Wey to go Sam! - Sunderland has a blast down on the beach
By Mike Wood on 25th Oct 17
Club Reports Sam Sunderland Weymouth Beach Race
Purbeck MXC staged the 2017 AMCA Weymouth Beach Moto-crosslast weekend, which attracted a massive 340 riders, a large crowd watching all the action for free and left the organising club able to hand over a cheque for a whopping 1,700 to the Weymouth and Portland Lions Club at the end of the day.
Making it a perfect day for the Dorset community Red Bull KTM star Sam Sunderland winner of the 2017 Dakar Rally took the Expert class victory. Joining Sam in the winners circle were Luke Wicks in the Junior class and the very fast Harry Kimber in the Seniors.
The Purbeck club and its band of volunteers went to work on Sunday morning and constructed the Weymouth Beach circuit and once the high tide had receded, it was time for the action.
Opening proceedings was a stacked Junior class and leading the thunderous charge was Mark Morris ahead of Dalton Cook, Brad Armstrong, Harry Watson, Steve Taylor, Luke Wicks and Luke Sansome. By lap two, Wicks had his 450F Honda up into second and was reeling in leader Morris. With so out on a relatively short track, it meant that the fast front-end riders were quickly catching the backmarkers.
However, Wicks made light work of that heavy traffic, eventually moving to the front on lap four. From there he controlled all the way to the chequered flag finishing nearly 13-seconds clear of Sansome, with Morris, James Harris, Cook, Armstrong and Watson the next best.
In Junior moto two, Morris made another superb start and led the way with Wicks down in sixth. However, just like the opening clash, Wicks was quickly on the move up the leaderboard, slotting into third on lap one, then moving into pole position by lap three.
Also on the move was Sansome, getting up into second, a position he held on to after seeing off a very determined Brad Armstrong. Having started down in 12th, Armstrong came right through to pass Sansome on lap five before dropping back down to fourth.
So Junior moto two was victory to Wicks from Sansome, Morris, Brad Armstrong, Cook, Paul Armstrong and Wright. Competing in this class was David Wright, riding in memory of his son, who was tragically killed while serving in the armed forces in Afghanistan.
During Senior practice, young Harry Kimber had looked clearly the fastest rider on show, but when moto one got into action, the Yamaha pilot rather surprisingly found himself down in eighth.
Leading the blast was Chris Blackmore from Jack Hooper, Lloyd Nightingale, George Boyce, Luke Stephens and Harry Pritchard. By the end of a frantic opening lap, though, Kimber was already at the front and he stayed there.
In a fast, competitive contest, Kimber took the win nearly one full-minute clear of runner-up Pritchard. After starting down in 11th, Bradley Rowland put in a super effort to get home in third.
But the recovery of the race surely belonged to James Cole. In the early stages James was 32nd before eventually storming back to bag a great fourth from Alexander Harvey and Ross Millard.
Rowland then led the opening lap of the second Senior moto before Kimber moved through to take control. With Kimber in such super form, Rowland was the only other rider to finish on the same lap total of 10. Harvey started 18th but got right up to take third ahead of Giles Richards, Lewis Ranger and Luke Stephens.
Although 2016 Weymouth Experts winner Jake Shipton, was missing with a shoulder ligament injury along with Tommy Alba (broken ribs) and Dan Thornhill (mechanical issues), the 2017
line-up still had some outstanding quality.
With all eyes on Sam Sunderland, it was Welsh star Shane Carless who led the pack into the opening turn followed by Sunderland, Josh Waterman, Matt Ridgway, Ross Keyworth and Ben Harrison.
By lap two, Red Bull KTM ace Sunderland was in control although initially he found Carless to be a very determined challenger. Eventually Sunderland did manage to break free and glide to the win from Carless and Waterman.
This was 2016 AMCA MX2 Champion Watermans first outing on a brand new 450F KTM, which had been run-in during the previous week by his brother Jack. Ridgway took fourth from Joshua Bentley and Ben Franklin, but the man on a mission was James Dodd. Starting down in 30th, the FUS Husqvarna ace came back in style and earn a great seventh-place finish.
The second Expert clash was a cracker as Carless grabbed the holeshot to lead the way from Sunderland, Dodd, Waterman and Ridgway. Over the next three laps, Sunderland, Careless again and Waterman all took turns at the front before the moto settled down with Sunderland at the front of the fast moving pack.
However the determined Waterman, Carless and Dodd refused to be beaten, staying right on the tail of Sunderland and on lap nine Waterman blasted that new 450F KTM into the lead.
Unfortunately, though, Joshs moment of glory was short-lived as his clutch cried enough leaving Sunderland to take the eventual win from Dodd, Carless, Bentley, Franklin and Ridgway.
Sunderland said: I was really happy to come back and race at Weymouth after having not been here for a while. Its a cool event and good fun.
The second race was a right old ding-dong at the front for the win. I only live 30 minutes down the road at Poole so its fairly local for me but the last time I raced here was on a 125cc when I was only 15 years old, so yes I really enjoyed being back here.
Results
Juniors Unlimited (sponsored by Caroline Racing): 1 Luke Wicks (450F Honda) 120 points, 2 Luke Sansome (250 Husqvarna) 108, 3 Mark Morris (450F Suzuki) 100, 4 Brad Armstrong (350F KTM) 90, 5 Dalton Cook (250F KTM) 90, 6 James Harris (125 KTM) 84, 7 Brett Selby (450F KTM) 76, 8 Matthew Harris (250 Suzuki) 74, 9 Paul Armstrong (300 Husky Sport Husqvarna) 70, 10 Tommy Reeve (250 Kawasaki) 68.
Senior Unlimited: 1 Harry Kimber (250F Yamaha) 120, 2 Bradley Rowland (144 KTM) 104, 3 Alexander Harvey (450F Yamaha) 95, 4 Lewis Ranger (150 Husqvarna) 86, 5 Ross Millard (250F Elevetech KTM) 78, 6 Giles Richards (250F KTM) 72, 7 Luke Stephens (250 KTM) 70, 8 Jack Cole (250 KTM) 70, 9 George Boyce (250F KTM) 68, 10 Kyle Proctor (350F KTM) 66.
Experts Unlimited (sponsored by Poole Motorcycles: 1 Sam Sunderland (450F Red Bull KTM) 120, 2 Shane Carless (450F Marsh MX Honda) 104, 3 James Dodd (450F FUS FRO CPS Husqvarna) 95, 4 Joshua Bentley (450F KTM) 92, 5 Matt Ridgway (450F TMC Kawasaki) 90, 6 Ben Franklin (250F Husqvarna) 88, 7 Corey Hockey (250 KTM) 78, 8 Lee Wren (300F KTM) 64, 9 Brad King ( 350F Midwest Husqvarna) 57, 10 Henry Siddiqui (450F Yamaha) 55.
