2 Stroke British Championships – Round 3
The Fuchs-Silkolene British 2 Stroke Championship headed up north for round three on Sunday but, contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t grim up north at all – in fact, despite predictions of rain leading up to the event, the racing ran under unexpectedly glorious sunshine. The track looked to be unremitting hardpack on Saturday afternoon, but after the crew had attacked it with harrows and water, it emerged on Sunday morning a far more attractive proposition, still hard-pack, super-fast and to an extent one-lined – it’s in the nature of the place – but this mini-Foxhills looked great fun to ride.
Dan Grove airs out the Berkeley/NTG Yamaha - this report exists only thanks to his and Mike's efforts. Cheers guys!
Tim Heasman fired his RM125 out to a ridiculous holeshot in the first 125 A moto, but wildcard entrant Elliot Banks-Browne was right on the case, charging through into an early lead. Reigning champion Dave Willet was quickly through into second place, maybe a second in arrears, and the story of the race was the stupendous battle of wills between the two – EBB showed signs of eking out his advantage in the early stages but was never able to gain more than a couple of seconds advantage, but Willet just flat-out refused to be beaten and began to sneak back up to Banks-Browne’s back wheel. The stage was set for a grandstand finish, but Ady Peedle suffered a horrendous crash right after the finish line tabletop – the first aid crew were to him straight away, but it became apparent that he was unable to be safely removed whilst the racing continued and so the red flags were shown. Horribly, Ady had suffered a break to both wrists and an elbow, plus dislocating a shoulder – terrible news to hear, and Ady, if you’re reading this, all the best for a swift recovery.
Dave Willet's 125 takes a breather, which is more than can be said for the man himself - the Ironman goes one-race-on, one-race-off all day long, and has blistering pace throughout.
As a knock-on to the incident, both Jim Davies and Lloyd Morgan were penalised one minute each for not sufficiently slowing for the yellow flags, knocking them both out of the top five and down into 29th and 34th respectively, testimony to how close the racing is at the 2 Stroke Championships, and a decision which might prove crucial as the championship reaches its climax.
Got hills? Get horsepower. Luke Hill's Service Honda CR500 was the fastest bike there, and always attracts a lot of attention even when stood in the pits.
Banks-Browne, entered in both classes on his 125, then DNF’d out of the second 125 moto, leaving the way clear for Willet to charge out for the win, a mile faster than anyone else – behind him Ash Harland charged to an excellent second place ahead of Davies, Heasman, ex-GP veteran Danny Tollet, Morgan and the very quick Dan Arnold. Arnold would charge to victory aboard the LPE Kawasaki in moto three as Willet hit problems with a rough-sounding YZ125 – only able to muster ninth, the Ironman still took the overall to extend his championship lead, but Harland was just two points away from a brilliant first win. The quick and consistent Heasman took third, with Davies in recovery mode, hanging on to fourth after his moto one penalty - Arnold’s final moto win took him to fifth overall, but there was no lack of pace, better starts could well have seen him take the overall. Another get well soon, however, has to go to Brad Doyle, who stacked heavily on lap one, suffering a knee injury in the process.
Tom Finneron's steel-framed spare CR125 may not have been as bling as his MXW race bike, but he made it go faster than it wanted to in the B group.
Suzuki scored another A group holeshot when the Open class left the line, Matt Moffat charging straight into the lead. Kristian Whatley was right there in second place, though, and the current ACU MMX championship leader took a few laps stalking the leader before being able to despatch Moffat for first place – Dave Willet, in his second class of the day, was quickly into third place but the number two Yamaha was unable to close the gap to the leaders and actually began to drop off the pace of the front two as the chance of a win ebbed away. Lewis Rose came out on top of a tussle with an abnormally subdued Mark Eastwood – reigning champion Eastwood got a decent start but lacked the normal sharp edge of pace, conceding fourth to Rose but staying in front of a race-long tussle between Elliot Banks-Browne and Lewis Tombs.
Race two saw a rejuvenated Easto sprint out into an early lead but Whatley was right there and soon into a lead he wasn’t to lose – Ironman Willet, however, took a heavy tumble in the first turn and took a long time to straighten out both his bike and himself, eventually finishing a gutsy 27th. Whatley took the win ahead of Eastwood and Moffat, with Luke Hill bringing the Service Honda CR500 home fourth to make up for an early race one mishap. It was Whatley who again looked the likely victor in race three at the death, but the youngster stumbled through the backmarkers and an adrenaline-fired Willet, in his sixth race of the day, somehow found the minerals to charge his way back through into the lead with less than a lap remaining. Eastwood took third ahead of Moffat and Hill, but the championship momentum is still very strongly with Willet – if he hadn’t had his mishap in race two, the Ironman would be a mile away in front by now…
Adrian Jessop pinged his collarbone straight off the top of his shoulder after taking a heavy soil sample at Thorseway - get well soon, dude!
Another big get well soon to Adrian Jessop, who was another victim of the finish line jump after missing a shift on the face of it on his NTG Racing YZ125, suffering a shoulder separation. The super-fast track was an unyielding host, but whilst the next round at the excellent Landrake is barely more than a fortnight, let’s hope the wounded are back as soon as possible for the next of the world’s premier 2 stroke motocross championship.
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