Congratulations go to Jo Turner from Edwinstowe in Nottinghamshire who has just become the 2016 Vespa Club of Britain attendance award champion. She shared the title with Adam Collier from Scarborough but won the female award outright. This is the first time a woman has won by attending 100% of all events. Similar to the best supporting member championships of the LCGB and BSRA, the VCB championship is equally hard. Covering a total of 21 different events from VCB rallies to the Nationals as well as track racing, it’s a gruelling task for anyone to take on.
With the events spread over the majority of the country covering three of the four nations (Northern Ireland is due to be included in 2018) Jo covered a distance of 8500 miles in total. This was done using two different machines, a GTS 300 for the long distance events and a 150 sprint for the more local rallies. Though she had no breakdowns as such, a total of eight exhaust gaskets blew on the GTS. There were no accidents but there was an embarrassing moment where Jo fell off in the mud at Cadwell Park race circuit.
Not content with winning one championship, Jo and her husband Darren also won best supporting couple for the VCB and the BSRA as well. Having achieved so much in 2016 Jo is not one to shy away and plans a busy year in 2017 with the prospect of defending her title. Strangely enough, the original idea of entering the championship started after a bet on a drunken night out with a member of the Mansfield Monsters Scooter club.
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Upon reflection Jo is proud of what she has achieved and rightly so as it can be a long and at times tiring journey to win such an accolade. Jo said she wanted to thank all of her family who put up with her being away most weekends of the rally season as well has husband Darren who constantly made sure both machines were serviced and ready to use.
She also wanted to thank the Mansfield Monsters SC who gave continued support, as did the Olympics SC. Jo highlighted how rewarding it was to venture around the country and in doing so make many new friends along the way, making it a thoroughly rewarding experience.
On a final note, she said she would like to see more women entering these types of championships to take on the men in what she sees as a male dominated part of the scooter scene. So there you have it all you female scooter riders, take up Jo’s challenge and become a champion.
