IT’S STRIJ-BOSS!

In The MX2 series the battle between Mel Pocock and Elliott Banks-Browne is hotting up, with Pocock 

taking the top step on the podium by just one point after Banks-Brown crashed twice in race two.

 

ACU Events and the Norwich Viking club were lucky with the weather as loads of events were being cancelled around the country.

 

But the low temperature and drizzle kept spectator numbers disappointedly low – although those who braved the conditions were treated to some great racing that this natural train event always seems to provide.

 

Superpole winner Strijbos led the pack into turn one at the start of the first MX1 race, with Stephen Sword in his wheel tracks, but by the end of the lap Simpson was second and doing all he could to stay with the Belgian sand-specialist. Jason Dougan had a good start and was in fourth, just in front of the ever-popular Latvian Matiss Karro and Martin Barr. 

 

On lap four Marc De Reuver crashed out of seventh and down to 31st, giving himself a massive task to get back in the points.

 

By the halfway stage things had settled down at the front with Strijbos still leading from Simpson, with Sword a distant third as Karro passed Dougan for fourth place. 

 

Disaster struck Barr when, with just two laps to go and in a comfortable sixth place, his Kawasaki just stopped and wouldn't start again.

 

At the flag it was Strijbos chased over the finish line by Simpson, with Sword just under half-a-minute behind the leaders, ahead of Karro and Dougan. 

 

Gert Krestinov was sixth, from tenth at the start, with Alex Snow seventh. Carl Nunn, having a one-off wildcard ride on a Stebbings KTM, was a respectable ninth.

 

Sword got the holeshot at the start of race two, with Simpson and Strijbos on his tail, but by the end of lap two Simpson had passed him for the lead and a lap later Strijbos followed him through.

 

With ten minutes left on the race clock, Strijbos passed Simpson for the lead, as De Reuver and Karro both found a way past a slowing Sword, while Barr slipped from seventh back to 12th place.

 

At the sharp end of the race things stayed in the same order apart from Nathan Parker snatching fifth from Sword with one lap to go, with Kristian Whatley seventh, from ninth at the start.

 

The final MX1 race of the day was all about Strijbos. After he passed the fast-starting Sword he simply checked out, leaving the rest to eat his dust. 

 

Simpson and Karro fought over second until Simpson crashed down to fifth and only regained one place before the end of the race. 

 

Whatley and Barr pulled out of the race with three laps to go, with Sword disappearing off the timing screens a lap later, as De Reuver took third behind Strijbos and Karro. 

 

The reult left Strijbos with a 31-point lead over Simpson and Karro heading in to the next round.

 

 

Rd 3 – Cadders Hill, Lyng, Norfolk (Norwich Viking MCC)

 1 Kevin Strijbos (HM Plant KTM UK) 25 + 25 + 25 = 75

 2 Shaun Simpson (Monster BikeIt Yamaha) 22 + 22 + 18 = 62

 3 Mattis Karro (STR KTM) 18 + 18 + 22 = 58

 4 Marc De Reuver (Lanes Kawasaki)  7 + 20 + 20 = 47

 5 Gert Krestinov (Route 77 MVRD Honda) 15 + 13 + 16 = 44

 6 Nathan Parker (STR KTM)  9 + 16 + 15 = 40

 7 Alex Snow (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 14 +  9 + 14 = 37

 8 Jamie Law (D3 Racing KTM) 11 + 12 + 13 = 36

 9 Stephen Sword (Tyco TAS Suzuki) 20 + 15 +  0 = 35

10 Carl Nunn (KTM) 12 +  7 + 11 = 30

11 Aston Bird (Gateway Kawasaki) 10+8+9=27, 12 Kristian Whatley (PAR Honda) 13+14+0=27, 13 Jason Dougan (Route 77 MVRD Honda) 16+11+0=27, 14 Alfie Smith (JK Rinaldi Yamaha) 6+0+12=18, 15 Wayne Garrett (JAR Honda) 8+1+8=17, 16 Luke Benstead (Colchester Kawasaki) 5+0+10=15, 17 Daniel Hutchinson (Bikesport KTM) 2+5+5=12, 18 Martin Barr (Maxxis Henderson Kawasaki) 0+10+0=10, 19 Ashley Wilde (Sandbach SM Kawasaki) 0+3+6=9, 20 Matthew Moffat (Dean Moff Star KTM) 0+0+7=7, 21 Ashley Greedy (TM UK) 4+0+2=6, 22 Maarten Cremers (Phoenix Tools Honda) 0+6+0=6, 23 Sam Simmons (Motoward Yamaha) 0+2+3=5, 24 George Baldwin (GB MX Honda) 0+0+4=4, 25 Dorren Coutts (PAR Honda) 0+4+0=4, 26 Lewis King (TM UK) 3+0+0=3, 27 Ross Rutherford (Bikesport Honda) 0+0+1=1, 28 Josh Waterman (Dyer & Butler Suzuki) 1+0+0=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Strijbos, 2 Simpson, 3 Sword, 4 Karro, 5 Dougan, 6 Krestinov, 7 Snow, 8 Whatley, 9 Nunn, 10 Law, 11 Bird, 12 Parker, 13 Garrett, 14 De Reuver, 15 Alfie Smith, 16 Benstead, 17 Greedy, 18 King, 19 Hutchinson, 20 Waterman.

RACE TWO: 1 Strijbos, 2 Simpson, 3 De Reuver, 4 Karro, 5 Parker, 6 Sword, 7 Whatley, 8 Krestinov, 9 Law, 10 Dougan, 11 Barr, 12 Snow, 13 Bird, 14 Nunn, 15 Cremers, 16 Hutchinson, 17 Coutts, 18 Wilde, 19 Simmons, 20 Garrett.

RACE THREE: 1 Strijbos, 2 Karro, 3 De Reuver, 4 Simpson, 5 Krestinov, 6 Parker, 7 Snow, 8 Law, 9 Alfie Smith, 10 Nunn, 11 Benstead, 12 Bird, 13 Garrett, 14 Moffat, 15 Wilde, 16 Hutchinson, 17 Baldwin, 18 Simmons, 19 Greedy, 20 Rutherford.

SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 8) rounds: 1 Strijbos 206 points, 2 Simpson 175, 3 Karro 173, 4 Sword 136, 5 Krestinov 136, 6 De Reuver 117, 7 Parker 102, 8 Barr 98, 9 Law 98, 10 Whatley 94, 11 Snow 92, 12 Dougan 91, 13 Coutts 73, 14 Alfie Smith 62, 15 Moffat 44, 16 Bird 38, 17 Nunn 30, 18 Hutchinson 30, 19 Wilde 28, 20 Waterman 25,... 31 Baldwin 4,...

NEXT ROUND: May 27 – Milton Park, nr Northampton (ACU Events Ltd).

 

Rd 2 – Cadders Hill, Lyng, Norfolk (Norwich Viking MCC)

 1 Dan Thornhill (Grittenham Meredith Suzuki) 25 + 25 = 50

 2 Christopher Bayliss (Wooldridge Helyar Hon) 22 + 20 = 42

 3 Rob Muscat (Honda) 18 + 22 = 40

 4 Jack Kelly (Malin Honda) 20 + 14 = 34

 5 Robert Davidson (Honda) 16 + 15 = 31

 6 Ben Watson (PAR Honda) 12 + 16 = 28

 7 Sam Winterburn (Yamaha) 15 +  9 = 24

 8 Arminuas Jasikonis (Route77 KTM) 10 + 11 = 21

 9 Tommy Alba (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 13 +  8 = 21

10 Ben Howell (KTM)  2 + 18 = 20

11 Damon Brooks (Kawasaki UK) 8+12+0=20, 12 Adam Darbyshire (Honda) 9+10+0=19, 13 Michael Eccles (WPR KTM) 14+1+0=15, 14 Fraser Wakeford (Dixon Academy Yamaha) 0+13+0=13, 15 James Harrison (Lanes Kawasaki) 7+5+0=12, 16 Joe Bamfield (Evotech Stevens Honda) 11+0+0=11, 17 Luke Newman (Kawasaki) 0+7+0=7, 18 Jack Gardner (MX Racing KTM) 0+6+0=6, 19 Jamie Ellis (Rocket Centre Kawasaki) 6+0+0=6, 20 Robert Hales (???) 5+0+0=5.21 Matthew Callaghan (Honda) 0+4+0=4, 22 Liam Knight (Mavrick KTM) 4+0+0=4, 23 Glen McCormick (Watt Kawasaki) 0+3+0=3, 24 Oliver Osmaston (MXW Honda) 3+0+0=3, 25 Daniel Maxey (Kawasaki) 0+2+0=2, 26 Alec Carefoot (Carefoot PLC Honda) 1+0+0=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Thornhill, 2 Bayliss, 3 Kelly, 4 Muscat, 5 Davidson, 6 Winterburn, 7 Eccles, 8 Alba, 9 Watson, 10 Bamfield, 11 Jasikonis, 12 Darbyshire, 13 Brooks, 14 James Harrison, 15 Ellis, 16 Hales, 17 Knight, 18 Osmaston, 19 Howell, 20 Carefoot.

RACE TWO: 1 Thornhill, 2 Muscat, 3 Bayliss, 4 Howell, 5 Watson, 6 Davidson, 7 Kelly, 8 Wakeford, 9 Brooks, 10 Jasikonis, 11 Darbyshire, 12 Winterburn, 13 Alba, 14 Newman, 15 Gardner, 16 James Harrison, 17 Callaghan, 18 McCormick, 19 Maxey, 20 Eccles.

SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 5) rounds: 1 Thornhill 85 points, 2 Bayliss 77, 3 Muscat 71, 4 Davidson 67, 5 Watson 58, 6 James Harrison 52, 7 Howell 52, 8 Alba 46, 9 Winterburn 43, 10 Eccles 36, 11 Kelly 34, 12 Wakeford 32, 13 Jasikonis 32, 14 Bamfield 28, 15 McCormick 23, 16 Brooks 21, 17 Darbyshire 19, 18 Gardner 16, 19 Rutter 16, 20 Pettett 12,...

NEXT ROUND: May 1 – Milton Park, nr Northampton (ACU Events Ltd).