James Cowton headed to Scarborough’s Oliver’s Mount circuit at the weekend for the Steve Henshaw International Gold Cup races.
With a large entry list of world-famous names, including Guy Martin, Michael and William Dunlop, John McGuinness, Bruce Anstey and Ian Lougher, the Kilham rider was in for some stiff opposition riding his 600 Honda CBR, KMR 650 Kawasaki ER6 and Peter Berwicks Yamaha TZ250.
Saturday was a decent dry and warm day, and Cowton competed on all three bikes in the various classes, achieving a third on the 650 ER6, a fifth on the TZ250, and he finished first on his 600 Honda in the David Jefferies heat one.
In the final, he secored fourth place, which was a great result considering the famous competition he was up against, while in the Darren Lindsay Trophy, he finished fifth.
Sunday was a totally different day, wet, breezy and cold, and Cowton’s first race was the Darren Lindsay Trophy second leg, where he took another fourth.
The big race of the weekend was The Steve Henshaw Gold Cup, an eight-lap race in which Cowton was on his 600 Honda CBR, compared to most of the field who had 1000cc machinery, so he was at a big disadvantage for power and speed. However, he slowly made his way through the field, and on the last lap was pressurising Guy Martin for second place with Michael Dunlop leading. The race finished in that order.
Jumping on to the 250 TZ, he competed in the next race and finished third.
Cowton’s final race of the weekend was in the 600 David Jefferies Cup, which proved to be another fast and exciting race in wet conditions, but he acquitted himself well and earned another fourth place, behind his big-name rivals.