• SACU Bulletin: 01/2009
• SACU Bulletin: 06/2008
 

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I am attaching a list which details the names and telephone numbers of the members of each committee. This list may not be fully complete as there is likely to be further committee co-options which will be notified in later bulletins. Could members please advise the office of any changes required. The SACU accounts, a copy of which is enclosed for club secretaries, were explained as usual in great detail by Malcolm Marshall, Treasurer.

A Brownlie reported a very good year once again for fund raising and thanked all for their efforts on making the SACU one of the strongest contributors in the UK. A copy of his handout is enclosed.

3) HANDBOOK
As usual at this time of year I am enclosing your complementary copy of the ACU Handbook. The cost of the handbook is £8.00 and postage of £ 1.50 should you wish further copies.

4) LICENCE SUSP'ENSION
The MCUI has informed us that one of their motocross licence holder's has been suspended for 1 year. He is Mark Donelly of 134 Greencastle Road, Omagh.

5) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR OFF ROAD PRACTICE EVENTS.
I am also enclosing a note which details the necessary arrangements to be put into place for such practice events.

6) SACU ENVIRONMENTAL CODE
I am also attaching a small information leaflet titled "The SACU Environmental Code". This leaflet has been produced free courtesy of the North Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Natural Heritage. It is intended that the leaflet will be included with the issue of licences. Should anyone wish any further copies please contact the SACU office.

7) OFFICE CLOSURES OVER EASTER
The office will be closed over the Easter weekend i.e. Good Friday 10^th April and Monday 13^th April.

 

SACU BULLETIN - No. 06/2008

1. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
I hereby advise all clubs that the Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Auto- Cycle Union Ltd. will take place at the Kaimpark Hotel, Edinburgh Road, Bathgate on Sunday 22nd February 2009 commencing at 2.00pm.

2. COMMITTEE VACANCIES
In accordance with the Rules of the Company any motions for the AGM and nominations for Committee vacancies must reach the office no later than 6 weeks prior to the Annual General Meeting (i.e. 12 January 2009). I am attaching a list of the present committee members who are due to retire. Nominations will only be accepted on the enclosed forms and nominations received in any other manner will not be considered in the election procedures. The nomination forms must be duly signed and dated by an appropriate club official. No candidate may be elected to serve on more than one committee and no candidate can be nominated for more than one vacancy on the Board of Directors. I have also been asked to remind clubs that you must make contact with the individuals that are being nominated and ensure that they are willing to stand for election and equally important that they are prepared to attend and contribute to committee meetings. For nominations for the Management Committee clubs need to carefully consider individuals who will bring with them sound organisational, planning, communication and management skills to help develop and implement the many new strategies and development initiatives that the SACU is about to undertake. Candidates should not be put forward purely as a matter of routine nor for their popularity record.

3. SEMINARS
We will be writing out to all those officials whose certificates are due to expire next year to remind them to re apply through their respective clubs in good time. We must also however at this time of the year give the customary request to all clubs to consider if any of their officials need/wish to attend the seminars early in 2009. A sample application form is enclosed and if more are required either photocopy or request further supplies from the office. Club secretaries should countersign applications. In the Bulletin dated 12 December 1996 it was intimated that clubs organising National events must staff these events with certificated officials, otherwise permits may be withdrawn. Officials requiring certification will be Clerk of Course, Secretary of Meeting, Technical Officer, Chief Marshall and Club Steward. Clubs should state the names of the officials and their certificate number on event regulations and club secretaries should ensure that all club members organising events are made aware of these conditions. Particular reference is made to the Clerk of Course who is the Chief Executive Official and under whose direction the other event officials may be appointed according to the type of competition. (National Sporting Code 5.02). Only 3 seminars are planned for early 2009 i.e.:

Road Race Seminar                18 January 2009 (I Thomson)

Trials Seminar                         31 January 2009 (J Moffat Saturday 11.00 start)

Enduro Seminar                       1 February 2009 (C Mackenzie)
This seminar will be for Central/South Scotland officials. C Mackenzie will be arranging a seminar for the North of Scotland later in the year.

4. FIXTURES LIST
Enclosed herewith is a copy of the SACU Contact List for 2009. In addition to the contact list I am also enclosing separate lists of the dates for all the Championship and National events by discipline. Regarding the issue of licences, only the dates for the discipline applied for will be issued with the licence however the full date’s list for all disciplines will be available, in due course, in booklet form as well as on our website.

5. ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE
There are still a number of clubs who have yet to submit their annual membership fee (£50.00) and their membership list. It is essential that clubs submit a list of the names and addresses of their members as the number of members declared on the list will determine the number of votes allocated to each club at the AGM. Failure to submit a return will result in no nominations being accepted nor any votes being allocated. The closing date for the receipt of the membership fees & lists has been set at 31 DECEMBER 2008.

6. 2008 AWARD WINNERS - See attached sheet re the presentation of awards.

7. INSURANCE 2009
It has been verbally confirmed that there will be no change to the rates for 2009.

8. RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR 2009
I am enclosing with this bulletin the Rules and Regulations for all the disciplines apart from Quads-as usual the SACU Rules and Regulations will be printed on coloured paper with the licences. We need to remind committees that the SACU Rules and Regulations are sanctioned by Insurers before the season starts and we cannot take on board any changes to these rules mid year. To do that we would need to get further approval from the Insurers and then re-issue them to those licence holders who were issued with the old Rules & Regulations.

9. ONE EVENT LICENCE
In the last bulletin we announced changes to the issuing of one-event licences. We have had a mixed reaction from clubs - some welcome the reduction on paperwork at the start of events - some clubs feel that we may lose entrants. Management have therefore reconsidered the issue and have agreed that OELs can still be issued on the day of the event. The licence application forms unfortunately have had to be slightly amended and copies are enclosed. Club secretaries will have issued the forms issued in the last bulletin and there should be no problems with that as they will be used up on riders wishing to renew their full licences. I am also enclosing a note explaining the background to the revised one event licence system. It is also our intention to let all the riders know of this in the next newsletter.

10. OFFICE CLOSURE OVER THE FESTIVE PERIOD
The SACU office will close on Monday 22 December (early!) and re-open for business on Tuesday 6 January. Eric, Stella, Ann and Yvonne wish you all the compliments of the season.

 

 

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MOTOCROSS NEWS
2009

YMX SCOTLAND
YOUTH SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIP – RD 3 – Ardersier, Invernesshire

Wow, another great YMX Scottish Championship weekend! Hosted this time by Highland MXC at the sandy track near Inverness, the youths turned out in force yet again to put on a spectacular show of great racing through all the classes. Scorching sunshine met us on Saturday morning and stayed throughout the weekend as an added bonus.

As usual the automatics got things started as they negotiated the dry and dusty conditions. The steep, sandy hills proved a challenge for some but they rose to it and put on a great show. Scott Russell was the lad out front dominating for most of the weekend, taking four wins from five. Lewis Dow gave everything he had but only managed to snatch one maximum from Russell. Jordan Gill, Kirk Watson and Ciara Robertson fought it out, swapping places often, but Gill managed to hold onto third overall.

Ben Edwards continued his domination of the 65cc class on his home track. Taking maximums in every race throughout the weekend, the chasing pack just couldn’t put up any sort of challenge. Daniel Dey took a fine second with some great riding, while Alexander Brown held off Lewis Campbell, both of them riding superbly in the tough combination of heat and dust.

With Championship leader, Matthew Callaghan missing, the door was open for the small wheel 85cc lads and Luke Cockburn was the first to stamp his authority with fastest qualifying and first race win. John Adamson and Jay Lamb were not going to let him have it all his own way  and although Cockburn went on to take four of the five wins of the weekend, it was hard fought. Lamb took the other maximum with some excellent riding. John Adamson had to settle for third despite giving it everything he had; a couple of spills taking its toll on his final points.

Matthew Fleming once again ran away with the Big Wheel 85cc class by a country mile. The best of the rest were still pretty fast and some exciting racing ensued between Sam Winterburn and Murray Clunie.  Over the race distance, Winterburn had the legs on Clunie but he had to work for it! Marcus Deans was in contention too until a dnf in race four spoiled his weekend.

A slightly depleted class of 125cc riders shared the gates with the 250/144  riders. Nonetheless, they had their own battles for supremacy going on and it was anybody’s guess who would take the wins. Up till this weekend, Harry Cooper had dominated but Jamie Blair and Scott Foote took the fight to him. Scott Foote took three of the wins but an engine failure in moto 3 put him out of sight of an overall win. Cooper was not on his usual form with a couple of spills and bike problems so the overall went the Jamie Blair with Cooper second and Dale Stewart third.

The 250f class was as ever hotly contested; with everyone at the top of the field battling for track position, it was anyone’s race each time. Mark Perfect was super quick in the first race of the day taking the win from Sean McDonald. McDonald then took the next two with Perfect and Arron McCarroll chasing him down, taking a second place each. Races four and five, Perfect and McCarroll took one apiece. The action never stopped throughout the weekend in this class with Steven Craig, Aiden Bruce and David Houston also up there in contention. Steven Craig took a big tumble in race three knocking him well down the points board. Perfect eventually took the overall ahead of Mccarroll and Aiden Bruce in third.

As usual the Adult MX2 Scottish championship contenders joined the racing on Sunday and saw Tony Craig out front as the man to beat in all three motos. Tommy Fenwick was hard charging as ever but just couldn’t quite match Craig’s pace and rode superbly to three second places. Ryan McLean was super quick and up there with the fast guys despite being just 16; and took third overall.

Tony Craig was obviously feeling  fit as he also rode and won the adult support class, ahead of Ross Rutherford and Gavin Robertson!

The YMX Youth Scottish Championship and SACU Adult MX2 Championship move to the Borders for round 4 – the fantastic Duns Motoparc is the venue on 4^th/5^th July – don’t miss it!

 RESULTS

Auto – Scott Russell, Lewis Dow, Jordan Gill, Kirk Watson, Ciara Robertson, Troy Anderson

65cc – Ben Edwards, Daniel Dey, Alexander Brown, Lewis Campbell, Lee Perfect, Aiden Campbell

85cc SW – Luke Cockburn, Jay Lamb, John Adamson, Greg Queen, Reece Wilson, Fraser Pohlen

85cc BW – Matthew Fleming, Sam Winterburn, Murray Clunie, Stuart Robertson, Blane Mcnally, Aidan Christie

125cc SP – Jamie Blair, Harry Cooper, Dale Stewart, Jasper Cochrane, Scott Foote, Aiden Fifer

250cc SP –Mark Perfect, Arran McCarroll, Aiden Bruce, David Houston, Lewis Dawson, Thomas Robertson

MX2 Adults – Tony Craig, Tommy Fenwick, Ryan Mclean, Frazer Norrie, Ralph Yeaman, John Soutar.

 

YMX SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIP 2009
ROUND 1 – LEUCHARS 11^TH/12^TH APRIL 2009

The much anticipated YMX Scotland 2009 Youth Scottish Championship kicked off this Easter weekend at the excellently prepared Leuchars sand circuit.

The sun shone, the track was first class and the racing was second to none.

Continuing with the two day format introduced last year, close on 200 riders lined up over the two days, with youth riders contesting 5 races over two days and the Adult 125 Championship riders joining them on the Sunday for 3 action packed races as their season got going.

For the first time, the Automatic class had a Scottish Championship to contest, and a big class of riders lined up early on Saturday morning for their qualifying. Relishing being part of the championship they all did themselves proud. Unfazed by the increasingly rough track over the weekend they battled for position throughout. Lewis Dow was on form taking the overall with 4 wins from 5. Behind him there were some good battles going on between Jordan Gill, Kirk Watson & Ciara Robertson. Gill took second place with Watson in a close third.

A fair few competitors from the south decided to take on the local boys – maybe they were here just for the Easter eggs?! Or maybe the fact that the BYMX is coming north to Leuchars in two weeks had something to do with it?  Or is it because it is always great racing at Leuchars?

Whatever the reason, in the other schoolboy races, it was fast and furious with a great mix of regulars and visitors providing some fantastic racing.

The 65cc’s was dominated by the hard charging Conrad Mewse, the current BYMX leader. Kyle Peebles, with some fine riding, did everything he could to stop the domination but to no avail. Ben Edwards was in the mix too but had to finally settle for third at the end of the 5 races.

The biggest class of the weekend, the Small Wheel 85cc class was almost at capacity, and from the outset the racing was incredibly fast. Dominated by National riders, both visiting and local not an inch was given by anyone. Matthew Callaghan was the man to beat being in great form over all 5 races. Connor Clark, Ben Green, Luke Cockburn, John Adamson, Frazer Pohlen – all up there fighting every inch for position, and all giving a great display but in the end Clark and Green took second and third respectively behind Callaghan.

Local lad, and reigning champion in the Big Wheel 85cc class, Matthew Fleming was not going to let anyone get on terms with him! Despite a mistake in race one he came through the field to take the win. No more mistakes saw him take a clean sweep of maximums. Behind him there was again fantastic racing between Cameron Pendreich, Micky Eccles, Sam Winterburn, Murray Clunie and Tom Moore.  Pendreich held off the chasing opposition for second with the ever quick Eccles only two points adrift after 5 races.

In the 125/250 schoolpersons class, they raced all as one group, but the 125cc lads were being scored separately for the championship.

Despite being the smallest class, the 125cc guys were no less determined to fight for their points! Harry Cooper was in excellent form keeping the rest of them behind him for most of the weekend. Behind him though there was a battle royal going on between Jamie Blair, Colin Smith and Ewan Marshall. Swapping positions regularly, Blair finally held onto second place ahead of Colin Smith in third.

The 250 boys were in fighting form! Fast and aggressive racing throughout the weekend made for some exciting spectating. Again, it could have gone any way between 5 or 6 riders. Consistency, at the end of the day was what made the difference, with Mark Perfect coming through as the eventual winner ahead of Arran McCarroll.  Some fine racing from David Houston saw him pick up the final podium place. 1^st race winner, Steven Craig had luck against him when a big crash in the final race left him injured, but despite no score in this race he still held onto 6^th position.

The Adult 125cc Championship was better supported than it has been for a few years which is fantastic, and the racing at the head of the field was nothing short of spectacular! Tommy Fenwick set out as he meant to go on, and there was a three way battle all day between Fenwick, Sean McDonald and Tony Craig. Each of them gave everything in their armoury but for this round at least Fenwick had the better of them, taking two wins from three. McDonald took second ahead of Craig.

The adult support was won by Ross Rutherford with Bobby Gold second ahead of Gavin Robertson in third.

A fantastic start to the championship! The second round is on 2^nd/3^rd May at the fast hardpack track at Shiplaw, Peebles.

 

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QUAD NEWS
2009

ZOE NEILLS NEWSLETTER FROM ROUND 3 and 4 - SACU QUAD CHAMPIONSHIP

On the 23^rd and 24^th of May it was the Scottish double header at Ardersier. When we got there the weather was good and the track was in good order. The 50cc’s had their own track, which was good. On the Saturday there was a few hic-ups with the youths>In the 100cc class Ryan McLeish fell off quite a sore one and in the 250cc modified Blair Brown fell off and got air lifted to hospital because we thought he had broke his arm but it ended up that he hadn’t broke it. In the 250cc standard Jamie Swan fell off a really bad one he had to get rushed to hospital but he had to stay in overnight. We never thought we would see him on Sunday but he did come to watch the racing and we were all glad he was a bit better. Get well soon all of you.

Apart from all of those fall offs the day was good for me because I got 1^st in my class, Connor Smith dominated all of the hybrids in his class and James Frew won the day in his class.

At the end of the day the Saturday results were;

50cc standard		50cc modified
1st	Arron Swan	1st	Abbi Clark
2nd	Ben McLeish
100cc geared		100cc modified
1st	Murray Graham	1st	Zoe Neill
2nd	Taylor Gibb	2nd	Thomas Tobin
		3rd	Cameron Barr
250cc standard		250cc modified
1st	James Frew	1st	Connor Smith
2nd	Amy Neil	2nd	Liam Nicol
3rd	Taylor Boyd	3rd	Michael Alexander
250cc hybrid
1st	Abbi Walton
2nd	David Forrest

SUNDAY
On Sunday it was another nice day and the track was a little rutty, sometimes I couldn’t even hold on because it was that bumpy. I had a bad day because my quad wasn’t working very well. I had to get my spark plug changed after every race. At lunch break we found out the problem, my piston was cracked and my quad had blown up so my dad, uncle Jim and Gary had to fix it and they did so I was very grateful and I got to continue racing but I couldn’t work my way up to second so I got 4^th I was quite disappointed but I was ok in the end because I knew I worked hard and finished the day. That’s enough about me. Ryan McLeish had a good day coming first with Thomas Tobin following behind. My big sister Amy Neill was having a good day too she ended up being 1^st with a clean sweep. I hope everyone had a great time too. 

50cc standard		50cc modified
1st	Arron Swan	1st	Abbi Clark
2nd	Ben McLeish
100cc geared		100cc modified
1st	Murray Graham	1st	Ryan McLeish
2nd	Taylor Gibb	2nd	Thomas Tobin
		3rd	Mitchell Young
250cc standard		250cc modified
1st	Amy Neill	1st	Connor Smith
2nd	Taylor Boyd	2nd	Liam Nicol
3rd	James Frew	3rd	Michael Alexander
250cc hybrid
1st	Abbi Walton
2nd	David Forrest

ZOE NEILLS NEWSLETTER FROM ROUND 2 - SACU QUAD CHAMPIONSHIP

On Sunday the 26th of April 2009 Quad Racing Scotland held its second event of the year at Rhynie.On the Saturday night, when we arrived it was pouring and I thought oh! no, no racing tomorrow ! However we waited until Sunday and the weather was perfect.

 Practise got underway with just one hic-up, the usual NOT ENOUGH MARSHALS (6 marshals short) but after pleading for about 15 minutes 6 people volunteered (thank you very much). Practice for all classes got underway. After that it was straight into the racing with the 50cc class first, with Abby Clark taking first position In the modified class but in the standard class Arron Swan took the lead with quite a gap. Ben McLeish behind him and poor Jake Summers didn’t start. After the 50cc race, the 100cc’s were on the line ready to go, which was a mixed class, geared/mod/pro. In the geared class it was Murray Graham who dominated the race and Taylor Gibb was 2^nd. In the 100cc mod, I was having a battle with Ryan McLeish, with Ryan coming out on top this time!!! Thomas Tobin 3^rd, Cameron Barr 4^th.In the 200/250 air cooled/hybrid class they all ran together, but lap scored separately. In the production class, Jamie Swan 1st with my big cousin James Frew in 2^nd (well done keep it up James). My big sister Amy Neill in 3^rd she stalled her quad a few times which greatly frustrated her (ha! Ha! ).Taylor Boyd had a great race he came 4^th (get the trophy cabinet ready Taylor). In the 200/250cc modified class Connor Smith 1^st he absolutely ran away with the day (he even bet some of the hybrids!!). Ross McNair finished in 2^nd and Mark Hadden 3^rd,Liam Nicol 4^th. In the 200/250cc hybrid class David Forest winning the day with Steven Beagrie 2^nd Scot Sinclair 3^rd.

Most youth classes were well attended and some close racing was had. Thank you to everyone who took part, hope you all had a fantastic time racing with QRS.

P.S All you boy racers watch out because us girl racers are coming to beat you! (Ha ha)

Yours in sport Zoe Neill #5
 

50cc class:		50cc mod class:
1st	Arron Swan	1st	Abby Clark
2nd	Ben Mcleish
100cc mod:		100cc Geared:
1st	Ryan Mcleish	1st	Murray Graham
2nd	Zoe Neill (Me)	2nd	Taylor Gibb
3rd	Thomas Tobin
4th	Cameron Barr
200/250cc std:		200/250cc mod:
1st	Jamie Swan	1st	Connor Smith
2nd	James Frew (big cousin)	2nd	Ross Mcnair
3rd	Amy Neill (Big sister)	3rd	Mark Hadden
4th	Taylor Boyd	4th	Liam Nicol
250cc Hybrid Class
1st	David Forest
2nd	Steven Beagrie
3rd	Scot Sinclair

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TRIALS NEWS
2009

Trials Sections Markers
Prior to the first round of the 2009 Scottish Trials Championships, the SACU have announced a colour marker system for all rounds of the Scottish Trials Championships. Many trials now use multiple routes in sections and to make life easier, it was decided at the last committee meeting of last season to have a system in place which was universal to all clubs so that riders would recognise their route. It also makes life easier for observers who may officiate at different club organised events throughout the season. The colour coding is similar to that used in Europe, particularly Spain which uses a Red; Blue; Green and Yellow format, with severity shown as Red being the hardest down to Yellow being the easiest.

The actual format will be as follows:

• Red Route = Adult Championship Route;
• Blue Route = Youth A;
• Green Route = Youth B; Clubman; Over 40; B Route Riders; Twinshock & Pre-65;
• Yellow Route = Youth C plus first time or rookie riders sampling the sport.

It is hoped that clubs will be able to use cards of the appropriate colour to indicate where the routes are split and where routes merge by simply using a gate system with a common start where-ever possible. Obviously there could be some initial confusion with clubs who already operate their own colour system, but it was felt that the best way forward for all clubs was to adopt a universal colour scheme across the board. The section colour system takes effect from 1st February for all SACU Trials championship events. The first combined championship event to use the SACU Colour System will be Bon Accord at Craiglash Quarry near Banchory on 29th March.

 

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ROAD RACE NEWS
2009

MOT0SIX - THE SIX NATIONS ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP

-

The first running of MotoSix, the six nations road race championship will take place on the weekend of 28/29

March 2009 over the full Donington Park GP circuit with teams from Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Southern Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man competing for the title of "MotoSix Nations Champions"

The Scottish team announced by team manager Ian Thomson is a mix of well-established Scottish riders who have represented their country before and some who are new to this style of competition.

Each nation will have riders in the Open 1000 class, Open 600 class and Open sidecar classes, six in each of the solo classes and four in the sidecar class. During racing each team member will wear an overshirt in their national colours for easy identification.

Open 1000

Keith Amor, Bruce Birnie, Aidrian Clark, Donald MacFadyen, Torquil Paterson and Jimmy Storrar.

Open 600

Lewis Farrow, Ryan Gibb, Craig MacLelland, David Paton jnr., Michael Robertson and Dave Stanger.

Open Sidecars [F1 and F2 machines]

Bill Davie/Graham Davie, Scott Lawrie/James Connell, Gordon Shand/Lee Barrett,

David Wrinn/Graham Whitehill

Reserves are Tony Czyzweski in the Open 1000 and Bruce Birnie and Jimmy Storrar in the Open 600 classes

Format for the weekend is along MotoGP lines with a 30 minute untimed practice session followed later by a 20 minute timed qualifying session that will determine grid positions for each class on Saturday. Sunday sees a 10 minute warm-up, with two 10 lap races per class.

Grid positions will be determined by aggregating the times of each team rider and the team with the lowest aggregate time will be allocated grids 1, 7, 13, 19, 25 and 31. Second fastest team will be on grids 2, 8, 14, 20, 26 and 32 and so on until all the grids are allocated and teams are spread evenly across the whole grid.

Points scoring will be on a 'penalty' basis. The winner of each race will receive 1 point, second, 2 points and so on down to the last rider finishing. The Team with the lowest total score over the six races will be the championship winner.

Additional to the main championship the following awards will also be presented.

Medals for 1st, 2nd, 3rd placed riders in each race.

A trophy for each Class 1st, 2nd, 3rd placed Nations.

Replicas for each rider in the Championship winning team

Possible television coverage of both days is being pursued at present but at the time of writing has not been confirmed. Grid, rider and team interviews will be a feature of this coverage, just as it is in MotoGP

The event hosted and organised jointly by the ACU and Donington Park Leisure will undoubtedly generate a highly competitive event charged with national pride and the will to do well for their country by all team members.

 

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ENDURO NEWS
2009     

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