2017 RACING SEASON RESULTS

Our two regular TT competitors, Tony Ainley and Dave Burrell, represented the Velocette marque in the 2017 Manx Senior Classic TT.  The Club is pleased to award each of them a contribution of £400 towards the huge expense of competing on the island. We look forward to reading Tony’s account of the event in Fishtail.

A total of seven Club Members and three non-Members competed with Velocette machines in the VMCC British Historic Racing (BHR) 2017 season. The Club Members comprised Tony Ainley, Dave Burrell, Keith Riley, Grant Sellars and Mark Stoker – all prominent names in previous seasons – together with two very enthusiastic new names in Tony Green and Sam Page.  Tony and Sam both raced rigid MACs, whilst Sam also competed very successfully with an MOV, between them turning in more race starts than last season’s total, a remarkable and very welcome development which greatly helped to reverse the steady decline in participation over the previous few years. All these Club Members qualify for the award of the Club’s donation of £40 for each of their collective total of 117 race starts. 

The Club’s range of racing trophies is awarded to the most outstanding Velocette-mounted competitors over the BHR season, irrespective of whether or not they are Club Members.

The Dave Allcock Memorial Trophy is awarded on the basis of the highest points gained during the BHR season. The 2017 winner by a substantial margin is Sam Page, a Club member for four years but a newcomer to these awards, who campaigned a rigid MAC and an MOV, achieving a remarkable 20 podium places including 12 wins.

The Arthur Lavington Trophy, awarded on the basis of the number of highest places achieved during the BHR season on a 500cc machine, goes to Sam Rhodes, who raced Graham Austen’s very rapid MSS.  This was the machine which Sam also rode to victory in the Lansdowne Club Class Championship. The Renee Rhodes Trophy, the 350cc equivalent of the Arthur Lavington, is taken by Keith Riley, aboard his very quick MkII KSS.  Keith retains this trophy for the fourth consecutive season. 

The Harold Willis Trophy is awarded to the most successful rider of a girder-forked machine who is not the winner of another Club trophy. The 2017 winner is Tony Green who, in his second year of membership and first full season of racing, racked up no less than 30 starts and finishes, including several podium places, on his rigid MAC.

The trophies and start money cheques will be presented at the AGM on Sunday 18 March 2018 at the Alcester War Memorial Town Hall.

My grateful thanks to John Hannis for his help in compiling the analysis of the racing results.