Culham kick-off for AMCA boys!
By TMX Archives on 29th Apr 09
AFTER a long winter of expensive bike preparation and training, riders travelled to Culham, on Sunday, with high expectations of the thrilling battles ahead as they embarked on their individual quest for the 2009 AMCA Motocross Championship honours. Unfortunately though following this opening round, the majority of riders were to instead be hugely disappointed, leaving the event with a massive feeling of deflation after having been presented with a dry, dusty track, an uninspiring layout and a surface which quite frankly did not meet the standards expected for what is meant to be the blue riband' championship of AMCA promotion.
The event was so low key that most riders must have struggled to find any inspiration, however all competitors did still have to remain focussed to complete the three scheduled motos. In the action that unfolded, Charlie Hollis and Lee Dunham took the overall victories in their respective MX1 and MX2 classes to take early advantages in the season-long title race.
In MX1, Ben Saunders won two out of three motos, his copybook being ruined by a heavy, second race crash. In that moto, it was to be the very impressive new boy Brad Turner who took the honours. Over in MX2, Matt Porter, Lee Dunham and Lee Payne scored one win apiece and also filled the eventual podium places. For reigning MX2 champ Phil Mercer, Culham proved to be an absolute disaster. Enduring one of those days when he found himself always in the wrong spot at the wrong time, Phil had to work very hard for an eventual 11th overall.
MX1
DURING early morning qualification, most attention was focussed on the new riders in the series as they attempted to gauge their speed against the established AMCA stars and in MX1, Turner made his intentions perfectly clear by posting the fastest time.
Aboard a new Ride MX 450F Yamaha which was less than a week old, Turner though did not make the best of starts in moto one as Clinton Barrs grabbed the holeshot only to be very quickly passed by Hollis.
As Barrs slipped back to sixth, it was O'Leary who filled second spot just ahead of a brave Elliot Barrs who was competing just three weeks after suffering a painful ankle injury, with Aran Agius in fourth, Saunders fifth, Wesley Egan sixth and reigning MX1 champion David Campbell in seventh. At the front, Hollis and O'Leary twice swapped positions, Elliot Barrs fell in a corner and struggled to restart whilst Turner was now rapidly moving through the pack on a charge.
That charge though was to be eventually halted when his chain guide broke, whipping the chain around his rear hub, bending the sprockets in the process. With the unlucky Agius also forced out when his petrol feed pipe became detached, the rapidly changing leaderboard though was to make its last decisive alteration as Saunders increased the pace, moving forwards to stylishly outgun O'Leary and take control of the race before going on to record his first MX1 Championship win of the new campaign.
Also earning big moto one points, Hollis took third, Clinton Barrs fourth, Campbell fifth, Egan sixth and another new boy Tim Truman in seventh, one place ahead of experienced former ACU star Matt Gordon.
Unable to repair the damage to his new Yamaha machine, Turner switched colours for the second MX1 clash by climbing aboard his spare 450F Kawasaki. Gating in sixth behind fast-starting Hollis, Agius, Saunders, Clinton Barrs and Elliot Barrs, Turner had it all to do.
However, his move up the leaderboard was to be assisted by early drama as both Saunders and O'Leary suffered heavy crashes. As the moto progressed, Turner encountered his own problems, bending his gear change lever, but despite being stuck in third gear continued to reel in the leaders. With one lap remaining, Turner remarkably then passed Hollis to record his first ever AMCA championship win.
MX2
MX2, last season's top three started the new campaign in very ominous form by recording the fastest qualifying times. However, when the race action eventually got under way, moto one was to prove disastrous for reigning champ Phil Mercer as he found himself involved in an opening lap collision with James Shaw and Jack Taylor.
At the front, Joseph Del-buffo had produced a glorious holeshot to lead the way, chased by a very impressive Carl Benjamin, new boy Shane Holmes, Rob Clark, Lee Dunham and the returning Northern flyer Rob Clitheroe.
Whilst Dunham in his own immaculate style quickly moved up into second and began his chase of Porter, Clitheroe showing plenty of his old rapid speed and style eventually hauled himself up to third spot, sandwiched between two intriguing battles.
Whilst Dunham started to threaten race leader Porter, Benjamin and Holmes had now been caught by the hard charging duo of Lee Payne and Sean Frayne.
On completion, Porter comfortably held on for the win, nearly six seconds infront of Dunham with Clitheroe third, Benjamin a great fourth, Payne fifth, Holmes sixth and Frayne seventh. After his earlier fall, Mercer had blasted back to eighth place, one spot ahead of former double AMCA 125cc champion Jonathan Slesser.
AMCA MX1 CHAMPIONSHIP
(sponsored by proppa.com)
Rd 1 – Culham MP (Faringdon and DMCC)
MOTO ONE (TOP 20): 1 Ben Saunders (450F Delkevic Kawasaki), 2 Brad O'Leary (450F Proppa Gear4 KTM), 3 Charlie Hollis (450F Proppa Honda), 4 Clinton Barrs (450F Delkevic Kawasaki), 5 David Campbell (450F Corby Kawasaki), 6 Wesley Egan (450F Honda), 7 Tim Truman (450F Suzuki), 8 Matt Gordon (450F Honda), 9 Craig Chamberlain (450F Suzuki), 10 Steven Bailey (450F Honda), 11 Richard Meakin (450F Proppa Honda), 12 Alan Pearce (450F Suzuki), 13 Stuart Rawlings (450F Artdeans Honda), 14 Jamie Powell (450F KTM), 15 James Russell (450F Homer Racing Honda), 16 Jason Rennie (450F Suzuki), 17 Liam Hickinbottom (450F Honda), 18 Gavin Hookham (450F Thornbury MX Kawasaki), 19 Danny Blakeley (250 Silvester Yamaha), 20 Elliot Barrs (450F Marsh MX Suzuki).
MOTO TWO: 1 Brad Turner (450F Kawasaki), 2 Hollis, 3 Aran Agius (450F MotoXtreme Kawasaki), 4 E Barrs, 5 C Barrs, 6 Campbell, 7 Russell, 8 Powell, 9 O'Leary, 10 Truman, 11 Rennie, 12 Bailey, 13 Rawlings, 14 Chamberlain, 15 Blakeley, 16 Meakin, 17 Pearce, 18 Martin Jones (250 Kawasaki), 19 Paul Coward (450F Kawasaki), 20 Ashley Hudson (250 Suzuki).
MOTO THREE: 1 Saunders, 2 O'Leary, 3 Campbell, 4 Turner, 5 C Barrs, 6 Hollis, 7 Russell, 8 Powell, 9 E Barrs, 10 Meakin, 11 Rawlings, 12 Bailey, 13 Pearce, 14 Truman, 15 Egan, 16 Gary Threadgold (450F Kawasaki), 17 Blakeley, 18 Agius, 19 Gordon, 20 Andrew Summerton (450F Suzuki).
OVERALL: 1 Hollis 147 points, 2 O'Leary 145, 3 Campbell 138, 4 C Barrs 137, 5 Saunders 120, 6 Russell 108, 7 Turner 107, 8 Powell 105, 9 E Barrs 105, 10 Truman 103, 11 Bailey 97, 12 Meakin 93, 13 Rawlings 91, 14 Egan 85, 15 Pearce 84, 16 Rennie 74, 17 Agius 73, 18 Blakeley 72, 19 Chamberlain 64, 20 Gordon 61.
AMCA MX2 CHAMPIONSHIP
(sponsored by proppa.com)
Rd 1 - Culham (Faringdon and DMCC)
MOTO ONE (TOP 20): 1 Matt Porter (Select Homes Honda), 2 Lee Dunham (MotoXtreme Kawasaki), 3 Robert Clitheroe (Yamaha), 4 Carl Benjamin (Thornbury MX Kawasaki), 5 Lee Payne (Malin Floors KTM), 6 Shane Holmes (KTM), 7 Sean Frayne (Honda), 8 Phil Mercer (Delkevic Kawasaki), 9 Jonathan Slesser (Honda), 10 Luke Spence (KTM), 11 Jamie Dobson (Kestrel Honda), 12 Brad Nixon (Honda), 13 Joseph Barry (Suzuki), 14 Robert Clark (Suzuki), 15 Simon Lane (LTR Kawasaki), 16 Aled Bellis, 17 Chad Yarranton (Cradley Kawasaki), 18 Paul Neale (Kawasaki), 19 Lance Parry (Yamaha), 20 Shaun Scrivens (Yamaha).
MOTO TWO: 1 Dunham, 2 Frayne, 3 Mark Hooley (KTM), 4 Porter, 5 Payne, 6 Holmes, 7 Scott Mathia (Suzuki), 8 Dale Halls (KTM), 9 Neale, 10 Shaun Pearce (Peter Jones M/C Honda), 11 S Lane, 12 Benjamin, 13 Clitheroe, 14 Jack Taylor (Proppa Gear4 KTM), 15 Spence, 16 Yarranton, 17 James Lane (LTR Kawasaki), 18 Daniel Hill (Suzuki), 19 Slesser, 20 Tom Neesam (Suzuki).
MOTO THREE: 1 Payne, 2 Hooley, 3 Dunham, 4 Porter, 5 Frayne, 6 Mathia, 7 Holmes, 8 Mercer, 9 Spence, 10 Benjamin, 11 Dobson, 12 Clitheroe, 13 Pearce, 14 James Shaw (Delkevic Kawasaki), 15 Bellis, 16 Neale, 17 Halls, 18 S Lane, 19 Nixon, 20 Yarranton.
OVERALL: 1 Dunham 164 points, 2 Porter 154, 3 Payne 150, 4 Frayne 140, 5 Holmes 127, 6 Benjamin 113, 7 Clitheroe 110, 8 Hooley 104, 9 Mathia 104, 10 Spence 98, 11 Mercer 97, 12 Dobson 86, 13 Neale 85, 14 S Lane 82, 15 Slesser 79, 16 Pearce 74, 17 Yarranton 70, 18 Halls 63, 19 Shaw 56, 20 Scrivens 56.
CHAMPIONSHIP NON-QUALIFIERS: 1 Sean Smith 155 points 2 Colin Conduit 153, 3 Declan Burke 140, 4 Scott Smith 125, 5 Kirk Whittle 122, 6 Jack Davies 104.
EXPERTS SUPPORT (Sponsored by Tillit): 1 Matthew Williamson 120 points, 2 Matthew Bath 101, 3 Darren Dobson 100.
SENIORS SUPPORT (Sponsored by Rapid Engineering): 1 Bobby Carruthers 114 points, 2 Michael Bacon 100, 3 Jordan Morris 94.
JUNIORS SUPPORT (Sponsored by Rapid Engineering): 1 Alistair Wood 120 points, 2 Brendan Griffiths 104, 3 Cameron Hopkins 83.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2009
MX1's Brad O'Leary (2) hunts down David Campbell (1) as he leads the way around the Culham circuit, both hungry for Championship points in the season opener.