Church service
By TMX Archives on 24th Feb 12
Redbull HM Plant KTMs Tom Church won his second consecutive British Supercross Championship, at Birminghams LG Arena.
Neville Bradshaw (Stevens Evotech Honda) also broke his duck, claiming his first championship title with some superb racing in the SX Lites class.
Church made light work of the final race as he shot out of the gate and took the lead ahead of the chasing pack.
Rabbit Racing's Jack Brunell was the only rider to get anywhere near Church, who was on his way to a second British Supercross crown.
Gordon Crockard was looking really good as he led the chasing pack, but the Irishman had a big off after the finish-line triple, resulting in a DNF.
Adam Chatfield once again made his way through the field to claim third spot, while Neville Bradshaw and Buildbase Honda rider Nico Aubin found themselves battling it out for fourth and fifth positions.
Both Bradshaw and Aubin shared the points lead going into the final and both were looking super-smooth as they attacked the Dirtwerx-constructed track.
"The track is really good and it flows nicely,” admitted Bradshaw.
"It's going to be a hard race. Nico is riding really well, but I just need to put my head down and ride my own race.”
As the gate dropped Maxxis Henderson Kawasaki rider Ashley Greedy took the holeshot.
Greedy and Jack Brunell were sitting level in third on 30-points apiece, ahead of Aubin and Bradshaw, who didn't get off to great starts.
Brunell pressed hard and managed to pass Greedy at half-distance, while Buff Honda rider Chatfield was laying down the fastest laps and catching Greedy and Brunell.
French star Aubin had his hands full trying to fend off the advances of Bradshaw as both riders picked up the pace to catch Greedy, who had been passed by Chatfield.
Aubin was pushed wide as he tried to make a pass on the outside of Greedy and Bradshaw dive through on the inside to pass both riders and give himself the lead in the championship.
As the laps counted down Chatfield was still going strong and managed to pass Brunell to take another win.
In the SX Lites championship Bradshaw and Aubin crossed the finish line a wheel's length apart as Bradshaw claimed the coveted title.
A delighted Bradshaw said: "This is fantastic – I have been contesting this championship for the last four years.
"I had some bad luck last year while I was leading this series and broke my hand, but that just makes winning the trophy all the sweeter!”
As the biggest stars of the night left the start gate young Luke Williamson took the holeshot in the Auto final.
Buster Hart – equal on points with Williamson at the start of the night – settled into third behind Liam Brosnan but pushed hard to catch the leading pair.
The chasing pack of Bruce Haddow, Dring and Grayson were all engaged in an epic battle.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX FEB 24
Future West British Supercross Championship
Final Rd – LG Arena, Birmingham
British Supercross Class: 1 Tom Church, 2 Jack Brunell, 3 Adam Chatfield, 4 Neville Bradshaw, 5 Nico Aubin, 6 Damon Strydom, 7 Ashley Greedy, 8 Ryan Voase, 9 Joey Ruminer, 10 Jake Preston.
British Supercross Lites Class: 1 Adam Chatfield, 2 Jack Brunell, 3 Neville Bradshaw, 4 Nico Aubin, 5 Ashley Greedy, 6 Damon Strydom, 7 James Dunn, 8 Ryan Voase, 9 Jamie Skuse, 10 Edward Briscoe, 11 Joey Ruminer, 12 Jake Preston.
Auto: 1 Luke Williamson, 2 Liam Bronsan, 3 Bobby Bruce, 4 Buster Hart, 5 James Haddow, 6 Dalton Dring, 7 Jack Grayshon, 8 Alfie Card, 9 Adam Wells, 10 Vinnie Ray Guthrie, 11 Havery Cashmore, 12 Myles Taylor.
Junior 65cc Class: 1 Harry Kimber, 2 Callum Beeken, 3 Reagan Brooks, 4 Ben Burridge, 5 Kurtis Griffiths, 6 Rossi Beard, 7 Preston Williams, 8 Ben White, 9 Max Slater, 10 Brad Woodage.
Small-wheel 85cc: 1 Jordan Eccles, 2 Dylan Woodcock, 3 Taylor Hammal, 4 Brandon Sharples, 5 Harry Pritchard, 6 Luke Reading, 7 Thomas Shutler, 8 Josh Greedy, 9 Brodie Jesson.
Supermini Class: 1 Gradie Featherstone, 2 Connor Hughes, 3 Scooter Webster, 4 Mitchell Lewis, 5 Joe Jeffries, 6 Jordan Eccles, 7 Dylan Woodcock, 8 Karl Noble, 9 Tommie Schofield, 10 Chelsey Gowland, 11 William Keogh.
Youth Lites: 1 James Harrison, 2 Christopher Bayliss, 3 Micheal Eccles, 4 Ben Harrison, 5 John Waghorne, 6 James Dunn, 7 Jordan Wills, 8 Jack May, 9 Putnum.
Clubman Lites: 1 James Harrison, 2 Christopher Bayliss, 3 Micheal Eccles, 4 Dan Thornhill, 5 Olivier Vanolergugten, 6 George Purchase, 7 Ben Putnam, 8 Stuart Morrison, 9 Ben Harrison, 10 John Waghorne.
Clubman Open: 1 James Harrison, 2 Christopher Bayliss, 3 Stuart Morrison, 4 George Purchase, 5 Ryan Crowder, 6 Andrew Stephenson, 7 James Harring, 8 John Waghorne, 9 Richard McDermott.
Quad: 1 Leon Rodgers, 2 Sam Bryan, 3 Jamie Clarke, 4 Scott Sinclair, 5 Thomas Claireux, 6 Oli Samson, 7 Kev Dixon.
