Ken's De Desert...
By TMX Archives on 29th Jun 07
AFTER a recent run of poor Grand Prix performances, reigning British MX1 champion Ken De Dycker returned to form in sensational fashion at the superb Desertmartin circuit, Northern Ireland, venue for round five of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship, on Saturday as the CAS Honda team leader laid waste to the MX1 class to register two dominant victories and the overall victory from PAR Honda's local hero Gordon Crockard and a third Honda, Multitek's James Noble.
On a cold, blustery and at times damp day, DeDycker was clearly in no mood to give up on his title aspirations andhis double win, coupled with a brace of slightly below par fourthplaces for championship leader Billy MacKenzie, allowed the big Belgianto close to within 13 points of the Scot and set up a thrilling run inacross the final three championship rounds to decide who will becrowned 2007 champion. There was no luck of the Irish, just plain fastriding.
In a crash-infested, intense MX2 class, meanwhile,the complete opposite took place as current championship leader TommySearle - despite a heavy fall himself that cost him the double win -claimed the overall with 1-4 finishes for KTM by a point over MolsonKawasaki's Tom Church and Bike-It Yamaha's Carl Nunn.
More importantly though Searle extended hischampionship lead to a sizeable 37 points as principle title rivalGareth Swanepoel self-destructed with two crashes for a disastrous 12thoverall, dropping him to third in points, and new series second placeman, CAS Honda's Mike Brown, was twice forced to fight through the packfor fourth overall.
It was another searing, fascinating championshipround and it was fitting that what could be the pivotal events of thechampionship should be played out at a Desertmartin circuit so superblyprepared and presented by the organising Cookstown club.
BRITISH MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS Rd 5 - Desertmartin, nr Cookstown, NI
(Cookstown & DMCC)
1 Ken De Dycker (450F CAS Honda) 30 + 30 = 60
2 Gordon Crockard (450F PAR Homes Honda) 25 + 27 = 52
3 James Noble (450F Multitek Honda) 21 + 25 = 46
4 Billy MacKenzie (450F DeGroot Kawasaki) 23 + 23 = 46
5 Jordan Rose (450F Albion KTM UK) 17 + 21 = 38
6 Brad Anderson (450F Pioneer Yamaha) 27 + 10 = 37
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 8) rounds: 1 Billy MacKenzie 260 points, 2De Dycker 247, 3 Crockard 230, 4 Noble 228, 5 Anderson 217, 6 Eastwood160.
NEXT ROUND: Jul 8 - Skelder Bank, nr Whitby, North Yorks (Whitby MCC).
BRITISH MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS Rd 5 - Desertmartin, nr Cookstown, NI
(Cookstown & DMCC)
1 Tommy Searle (250F KTM UK) 30 + 23 = 53
2 Tom Church (250F Molson Kawasaki) 25 + 27 = 52
3 Carl Nunn (250F BikeIt Yamaha) 19 + 30 = 49
4 Mike Brown (CAS Honda) 21 + 19 = 40
5 Jason Dougan (250F Fork Rent Suzuki) 23 + 17 = 40
6 Shaun Simpson (Wulfsport Kawasaki) 15 + 21 = 36
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 8) rounds: 1 Searle 253 points, 2 MikeBrown 216, 3 Swanepoel 210, 4 Church 207, 5 Simpson 203, 6 Hamblin 159
NEXT ROUND: Jul 8 - Skelder Bank, nr Whitby, North Yorks (Whitby MCC).
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, June 29, 2007.