set for a fine nights racing.
Proper night lighting, Jacks Tractor (Photo: Dom Worrall)
Jack on Track (Photo: Dom Worrall)
Our Whistling Ladies, Marian and Isabel were in charge on the start line (Photo: Dom Worrall)
Jake Peat Bedding the track in (Photo: Dom Worrall)
Practice began early as the sunset. The track began bedding in nicely once it stopped raining but naturally there was plenty of offs to get the assembled crowd cheering. 40 racers turned up and chucked their 2 quid in the pot and random prize in the bag. With that many riders we needed qualification. Using a new timing system consisting of Marian counting in and Isabel whistling at the start meant that Chay, Joel and Sophie at the bottom knew when to start the clock. High tech. With a late start and miserable conditions I took the decision to cut it down to only 16 racers which is a shame when we could have had 32 but hopefully next time we’ll get the chance.
Rob Jolley taking on Sam Taylor, Sam got the snap! (Photo: Dom Worrall)
PhilPOD beating a gir, Jodyl (Photo: Dom Worrall)
Den and Luke neck and neck (Photo: Dom Worrall)
Timmy leading out Loose Dog (Photo: Dom Worrall)
Peaty taking Timmy to the cleaners (Photo: Dom Worrall)
Bowan catching flys (Photo: Dom Worrall)
Easy Push back up (Photo: Dom Worrall)
Stokes ahead of Danger Green (Photo: Dom Worrall)
With and additional 20 spectators there was some serious jeering and cheering going on as each pair passed by. The early rounds saw some great performance and even better crashes. My favourite being Rob Stokes taking on Rob Jolley, Stokes managed to fall sideways out of the gate and down the banking in to some nettles. Classic. The final came down to Josh Lewis taking on Peaty and with Looses’ chain playing up all night, the result was somewhat inevitable.
Nick failing to Qualify due to massive off (Photo: Rich Baybutt)
Peaty beating Loose Dog to the Win (Photo: Rich Baybutt)
Seeding
Results
Fastest Runs
Points
Jack had built a huge funeral pyre of a bonfire to keep us warm while we drank beer and presented prizes. His good lady Anna had also been busy in the kitchen preparing stacks of sausage sangas made with Jack’s own pigs, delicious. The fire burned on in to the night and we drank and talked shit all night long a great end to the series.
The Fire (Photo: Dom Worrall)
So, keeping in with the spirit of fun of the series of gatherings I’ve cobbled together a point scoring system to give an idea of who’s had the most fun. So congratualtions to Martin Baker who obviously had a misspent yoof and took the crown only 2 points ahead of Tim Pearson. Ruari was 13 points behind him for third with Dave Griffiths taking 4th and myself 5th. Jody Vallance took her second series win for the ladies, with Emma Peasland and Carrie Poole in 2nd and 3rd and Hanna Jonsson in 4th. Prizes and rewards for the overall will be presented in the near future.
Many thanks to Dom Worrall, Duncan Philpott and Richard Baybutt for supplying all the amazing photos and the video for this blog post.
