On-fire Kellet marks KTM debut with first Maxxis overall - full report
By Dick Law on 19th Jul 17
British Motocross Championship
Buildbase Honda ace Graeme Irwin won both MX1 races at last Sundays sixth round six of the Maxxis British Motocross championship.
But it wasn't all plain sailing for the Northern Ireland rider, as he had a very determined Brad Anderson on his case all day.
But in the MX2s it was a fairytale first ride for newly signed Hitachi KTM rider Todd Kellett.
After only riding for the team for three days and winning the second race he notched his first overall Maxxis win.
The hard working members of the Woodbridge club always put on a good show and the track, organisation and presentation of the overall event was second to none.
The first of the MX1 races was stopped on the second lap when Elliott Banks-Browne crashed over the back of the circuit leaving him concussed.
On the re-start Irwin, like the first start, got the holeshot from Anderson, Rob Davidson, Jim O'Neil and Stuart Edmonds but Edmonds' race wouldn't last a lap, as his TM stopped at the back of the track and had to be pushed back to the paddock.
Anderson was pushing Irwin hard as the gap between the pair of super-fast riders hovered between two or three seconds as they pulled away from the rest of the pack.
While this was going on Ryan Houghton was doing all he could to find a way past Davidson and Carlton Husband had his Phoenix Honda in sixth, with Dan Thornhill seventh.
At around the halfway stage when the two leaders were still way out in front, Houghton finally found a way past Davidson in to third and Husband's Honda went bang out the back of the track giving his team a long push back to the race truck.
As the clock counted down Irwin stretched out a bit of an advantage and crossed the finish line just over 10 seconds clear of Anderson.
Houghton, with his highest Maxxis finish was third from Davidson and Houghton, as Gert Krestinov on the second Phoenix Honda did his usual charge up the field from 17th to sixth.
Hero of the race was Jamie Law as after a crash with others on the opening lap the seat of his Apico Husqvarna came off and he rode the whole race without it and still finished 15th.
Irwin once again got the holeshot at the start of the second race and once again Anderson followed him round the first turn from Craig, Matt Burrows, O'Neil Jamie Law and Thornhill.
On lap four Anderson dived up the inside of Irwin and took the lead as Houghton from ninth at the start took over third place from O'Neil as both Krestinov and Law closed in on the fourth position.
As Anderson passed the work area at the half way stage he was looking down and stamping on his rear brake pedal to indicate to his pit crew that it had stopped working.
This let Irwin back into the lead and with five laps to go Krestinov slipped through and into third place. Houghton was fourth with Law, complete with a seat this time, in fifth.
Overall it was Irwin on a maximum from Anderson making a popular return to the podium and Houghton making his first podium visit.
"It's been a perfect day for me today" said Irwin.
"There was a lot of chat from people before saying they were coming here to win races but I got the job done.
"My main focus for the year is this championship and perhaps last week at Sherwood I was riding a bit too reserved and I took some criticism for that. It was good racing with Brad Anderson in the second race but I managed to gap him for the second win."
Anderson said. "I think I was riding like my old self again. I was chasing Graeme Irwin in the first race but got a little bit of arm pump so second was good in that one.
"We had some great laps and a good battle but then my back brake went. It was just one of those things as we had put some new pads in before the race but we will have to strip it all down to find out what went wrong."
As the gate dropped on the first of the two MX2 races Hitachi KTM's Josiah Natzke shot into the lead and that was the last anyone saw of him, unless he was lapping.
Brad Todd gated second but was passed by Michael Eccles before the end of the opening lap as Lewis Tombs moved in to third by the end of the second lap.
Of the championship leaders, Martin Barr was not having a good day and gated 16th but he was two places better than series leader Ben Watson, whose team-mate was in the lead.
But Watson's always been a hard-charger and by lap four he was up to eighth place behind Neville Bradshaw who was riding two classes.
By the halfway point and with Natzke seeming to be cruising out in front, Eccles was in second but had Tombs closing in on him fast - and both were being chased down by Mel Pocock who started ninth.
Watson had finally got past Bradshaw and was in seventh place with Kellett in tenth as the race moved in to its second stage.
Tombs passed Eccles for second place on lap 11 but by the time the riders reached the plus-two-laps board Pocock had passed them both and was in second.
Tombs hung on for third from Todd and Barr, with series leader Watson dropping two places to seventh following a mistake with two laps to go.
The fast-starting Brad Todd got the second MX2's holeshot from Josh Spinks, Liam Knight, Jay Hague, Tombs and Kellett, but Spinks took the lead after the second lap.
Barr and Watson, the two championship contenders, didn't get the start they wanted and were back in 19th and 20th places but that wasn't as bad as the race one winner Natzke and he was way back in 29th place.
By lap eight Kellett had caught and passed Spinks and was in the lead while Barr was up to sixth but had both Pocock and Watson in his wheel tracks as Natzke seemed to stall in ninth place.
With three laps to go Barr was in second with Watson following through to third as Spinks hung on to fourth but he had Pocock to worry about.
As they started their last lap Watson managed to get the better of Bar and close in on leader Todd but time ran out before he could effect a pass.
Barr was third from Spinks, Pocock and Knight, but overall it was Todd, Pocock and Natzke on the podium.
"I am over the moon about today as I have only had three days on the bike," said a smiling Kellett.
"I am pleased for the team as well as there has been a lot of effort put into making this all happen.
"I had to push hard in the first race coming from midfield but in the second I was feeling it. There are a lot of positives to take away from this meeting and still a lot of things to learn. I will be smiling all the way of the five-hour drive home."
Pocock was happy with his day's work and said: "I had two bad starts and I just don't know why they were so bad. But in the first race I just got my head down and pushed on and in getting to second I even impressed myself.
"In the second race I just couldn't get through the pack so well as it was a very intense race with ten riders all really going the same pace."
Round three of the two-stroke championship took place at this meeting and it was all about James Dunn on his GL12 KTM as he took two convincing wins from his two starts.
Rob Holyoake got the start of the first race but was passed by first Manuel Lacopi and Neville Bradshaw as Dunn had gated in fourth with the series leader Mike Kras back in tenth.
On lap three Dunn was behind Bradshaw and slowly closed him down to take the lead and the win on lap seven.
Kras followed Bradshaw over the line in third chased by Lacopi, Damon Strydom, Holyoake, Will Worden and factory Phil Mercer.
Dunn was in a class of his own in the second race. After gating 20th, a lap later he was in fifth having passed 15 riders in one lap.
Another lap later he was chasing down the leader Strydom and two laps after that he was in the lead and heading for his second win.
Lacopi was second with iron-man Bradshaw, who was having his fourth race of the day, third.
Series leader Kras fell on the first lap and came round in second-to-last place before working his way to eighth place by the end of the 11-lap race.
Overall it was Dunn from Bradshaw and Lacopi with Strydom and Kras missing out on the podium.
