Higgs' Super style
By TMX Archives on 2nd Apr 08
RICKY Higgs made the long trip from Tamworth worthwhile by winning all three of his races at the weekend's opening round of the Southern Supermoto Championship at a surprisingly mild Lydd Raceway in the south east corner of Kent.
Higgs' three victories didn't come easy as he was pushed all the way in each moto.
While Higgs was winning the Expert class, Steve Spring came home first in two out of his three races in the Intermediate class, while Darren Mowat did likewise in the Novice ranks.
The small band of hard-working club members were extremely lucky with the weather considering this exposed track can be cold even in the height of summer owing to its close proximity to the sea.
Gone, however, was the snow and strong winds that lashed this part of the world just a few days earlier, and in came a spring-like day and the event enjoyed a brief spell of sunshine.
Higgs got the holeshot in the first Expert moto, but as the pack entered the first turn Jay Smith making a welcome return to supermoto drove round the outside of him and into the lead.
Jay Smith was still at the from at the end of the first lap with Ady Smith mounted on a on a 450 KTM in his wheel-tracks, ahead of Higgs, last year's champion, Rob McNealy and George Clements.
At the halfway stage, Ady Smith and Higgs had pulled away from a battle for third between Jay Smith, McNealy and George Clements.
With two laps remaining Jay Smith drifted wide in the turn at the far end of the track, gifting McNealy and Clements the opportunity to pass. It looked like the race would end in this order, but Higgs had different ideas!
Just four corners to the finish flag, Higgs managed to find a little extra grip out of the turn before the long straight and used the power of his larger-engined Aprilia to squeeze past Ady Smith and snatch the win. McNealy was third, Clements was next with Jay Smith holding onto fifth.
In race two, Ady Smith was first into turn one with Higgs, Jay Smith, McNealy, Kieron Dixon and Clements in line astern, while Mark Jones dumped his machine in the grass.
On lap three Higgs passed Ady Smith down the straight for the lead as McNealy started to put Ady Smith under pressure for second.
At half distance, Higgs had opened a small gap over the fight between Ady Smith and McNealy for second, while Clements and Jay Smith disputed fourth.
With three laps to go McNealy misjudged the grip levels and fell off, thus easing the pressure on Ady Smith who finished second. Clements was third with the remounted McNealy fourth.
Higgs got the holeshot in the third and final Expert outing and took the win virtually unchallenged.
Behind him the interest came from McNealy and Ady Smith going at it for second while Clements waited to pick up the pieces.
Higgs took the chequered flag almost six-seconds in front of McNealy and Ady Smith with Clements a lonely fourth.
SOUTHERN SUPERMOTO CLUB CHAMPS
Rd 1 Lydd International Raceway, Kent
Expert
Race One: 1 Ricky Higgs (550 Aprilia), 2 Ady Smith (450 KTM), 3 Rob McNealy (450 Husqvarna), 4 George Clements (450 Husqvarna), 5 Jay Smith (505 KTM), 6 Ryan Dixon (505 KTM).
Race Two: 1 Higgs, 2 Ady Smith, 3 Clements, 4 McNealy, 5 Jay Smith, 6 Tristan Ovenden (525 KTM).
Race Three: 1 Higgs, 2 McNealy, 3 Ady Smith, 4 Clements, 5 Kieren Dixon (450 Honda), 6 Matt Pope (525 KTM).
Inter
Race One: 1 Steve Spring (450 Honda), 2 Leigh Baxter (450 Honda), 3 Justin Bateman (250 Honda), 4 Adam Tofield (450 Honda), 5 Mike Dooling (450 Honda), 6 Dan Baxter (450 Honda).
Race Two: 1 Spring, 2 Baxter, 3 Bateman, 4 Steve Valentine (550 Aprilia), 5 Dooling, 6 Mark Stevens (450 Yamaha).
Race Three: 1 Bateman, 2 Baxter, 3 Stevens, 4 Richard Langrish (450 Honda), 5 Tofield, 6 John Gilbody (650 Husqvarna).
Novice
Race One: 1 Darren Mowat (525 KTM), 2 Keith Wyer (610 KTM), 3 James Griffin (450 Honda), 4 Bernard Wright (450 KTM), 5 Matt Wakeman (570 Husqvarna), 6 Dave Blanks (250 KTM).
Race Two: 1 Mowat, 2 Wright, 3 Wakeman, 4 Nick Hewitt (525 KTM), 5 Evans, 6 Lee Caswell (650 Husqvarna).
Race Three: 1 Evans, 2 Wright, 3 Hewitt, 4 Blanks, 5 Tim Shakespeare (560 KTM), 6 Wyer.
Youth 125/250cc
Race One: 1 Shaun Church (250 Kawasaki), 2 Robert Hartley (250 Honda), 3 Justin Bateman (250 Honda), 4 James Moore (250 TM), 5 Owen Connell (250 Honda), 6 Joe Carnell (250 Honda), 7 Thomas Brown (125 KTM), 8 Danni Field (250 KTM).
Race Two: 1 Bateman, 2 Church, 3 Moore, 4 Hartley, 5 Brown, 6 Harris, 7 Field, 8 Carnell.
Race Three: 1 Church, 2 Bateman, 3 Hartley, 4 Moore, 5 Connell, 6 Carnell, 7 Brown, 8 Harris, 9 Field.
Youth 85cc
Race One: 1 Jordan Holiday (150 Honda), 2 Jake Dixon (Yamaha), 3 James Compton (150 Honda), 4 Scott Pitchers (Yamaha), 5 Sam Gilbody (Honda), 6 George Tilbury (KTM).
Race Two: 1 Holiday, 2 Dixon, 3 Compton, 4 Pitchers, 5 Kane Robson (85 KTM), 6 Gilbody.
Race Three: 1 Holiday, 2 Dixon, 3 Compton, 4 Pitchers, 5 Gilbody, 6 Robson.
For full pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, April 4, 2008