Hat trick for Winstanley
By TMX Archives on 1st Aug 07
MATT Winstanley, riding a 610 Robinson KTM, played his home field advantage and won all three races at round five of the British Supermoto Championship at Three Sisters Race Track in his home town of Wigan.
Winstanley's points haul and the fact that Sam Warren suffered anunfortunate day of crashes means that the fight for the Open classtitle will go to the last round in September.
Ricky Higgs came away from the meeting as top points scorer in the450cc category and closes the gap on new series leader Chris Hodgson,and like the Open class, the race for the 450cc title is hotting up.
Biggest news over the weekend was that it wasn't wet, like most ofthe events have been over the last three or four months, and race daywas hot and sunny with a cooling breeze.
Andy Mitchell got the holeshot at the start of race one, but afterjust half a lap, Winstanley was through and into the lead while Warrenand fellow Aprilia rider, Christian Iddon were down in fifth andsixth.
Hodgson was the first of the 450s in eighth, with Keith Farmer justa place behind him and French rider Baptiste Rhiems and Higgs in theirwheel tracks.
By the time the race had reached mid-distance, Warren was in second and cutting intoWinstanley's lead, rapidly, while Iddon had moved into third, at theexpense of David Hartley.
As all this was going on, Farmer and Higgs were still battling it out, only this time for eighth.
It all went wrong for Warren with just four laps to go. He explainswhat went wrong: ''I was trying a bit too hard and needed race wins totake the championship. The footrest dug into the tarmac at the end ofthe straight and it lifted the rear wheel - and I was off!''
This took the pressure off Winstanley and he cruised to a nine-second win over Iddon, Hartley and Smith.
Lee Jones was first 450 home in fifth with Higgs in his shadow.
After the race, second place man Iddon said: ''I just got a badstart and bikes were coming past me on both sides as we went into turnone. I am finding it hard to concentrate as my thoughts are on theWorld championship and I don't want to hurt myself here.''
In race two it was Winstanley all the way as he got the holeshotwith Iddon and Hartley in tow, while the luckless Warren was back intenth spot.
BRITISH SUPERMOTO CHAMPS
Rd 5 - Three Sisters Race Circuit, nr Wigan (ACU/ AMCA/ MotoGB)
OPEN CHAMPS
1 Matt Winstanley (610 KTM) 32 + 32 + 32 = 96
2 Christian Iddon (550 Aprilia) 30 + 30 + 30 = 90
3 David Hartley (550 KTM) 29 + 29 + 24 = 82
4 Ady Smith (630 KTM) 28 + 26 + 27 = 81
5 Greg Kinsella (700 Husaberg) 22 + 23 + 28 = 73
6 Andy Mitchell (650 Husaberg) 25 + 24 + 5 = 54
450cc CHAMPS
1 Ricky Higgs (450 Aprilia) 26 + 27 + 29 = 82
2 Chris Hodgson (450 KTM) 24 + 25 + 25 = 74
3 George Clements (450 Honda) 20 + 22 + 21 = 63
4 David Jackson (450 Aprilia) 17 + 20 + 23 = 60
5 Richard Blakeman (450 KTM) 15 + 19 + 17 = 51
6 Lee Jones (450 Aprilia) 27 + 6 + 16 = 49
OPEN SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 6) rounds: 1 Iddon 446 points, 2Winstanley 411, 3 Warren 374, 4 Smith 361, 5 Hartley 335, 6 Kinsella317, 7 Venske 296, 8 Pope 241, 9 Mitchell 194, 10 Smithson 186, 11Scott 165, 12 Jasinski 140, 13 Smith 117, 14 Harvey 107, 15 Shield100,...
450cc SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 6) rounds: 1 Hodgson 349 points,2 Higgs 332, 3 Farmer 314, 4 Clements 251, 5 Jones 240, 6 Jackson 239,7 McNealy 219, 8 Blakeman 213, 9 Woodacre 183, 10 Parkin 178, 11Darlington 164, 12 Bott 159, 13 Cunliffe 132, 14 McKee 128, 15 Haigh126,...
NEXT ROUND: Sep 22/23 - Stowe Circuit, Silverstone, Northants (ACU/ AMCA/ MotoGB).
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, August 3, 2007.