It’s Canada Holmes & dry
By Team TMX on 9th Oct 15
PAUL HOLMES clinched the Willcock Holeformers British Quad Championship at the final round at Canada Heights on Sunday by taking overall victory but it almost went horribly wrong when he crashed in spectacular fashion just a few laps from sewing up the title.
Holmes, who won the 2012-13 titles, arrived at the reconfigured Kent track with a 54-point cushion over his nearest rival, Justin Reid, and after a safe third in race one had the chance to close out the championship in race two.
However, as he cruised in second place, with Reid behind him, Holmes had a massive end-over-end crash when he came up short on a fast uphill step, damaging the steering stem, bars and levers on his Yamaha.
"As I landed the back wheels hit square edged bump and just spat me over the bars. I couldn't believe it!” said Holmes. "When I jumped up the bike was facing the wrong direction, but fortunately it started straight away and I didn't lose a place.”
"The last four laps were tough. The steering stem was bent back so it was really hard to turn, and I kept missing the levers. It was a relief to finish.”
The Yorkshireman celebrated by swapping to his spare machine for the final race, which won by 24 seconds. It was enough to give him 142 points for the day, two more than Reid.
Ulsterman Reid had earlier kept the pressure on Holmes by winning the opening 25 minute race, which he won by just eight one hundreths of second from Dean Colhoun.
Fellow Ulsterman and Can-Am rider Colhoun had ridden shotgun to Reid for the entire race knowing that second place was good enough for him to clinch the Under 21 Championship, which he duly did, as well as setting the fastest lap.
Holmes had watched the pair from a safe 20 second distance refusing to be drawn into a battle, however his cautiousness allowed Sheldon to close to within just over a second at the flag. Seal, who was so determined to do well at the season finale that he had travelled to France on the Saturday just to set his machine up at the Loon Plage sand track, was in turn around 25 seconds ahead of Carl Bunce.
Sixth spot went to Lithuanian teenager Domantas Vaznys, the first of the wild cards, who was well ahead of British Masters Champion Ed Davies, who had almost holeshot the race.
However his 16-year-old son Dafydd, the new ACU Clubman Champion, who was making his British Championship debut, beat him! Davies junior though slipped back to 14th at the flag – one of several riders in the day caught out by the deep ruts.
The sandy ruts – on what to be fair to the organising Sidcup Club was a superbly prepared track – also caused problems in race two, with pile-ups in the first two corners. Critically Reid was caught up in one of them leaving him near the rear of the field. Holmes, in contrast had got through cleanly, and led the early laps.
Colhoun too had been hampered, but less so than Reid, and chased hard in the early stages, again setting the fastest lap on lap three.
However, when he caught Holmes around half distance the champion elect offered no resistance, waving him past, allowing Colhoun to eventually win by 28 seconds. Holmes, once he'd recovered from his crash, was a further ten seconds ahead of Seal, in a well-spaced out race.
Reid eventually recovered to fourth spot, after a brief but spirited mid-race battle with Bunce who came home sixth, with Scottish teenager Lawrence Whyte having his best show in the championship this year in sixth, on place ahead of Dafydd Davies.
In the final race Holmes again established an early lead, after an initial chase by Vasnys ended when the youngster crashed and broke a finger. However, with the sandy track now at its roughest, beach specialist Bunce managed to wind him back.
He passed around mid-distance and looked set for his first heat win of the year before the lower rear shock bolt broke, handing Holmes a 24 second win.
Veteran Lindsey Duke had made a flying start and headed the chasing pack for a good few laps before Bunce, then Reid and Seal snuck past, which was the order in which they finished. This time Seal set the fastest lap.
Dafydd Davies had another impressive ride into fifth spot, with Kieran Power taking a fine sixth, which helped him to a career best British result of sixth overall.
In the first two races Colhoun was the first Under-21 rider home, however he pulled out of the last race with rear shock problems.
That effectively handed overall victory in the Under 21s to Luke Davies, who had been solid all day posting 10-9-8 finishes. The pair tied on 135 points but Davies took victory thanks to the better last race result.
Dafydd Davies finished just three points behind them in third overall thanks to 14-7-5 placed finishes, while James Bevan was fourth with 11-12-9.
George Callaway had come to the final round with the Under 21 points lead, but was one of several leading riders – including Oli Sansom, Jack Raeburn and David Cowan – who missed the round through injury.
Another significant non-point scorer was the overall winner of the previous round at Dean Moor, Luke Cooper, who had terminal problems with both his machines.
