A Leisurely stroll for Pettit
By TMX Archives on 14th May 08
THE DEP Two-stroke series rolled into a new venue - Leisure Lakes, Lancashire - on Sunday, to be greeted by a smooth and fast-looking sand track. Hard to believe that only two rounds ago competitors were snowed in at Canada Heights. The bowsers had a busy day on Saturday, and when race day dawned bright and sunny, they were called into action even before a bike hit the track. As it transpired, the racing was just as hot as the weather.
Even after qualifying, one thing was becoming clear as smooth as it had been when the day started, this track was going to get rough. Daniel Ward and Steve Gessner headed the freight train as they charged out into the woods for the first time in Group B 125cc moto one. Ash Crossley staged an early attack and began to build a small lead as Ward and Gessner were joined in battle by Jason Brunell.
Josh Scott overcame a poor start to join the fun too, barging his way into second and setting off after Crossley. He ran him down and eked out an advantage by the finish. Crossley took second ahead of Ward. Scott holeshot race two as well, but Ady Peedle came charging out of the pack after the race one victor.
The pair sprinted away from the pack as they battled for victory, just a second separating them at the finish. Crossley took a distant third.
For moto three, Peedle seemed to be on a different track - where everyone else was rebounding off the square-edged bumps that abounded, Peedle just flung his KTM at them, lapping a mile quicker than everyone else. Behind him, Gessner came under pressure from a speedy Jason Wells until Wells' got sideways crossing the finish line, and piled into the fencing. Antony Healey then put on the big charge, catching Gessner as the clock ran down and made a late pass for second.
The first Group A 125cc race was red-flagged early on as Lewis Tombs and Ryan Hamblin tangled on lap one. The unfortunate Hamblin ended up with his leg stuck between the back wheel and sub-frame of Tombs's Yamaha - a badly-broken ankle and damaged ribs the diagnosis.
On the restart, the ever-reliable Jonathan Pettit grabbed the holeshot and motored to yet another win, ahead of Dave Willet and Jack Brunell. The leading trio were so evenly matched that they were unable to directly get on terms with each other.
In moto two, however, former British 125cc Champion Greg Hanson got the holeshot ahead of Lloyd Morgan. Pettit was there in third, and took little time charging through to the lead.
Jim Davies made his way into third and began to close down Hanson as Morgan fell, but he very quickly had Jack Brunell in tow.
A flurry of mid-race activity saw them all swap places, leaving Brunell second ahead of Davies and Hanson. From the depths of the pack, Willet put in an epic ride after an atrocious first lap. The reigning champion came from a mile behind to move into third place, and made an awesome effort to close down Brunell for second.
It was a close run thing, but the flag came a lap too early for Willet as he crossed the line less than a second adrift of Brunell.
The net result, however, was that Willet was completely fired-up for moto three. Pettit got the drop ahead of Brunell, Willet and Davies, but this time Ironman Willet was not to be denied, quickly moving into second, then simply running Pettit down and making the pass the first time this year that the TM veteran has been passed straight up.
Further back, Brunell cruised to a distant, comfortable third, but Davies found himself under the attentions of Hanson as the race reached the closing stages. It seemed the gap would be too much for Greg to make up, but a misunderstanding with a back-marker cost Jim precious seconds and allowed the wily Hanson past at the death.
In Group B 250cc, Dan Grove holeshot race one, but Scott Senter was on the move, making a lap one pass and checking out for the win ahead of Warren Clifton and Neil Watton.
For race two, Senter could only take a lonely third, as Ade Deeley dominated proceedings, winning by over ten-seconds ahead of Lee Thornton.
Deeley went on to dominate moto three as well, this time crossing the line an awesome 22-seconds ahead of Senter. Anthony McGladdery was third ahead of Lee Thornton, but the pair will probably be happy to finish at all after colliding mid-air over the finish-line table-top in what looked like a very hairy moment, although both stayed on their bikes.
Matthew Moffat lead off the start in the Group A 250cc opener ahead of Dave Willet, Mike Kock and Mark Eastwood.
Willet immediately began to move up and put in a successful early bid for the lead, as Eastwood began his own charge, making short work of a move into third, but he took a few laps to get to grips with Moffat for second. Once there, the reigning Open champion set off after Willet, but the Ironman was too tough a nut to crack in the remaining time.
In race two, although the usual suspects were up front, this time Moffat was the man on fire with Willet in the pursuit role - Eastwood made a typical mistake and dropped the Honda, although he would be back up within seconds. The error meant that Moffat and Willet had the race to themselves, however, with Moffat guiding the KTM to his debut DEP moto win.
Faced with the possible prospect of a winless day, Eastwood left nothing to chance in the third, leading from the gate and edging away the whole race. Willet tried to hang on in second, but Easto' had the edge, and the Ironman, in his sixth moto of the day, found himself clinging on as Moffat charged up behind him.
It was a fruitless effort, however, as Willet took the chequers for second place with barely a second's grace.
DEP BRITISH TWO-STROKE MX CHAMPS
Rd 3 Leisure Lakes (MC Federation)
Expert 125cc: 1 Jonathan Pettit 45 + 45 + 42 = 132, 2 Dave Willet 42 + 39 + 45 = 126, 3 Jack Brunell 39 + 42 + 39 = 120, 4 Greg Hanson 36 + 33 + 36 = 105, 5 Jim Davies 33 + 36 + 33 = 102, 6 Adam Reynolds 28 + 28 + 28 = 84, 7 Paul Shires 20 + 26 + 30 = 76, 8 Jim Scrafton 24 + 24 + 24 = 72, 9 Danny Tollet 22 + 30 + 20 = 72, 10 Lewis Tombs 30 + 18 + 22 = 70.
Junior 125cc: 1 Lloyd Morgan 28 + 45 + 45 = 118, 2 Ryan McLean 39 + 42 + 36 = 117, 3 Warwick French 42 + 30 + 30 = 102, 4 Christian Taylor 22 + 39 + 39 = 100, 5 Oliver Rusby 45 + 24 + 28 = 97, 6 Bradley Howlett 30 + 33 + 33 = 96, 7 Matthew Thomas 15 + 36 + 42 = 93, 8 Jack Plowman 36 + 22 + 26 = 84, 9 Ryan Tomkins 26 + 28 + 24 = 78, 10 Steve Birkenshaw 33 + 26 + 19 = 78.
Expert 250cc: 1 Dave Willet 45 + 42 + 42 = 129, 2 Mark Eastwood 42 + 39 + 45 = 126, 3 Matthew Moffat 39 + 45 + 39 = 123, 4 Mike Kock 36 + 36 + 36 = 108, 5 Andre David 33 + 33 + 33 = 99, 6 Robert Barney 28 + 30 + 28 = 86, 7 Dale Raynor 24 + 28 + 26 = 78, 8 Alistair Clark 26 + 17 + 30 = 73, 9 Ross Hill 30 + 19 + 18 = 67, 10 Justin Robinson 22 + 26 + 16 = 64.
Junior 250cc: 1 Nathan Rooks 45 + 45 + 45 = 135, 2 David Dibble 36 + 36 + 42 = 114, 3 Ashley Pennycook 20 + 42 + 39 = 101, 4 Justin Penty 30 + 33 + 33 = 96, 5 Darren Marklove 26 + 30 + 36 = 92, 6 Zac Stealey 33 + 26 + 28 = 87, 7 Paul Anderson 28 + 39 + 19 = 86, 8 Matt Nash 24 + 28 + 30 = 82, 9 Jonathan Tapp 22 + 22 + 26 = 70, 10 Lewis Kerr 42 + 24 + 0 = 66.
For full pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, May 16, 2008