For your Heights only
By TMX Archives on 5th Apr 11
In the intervening weeks between rounds the MX2 division had unfortunately lost both Jake Nicholls and Luke Hawkins to long term injury - however gained one super quick guest for the day in the shape of Belgian sand specialist Joel Roelants.
MX1 also had a quality wild card feel about it with LS Honda's championship leader Shaun Simpson being joined by both Frenchman Sebastian Pourcel on the factory Kawasaki and German Marcus Schiffer riding for Suzuki International Europe. With Swiss teen sensation Arnaud Tonus already leading the way in MX2 the smart money appeared to be on a certain amount of foreign domination again as round two of this year's Maxxis series pulled into glorious Canada Heights. Also on the card down in Kent the next generation of British stars with the young dudes of the future on the MXY2 start line.
A week of warm Spring weather leading into the event aided the Sidcup club's presentation which was absolutely spot on as the large crowd estimated at some four thousand plus anticipated the action.
Pictures: Mike Gurney
The Bike-It Dixon Yamaha boys of American Zach Osborne and Swiss Arnaud Tonus entered qualification full of beans after their first round performance at Little Silver and boy, did it show.
Wildcard Roelants, on a Nestaan JM KTM, slammed his way into third in qualification and the subsequent Superpole but was bested by both the Yams with Zach taking pole by a gnat's whisker posting a two-minute flat lap time.
Osborne led the MX2 field from gate one of the opening dust-up from Tonus, Elliot Banks-Browne (DB Honda), Ray Rowson (Samsung Yamaha) and MVR-D Honda flyer Mattis Karro all in close attention.
Roelants, meanwhile, was way down the field after a scuffle in turn one. Thereafter the foreign master class began as Osborne and Tonus tore away from the pack in their own private race.
Tonus was clearly up for a fight and squirted into the lead mid-race leaving Zach to do the chasing for a change.
The scrap for third was red hot with Honda duo Banks and Karro launching themselves into every bend desperate for points. Banks eventually nailed third, leaving Karro fourth.
Roelants' GP class prevailed as he sliced, bashed and railed his way through to fifth at the flag.
Back at the front Osborne was trying everything he knew to oust the Swiss red-plate holder but he could not budge Tonus who took the race spoils by just half-a-second after a full 25 minutes of breathless action.
Heat two left the concrete pad to a roar from the crowd as the frantic and mad-cap MX2 hotshots burst into action. Mattis Karro holeshot to a huge cheer from the vociferous posse of Latvian race fans.
Tonus was in no mood for European pleasantries and soon disposed of Karro and never looked back. Arnaud's cause was helped by Osborne's woeful start as he had to pick some awesome race lines to carve his way through the field – gaining 22 points for second at the chequers.
Karro held third despite some heat from Roelants late on while Mel Pocock (TAS Suzuki) and Banks crossed the line together in fifth and sixth respectively.
The best was definitely saved 'til last in MX2 as the Dixon rocketeers thrashed the guts out of their machines all in the name of entertainment and local bragging rights.
Tonus fancied another bash at the front but was quickly overhauled by a meaningful Osborne. Despite not needing to win the race for overall honours the Swiss world number seven pushed Osborne as hard as he could and had the crowd buzzing at the sight of world class riders at full-tilt.
By the flag Tonus came up just short leaving Osborne to grab his third race win of the current campaign but not enough points to win the overall. Two wins and a second were good enough for Tonus to keep his red-plate and extend his series lead to 22 points over his American stable mate.
Third in the race and third overall went to Joel Roelants with Banks and Karro tied for fourth on 53 points apiece.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX APRIL 1.
MAXXIS BRITISH MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 – Canada Heights, Swanley, Kent (Sidcup & DMCC Ltd)
1 Arnaud Tonus (Bike It Cosworth WW Yam) 25 + 25 + 22 = 72
2 Zach Osborne (Bike It Cosworth WW Yam) 22 + 22 + 25 = 69
3 Joel Roelants (JM Nestaan KTM) 16 + 18 + 20 = 54
4 Elliott Banks-Browne (DB Honda) 20 + 15 + 18 = 53
5 Mattis Karro (Route77 MVR-D Honda) 18 + 20 + 15 = 53
6 Mel Pocock (TAS Suzuki) 15 + 16 + 16 = 47
7 Scott Elderfield (Lanes Kawasaki) 12 + 10 + 12 = 34
8 Steven Clarke (Maxxis Apico Suzuki) 7 + 12 + 13 = 32
9 Stuart Edmonds (Wulfsport TM) 13 + 11 + 8 = 32
10 Bryan MacKenzie (Maxxis Henderson Kaw) 0 + 14 + 14 = 28
11 Jordan Booker (HM Plant Red Bull KTM) 11+7+10=28, 12 Alan Keet (Dyer & Butler Suzuki) 8+8+11=27, 13 Ray Rowson (Samsung Yamaha) 14+13+0=27, 14 Lewis Tombs (MVR-D Honda) 10+9+0=19, 15 Anthony Reville (PAR Honda) 6+6+3=15, 16 Ashley Wilde (Sandbach SMB Yamaha) 0+5+9=14, 17 Luke Mellows (Meridith Suzuki) 2+3+7=12, 18 Matt Bayliss (Wooldridge Helyar Honda) 0+4+6=10, 19 James Cottrell (DB Honda) 9+1+0=10, 20 James Dodd (Motoxtreme Kawasaki) 0+0+5=5.21 Josh Waterman (Moto1 KTM) 5+0+0=5, 22 Erki Kahro (MVR-D Honda) 0+0+4=4, 23 Will Worden (Gibbs Wheeldon Suzuki) 4+0+0=4, 24 Scott Probert (Kopparbergs Honda) 1+2+0=3, 25 Lewis Rose (Buff Husqvarna) 3+0+0=3, 26 Matthew Moffat (Danger UK KTM) 0+0+2=2, 27 John Phillips (DBG ???) 0+0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Tonus, 2 Osborne, 3 Banks-Browne, 4 Karro, 5 Roelants, 6 Pocock, 7 Rowson, 8 Edmonds, 9 Elderfield, 10 Booker, 11 Tombs, 12 Cottrell, 13 Keet, 14 Clarke, 15 Reville, 16 Waterman, 17 Worden, 18 Rose, 19 Mellows, 20 Probert.
RACE TWO: 1 Tonus, 2 Osborne, 3 Karro, 4 Roelants, 5 Pocock, 6 Banks-Browne, 7 MacKenzie, 8 Rowson, 9 Clarke, 10 Edmonds, 11 Elderfield, 12 Tombs, 13 Keet, 14 Booker, 15 Reville, 16 Wilde, 17 Bayliss, 18 Mellows, 19 Probert, 20 Cottrell.
RACE THREE: 1 Osborne, 2 Tonus, 3 Roelants, 4 Banks-Browne, 5 Pocock, 6 Karro, 7 MacKenzie, 8 Clarke, 9 Elderfield, 10 Keet, 11 Booker, 12 Wilde, 13 Edmonds, 14 Mellows, 15 Bayliss, 16 Dodd, 17 Kahro, 18 Reville, 19 Moffat, 20 Phillips.
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 8) rounds: 1 Tonus 141 points, 2 Osborne 119, 3 Karro 109, 4 Banks-Browne 101, 5 Pocock 84, 6 Elderfield 63, 7 MacKenzie 60, 8 Rowson 58, 9 Nicholls 56, 10 Edmonds 56, 11 Roelants 54, 12 Keet 53, 13 Clarke 40, 14 Hawkins 39, 15 Reville 35, 16 Booker 29, 17 Probert 29, 18 Tombs 29, 19 Wilde 23, 20 Moffat 20,...
NEXT ROUND: April 17 – Cadders Hill, Lyng, Norfolk (Norwich Viking MCC).
BRITISH MXY2 MOTOCROSS
CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Canada Heights, Swanley, Kent (Sidcup & DMCC Ltd)
1 Jake Shipton (Bournemouth Kawasaki) 25 + 20 = 45
2 Ryan Houghton (HM Plant Red Bull KTM) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Bradley Pocock (Bike it Cosworth WW Yam) 13 + 25 = 38
4 Jordan Divall (Evo-Tec Honda) 20 + 18 = 38
5 Jake Millward (Team Green Kawasaki) 18 + 15 = 33
6 Mark Perfect (KTM) 15 + 16 = 31
7 Adam Sterry (RMJ Honda) 14 + 14 = 28
8 Rob Muscat (MX World Honda) 11 + 12 = 23
9 Joe Bamfield (KTM) 8 + 11 = 19
10 James Rutter (Spectrum Hose Honda) 12 + 7 = 19
11 Ryan McLean (KTM) 16+3=19, 12 James Harrison (Twisted 7 Kawasaki) 10+6=16, 13 Josh Brine (Maverik PVL KTM) 5+10=15, 14 Damon Brooks (Team Green Kawasaki) 6+9=15, 15 James Dunn (JCS KTM) 0+13=13, 16 Bryn Clarke (Jet Shed Honda) 9+0=9, 17 Cameron Pendreich (Tinto NMA KTM) 0+8=8, 18 Bradley Wheeler (KMUK Kawasaki) 3+5=8, 19 Lloyd Pettett (MXR Services Honda) 7+0=7, 20 Damon Wales (Golden Tyre KTM) 0+4=4.21 Rhys Yates (Brettex Honda) 4+0=4, 22 James Yates (Brettex Honda) 2+1=3, 23 Luke Parker (???) 0+2=2, 24 Ryan Monckton (???) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Shipton, 2 Houghton, 3 Divall, 4 Millward, 5 McLean, 6 Perfect, 7 Sterry, 8 Pocock, 9 Rutter, 10 Muscat, 11 Harrison, 12 Clarke, 13 Bamfield, 14 Pettett, 15 Brooks, 16 Brine, 17 Rhys Yates, 18 Wheeler, 19 James Yates, 20 Monckton.
RACE TWO: 1 Pocock, 2 Houghton, 3 Shipton, 4 Divall, 5 Perfect, 6 Millward, 7 Sterry, 8 Dunn, 9 Muscat, 10 Bamfield, 11 Brine, 12 Brooks, 13 Pendreich, 14 Rutter, 15 Harrison, 16 Wheeler, 17 Wales, 18 McLean, 19 Parker, 20 James Yates.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 5) rounds: 1 Shipton 45 points, 2 Houghton 44, 3 Pocock 38, 4 Divall 38, 5 Millward 33, 6 Perfect 31, 7 Sterry 28, 8 Muscat 23, 9 McLean 19, 10 Rutter 19, 11 Bamfield 19, 12 Harrison 16, 13 Brine 15, 14 Brooks 15, 15 Dunn 13, 16 Clarke 9, 17 Pendreich 8, 18 Wheeler 8, 19 Pettett 7, 20 Wales 4,...
NEXT ROUND: April 17 – Cadders Hill, Lyng, Norfolk (Norwich Viking MCC).