Elliot Barrs the way at fast Ford
By TMX Archives on 21st May 08
WITH just one week to go before the opening round of the AMCA MX championship, Elliot Barrs showed that he is definitely up for the challenge. After having had his 2007 season wrecked by two serious injuries Elliot, the 2006 AMCA Open Class championship runner-up, is now thankfully hot on the comeback trail and displaying signs of quickly regaining all of his previous speed and style.
During Chipping Sodbury MCC's slick presentation at Ford on Sunday, Elliot romped to a superb maximum in Expert MX1, a feat also equalled by Steve Boddy and Kieran Banks in their respective MX1 Junior and Inter Junior classes.
On a dry, hard circuit, the Expert MX1 got proceedings underway with ‘Barrsy' marching to his first victory of the day ahead of Aran Agius, Rich Meakin and Darren Marklove.
In a carbon copy result, the top four finished in that same identical order in moto two before the sequence was finally broken in the final clash.
With Agius a non-starter, Barr again romped to the win, while Rich Meakin was runner-up with Marklove, on his 250 Yamaha two-stroke, third.
In a thrilling opening Expert MX2 moto, championship rivals Lee Dunham and Aran Agius hotly disputed the race lead until Dunham eventually took control on the final lap.
There was to be no repeat of that battle in moto two as Dunham grabbed a dream holeshot and quickly forged a massive advantage but in a dramatic final few laps, Dunham's Kawasaki then mysteriously stopped, handing victory instead to Agius, with Carl Benjamin second. Dunham recovered for third ahead of Matthew Bath.
Following those moto two problems, Dunham was then back to his very best in the final race, blasting to another win ahead of Benjamin, the latter having his first outing since breaking his shoulder, and looking in good shape for the AMCA championship opener.
After finishing the opening Senior Unlimited moto in fourth spot behind Shaun Chapman, Dax Blackburn and Roger Frankcom, late entry Stuart Harding-Wyatt then won the remaining two motos to also earn the overall victory.
In the ultra competitive Senior MX2, Mitchell Smith took the first win of the day. From here onwards, 14-year-old Joshua Blackwell took control. In the overall standings, Blackwell led the way ahead of Joe Russell, Smith, Adam Harris and John Bradley.
Steve Boddy totally dominated the Junior MX1 racing, winning all three motos with Daniel Potter the runner-up on each occasion.
Although Gareth Harris and Dean Fitzgerald (twice) took the moto wins in Junior MX2 Over 18, it was the very consistent Tony Faulkner who took home the overall victor's trophy. After finishing third in the opening two clashes, Faulkner then went one better by posting a second spot in the final clash of the day.
Over in Junior MX2 Under 18, Cameron Lochhead, Ben Summerfield and Andrew Wren all recorded a moto win apiece. In the overall stakes the top trophy was claimed by Wren, backing up his final moto victory with earlier second and sixth places.
With his main early season rival, Bradley Bird, having moved up to the Junior MX2 Under 18 group, Kieran Banks took full advantage by blasting to a brilliant maximum in Sunday's Inter-Junior class. While the
stylish Banks dominated, there was some great racing in the battle for the remaining podium places. Even-tually, Michael Chapman took second with Jack Sarll third.
CHIPPING SODBURY GROUP MOTOCROSS
Ford, Glos. (Chipping Sodbury MCC (AMCA))
Expert MX1: 1 Elliot Barrs (450F MotoXtreme Kawasaki), 2 Richard Meakin (450F Honda), 3 Darren Marklove (250 Yamaha), 4 Aran Agius (450F Thornbury MX Kawasaki), 5 Martyn Tucker (450F Suzuki).
Expert MX2: 1 Lee Dunham (250F MotoXtreme Kawasaki), 2 Carl Benjamin (250F Thornbury MX Kawasaki), 3 Aran Agius (250F Thornbury MX Kawasaki), 4 Gavin Hookham (250F Kawasaki), 5 Joseph Meachin (250F Yamaha).
Senior Unlimited: 1 Stuart Harding-Wyatt, 2 Dax Blackburn (125 KTM), 3 Shaun Chapman (250 Kawasaki), 4 Roger Frankcom (450F Honda), 5 John Pozzoli (450F KTM).
Senior MX2: 1 Joshua Blackwell (250F Kawasaki), 2 Joe Russell (250F Kawasaki), 3 Mitchell Smith (250F Suzuki), 4 Adam Harris (125 Kawasaki), 5 John Bradley (144 KTM).
MX1 Junior: 1 Steve Boddy (250 Kawasaki), 2 Daniel Potter (450F Honda), 3 Wayne Jewell (450F Honda), 4 Joe Rowe (250 Yamaha), 5 Colin Buckley (450F Honda).
Junior MX2 Over 18: 1 Tony Faulkner (250F KTM), 2 Dean Fitzgerald (125 Kawasaki), 3 Jack Alder (250F Kawasaki), 4 Jason Radford (125 Kawasaki), 5 Aaron Grant (125 Suzuki).
Junior MX2 Under 18: 1 Andrew Wren (125 Kawasaki), 2 Ben Summerfield, 3 Cameron Lochhead (125 Kawasaki), 4 Bradley Bird (85 KTM), 5 Brendan Griffiths (85 Yamaha).
Inter Junior: 1 Kieran Banks (150 Honda), 2 Michael Chapman (85 Yamaha), 3 Jack Sarll (85 KTM), 4 Alexander Hall (85 KTM), 5 Jonathon Hoppner (85 Yamaha).