14^th. London Old Masters (2009 Eurovets GP Final Round of 7) 31^st. Oct.

 

No. Rider                  Team              Points (o40)       o50            o60

 

1.      Gary Brown        Somersham        25                                   

2.      Norman Venson Leicester             23

3.      Dennis Hubble    East London       22                   23  

4.      Ian Lawrence      Filton                  21                   25

 

5.      Les Stevens        East London      20                    21

6.      Steve Woodroof  ex East London 18

7.      Colin Wheeler     Southampton     17                    22              25

8.      Steve Harvie       East London      16                    16

 

9.      Dave Tulloch       ex Hawbush      11                    20              23

10. Fred Rothwell      ‘Pedal Sport’     11                    17

11. Steve Bloxham    ex Hawbush      10                    18

12. Steve Myhill         ex Beckenham    8 (+7 Consolation Race Points)

13. Kevin Smith         East London        9 (+5     “        “         “         “    )

14. Tim Grimes          Hethersett           8 (+5     “        “         “         “    )

15. Chris Riches        ex Hawbush        8                                      22

16. John Bush           Sheffield              7 (+5     “        “         “         “    )

17. Chic Mackie         Edinburgh           5                                      21

18. Tony Johnstone   ex Tolworth         5                                      20

 

Referee - Dave Hughes (Greater London).

 

2009 Eurovets GP Series Honours (Best 6 rounds from 7 scores)

 

(o40s) – IAN LAWRENCE 143, Norman Venson 131 & Colin Wheeler 116

(o50s) – IAN LAWRENCE 150, Colin Wheeler 129 & Fred Rothwell 120

(o60s) – COLIN WHEELER 150, Chic Mackie 136 & Ian McKinley (Edin) 44

 

Suffolk rider Gary Brown (Somersham / Kesgrave) deservedly became the 13^th. different L.O.M winner on a mild October 31^st. evening at East London CSC in a field of 18 riders, unfortunately missing several Eurovets regulars and 2 late withdrawals, containing four previous winners. Gary was unbeaten in all 5 of his races winning heat 17 against fellow unbeaten over 40’s leaders Ian Lawrence and Norman Venson in the individual to claim grid 1 in the GP Final where the 3 of them were joined by local favourite and twice event winner Dennis Hubble (2001 &2). This was a cracking final race of the season with Norman Venson taking the lead in a second lap positional shuffle only to be overtaken by a focussed Brown on the penultimate lap leaving him runner up with Hubble reversing the earlier over 50s “A” Final defeat by Lawrence who nonetheless cemented his double aged GP Series Championships for this year.

The over 40s “B” final was just as exciting with East London’s 2005 winner Les Stevens convincingly winning from ex East Londoner Steve Woodroof who enjoyed an excellent meeting ahead of Colin Wheeler and match promoter Steve Harvie who had already met, tying on points, for a race off for choice of over 50’s finals, the Southampton legend coming first then. Wheeler was 3^rd. behind Lawrence and Hubble and ahead of Stevens in that one whilst former 1998 Champion Dave Tulloch triumphed in the “B” version ahead of a tiring 1997 Champion Steve Bloxham denying Harvie an improved position with previous over 50s champion Fred Rothwell grabbing the 3^rd. spot. Wheeler comfortably won a 5 man over 60’s final ahead of Tulloch, Chris Riches, series runner up Chic Mackie and sixties star Tony Johnstone. Interspersed between these GP finals 2 consolation races took place with former Beckenham rider Steve Mayhill improving his score from East London stalwart Kevin Smith, Norfolk vet Tim Grimes and Sheffield’s re-start (after 43 years) rider John Bush.

Striking Postal worker(!) Dave Hughes refereed impeccably with Kesgrave mogul Dave Hunting doing the arithmetic in the pits. Trophy presentations were conducted on the centre green with Holland’s Johan Koudijs who provided the main prizes followed by the GP series awards dished out by EL’s Dave Flemming recorded on film by Brian Barnett with Toby Millen announcing in front of the large crowd containing former champions Bill Hopkins (1995), Dave Palfreyman (1999) and Lee Galley (2007) and many former SE riders several who “had a go round” at the end of the meeting along with Almere’s Donald Reiche and Johan keen to ride in next year’s event.

  All in all a good finale for the year with a promise of additional meetings for the expanding veterans scene for next season, information which will be found on the Eurovets website along with a full run down of all this years results, standings and statistics. www.freewebs.com/eurovets

Steve Harvie