Report: Vets MXdN - Farleigh Castle
By Sean Lawless on 7th Sep 16
A disastrous opening day cost Team GB any chance of making it a hat-trick of Evo wins at the Vets MXdN.
But the home heroes came out swinging on Sunday and pushed the Americans off the overall podium in the closing stages of an epic final race.
The Evo win – the weekend's main competition – went to the Belgians from Team Ireland at the eighth running of the event but it could have been a very different story if torrential downpours on the opening day hadn't reduced the famous Farleigh Castle track to a quagmire.
It may have been the same for everyone but the mud sucked British hopes more than most into the Somerset soil after a strong start to the race.
Ryan Voase, the only returning member from last year's winning team, gated at the front in his first race back from a serious ankle injury sustained in May.
After getting roosted out of the second turn he lost early places to Brian Jorgensen (Northern Ireland!), John Dowd (USA), Sven Breugelmans (Belgium) and Y2K world 125cc champ Grant Langston (South Africa).
Getting back into the groove, by the fourth lap he was pushing for a top-three finish when he stalled his 500cc Kawasaki and struggled to restart.
Kurt Nicoll also gated well but his '89 CR250, prepped on the desert tracks of Southern California, almost immediately took a dislike to the British weather and he slipped from sixth to 15th on the opening lap.
Then, just as he was beginning to come back through at half-distance, it died when he was threatening the top 10.
Former British 125cc contender Jon Barfoot, proudly running the No.1 plate, struggled home to 29th leaving Jamie Dobb – world 125cc champion in 2001 – to post team GB's best score.
Dobby had started 15th and was up to seventh before slipping back to 18th. "The reason why I retired from racing is because of my hands,” said Dobb. "I can't hold onto the bike so it doesn't matter how much training I've done, I've still got the same problem.”
The VMXdN may be deadly serious on the track but off it it's all about the banter and Dobb was talking with his tongue firmly-in-cheek when he poked fun at his team-mates.
"At the end of the day all the other Brits did their training and I was top Brit,” he added.
"It's always fun riding with Kurt – especially when I beat him!”
Former British champ Jorgensen took the win by almost seven seconds from 51-year-old Dowd and Breugelmans.
Belgians Werner Dewitt, Jurgen Van Nooten and David Cools completed the top six to take an early advantage in the team stakes.
Team Northern Ireland's solid start was helped with Gordon Crockard 10th, Neil Thompson 19th and Stephen Kelly 25th and the USA was still in it with Doug Dubach – who has won 25 world vet titles – 15th, Jeff Emig 20th and Todd Dehoop 21st.
With racing cancelled on Saturday after one block to save the track from further abuse riders still had plenty of mud to contend with the following morning but the circuit was rapidly drying and Voase was flying in the opening Evo VMXdN moto.
The 37-year-old nailed a gate-to-flag win after resisting early pressure from Jorgensen and just eased away with an eventual advantage of over eight seconds.
American Greg Crater, racing for Team International Air Hammer, scored a surprise third ahead of former factory Honda rider Mark Jones (Wales) with Dowd first American home in fifth.
Nicoll had gated 16th but the 51-year-old turned back the clock with a string of passes that had the crowd on its feet as he pushed through to ninth and was closing in on Dewitt as the chequered flag came out.
With Dobb out of action after hurting his ankle and banging his head in one of the morning's earlier races the pressure was on Barfoot but he was taken down in the opening turn and was always playing catch-up.
All the way back in 46th, he picked up seven places on the opening lap and had advanced to 29th by the end. "I got a good start and was running about seventh into the first corner,” he said.
"Then someone came up the inside of me and another rider came across from the outside and took my front end out and I ended up getting run over about three times which is always handy – but it's great to be out there for England!”
Belgium strengthened its grip on the competition with Van Nooten sixth, Breugelmans seventh, Dewitt eighth and Cools in 10th.
Ireland stayed in the hunt thanks to Crockard backing up Jorgensen with 13th, Kelly 18th and Thompson 20th but Team USA's hopes took a hit with Dehoop 22nd, Emig 35th after completing four laps and Dubach 41st with just one lap.
Going into the final race Team GB was languishing in fifth and needed to pull back 10 points on the USA to get on the podium.
When Dowd grabbed the holeshot Brit hopes took a nosedive but Voase was perfectly poised in fourth, Dobb ninth and Nicoll 11th as Barfoot found himself buried back in 43rd. However, there was no Emig and Dubach was 33rd and Dehoop 41st.
Jones took the lead on the opening lap and led for almost two circuits before Dowd hit the front again to sign off with a win from Jorgensen who worked his way up from fifth. Ryan Hunt (South Africa) was third from Cools and Jones.
Voase had gated fourth and moved up to third on the third lap but a rock smashed his goggles and he slipped down the field to 10th at the flag.
With Barfoot out on lap four and Dubach and Dehoop charging up the field it could have been game over for British podium hopes but Nicoll and Dobb refused to lie down.
Nicoll was sitting eighth at half-distance before a huge effort on lap five saw him move past Van Nooten and Voase for sixth and Dobb made two vital passes on the last lap to take eighth.
Belgium secured the title with Van Nooten seventh, Breugelmans 21st and Dewitt 33rd with Kelly in ninth, Crockard 12th and Thompson 22nd to win silver for Northern Ireland.
Despite Dubach and Dehoop pulling through to 15th and 19th it wasn't enough to earn Team US a podium finish.
"Getting third was great,” added Nicoll.
"We had a really bad start with Ryan crashing the first day and not being able to start his bike and I got water in the electrics so I thought we were going to be destined to be well down and then everyone rode really well on Sunday.
"Dobby did an amazing job on the last couple of laps of the last race and managed to pass two people and that got us third place.
"It was very, very good and I think it was my best performance in the Nations races once it had dried up a bit.
"I passed a couple of people on the last couple of laps so we managed to just sneak it.”
The Belgians doubled up with victory in the Twin-shock VMXdN competition with Bengt Laeremans scoring a hat-trick of wins.
With back up from Sven Breugelmans, Birk Schelfaut and David Cools, the Belgians were never really worried and finished miles clear of Team Germany and Team Twin-shock UK.
In the individual standings 1997 AMA SX and National champion Jeff Emig took third behind Laeremans and German Laurent Lacasse.
Back in 12th after the opening race, the American quickly got the feel of his Husqvarna and ended the weekend with 2-3 scores.
