BRANSTON BARRAGE
By TMX Archives on 6th Aug 08
COMPLETING a truly memorable week for AMCA riders and coming hot on the heels of Lee Dunham's success in the IMBA MX2 round at Walterstone, the British IMBA MX1 lads on duty at Branston, on Sunday, produced a stunning performance to fill the top four overall positions.
Leading the way and taking his second consecutive home IMBA overall event win was the very much on-form Clinton Barrs, joined on the podium by Ben Saunders and an incredibly brave Brad O'Leary, riding in immense pain following his big off at Walterstone.
Wild card entry, David Campbell, finished fourth overall, despite a freak moto two incident when his leg became trapped between his own rear wheel and mudguard. Charlie Hollis was eighth and Rick Du-Feu tenth. Supporting the super IMBA MX1 Brits was the fourth round of the AMCA MX2 championship with Phil Mercer, Lee Payne and Lee Dunham filling the podium places for the third consecutive meeting.
In the title race, with the series now at its mid-way point, Mercer holds a 37-point advantage over Dunham with Payne a further 23 points in arrears.
In a fantastic start to the IMBA MX1 action, Clinton Barrs grabbed the moto one holeshot to lead the way with fellow Brits, Brad O'Leary, Ben Saunders, David Campbell, displaying his true class despite having the last choice of gate position, and Rick Du-Feu in tow.
Quickly, the supersonic Brits broke away from their chasing European rivals, with Saunders moving up into second to engage in a fierce battle for the lead with Barrs, while O'Leary was displaying great cour-age, locked in a tussle
of similar ferocity with Campbell for third.
Following his fine start, Du-Feu eventually slipped back to tenth behind top European challengers Christophe Descamps, Frank Jansen-Teitz, Tomas Lhotsky and Jimmy Kaal.
Well downfield on the opening lap, Charlie Hollis recovered brilliantly to finish just behind Du-Feu in 11th place at the flag.
At the front though, there was British delight as Barrs took the win from Saunders, O'Leary and Campbell.
In moto two, Campbell made a lightning getaway with Barrs, Saunders and Descamps chasing before the freak incident occurred at the end of lap one.
As Barrs dived inside Campbell to take the lead, the Scottish rider's leg became stuck between his own rear-wheel and mudguard. Although quickly freeing himself, Campbell dropped back to seventh while Saunders moved up to chase the leader, just ahead of a serious battle for third featuring Teitz, Descamps, Jimmy Kaal and O'Leary.
While O'Leary somehow found the resolve and determination to win that particular scrap, Saunders passed Barrs on the final lap for the win after the latter had lost the use of his rear-brake following a brush with a back-marker. At the flag, Campbell regained one place for sixth with Hollis ninth and Du-Feu coming through the pack for tenth.
IMBA EUROPEAN MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 - Branston (Burntwood Barracudas MCC)
MOTO ONE: 1 Clinton BARRS (GB), 2 Ben SAUNDERS (GB), 3 Brad O'LEARY (GB), 4 David CAMPBELL (GB), 5 Christophe Descamps (B), 6 Frank Jansen-Teitz (D), 7 Tomas Lhotsky (CZ), 8 Jimmy Kaal (NL), 9 Rick Du-FEU (GB), 10 Charlie HOLLIS (GB), 11 Erwin Robins (NL), 12 Jarno Verhorevoort (NL), 13 Kai Wirtz (D), 14 Alexander Farkas (D), 15 Kris Fleerackers (B), 16 Jurgen van Camp (B), 17 Ivan Schepers (NL), 18 Marc Odenthal (D), 19 Frederic Delhuille (France), 20 Bart Hoolants (B).
MOTO TWO: 1 SAUNDERS, 2 BARRS, 3 O'LEARY, 4 Descamps, 5 Kaal, 6 CAMPBELL, 7 Teitz, 8 Lhotsky, 9 HOLLIS, 10 Du-FEU, 11 Verhorevoort, 12 Robins, 13 Farkas, 14 Wirtz, 15 Fleerackers, 16 Van Camp, 17 Odenthal, 18 Delhuille, 19 Lukas Elmer (CH), 20 Schepers.
MOTO THREE: 1 BARRS, 2 SAUNDERS, 3 CAMPBELL, 4 HOLLIS, 5 Descamps, 6 O'LEARY, 7 Teitz, 8 Kaal, 9 Lhotsky, 10 Robins, 11 Verhorevoort, 12 Du-FEU, 13 Wirtz, 14 Farkas, 15 Van Camp, 16 Fleerackers, 17 Elmer, 18 Odenthal, 19 Delhuille, 20 Schepers.
OVERALL ON DAY: 1 BARRS 174 points, 2 SAUNDERS 168, 3 O'LEARY 143, 4 CAMPBELL 140, 5 Descamps 137, 6 Teitz 125, 7 Kaal 123, 8 HOLLIS 119, 9 Lhotsky 117, 10 Du-FEU 103.
SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Descamps 436 points, 2 O'LEARY 430, 3 BARRS 421, 4 Teitz 416, 5 Kaal 403, 6 SAUNDERS 395, 7 HOLLIS 349, 8 Verhorevoort 340, 9 Lhotsky 321, 10 Du-FEU 303, 11 Robins 287, 12 Schepers 244, 13 Farkas 231, 14 Fleerackers 195, 15 Odenthal 191, 16 Delhuille 190, 17 Hoolants 186, 18 Jacob Straede (DK) 171, 19 Van Camp 147, 20 Svatos (CZ) 131.
AMCA MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 - Branston (Burntwood Barracudas MCC)
MOTO ONE: 1 Lee Payne (Malin Rocket Centre Yamaha), 2 Phil Mercer (Delkevic Kawasaki), 3 Lee Dunham (MotoXtreme Kawasaki), 4 James Lane (Sutton Honda), 5 Simon Lane (Sutton Honda), 6 Jamie Dobson (Honda), 7 Sean Frayne (Honda), 8 Matt Porter (Select Homes Honda), 9 Andy Marchant (KTM), 10 Pete Weaver (Honda), 11 Shaun Pearce (Honda), 12 James Shaw (Delkevic Kawasaki), 13 Owen Delaney (T&W Racing Yamaha), 14 Craig Chamberlain (Honda), 15 Shaun Scrivens (Yamaha), 16 Aran Agius (Thornbury Kawasaki), 17 Ashley Hudson (Yamaha), 18 Brad Nixon (Honda), 19 Luke Spence (Suzuki), 20 Michael Reynolds (Yamaha).
MOTO TWO: 1 Mercer, 2 Dunham, 3 Dobson, 4 J Lane, 5 Delaney, 6 Payne, 7 Frayne, 8 Jack Taylor (KTM), 9 Agius, 10 Nixon, 11 Porter, 12 Marchant, 13 Shaw, 14 S Lane, 15 Pearce, 16 Rob Clark (Suzuki), 17 Carl Benjamin (Thornbury Kawasaki), 18 Hudson, 19 Joseph Barry (Yamaha), 20 Scrivens.
MOTO THREE: 1 Mercer, 2 Payne, 3 Dunham, 4 Delaney, 5 S Lane, 6 J Lane, 7 Taylor, 8 Agius, 9 Porter, 10 Frayne, 11 Shaw, 12 Marchant, 13 Scott Mathia (Wulfsport KTM), 14 Pearce, 15 J Dobson, 16 Reynolds, 17 C Benjamin, 18 Chamberlain, 19 Aled Bellis, 20 Brandon Benjamin (Thornbury Kawasaki).
OVERALL ON DAY: 1 Mercer 72 points, 2 Payne 62, 3 Dunham 62, 4 J Lane 51, 5 Delaney 42, 6 J Dobson 41.
SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Mercer 263 points, 2 Dunham 226, 3 Payne 203, 4 Porter 152, 5 Frayne 137, 6 S Lane 136, 7 J Lane 129, 8 Delaney 124, 9 Shaw 114, 10 J Dobson 100, 11 Taylor 96, 12 Mathia 94, 13 Agius 93, 14 Marchant 86, 15 Chamberlain 51, 16 C Benjamin 42, 17 Clark 35, 18 D Dobson 33, 19 Pearce 31, 20 Gavin Hookham and Weaver 27.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2008