Round three to Atkins
By TMX Archives on 29th Jun 07
STEVE Atkins (ARK ATV Honda) won round three of the QRA British Quad Endurance championship as his only real challenger for the title, Paul Winrow, dropped down to third at the end of the event.
Winrow had been in a commanding lead but then his 450 Winrow Honda's front wheel bearings broke up.
The track, about ten miles south of Newbury,didn't escape the wet weather which covered the country and it rainedlightly all Saturday through to Sunday making the track, in places,very slippery and boggy.
Dead on 11am on Sunday morning, Atkins lead thepack of Pro riders into turn one at the start of the three-hournon-stop event. He was followed by teammate Stuart Jones, and Winrow,but by the end of the first lap - almost ten minutes later - Winrow hadpassed the two leaders and was setting a very fast pace.
In fact, as Atkins and Winrow finished their second lap the support class were only just completing their first.
Winrow was flying and Atkins was having to push hard to stay with him.
At the end of the first hour of racing, Winrow hadgrown his advantage to over a minute over Atkins, with third placedman, Chris Cooper, almost two minutes further back and doing all hecould to fend off the attentions of David Baldwin and Stuart Jones.
The rain kept falling, but the race pace didn't,and by the end of the second hour Winrow was having to ease off as thehandling of his machine unsettled him.
This gave Atkins the opportunity to close in onWinrow as the pair raced by the time keepers together to start thethird and final hour.
QRA BRITISH QUAD ENDURANCE CHAMPS
Rd 3 - Newbury, Berkshire
Pro-class: 1 Steve Atkins (450 ARK Honda), 2 ChrisCooper (450 Anderson Suzuki), 3 Paul Winrow (450 Winrow Honda), 4 DavidBaldwin (450 Mercuria Yamaha), 5 Martin Benbow (450 David Jones Honda),6 Andrew Davies (450 Team Suzuki), 7 Jason Wildman (450 ATV's-R-UsYamaha), 8 Stuart Jones (450 ART Honda), 9 Simon Davies (450 RocketmanSuzuki), 10 Chris Cook (450 Rafferty Honda).
Expert class: 1 Max Walton (450 Yamaha), 2 BenMorgan (450 Honda), 3 Darran Bridge (450 D+E Yamaha), 4 Guy Walton (450Yamaha), 5 David Bray (450 ARK Honda), 6 Dale Wright (450 Honda), 7Stewart Gubbins (450 Yamaha/ Polaris), 8 Rhodri Selby (500 Polaris), 9Chris Murphy (450 Suzuki), 10 Danny Ratcliffe (450 Ratty Suzuki).
Clubman class: 1 Lewis Hill (450 Suzuki), 2 IanJohnson (450 JP Honda), 3 Jason Lowe (450 GHS Yamaha), 4 Julian Mawbey(450 Suzuki), 5 John Page (450 JP Honda), 6 Ryan Griffin (450 Honda), 7Richard Bradford (700 Yamaha), 8 Beverley Barnes (400 Suzuki), 9 AdamWright (450 Yamaha), 10 Elizabeth Price (450 Suzuki).
Stock Class: 1 Lance Hand (450 Honda), 2 SteveWilliams (450 Suzuki), 3 Moose Pittaway (450 Suzuki), 4 Tim Wedgewood(450 Suzuki), 5 Michael Nash (Yamaha), 6 Wayne Bosworth (700 Yamaha), 7Carl Palmer (450 Suzuki).
Auto & 4x4 Class: 1 Richard Smith (4x4 Honda),2 Ross Tipper (Suzuki), 3 Iain Johnston (800 Can-Am), 4 Alan Bromiley(Kawasaki).
For full story and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, June 29, 2007.