BoB buzzes at Pontrilas
By TMX Archives on 2nd Jul 09
ROUND three of the BSMA's Best of British Championship was held at Pontrilas, near Hereford, hosted by the Cotswold SSC. A top quality permanent track, heavily watered and graded to perfection resulting in top racing despite the hot conditions. There was a real buzz at the meeting with several non championship riders adding to the excitement especially in the Open and AMX classes.Report: Don Church First to the line were the Open group with Marc Gunter and Alfie Smith setting a pace that could not be matched by anyone in this full line-up. Marc winning by more than a minute from Danny Iles.
The rest of the meeting was a battle royal between Marc and Alfie each getting two wins and two second positions with Danny a distant third. There was great racing for the minor positions between Sean Lock, Jake Grossman, Colin Thomas and Rob Newell.
A very competitive AMX line-up were next to race with James Cole and Darren Banwell front runners in the championship holeshotting regularly but could not stop Adam Cook on the limit throughout the weekend taking a much deserved top spot. He was made to work hard for the result finishing equal on points with Richie Williams whose strong finishing gave him two wins and three second positions over the weekend.
The championship riders added to the mix with James Cole, Darren Banwell and Warren Field really impressing. Jack Tovey was always close battling with the unlucky Craig Badrian, Dean Brown and Jonathan Pickett.
Senior racing was probably the best over the weekend with a depth of good riders and any mistakes were difficult to rectify.
Aaron Jenner the favourite before the start came out on top with two wins and three runner-up spots. Jensen Day had two wins from start to flag and finished second overall but crashed out in race three spoiling any chance of top spot.
Alex Hussey always quick early on held on to gain an excellent third overall. David Sweet winner of heat one had a disasterous race, when challenging for the lead the bike stalled and relegated him to last. He remounted and with some determined riding gained a vital 23 points to give him fourth position.
Liam Wright improved as the weekend went on to gain fifth overall. Up from the big wheels James Dunn tried his luck against the top Seniors and he certainly didn't disappoint with some electric starts certainly one to watch in the future.
Jay Thomas finished top of the Big-wheel 85s but looked as if he had blown his chances with a disaster in race two. He improved dramatically to take two wins and a second in his next three races.
There was a real battle between Jay and Jordan Divall in race three as they changed positions right to the line with Jordan taking the win. He was ahead on points going into the final heat but problems cost him dear and he finished a creditable second just edging out the improving Jack Gardener by one point.
Alex Meadows was the unluckiest rider in the group when he sheared his rear sprocket whilst challenging for the lead in race four. He showed his pace by winning race two by a mile. Rickie Roderick and Chris Grindle completed the top six.
Small-wheel 85cc rider Oliver Osmaston looked the quickest in the group but made mistakes in race four when leading and left the door open for a last heat challenge from first race winner Liam Knight. He showed his class with a start to flag win and first overall.
Liam with three runner-up positions and a fifth gave him second place with Danny Lanfear showing good speed to take wins in races two and four and a deserved third. Curtis Blamey improved after a bad start to finish fourth with Rob Holyoake winning the battle for the fifth position from Alistair Evans and Ben Beadle.
Last of the competitors were the Juniors with ‘Mr Maximum' Conrad Mewse an exceptional young talent who was never challenged. Second overall went to Jake Deacon who was clear of David Keet who tried hard in every race to finish third with a consistent performance from Jamie Carpenter in fourth. There was a real tussle between Albie Wilkie, Jack Roberts, Tommie Schofield, Jake Curtis-Stevens to finish in the top six with just three points between them at the end.
This was an excellent event run by a super club which had a lot of support which was much appreciated. Management team, Chris Tucker, Don Chuirch, Vic Ames and Ken Lewis. Next round will be held at Landrake July 25/26.
BSMA BEST OF BRITISH
motocross championship
Pontrilas, nr Hereford (Cotswold SSC)
Junior: 1 Conrad Mewse, 2 Jake Deacon, 3 David Keet, 4 Jamie Carpenter, 5 Albie Wilkie, 6 Jack Roberts, 7 Tommie Schofield, 8 Jake Curtis-Stevens, 9 Alexander Walton, 10 Don Lewis.
Small-wheel 85cc: 1 Oliver Osmaston, 2 Liam Knight, 3 Danny Lanfear, 4 Curtis Blamey, 5 Rob Holyoake, 6 Alistair Evans, 7 Ben Beadle, 8 Greg Evans, 9 Robert Yates, 10 Tyron Cleaver.
Big-wheel 85cc: 1 Jay Thomas, 2 Jordan Divall, 3 Jack Gardner, 4 Luke Newman, 5 Rickie Roderick, 6 Christopher Grindle, 7 Alex Meadows, 8 Charley Mills, 9 Zac Alsop, 10 Karl Haycock.
Senior: 1 Aaron Jenner, 2 Jansen Day, 3 Alex Hussey, 4 David Sweet, 5 Liam Wright, 6 Chambers Wittle, 7 Scott Bates, 8 Jonathan Roderick Evans, 9 Piers Skinner, 10 Cody King.
Open: 1 Danny Iles, 2 Sean Lock, 3 Jake Grossman, 4 Paul Hussey, 5 Connor Pearce, 6 Gary Pottenger, 7 Daniel Boucher, 8 David Ford, 9 Thomas Hambridge, 10 Richard Hutton.
Jake Curtis-Stevens basks in the glorious sunshine as he blasts around the popular Pontrilas circuit.