Arnaud's Swiss roll
By Dick Law on 2nd Mar 12
Arnaud Tonus looks like the man to beat in the MX2 class this year after he took his Monster Energy Bike It Yamaha to two controlled and dominant race wins to claim the MX2 overall at the weekends Hawk International Motocross, at Hawkstone Park.
Arnaud Tonus looks like the man to beat in the MX2 class this year after he took his Monster Energy Bike It Yamaha to two controlled and dominant race wins to claim the MX2 overall at the weekend's Hawk International Motocross, at Hawkstone Park.
And not content with that, the young Swiss rider also won the Superfinal, which pitched the best of the MX2 class against the best of the MX1 riders!
The Open class produced a great no-holds-barred battle between Belgian Clement Desalle on his Rockstar Suzuki and Frenchman Gautier Paulin on a KRT Kawasaki.
Both riders hit the deck more than once, passed and re-passed each other loads of times, but in the end – when it mattered most – Desalle took the victory and with it the overall.
The Hawkstone track looked the best it has been for many years with a new bomb-hole and jump just before the finish line.
The weather was great for the time of year, with plenty of sunshine in the afternoon to keep the crowd of more than 6,000 spectators comfortable and – of course – some great racing, with lots of the world's best riders taking part.
With more than 13 nations represented it was a truly international event.
The ever-improving Nestaan JM KTM rider, Jake Nicholls was fastest qualifier, but as the gate dropped at the start of the first MX2 race, Tonus took the
holeshot ahead of Nicholls and Elliott Banks-Brown, on his HM Plant Red Bull KTM.
By the end of the first lap, Dutchman Glenn Coldenhoff – on a second Nestaan KTM – was up to fourth with Graeme
Irwin (Samsung Yamaha) one place
behind him.
Meanwhile, Ray Rowson was struggling round in last place with a
sick-sounding Maxxis Henderson Kawasaki, before eventually pulling out on lap four.
By the halfway point and with the front six riders still in the same order, all eyes where on Harri Kullas on his Rockstar Suzuki, as he battled through from 12th on the opening lap to put Neville Bradshaw under pressure for sixth.
In the closing stages Coldenhoff and Irwin swapped places twice, but Tonus took his first win of the day, with Nicholls 20 seconds adrift .
Banks-Brown and Coldenhoff crossed the finish-line together with a mere
hundredth-of-a-second separating them. Bradshaw held off Kullas with Pascal Rauchenecker eighth.
The start of the second race was
virtually a carbon copy of the
opener, with Tonus leading from Nicholls, Banks-Brown and Coldenhoff.
This time though, Kullas got a better launch in fifth, with Bradshaw back in ninth. With 15 minutes gone, Tonus was stretching his advantage over Nicholls, but disaster struck Banks-Brown.
While in a comfortable third, and with the winner's rostrum calling him, the
ignition on his KTM failed sending him back to the paddock with a DNF.
Kullas, who had just edged past
Coldenhoff, moved up to third at the flag as Bradshaw made a late charge for fifth.
Overall winner Tonus said: "I had two holeshots and that makes it a little bit easier for me.
"This is only the second time I have ridden the bike and I am really happy with it. I like the track and it is getting rough out there, so it's perfect practise for Valkenswaard (the opening GP of the season – Ed) in three-weeks' time.”
A happy runner-up Nicholls said: "Today's been pretty good really, with two second places.
"In the first race, I rode very average and didn't enjoy it much.
"The second race started the same but after a quarter-distance I started to find the lines and get into a rhythm and it felt good in the end.
"There's one more race to go and it's all good training for the GPs.”
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX MARCH 2
HAWKSTONE INTERNATIONAL MOTOCROSS
MX1 OVERALL
1 Clement Desalle (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 20 + 20 = 40
2 Gautier Paulin (F - KRT Kawasaki) 17 + 17 = 34
3 Xavier Boog (F - KRT Kawasaki) 9 + 15 = 24
4 Kevin Strjbos (B - HM Plant Red Bull KTM) 11 + 13 = 24
5 Shaun Simpson (Monster BikeIt Yamaha) 15 + 7 = 22
6 Marc De Reuver (NL - Lanes Kawasaki) 10 + 11 = 21
7 Markus Schiffer (D - Suzuki Europe) 13 + 8 = 21
8 Gert Krestinov (Route 77 MVRD Honda) 7 + 9 = 16
9 Martin Barr (Maxxis Henderson Kawasaki) 5 + 10 = 15
10 Yentel Martens (B - Kawasaki) 4 + 5 = 9
11 Mattis Karro (LV - STR KTM) 8 + 0 = 8
12 Jamie Law (D3 Racing KTM) 3 + 4 = 7
13 Stephen Sword (Tyco TAS Suzuki) 0 + 6 = 6
14 Jason Dougan (Route 77 MVRD Honda) 6 + 0 = 6
15 Yohei Kojima (J - Rockstar Suzuki) 1 + 3 = 4
16 Alex Snow (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 0 + 2 = 2
17 Mathew Moffat (Dean Moff Star KTM) 2 + 0 = 2
18 Alfie Smith (JK Rinaldi Yamaha) 0 + 1 = 1
RACE ONE: 1 Desalle, 2 Paulin, 3 Simpson, 4 Schiffer, 5 Strjbos, 6 De Reuver, 7 Boog, 8 Karro, 9 Krestinov, 10 Dougan, 11 Barr, 12 Martens, 13 Law, 14 Moffat, 15 Kojima,...
RACE TWO: 1 Desalle, 2 Paulin, 3 Boog, 4 Strjbos, 5 De Reuver, 6 Barr, 7 Krestinov, 8 Schiffer, 9 Simpson, 10 Sword, 11 Martens, 12 Law, 13 Kojima, 14 Snow, 15 Smith,...
MX2 OVERALL
1 Arnaud Tonus (CH - Monster BikeIt Yamaha) 20 + 20 = 40
2 Jake Nicholls (Nestaan JM KTM) 17 + 17 = 34
3 Glenn Coldenhoff (NL - Nestaan JM KTM) 13 + 13 = 26
4 Harri Kullas (SF - Rockstar Suziki Europe) 9 + 15 = 24
5 Neville Bradshaw (ZA - Evotech Stevens Hon) 10 + 11 = 21
6 Nikolaj Larsen (DK - Standing Construct Suz) 7 + 10 = 17
7 Pascal Rauchenecker (A - Nestaan JM KTM) 8 + 9 = 17
8 Elliott Banks Browne (HM Plant Red Bull KTM) 15 + 0 = 15
9 Donny Bastemeijer (NL - Heil Motors KTM) 4 + 8 = 12
10 Graeme Irwin (Samsung Yamaha) 11 + 0 = 11
11 Jens Getteman (B - Standing Construct Suz) 5 + 6 = 11
12 Stuart Edmonds (IRE - Tyco TAS Suzuki) 6 + 5 = 11
13 Steven Lenoir (F - Samsung Yamaha) 3 + 7 = 10
14 Alan Keet (Dyer & Butler Suzuki) 2 + 4 = 6
15 Jordan Booker (Buildbase Honda) 0 + 3 = 3
16 Connor Walkley (Maxxis Henderson Kawa) 0 + 2 = 2
17 Damon Graulus (B - Standing Construct Suz) 1 + 0 = 1
18 Lewis Tombs (John Banks Honda) 0 + 1 = 1
RACE ONE: 1 Tonus, 2 Nicholls, 3 Banks Browne, 4 Coldenhoff, 5 Irwin, 6 Bradshaw, 7 Kullas, 8 Rauchenecker, 9 Larsen, 10 Edmonds, 11 Getteman, 12 Bastemeijer, 13 Lenoir, 14 Keet, 15 Graulus,...
RACE TWO: 1 Tonus, 2 Nicholls, 3 Kullas, 4 Coldenhoff, 5 Bradshaw, 6 Larsen, 7 Rauchenecker, 8 Bastemeijer, 9 Lenoir, 10 Getteman, 11 Edmonds, 12 Keet, 13 Booker, 14 Walkley, 15 Tombs,...
Route 77 MX1/MX2 Superfinal: 1 Tonus*, 2 Desalle, 3 Karro, 4 De Reuver, 5 Nicholls*, 6 Kullas*, 7 Coldenhoff*, 8 Strjbos, 9 Schiffer, 10 Larsen*, 11 Boog, 12 Krestinov, 13 Bradshaw*, 14 Rauchenecker*, 15 Irwin*, 16 Law, 17 Martens, 18 Kojima, 19 Moffat, 20 Booker*.
SUPPORT RACES – RACE ONE: 1 Lewis King (Wulfsport TM UK), 2 Ben Howell (Rockstar ???), 3 Ian Marshall (G&G Ross ???), 4 Matt Williamson (???), 5 David Blackburn (Blackburn Honda), 6 Christy Harnett (IRE - TMC ???).
RACE TWO: 1 Lewis King, 2 Christy Harnett, 3 Chris Bayliss (Wooldridge Helyar Honda), 4 Ben Howell, 5 Matt Williamson, 6 Adam Wells.
And not content with that, the young Swiss rider also won the Superfinal, which pitched the best of the MX2 class against the best of the MX1 riders!
The Open class produced a great no-holds-barred battle between Belgian Clement Desalle on his Rockstar Suzuki and Frenchman Gautier Paulin on a KRT Kawasaki.
Both riders hit the deck more than once, passed and re-passed each other loads of times, but in the end – when it mattered most – Desalle took the victory and with it the overall.
The Hawkstone track looked the best it has been for many years with a new bomb-hole and jump just before the finish line.
The weather was great for the time of year, with plenty of sunshine in the afternoon to keep the crowd of more than 6,000 spectators comfortable and – of course – some great racing, with lots of the world's best riders taking part.
With more than 13 nations represented it was a truly international event.
The ever-improving Nestaan JM KTM rider, Jake Nicholls was fastest qualifier, but as the gate dropped at the start of the first MX2 race, Tonus took the
holeshot ahead of Nicholls and Elliott Banks-Brown, on his HM Plant Red Bull KTM.
By the end of the first lap, Dutchman Glenn Coldenhoff – on a second Nestaan KTM – was up to fourth with Graeme
Irwin (Samsung Yamaha) one place
behind him.
Meanwhile, Ray Rowson was struggling round in last place with a
sick-sounding Maxxis Henderson Kawasaki, before eventually pulling out on lap four.
By the halfway point and with the front six riders still in the same order, all eyes where on Harri Kullas on his Rockstar Suzuki, as he battled through from 12th on the opening lap to put Neville Bradshaw under pressure for sixth.
In the closing stages Coldenhoff and Irwin swapped places twice, but Tonus took his first win of the day, with Nicholls 20 seconds adrift .
Banks-Brown and Coldenhoff crossed the finish-line together with a mere
hundredth-of-a-second separating them. Bradshaw held off Kullas with Pascal Rauchenecker eighth.
The start of the second race was
virtually a carbon copy of the
opener, with Tonus leading from Nicholls, Banks-Brown and Coldenhoff.
This time though, Kullas got a better launch in fifth, with Bradshaw back in ninth. With 15 minutes gone, Tonus was stretching his advantage over Nicholls, but disaster struck Banks-Brown.
While in a comfortable third, and with the winner's rostrum calling him, the
ignition on his KTM failed sending him back to the paddock with a DNF.
Kullas, who had just edged past
Coldenhoff, moved up to third at the flag as Bradshaw made a late charge for fifth.
Overall winner Tonus said: "I had two holeshots and that makes it a little bit easier for me.
"This is only the second time I have ridden the bike and I am really happy with it. I like the track and it is getting rough out there, so it's perfect practise for Valkenswaard (the opening GP of the season – Ed) in three-weeks' time.”
A happy runner-up Nicholls said: "Today's been pretty good really, with two second places.
"In the first race, I rode very average and didn't enjoy it much.
"The second race started the same but after a quarter-distance I started to find the lines and get into a rhythm and it felt good in the end.
"There's one more race to go and it's all good training for the GPs.”
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX MARCH 2
HAWKSTONE INTERNATIONAL MOTOCROSS
MX1 OVERALL
1 Clement Desalle (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 20 + 20 = 40
2 Gautier Paulin (F - KRT Kawasaki) 17 + 17 = 34
3 Xavier Boog (F - KRT Kawasaki) 9 + 15 = 24
4 Kevin Strjbos (B - HM Plant Red Bull KTM) 11 + 13 = 24
5 Shaun Simpson (Monster BikeIt Yamaha) 15 + 7 = 22
6 Marc De Reuver (NL - Lanes Kawasaki) 10 + 11 = 21
7 Markus Schiffer (D - Suzuki Europe) 13 + 8 = 21
8 Gert Krestinov (Route 77 MVRD Honda) 7 + 9 = 16
9 Martin Barr (Maxxis Henderson Kawasaki) 5 + 10 = 15
10 Yentel Martens (B - Kawasaki) 4 + 5 = 9
11 Mattis Karro (LV - STR KTM) 8 + 0 = 8
12 Jamie Law (D3 Racing KTM) 3 + 4 = 7
13 Stephen Sword (Tyco TAS Suzuki) 0 + 6 = 6
14 Jason Dougan (Route 77 MVRD Honda) 6 + 0 = 6
15 Yohei Kojima (J - Rockstar Suzuki) 1 + 3 = 4
16 Alex Snow (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 0 + 2 = 2
17 Mathew Moffat (Dean Moff Star KTM) 2 + 0 = 2
18 Alfie Smith (JK Rinaldi Yamaha) 0 + 1 = 1
RACE ONE: 1 Desalle, 2 Paulin, 3 Simpson, 4 Schiffer, 5 Strjbos, 6 De Reuver, 7 Boog, 8 Karro, 9 Krestinov, 10 Dougan, 11 Barr, 12 Martens, 13 Law, 14 Moffat, 15 Kojima,...
RACE TWO: 1 Desalle, 2 Paulin, 3 Boog, 4 Strjbos, 5 De Reuver, 6 Barr, 7 Krestinov, 8 Schiffer, 9 Simpson, 10 Sword, 11 Martens, 12 Law, 13 Kojima, 14 Snow, 15 Smith,...
MX2 OVERALL
1 Arnaud Tonus (CH - Monster BikeIt Yamaha) 20 + 20 = 40
2 Jake Nicholls (Nestaan JM KTM) 17 + 17 = 34
3 Glenn Coldenhoff (NL - Nestaan JM KTM) 13 + 13 = 26
4 Harri Kullas (SF - Rockstar Suziki Europe) 9 + 15 = 24
5 Neville Bradshaw (ZA - Evotech Stevens Hon) 10 + 11 = 21
6 Nikolaj Larsen (DK - Standing Construct Suz) 7 + 10 = 17
7 Pascal Rauchenecker (A - Nestaan JM KTM) 8 + 9 = 17
8 Elliott Banks Browne (HM Plant Red Bull KTM) 15 + 0 = 15
9 Donny Bastemeijer (NL - Heil Motors KTM) 4 + 8 = 12
10 Graeme Irwin (Samsung Yamaha) 11 + 0 = 11
11 Jens Getteman (B - Standing Construct Suz) 5 + 6 = 11
12 Stuart Edmonds (IRE - Tyco TAS Suzuki) 6 + 5 = 11
13 Steven Lenoir (F - Samsung Yamaha) 3 + 7 = 10
14 Alan Keet (Dyer & Butler Suzuki) 2 + 4 = 6
15 Jordan Booker (Buildbase Honda) 0 + 3 = 3
16 Connor Walkley (Maxxis Henderson Kawa) 0 + 2 = 2
17 Damon Graulus (B - Standing Construct Suz) 1 + 0 = 1
18 Lewis Tombs (John Banks Honda) 0 + 1 = 1
RACE ONE: 1 Tonus, 2 Nicholls, 3 Banks Browne, 4 Coldenhoff, 5 Irwin, 6 Bradshaw, 7 Kullas, 8 Rauchenecker, 9 Larsen, 10 Edmonds, 11 Getteman, 12 Bastemeijer, 13 Lenoir, 14 Keet, 15 Graulus,...
RACE TWO: 1 Tonus, 2 Nicholls, 3 Kullas, 4 Coldenhoff, 5 Bradshaw, 6 Larsen, 7 Rauchenecker, 8 Bastemeijer, 9 Lenoir, 10 Getteman, 11 Edmonds, 12 Keet, 13 Booker, 14 Walkley, 15 Tombs,...
Route 77 MX1/MX2 Superfinal: 1 Tonus*, 2 Desalle, 3 Karro, 4 De Reuver, 5 Nicholls*, 6 Kullas*, 7 Coldenhoff*, 8 Strjbos, 9 Schiffer, 10 Larsen*, 11 Boog, 12 Krestinov, 13 Bradshaw*, 14 Rauchenecker*, 15 Irwin*, 16 Law, 17 Martens, 18 Kojima, 19 Moffat, 20 Booker*.
SUPPORT RACES – RACE ONE: 1 Lewis King (Wulfsport TM UK), 2 Ben Howell (Rockstar ???), 3 Ian Marshall (G&G Ross ???), 4 Matt Williamson (???), 5 David Blackburn (Blackburn Honda), 6 Christy Harnett (IRE - TMC ???).
RACE TWO: 1 Lewis King, 2 Christy Harnett, 3 Chris Bayliss (Wooldridge Helyar Honda), 4 Ben Howell, 5 Matt Williamson, 6 Adam Wells.
