Alex Snow - King of Dirt
By TMX Archives on 4th Aug 10
ALEX Snow was crowned King of Dirt last weekend after completing two days of non-stop racing over different disciplines at the second annual Dirt 3-2-1 event, proudly sponsored by Pidcock Motorcycles Ltd, at the superb FatCat Motoparc just outside Doncaster.
The Albion Kawasaki rider got away to a superb start by winning - from an all-star field - the inaugural Sprint Enduro on Saturday. He then finished fourth in the Supercross event (also on Saturday) before strong second and fourth place finishes in the two big MX races on Sunday assured him of the title - and the cool £1000 prize money.
Snow ‘lorded' it over a class line-up, with Proppa.com's Nathan Parker finishing second and beefy New Yorker Ryan Blizzard on the Meredith Suzuki third. Parker won both MX races on Sunday while Blizzard took the Supercross points after holding-off a thrilling chase by a hard-charging Gordon Crockard on the Paul Bird Motorsports Kawasaki.
With points from four of the five events to count only Crockard and Isle of Man MPS Husqvarna rider Alex Rocky Rockwell elected to contest the Saturday evening Endurocross with the Crockstar fighting hard all evening to nail fourth place behind event specialists Dougie Lampkin, Ben Hemingway and Andy Cripps while Rocky was back in eighth. Crock finished a surprising overall fifth in the KIng of Dirt behind Jamie Law in fourth but ahead of Bryan MacKenzie and Rockwell.
The Dirt 3-2-1 show was promoted by T+MX and Dirt Bike Rider in conjunction with FatCat with the MC Federation providing their inimitable race management skills and off-road legend Paul Edmondson looking after the Sprint Enduro. With four major elements: Sprint Enduro, Supercross, Endurocross (all on Saturday) and a full day of motocross on Sunday the event ran pretty much smooth as silk until an unfortunate lapse over the Auto results at the final presentation blotted our copy book. All involved apologise to those affected.
DIRT 3-2-1 2010 kicked-off with a slickly-run Sprint Enduro and this relatively new element to off-road proved to be a fast-moving, exciting event for riders and spectators alike and those who turned-up for the 10am start found themselves enthralled in the atmosphere.
The event, as its name suggests, is basically an Enduro Special Test without the enduro! A short, sharp, tight lap of around four minutes in length was laid-out being mainly twists and turns on the sandy FatCat going but with a short woodland section, a Dirt Mountain and a crafty sting in the tail Extreme section with a couple of six foot concrete pipes to navigate - or riders could elect to ride through a time-consuming ‘chicken' route of riding in-out-in-out of the obstacles.
The entire field was assembled in a holding area and then let loose at 20 second intervals until everyone had gone. As each rider blasted-in to finish the loop they simply filed back into the holding area. The process was repeated five times in the morning followed by a break and another slickly run five runs in the afternoon. Times from all 10 runs were added together and the accumulated time gave the overall finishing positions - and of course rthe points for the King of Dirt.
Enduro specialist Tom Sagar led the field away for the morning session and he was rapidly followed by the rest of the entry. The MX aces naturally looked good out of the gate with Bryan MacKenzie particularly impressive, nailing the throttle on his Horseman Kawasaki and absolutely throwing the bike almost horizontal into the tight sandy berms. It was stirring stuff.
Snow was fast and consistent though and over the 10 laps built-up a 10 second advantage over the smooth riding James Noble on the Proppa.com Honda. Scot Matt Moffatt on the MXW Kawasaki finished third but had the honour of posting the fastest lap in a swift three minutes 50.9 seconds. Snow's quickest was three 52.8. Young National trial winner Jonny Walker was a rousing 10th on his hard-revving 125 Kawasaki.
In the Clubman class Lee Harris came out on top with an impressive fastest lap of four minutes 20.8 seconds. Lee finished some 20 seconds ahead of Mark Houson with Stevie MacKenzie third. Jane Daniels on the 150 KTM was the sole lady rider entered and the Lancashire based teenager, who rides all branches of off-road sport, was threatening for a top six finish until a crash on the fourth circuit cost her over a minute. Jane eventually finished a hard-earned 12th overall.
DESPITE a desperate weather forecast, the rain had mercifully stayed away all day Saturday which meant that the Sprint Enduro and Supercross events enjoyed dry weather. But by the time the evening Dirt 3-2-1 Extreme Enduro came round, with its planned slot from 7-9pm the weather looked distinctly dull and dodgy. However, following a decidedly damp 2010 event, luck was on the Dirt 3-2-1 crew's side this year and the wet-stuff held off until after the finish flag. Perfect.
A series of heats and LCQs was staged for both Experts and Clubmen before the finals. The Clubmen really suffered on the extreme course and full praise for them for returning to the line. They really staged a crash-fest and by the time of the final were barely able to make it to the line.
So hats off to James Reeves, Craig Parkes, Reece Morewood, Tim Johnson and Robert Johnson who all made it to the finish - somewhow - and commiserations to the lads who didn't. Sam Turner entertained the crowds all night, being really quick on the MX bits but managed to crash, several times, on all the obstacles, narrowly avoiding a pair of broken wrists when he stunned straight into a log at speed and avoiding death when spectacularly cartwheeling off the logs and down a sheer bank. Top man Sam.
In the Experts and Pros final it was Dougie Lampkin all the way although the factory Beta rider was pressed initially by a fast-starting Gordon Crockard and later by Johnny Walker. Crocked leapt out of the gate on the big Kawa and gained a couple of seconds lead after the fast MX section but Dougie reeled Crockstar in when they hit the nasty tyres, logs and concrete hazards.
Doug was then caught and passed by an absolutely flying Johnny Walker on the 125 KTM but Johnny then binned-it in the logs and Doug cruised past. The seven times World Trials champ then cruised to the finish for an easy win. Walker crossed the line second but was then penalised 30 seconds for alleged ‘course cutting' which elevated last year's winner Ben Hemingway into second with wildman Andy Cripps third and never-give-up Crockstar fourth
THE Dirt 3-2-1 SX races were run through the afternoon with heats, semis and LCQs leading to evening Finals and the short but fast course designed and built by FatCat's Martin Craven was littered with big jumps and whoops.
The Experts and Pro riders were mainly tied-up in the Enduro Sprint in the afternoon so they had their practise/qualifiers straight before the final. And what a final that had spectators glued to their chosen spots. Alex Snow was quick out of the gate and led through the first hectic loose 90 degree left-hander but Alex soon made a mistake and the big New Yorker Ryan Blizzard blasted past followed by Gordon Crockard and Jamie Law leaving snow a close fourth.
Blizzard then pulled away from Gordy and built-up a sizeable lead as Law and Snow maintained station behind. It all looked cut and dried until around five laps from the finish when Blizzard began to tire and Crockstar started to visibly gain. Crock continued to hammer the big Kwacker round the track and rapidly reeled-in the Meredith Suzuki rider until the pair barrelled into the final lap virtually together. Blizzard wasn't going to just roll ove though and a clever lap by the American kept the snapping Crock at bay to take a very hard-earned win.
Earlier, Craig Maddock had stormed to the Clubman win with a two-stroke Suzuki that was getting noisier by the lap with an exhaust problem but it held together to see-off Ryan Abrahams and Sam Crampton.
The Rookie final saw Michael White nail victory while Scooter Webster, Loele Hart, Harry Kimber and Kian Collingwood took the battling Youth classes from BW85, SW85, JUnior 65 and Auto SX finals. The Autos deserved real praise for tackling, and beating, a man-size SX track that pushed their little racers to the absolute limit.
DIRT 3-2-1 SPRINT ENDURO
FatCat Moto Parc, nr Doncaster
PRO CLASS: 1 Alex Snow 39:28.7 total time (10 tests), 2 James Noble 39:39.9, 3 Matt Moffatt 39:49.4, 4 Alex Rockwell 39:54.8, 5 Bryan Mackenzie 40:09.1, 6 Tom Sagar 40:21.2, 7 Gordan Crockard 40:24.9, 8 Jamie Law 40:26.8, 9 Nathan Parkes 40:43.3,...
CLUBMAN CLASS: 1 Lee Harris 44:43.3, 2 Mark Houson 45:11.2, 3 Stevie Mackenzie 45:21.7, 4 Josh Snowden 45:42.9, 5 Matt Pope 45:56.9, 6 Wayne Mundell 47:02.3, 7 Reece Emson 47:48.9, 8 Justin Carter 47:51.1, 9 Declan Hellywell 48:06.3,...
DIRT 3-2-1 ‘KING OF DIRT'
FatCat Moto Parc, nr Doncaster
PRO CLASS: 1 Alex Snow 164 points, 2 Nathan Parker 159, 3 Ryan Blizzard 153, 4 Jamie Law 152, 5 Gordon Crockard 151, 6 Bryan MacKenzie 145, 7 Alex Rockwell 134, 8 Matthew Moffat 109, 9 Adam Exrance 82, 10 James Noble 78,...
CLUBMAN CLASS: 1 Jake Penny 132 points, 2 Stevie MacKenzie 129, 3 Ryan Abrahams 108, 4 Robert Johnson 84, 5 Bryan Connelley 66, 6 Reece Morewood 60, 7 Craig Maddock 45, 8 Luke Lusher 28,...
ROOKIE CLASS: 1 Michael White 164 points, 2 Jake Penny 146, 3 Elliot Knox 140, 4 Daniel Jones 138,...
BIG-WHEEL 85cc CLASS: 1 Scooter Webster 174 points.
SMALL-WHEEL 85cc CLASS: 1 Loele Hart 160 points, 2 Joshua Crook 141, 3 Shane Sherriff 112,...
JUNIOR 65cc CLASS: 1 Harry Kimber 180 points, 2 Ben Burridge 168, 3 Ryan Allison 162, 4 Adam Burgoyne 119,...
AUTO CLASS: 1 James Hanscombe 158 points, 2 Lewis Hart 147, 3 Joel Rizzi 142, 4 Lewis McLeary 136, 5 George Mallion 133, 6 Leon Letty 128, 7 Bobby Bruce 119,...
DIRT 3-2-1 SUPERCROSS FINALS
FatCat Moto Parc, nr Doncaster
PRO SX FINAL: 1 Ryan Blizzard (Suzuki), 2 Gordon Crockard (Kawasaki), 3 Jamie Law (Suzuki), 4 Alex Snow (Kawasaki), 5 Nathan Parker (Honda), 6 James Noble (Honda), 7 Bryan MacKenzie (Kawasaki), 8 Alex Rockwell (Husqvarna), 9 Carl Brogden (KTM), 10 Kevin Murray (Yamaha).
CLUBMAN SX FINAL: 1 Craig Maddock (KTM), 2 Ryan Abrahams (Honda), 3 Sam Crampton (???), 4 Jake Penny (Yamaha), 5 Matthew Redman (???), 6 Andrew Lamb (Yamaha), 7 Danny Feltham (Yamaha).
ROOKIE SX FINAL: 1 Michael White (KTM), 2 Elliot Knox (KTM), 3 Jake Penny (Yamaha), 4 Daniel Jones (Kawasaki).
BIG-WHEEL 85cc SX FINAL: 1 Scooter Webster (Honda), 2 Lauren Collingwood (???).
SMALL-WHEEL SX FINAL: 1 Loele Hart (KTM), 2 Shane Sherriff (???), 3 Joshua Crook (Kawasaki).
JUNIOR 65cc SX FINAL: 1 Harry Kimber (KTM), 2 Ben Burridge (???), 3 Ryan Allison (KTM).
AUTO SX FINAL: 1 Kian Collingwood (???), 2 James Hanscomb (???), 3 George Mallion (KTM), 4 Lewis Hart (KTM), 5 Lewis McLeary (???), 6 Leon Letty (KTM), 7 Joel Rizzi (KTM), 8 Bobby Bruce (KTM).
DIRT 3-2-1 ENDURO-CROSS
FatCat Moto Parc, nr Doncaster
PRO CLASS: 1 Dougie Lampkin (Beta) 5 laps, 2 Ben Hemingway (KTM) 5, 3 Andy Cripps (Kawasaki) 5, 4 Gordon Crockard (Kawasaki) 5, 5 Dan Hemingway (KTM) 5, 6 Jonny Walker (KTM) 5, 7 Gary Daniels (KTM) 5, 8 Alex Rockwell (Husqvarna) 5, 9 Gavin Houson (KTM) 5, 10 Luke Lusher (???) 4.
CLUBMAN CLASS: 1 James Reeves (???) 5 laps, 2 Craig Parkes (KTM) 5, 3 Reece Morewood (KTM) 4, 4 Tim Johnson (???) 4, 5 Robert Johnson (Husqvarna) 2.