#4 Heckmondwike

: Published: 08 September 2022

Another very successful Euro-Vets Grand Prix hopefully helping the progress of a revival of the Yorkshire club on a cloudy but dry afternoon with a decent turnout of riders in the Over 40 and Over 50 categories. On show a veritable gaggle of past and present British, Polish, Euro-Vet, European and World Champions at many levels.

Polish superstar Lukasz Nowacki continued his brilliant run of unbeatable form on a dry, tricky surface which had to be watered several times in the interests of safety, but he was chased all the way, and stubbornly, by an equally impressive Kev Burns, their clashes being a whole lot faster than anything else on display and quite mesmerising.

There were a couple of clashes on track with resultant falls, the worst looking being Paddy Wenn's in unlucky heat 13 of the 50/60s event and others that also hurt plenty for local newcomers Stuart and Chris in a manic heat 17 of the same match. I could dare to suggest these double crashes may have been caused, inadvertently of course, by fellow returnee Dave with that wobbly, vision-blocking full face titfer!

There were also a few self-inflicted whoopsies, most notable with the home straight outer kerb catching out a couple of the most capable riders, and also a very unfortunate heat 1 "off" for home legend Darren Kent who succumbed to the slippery exit of turn four and wrecked his chances of a richly deserved "A" Final appearance. In stark contrast to all this falling about, Darren's younger brother Martin made a brilliant return to serious competition after resisting for a good long time and fought his way to second overall in the Over 50s, a tremendous performance.

Once again our MC was our Bossman Fred Rothwell who did his usual consummately professional job on the microphone, ultimately wearing the thing out by presentation time :)

A very good meeting well presented and provided for by the home club, and great to see them hopefully in resurgent mood after this one. Thanks go to Hecky's Patrick Beacock, another recent returnee to the Sport, who got his firm to sponsor the event.

Speaking of returnees, I must mention my Northumbria/Edinburgh teammate Jason Keith who shouldn't really have been engaging with these lads yet with his broken shoulder only six weeks old, but he stayed out of trouble and got his reward. Oops I almost forgot - brilliant to bump into ex-Tameside gargantuan star Brian Eaton who very kindly nipped over the hill to referee for us, although personally I would have much preferred to see him back on a bike!

Anomalies? World Champion Paddy Wenn and British Champion Mark Winwood missing out on an "A" Final and Dave Frith missing out on any! Dariusz Pilas picked up an exclusion in heat 3 of the 35/40s which may well have cost him a Final place too.

Couple of videos coming along some time soon, see below...

group

3540sprog

Lukasz may have got the biggest score but Kev sure got the shirt!

KevsBigShirt

Little Flying Machine. And Dad didn't do too bad either!

titch

Over 35/40s Heat One: https://youtu.be/QWKEvfMtgtg

5060prog

Heat One of the Over 50/60s: https://youtu.be/X2f8ZjMA6QM

50spod

Hectic action from Heat 13 with a trio of the World's best Over 50s current and ex-Champions doing battle. Who's in the lead? Er, no, yes, no... If in doubt, wipe them out!

Norman Venson takes out not one, but two front wheels in one svelt manoeuvre!

https://youtu.be/ls9e0KK5-_I

5060res

3540res