Sam Flowers and Shaun Stoddard in action.Photograph courtesy Ron Hinsley

The Third Round of the 2006 FGA Championship sponsored by Total Engine Company took place at a new venue in Crewe, Cheshire,United Kingdom and the Whitchurch MCC hosted yet another first class event.

In very warm conditions the meeting got underway with the Junior Golden Helmet and this saw defending champion Chris Timms take on new challengers Steve Frays and Richard Guest.As the tapes rose it was Guest who made a great start,ironically riding his brothers bike after his own developed problems during practice.He stretched his lead throughout the 4 laps to grab a well deserved hold on the helmet, as Timms and Frays enjoyed a good tussle for the minor positions.

In the Senior Golden Helmet,the defending holder Steve Carvill was unable to defend the award as he was riding in the Pre 75 Championship meeting at Gloucester.Having forfeited the helmet,the three new challengers drawn from the hat were Messer's Jones,Binns and Sanders.

Again the race was won from the gate with Mick Jones showing lightning reflexes to lead from tapes to flag.Binns also made a good start and held off Sanders for a short while before the Telford based veteran came through to finish in second place.
 
The main event started with controversy in the Junior section when both  members of the Frays Racing Team,Claire and Steve failed to arrive at the pit box in time for the first race and it was subsequently run without them.However this disappointment only seemed to fire up the hard working team and they were rewarding with an outstanding display of riding, especially from Claire.

At the end of six great heats which were a credit to all the young competitors who took part, it was Tom Perry who took the overall victory and extended his lead at the top of the championship table.However close scrutiny of the scorecard showed Perry suffered two defeats to Frays, and in the final countback, the zero from the first heat proved very costly to the young lady from Staffordshire.Making up for his disappointment in relinquishing the Golden Helmet was Chris Timms who took third and Richard Guest and Steve Frays shared equal 4th.

The position attained by young Guest is made more remarkable as he was having to miss alternate rides, as he and younger brother Mike were sharing only one bike for the day.Michael Guest finally finished in 6th position and machine problems restricted James Williams and Gary Leadbitter to 7th and 8th respectively.Whilst all the above was going on,Rocco Casale quietly went about his business and took the win in the Cub Class
 
The Senior class was hit by a couple of withdrawals after practice,but the small remaining entry attacked the tight circuit with the usual display of wheel to wheel racing.

The overall victory on the day went to Len Sanders,who having missed the last round at Malpas, did it again at Crewe, with another last heat victory over Paul Timms to claim first place and 10 championship points as his reward.

Timms rode extremely well for his second place finish,but there was a surprise packet in third as Mike Williams from Cannock made his first appearance of the season and took advantage of a good race draw to take 3 heat wins and make an immediate impact in the championship standings.Series stalwarts Mick Jones and Sam Flowers took fourth and fifth respectively and were always involved in the best races of the day.
Another of the pre meeting favourites,Dave Meredith from Stockport withdrew from the meeting after two heats with electrical problems.
 
The top eight juniors then contested the Edge and District Trophy Final with Tom Perry being victorious, before the meeting finale, which was the top eight senior riders contesting the Jonathan Rodgers Memorial Trophy.

The winner of this prestigious award was Mick Jones, who repeated his lightning get away from the tapes in the earlier Golden Helmet match race, to lift the award.
 
Results
Cubs 1st Rocco Casale 42pts
Juniors 1st Tom Perry 38pts, 2nd Claire Frays 33pts, 3rd Chris Timms 31pts, Equal 4th Richard Guest,Steve Frays 20pts, 6th Michael Guest 17pts, 7th James Williams 15pts, 8th Gary Leadbitter 12pts
Seniors 1st Len Sanders 36pts, 2nd Paul Timms 35pts, 3rd Mike Williams 31pts, 4th Mick Jones 29pts, 5th Sam Flowers 25pts, equal 6th Andy Binns, Adrian Guest, Shaun Stoddard, Ross Wharton 17pts, 10th Dave Meredith 12pts, 11th Austin Reed 10pts
Junior Golden Helmet Richard Guest defeated Chris Timms and Steve Frays
Senior Golden Helmet Mick Jones defeated Len Sanders and Andy Binns
Total Engine Co Cub Trophy Rocco Casale
Edge and District Junior Trophy  Tom Perry
Jonathan Rodgers Memorial Trophy Mick Jones