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2 Stroke British Championships – Round 1

The perfect antidote to a winter of four stroke thunder was served up at Mildenhall on Sunday as the MC Federation’s British Two Stroke Championship barked into life. Basking in glorious late winter sunshine, a decent crowd turned out for round one to see some typically frenetic 2 stroke racing – with the track well packed down, it wasn’t the normal deep Mildenhall sand; the compact dirt broke down choppier than normal, but it didn’t stop the mix of regulars and newcomers from keeping it WFO all day long.

The 125 B group as ever proved a showcase for good racing, with bars being banged all the way down the field from start to finish. Lee Wren fired his KTM out of the gate in moto one and set about building a gap as Archie Knight, Daniel Johnson, Mat Hopkins contested second place. Nicki Banks was putting in a strong charge from further down the top ten until a minor off dropped him back down the field – Craig Polden battled his way into second and set about pulling away from Knight as Joe Golding made his way within sight of the podium, but while it seemed like the pack would fragment into separate melees, as the clock ran down everyone started closing up again – Wren maintained a steady gap at the front as a mass brawl erupted over second place, with Knight taking the flag barely a second ahead of Johnson and Banks, with Golding, Mark McDonnell, Polden and Hopkins within sniffing distance right behind them. Race two looked like being another episode of the Lee Wren Show as he fired out of the gate into a commanding lead after an early pass on the fast-starting Hopkins, but Banks started better this time out, ending the first lap in seventh and storming through the pack into second place. With a clear track in front of him, Banks began closing the gap and it was Wren who stumbled under the pressure, suffering a mishap that dropped him a lap down and way out of contention – Banks brought his 125MX.com KTM home for a comfy win some way ahead of Matthew Watkin, McDonnell, James Jackaman and Golding, second through to fifth close enough to drop a blanket over. Wren came firing out of the blocks like a missile in race three, a mile ahead of the pack into turn one, but Banks was next in line and soon closed the gap, getting the run out of the final turn to jump his way past over the tabletop and even finding time to drop a cheeky little look-back into the manoeuvre. Wren rode solidly to take a comfy second ahead of the consistent Golding, with Rob Wild and Watkin filling out the top five – although Banks and Wren were the class of the field, you never knew what order the pack was going to come round in, some epic racing action.

The combined 250 B and 125 C class rather threw up a misrepresentation as Danny Tollet, fresh from a brace of top eight finishes in the British SX1 and SX2 Supercross championships, found himself in unfamiliar company after bike problems in qualifying prevented him from setting a time. The Garston veteran just shrugged off his misfortune and simply mullered the unsuspecting field, romping to three easy wins with lap times that would have put him firmly into the top ten in the 125 As. Steve Wells on his pristine KX500 romped out of the gate to holeshot moto one, but Tollet was soon by and off into the distance, ahead of Rory Wooten and Anthony McGladdery, with Wells on the potent but less wieldy 500 dropping slowly back. Shane Headon came charging through to pip McGladdery at the post for third, but Tollet was just gone, 56 seconds in front at the flag after nine laps of racing. Moto two started with a power demonstration as Wells got a merely average jump, only to sprint to the head of the field in the length of the start straight – interestingly, he was neck-and-neck with the 125-mounted Tollet heading into turn one, and it was the 250 of Sean Doyle who split the pair of them on the way through the corner to emerge with the lead. Wells was sadly sidelined with an injury just three turns into the race as Tollet ran off and hid, McGladdery this time a comfortable second whilst Carl Hewlett, Sam Beddows and a fast-starting Dan Grove fought a closely-contested third position, ahead of a Jonathan Tapp who was well on the gas after his crash at the DEP round at the same venue last September. Tollet yawned his way to a third win in the final moto – Beddows would take second ahead of Wootton, Thornton and Grove as McGladdery could muster only 6th at the flag.

Jake Page holeshot moto one in the 125 A class, streaking away ahead of Lloyd Morgan and Luke Dean as Dave Willet charged back from a sub top ten start, with Christian Taylor, Jim Davies and Ashley Harland even further back. By the end of lap two the remarkable Willet was up to fifth as Morgan took the lead and tried to escape at the front, but even as Dean managed to make his way past Page into second, Willet was there to close down on third. Willet on the number two Yamaha took his time making his way past Page’s KTM but had no problem running down Dean. Again, he took his time making his way through before ripping great chunks out of Morgan’s lead and sweeping imperiously through for the win, Morgan holding on for second with a gap over his 2008 sparring partner Taylor, as Dean kept a close watching brief. Page grabbed a second holeshot for race two but this time Willet was right there ahead of Harland, Davies and Morgan , Iron Man Willet taking little time to force his way into the lead. Davies on the TM was into second by the end of lap two and spent his race in fruitless pursuit of Willet as Morgan hopped into third and went with him. Davies and

Morgan swapped positions several times for second, with Jim making the telling move, carrying about 400mph out of the corner after the tunnel to cut inside Morgan for the position, Harland taking a lonely fourth ahead of Sean Stevens and Luke Kennett. Moto three was just awesome – Harland got the jump out of the gate with Davies right on him as Morgan and Page held a watching brief, but the crucial factor was a massive turn two pile up; Willet was mired up in the tangle but still managed to get free and finish the lap inside the top fifteen. As Davies and Harland engaged in a knock-down brawl for the lead, Willet coldly went to work – eleventh at the end of the second lap, he was seventh by lap three but by the time he made fifth, was the best part of two straights in arrears. But even as the leading duo went back and forth with Morgan dogging their trail, Willet was making massive inroads into their lead – it seemed that the track was none too easy to pass on, but once clear of traffic, the 2008 title runner-up was having no problem knocking great lumps out of the leads of the people ahead of him. Even as Willett passed Morgan for third, it seemed that the message of his imminent arrival was being passed along and Davies got his head down, charging away to try and escape before the Iron Man gatecrashed the party, but the clock ticked down just a smidge too slowly, Willet taking the lead with just a couple of laps to go until the chequers flew. Davies pushed one more time, but Willet had it all in control for the win – it was a enthralling battle. With Jack Brunnel seemingly not contesting the series and Jonathan Pettitt missing round one through injury, it’s hard to see the title going anywhere other than back to 2007 champion Willet – but then, if it was that clear-cut, there’d be no point running the races…

The first Open A moto saw a Service Honda CR500 holeshot in the hands of Luke Hill – with Mark Eastwood right on his shoulder and Carl Nunn in close attendance, it seemed just a matter of seconds before the British Championship frontrunners were past the 500 and scrapping amongst themselves, but no-one told Hill that… Easto found himself under fire as Nunn made a move past him for second and then charged past Hill into the lead – even as he launched his own assault on second place, two-class Willet was through into fourth ahead of Oliver Rusby before Ruzzer’s bike suffered a mechanical failure. Reigning Open champion Eastwood was making hard work of passing Hill as Willet drew ever closer and Nunn pulled away in front, Easto eventually having to use a hint of rudeness to take second. But whilst the gap to Nunny up front stayed the same, Willet managed to take third and close the gap down, passing Eastwood with almost half the race left to run – the three circulated in close company but no-one had enough

left to make a move, Nunn taking the win ahead of Willet and Eastwood with fourth place Nathan Rooks almost a minute further down the track ahead of Hill. Moto two was straight out of the X Files – Hill again got a start but Eastwood gave him what for right from the start, shutting the door as the pair rounded turn one ahead of Nunn. Within seconds Nunn was into second and Willet was on Hill’s back mudguard, but even as battle commenced, storm clouds were gathering – Barry Turnbull took a horrific fall further down the field, and while the medics were seeing to him, Eastwood took his own soil sample, a flat-out swap worsening until it spat him all the way off. In considerable pain, the reigning champion struggled to remount and continue, whilst Nunn, with a comfortable lead out front, ran into the ropes and was spat off, losing masses of time trying to free his bike. With Turnbull suffering a bad femur break, the red flags

were thrown, giving the win to Willet ahead of Hill and Open class rookie Adam Reynolds – the 2007 125 Junior champion had been straight on the pace aboard his KTM 250. Moto three was far less fraught, Nunn leading straight out of the gate from Hill, Willet and James Cotterell with Eastwood circulating in typically full-bore style a few places back. But although the mind might have been willing, for Eastwood the body was for once unable to deliver, his battered frame as aggressive as ever but unable to recapture his normal blistering pace. Local lad Nunny cruised to an easy win whilst Willet took second place to clinch his second overall victory of the day, with Luke Hill leading Lewis Rose over the line for third and fourth.

The Fuchs-Silkolene 2 stroke series takes a five week break now before it reconvenes at Cusses Gorse on the 12th of April. If you’re a fan of motocross this is a must-see event, because there is no finer sight or sound than a pack of howling 125s battling for the win…

Story and Photos bt Paul Harris.

For more information on the 2 Stroke British Championships please go to this web site.
http://www.2strokebritishchampionship.co.uk

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