Charlie's Kin' of Pattingham
By TMX Archives on 27th Feb 08
TRADITIONALLY Kinver Auto Club kicks off the AMCA Motocross season at its Pattingham track and this year was no different. The circuit was in superb condition, thanks mainly to the work put in by the club at the end of the 2007 season, which allowed the track to settle and recover following last year's horrendous Summer weather.
Sunday started off overcast but the sun broke through mid-morning until showers interrupted proceedings around lunch-time but cleared quickly to leave the rest of the day as it began, slightly overcast.
The paddock and parking area had been greatly improved with additional space but Pattingham is always tight and always attracts a large entry, so it still seemed as crowded as ever.
At the start of each season riders are raring to go and practice gave them an opportunity to lose a little craziness and clam down ready for racing, although there were a few spectacular crashes throughout the day but no serious injuries and only two red flag incidents.
The track is well known for its massive step-down, which had the launch area re-profiled during the off-season, and saw riders fly off faster in a much flatter trajectory down the 50-foot drop.
Even before the gate dropped in the MX1 Expert class, it was always going to be between two riders, Acorns' Charlie Hollis and Kinver's Craig Chamberlain. These two battled in each race with the same result, Hollis first and Chamberlain second. Chamberlain did lead the second moto for a while but Hollis reeled him in and took the win. Hollis was the only rider to win all three of his races on the day and looked in fine form for the coming season.
Simon White and Josh Williams also had their own tussle but White crashed at the first corner in the opening race and scored low while Williams' consistency gave him third overall.
Andy Marchant had a point to prove in Expert MX2 and he did it in style. Plagued by bad luck last season, he was on form from the first second of the first race and took two wins for the overall while closest competitor Owen Delaney nicked the second race and backed it up with two second laces to take the runners-up spot.
Despite a seriously big off in practice, Jack Cox, one of Kinver's newest members and a former ACU rider, gathered himself to take third overall.
He was riding in some discomfort but still looked on form and set to seriously challenge in the MX2 Expert class this season.
Polesworth's Chris Hancock failed to score in the opening MX1 Senior race but came back to take two wins. However, it wasn't enough for the overall.
Antony Jeavons had a 2-3-2 card and took the overall by eight clear points. Club-mate, Ade Blackford, consolidated Sedgley's position by taking third overall.
In Senior MX2, Louis Hill also failed to score in the opener but then took two wins and the overall win but Dan Eastwood was the rider on form in the opener and won by a country mile.
Eastwood crashed hard in the second race and failed to score but recovered in the third and took second overall in class.
Josh Palmer nailed third overall despite failing to score in the second moto.
Andy Hughes and Jay Rumbold tied for the overall win in Junior MX1 but on the tie-break Hughes better finish in the final race gave him the glory while Rumbold took second as Matt Davis wasn't far behind in third.
Junior MX2 Ben Morgan just missed posting a perfect score but two wins from three and a second place gave him a clear margin over Gav Faircloth in second and TV's Lewis Stokes in third.
Junior MX2 Under 18 was the closest class of the day with only a handful of points covering the top five riders. Jack Radford lead the field while Mitch Perry came in a close second and Aiden Starkey third.
A small Inter Junior entry produced some close racing with a different winner in each race but Jack Tompkins maintained consistency for the overall while Lewis Ashby claimed second ahead of Chloe Currien.
An excellent start to the season for Kinver Auto Club. The club crammed in three blocks of racing – although the last couple of races were in need of floodlights – and attracted a quality entry which threw up some seriously good racing.
The track was in excellent condition and held up very well, for February, and once again the weather was favourable.
West Midlands Group MX
Pattingham (Kinver AC (AMCA))
MX1 Expert: 1 Charlie Hollis, 2 Craig Chamberlain, 3 Josh Williams.
MX2 Expert: 1 Andy Marchant, 2 Owen Delaney, 3 Jack Cox.
MX1 Senior: 1 Antony Jeavons, 2 Chris Hancock, 3 Ade Blackford.
MX2 Senior: 1 Louis Hill, 2 Dan Eastwood, 3 Josh Palmer.
MX1 Junior: 1 Andrew Hughes, 2 Jay Rumbold, 3 Matt Davis.
MX2 Junior: 1 Ben Morgan, 2 Gav Faircloth, 3 Lewis Stokes.
MX2 Junior Under 18: 1 Jack Radford, 2 Mitch Perry, 3 Aiden Starkey.
Inter Junior: 1 Jack Tompkins, 2 Lewis Ashby, 3 Chloe Currien.