Full Chatt' at Mepal
By TMX Archives on 21st Jan 11
Fenland track Mepal, just outside Chatteris, has seen much race action in the last fortnight and the latest event to make its way into the heart of Anglia was round three of the British Masters Winter Series.
The round got off to a chilly start with very gusty winds and low temperatures on a well-prepared but tough track that was still moist in places, but throughout the day both wind and weather changed to give spectators and riders alike some much-welcomed sunshine.
At 9:30 sharp, practice got underway and soon churned up the track, which would get tougher as the day wore on, and it showed early signs of the riders who would dominate the day.
Racing kicked into action with the Amateur MX2 class, which was clearly dominated by Anglian local Matthew White, followed by Jack Forrest a distant minute behind. White repeated this in the second and final blocks of racing, again running away with the lead and putting the rest of his class to shame, leaving Forrest, Ashley Wilson and Joe Collier fighting for scraps on the 1.9 kilometer long circuit.
With White on the top step at the end of the race day, it was Forrest's consistency that earned him second place with Wilson third. Collier's hard work in the first and second races was undone by a DNF in the third, dropping him to tenth on the day.
The Amateur MX1 class saw a three-way battle between Kevin Wells, Lithuanian rider Arunas Gelazninkas and Sam Simmons. In the first race block, Wells' early lead soon evaporated after a crash dropped him all the way to the back of the pack, while Gelazninkas took the lead for much of the race. Simmons took the first block win by a few bike lengths after stalking the Kawasaki in the lead closely and pouncing with a few laps to go. Gelazninkas turned the tables on Simmons in the second and third blocks, executing perfect races in the front from start to finish and ending with a nine-second lead in the second, and twice that in the third race.
The day overall podium mirrored these results, with Gelazninkas taking home the biggest trophy with Simmons second. Third place on the day overall went to Daniel Hiorns, who had been very consistent throughout the day with a fourth in the first and a third each in the latter two blocks of racing.
The mixed Big-wheel/Small-wheel 85cc class had a tough time around the increasingly choppy track, but Big-wheel 85cc riders Ben Watson and Jack Kelly clearly did their homework. While Kelly ran a perfect race in the first block, Watson made life somewhat difficult in the second, trading the lead several times. The third race saw Watson pull a perfect race out of the hat too, while Kelly had hard work ahead of him in the early stages, but reducing Watson's lead to mere seconds in one of the day's best performances.
The two race wins put Watson on the top step for the day for the Big-wheel 85cc riders, who were scored separately from their small-wheeled rivals, while Kelly had to make do with a second place. Third was a very consistent William Wall who had scrapped with fellow top five riders Ben Cole and Tom Pallett throughout the day.
The Small-wheel 85cc class day overall went to Jack Camwell, who settled into a more consistent rhythm in the latter two blocks of racing, followed by Aaron Burns in second, and Dexter Douglas in third.
Arguably the biggest class of the day represented the riders on the cusp of adulthood. The MXY2 class saw Tom Kelly put in some incredible performances in the first two blocks of racing, undone in the third by an ill-timed removal of a tear-off that saw him cartwheeling down the track. While Kelly was hard at work undoing the damage done, it was Nathan Watson, who had finished fourth in the first race and second in the second, who took the third race win, followed by top-three challenger Adam Sterry. Jake Shipton, third in the first race, came undone in the second with a crash, and after briefly taking the lead in the third race, gradually dropped back to sixth and scuppered his chances for a podium place. Kelly's sponsors had every reason to smile as he still took the top spot on the day, followed by Watson and Sterry.
The series now moves to its final round at the Finningley sand track near Doncaster on the first weekend of February.
British masters winter championships Rd 3 - Mepal, Chatteris
Amateur MX1: 1 Arunas Gelazninkas (Kawasaki), 2 Sam Simmons (Yamaha), 3 Daniel Hiorns (KTM), 4 Ryan Bruce (Kawasaki), 5 Kevin Wells (Kawasaki), 6 Jake Boyes.
Amateur MX2: 1 Matthew White (Honda), 2 Jack Forrest (KTM), 3 Ashley Wilson (Yamaha), 4 Daniel Woodward (KTM), 5 John Hall (KTM), 6 Matt Eley.
Amateur MXY2: 1 Tom Kelly (Honda), 2 Nathan Watson (KTM), 3 Adam Sterry (Honda), 4 Jake Shipton (Kawasaki), 5 Luke Newman (Kawasaki), 6 Rob Nicholl (KTM).
Big-wheel 85cc: 1 Ben Watson (KTM), 2 Jack Kelly (Honda), 3 William Wall (KTM), 4 Tom Pallett (Honda), 5 Ben Cole (Honda), 6 Myles Duffy (Honda).
Small-wheel 85cc: 1 Jack Camwell, 2 Aaron Burns (Honda), 3 Dexter Douglas (KTM), 4 Matt Lomas (Suzuki), 5 Dee-Jay Walker (Suzuki), 6 Howard Wainwright (Kawasaki).