cHewitt over
By Mike Wood on 20th Apr 07
BACK on February 18, Cornish enduro star Jason Fraser got the Hewitt National Cross-Country series under way with victory in the opening round at Chavenage, near Tetbury. On Sunday, Fraser travelled north to the same venue and recorded another victory, increasing his series lead in the process to 11 points.
Although the promoters, Midwest MCC, did theirutmost to lay out a challenging seven-mile circuit, the ridiculouslydry weather meant that a small stream crossing proved to be the onlymain obstacle on-going that was otherwise very good.
Right from the off, Fraser led the charge and oncompletion of lap one held a narrow two second lead over Yamaha-mountedDarren Wheeler. Along with fellow title chaser Brad Williams and RichWarner, the top four riders in the contest all completed a total of 11laps. Proving his class, Fraser also recorded the fastest lap of theday on his penultimate circuit with a time of 15 minutes and 14 seconds.
At the finish flag, the Husqvarna rider was 3:34minutes ahead of eventual runner-up Williams, with Wheeler in third andWarner fourth. After the top four, came a group of some 14 riders whohad all completed ten laps during their three hours of racing, withGary Baker the leader of this particular pack.
Like Fraser, the winner of the Clubman Two-strokeclass, Wiltshire's Richard Maisey is currently in great form. Afterwinning the opening two rounds, Maisey made it a hat-trick. Although hewas just under four-minutes ahead at the finish of Sunday's battle,Maisey's lap total of ten was matched by Keith Hoskin, Paul Warman andChris Beeston. The battle for the class runners-up spot, though,literally went right down to the wire with Hoskin a very narrowthree-seconds quicker to the chequered flag than Warman.
HEWITT NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SERIES
Rd 3 - Chavenage (MidWest MCC)
Expert: 1 Jason Fraser (250 Husky), 2 BradWilliams (250 Suzuki), 3 Darren Wheeler (250 Yamaha), 4 Rich Warner 5Gary Baker (250 Kawasaki), 6 Keith Jenkins (250 Honda), 7 Derek Bawn 8Steven Jewell (125 Husky), 9 Dave Nuttall (380 Husaberg), 10 JohnWheeler (250 Yamaha).
Clubman Two-stroke: 1 Richard Maisey (300 KTM), 2Keith Hoskin (250 Gas Gas), 3 Paul Warman 4 Chris Beeston (125 Honda),5 Ian Francis (250 TM), 6 Andy Howes (300 KTM), 7 Travis Platt 8Geraint Coombes (300 KTM), 9 Vince Larcombe (Kawasaki), 10 Ben Priddle(250 Kawasaki).
Clubman Four-stroke: 1 Stuart Keedwell (380Husaberg), 2 David Wathen (250 KTM), 3 Ian Wathen (250 Honda), 4Malcolm Lean (450 KTM), 5 Gary Simms 6 Dave Fowler (400 Yamaha), 7Courtenay James (400 KTM), 8 Shaun Weston (250 Husky), 9 James Wilden(250 Honda), 10 Mark Taylor.
Sportsman Two-stroke: 1 Freddie Davis (300 KTM), 2Dale Hall (200 KTM), 3 Edward Hennessy (250 Yamaha), 4 Tim Frost (200KTM), 5 Chris Morse (250 Gas Gas), 6 Martin Howitt (200 KTM), 7 JezDance (250 KTM), 8 James Morse (125 KTM), 9 Ian Barnes (250 Honda), 10David Holt (250 KTM).
Sportsman Four-stroke: 1 Mark Woodman (400 KTM), 2Philip Gilder (400 Yamaha), 3 Adrian Francis (250 Yamaha), 4 MarkWilson (400 KTM), 5 Noel Rooney (250 Honda), 6 Mark Heyes (250 Yamaha),7 Matthew Harris (450 Yamaha), 8 Richard Brynes (450 Honda), 9 MarkAnderson (250 Yamaha), 10 Graham Pitts (250 KTM).
Veteran: 1 Gerald Poole (250 KTM), 2 Jerry Adams(450 Yamaha), 3 Andrew Collins (450 Yamaha), 4 Martin Coleman (500VOR), 5 Andy Taylor 6 Gary Clarke (200 KTM), 7 Paul Kingston (200 KTM),8 Alan James (450 Husaberg), 9 Robert Shore (450 Husaberg), 10 LewieDavis (200 KTM).
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, April 20, 2007.