MacKenzie and Simpson Max it up!
By TMX Archives on 26th Mar 08
THE early fall of the Easter weekend brought snow, hail, sleet and generally bitterly cold conditions to round two of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Canada Heights on Sunday, but while those on the spectator side of the fence were frozen solid, the action on track was as hot as you could have hoped for given the conditions on a day when Celts dominated the days proceedings and more than few eyebrows were raised with standout performances from surprising corners.
CAS Honda's reigning MX1 champion Billy MacKenzie again dominated his peers to maintain his 100 per cent winning record and take the overall on the day from Swift Suzuki's Brad Anderson and the re-invigorated Mark Jones on the ARB tuning Kawasaki, while in MX2 KTM UK's Shaun Simpson was a phenomenal double winner also, simply walking away from the pack at will to register two winning margins of over 35 and 45 seconds each to claim his first Maxxis overall in some style from UTag Yamaha podium debutant Martin Barr and new championship leader Stephen Sword on the Molson Kawasaki.
The hardworking Sidcup club really drew the short-straw with the weather and as well as having an adverse affect on the usually big spectator numbers the event usually attracts, although it was still a healthy 3,000 or so, the usually excellently prepared hillside circuit was turned into a heavy, deeply rutted and very challenging slog for the riders that made crashes a common occurrence right through the field and passing difficult.
A good start was even more vital than usual, made all the more difficult by a concrete start pad covered in two inch thick slippery mud, but many of the big names failed to get away from the first turn cleanly in both classes and the result was one of the more entertaining days racing the championship is likely to see this season, and the platform for one or two young guns to shine. Most notably 15-year-old championship debutant Scott Elderfield who jumped up from the MXY2 Youth class straight onto a 250cc two-stroke and gave more than a few established MX1 runners something serious to think about with a sublime ride to a phenomenal fifth place in the opening moto, but also the likes of fellow 15-year-old Mel Pocock on the UTag Yamaha in MX2 who ran the pace of many of the championship contenders in the opener for a top-ten finish, and Kristian Whatley who quietly racked-up his second top-ten overall finish in succession aboard the Nigel Arnold KTM.
There was nothing anyone could do to answer the challenge of MacKenzie and Simpson on the day though and with top qualifying position, every single lap of both races led, and fastest lap times in the bag too, both may not have a better day all season.
BRITISH MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 2 Canada Heights, Stanley, Kent (Sidcup & DMCC)
1 Billy MacKenzie (CAS Honda) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Brad Anderson (Swift Suzuki) 18 + 22 = 40
3 Mark Jones (ARB Kawasaki) 22 + 18 = 40
4 Kenneth Gundersen (Utag Yamaha) 20 + 16 = 36
5 Tom Church (Molson Kawasaki) 10 + 20 = 30
6 Wayne Smith (Pioneer Yamaha) 15 + 15 = 30
7 James Noble (KTM UK) 13 + 14 = 27
8 Jamie Smith (LPE Kawasaki) 11 + 13 = 24
9 Mark Eastwood (Wiseco Honda) 12 + 11 = 23
10 Scott Elderfield (KTM) 16 + 7 = 23
11 Danny Smyth (Wiseco Honda) 8 + 10 = 18
12 Jordan Rose (PAR Honda) 14 + 3 = 17
13 Michael Phillips (NA Robinson KTM) 4 + 12 = 16
14 Bryan MacKenzie (Twisted7 Kawasaki) 3 + 9 = 12
15 Richard Lawson (Twisted7 Kawasaki) 6 + 6 = 12
16 Jamie Law (Relentless Suzuki) 2+8=10, 17 Mark Hucklebridge (Motoxtreme Kawasaki) 5+4=9, 18 Jim Murro (STR Honda) 9+0=9, 19 Alex Rockwell (Danger Honda) 7+0=7, 20 Oliver Sandiford-Smith (CCM UK) 0+5=5, 21 Aston Bird (SMX Honda) 1+2=3, 22 John May (Meredith Suxuki) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Billy MacKenzie, 2 Jones, 3 Gundersen, 4 Anderson, 5 Elderfield, 6 Wayne Smith, 7 Rose, 8 Noble, 9 Eastwood, 10 Jamie Smith, 11 Church, 12 Murro, 13 Danny Smyth, 14 Rockwell, 15 Lawson, 16 Hucklebridge, 17 Michael Phillips, 18 Bryan MacKenzie, 19 Law, 20 Bird.
RACE TWO: 1 Billy MacKenzie, 2 Anderson, 3 Church, 4 Jones, 5 Gundersen, 6 Wayne Smith, 7 Noble, 8 Jamie Smith, 9 Michael Phillips, 10 Eastwood, 11 Danny Smyth, 12 Bryan MacKenzie, 13 Law, 14 Elderfield, 15 Lawson, 16 Sandiford-Smith, 17 Hucklebridge, 18 Rose, 19 Bird, 20 May.
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 8) rounds: 1 Billy MacKenzie 100 points, 2 Anderson 78, 3 Gundersen 78, 4 Jones 70, 5 Church 66, 6 Noble 63, 7 Wayne Smith 57, 8 Michael Phillips 40, 9 Eastwood 40, 10 Bryan MacKenzie 32, 11 Hucklebridge 32, 12 Jamie Smith 27, 13 Elderfield 23, 14 Danny Smyth 23, 15 Rose 22, 16 Lewis 19, 17 Willet 17, 18 Murro 16, 19 Lawson 16, 20 Rach 14, 21 Glen Phillips 12, 22 Law 10, 23 Rockwell 9, 24 Sandiford-Smith 7, 25 McKeown 4,
NEXT ROUND: Apr 13 Waggadon Farm, Torrington, Devon (Torridge & DMCC).
BRITISH MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 2 Canada Heights, Stanley, Kent (Sidcup & DMCC)
1 Shaun Simpson (KTM UK) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Martin Barr (Utag Yamaha) 20 + 22 = 42
3 Stephen Sword (Molson Kawasaki) 22 + 18 = 40
4 Jason Dougan (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 18 + 14 = 32
5 Pascal Leuret (Swift Suzuki) 13 + 16 = 29
6 Neville Bradshaw (DB Honda) 8 + 20 = 28
7 Elliott Banks-Browne (Swift Suzuki) 15 + 13 = 28
8 Carlos Campano (Utag Yamaha) 14 + 11 = 25
9 Kristian Whatley (NA Robinson KTM) 11 + 12 = 23
10 Carl Nunn (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 16 + 4 = 20
11 Mel Pocock (Utag Yamaha) 12 + 6 = 18
12 Marcus Norlen (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 6 + 10 = 16
13 Mike Brown (CAS Honda) 0 + 15 = 15
14 Ashley Greedy (PAR Honda) 4 + 7 = 11
15 Alex Snow (KTM UK) 7 + 3 = 10
16 Scott Probert (Relentless Suzuki) 10+0=10, 17 Klemen Gercar (Utag Yamaha) 0+9=9, 18 Shane Carless (PAR Honda) 9+0=9, 19 Remi Nyegaard (Eurotank Honda) 0+8=8, 20 Kjetil Gunderson (Yamaha) 1+5=6, 21 Alan Keet (KTM) 5+0=5, 22 Jonathan Pettitt (TM UK) 3+0=3, 23 Alex Butler (Corby Kawasaki) 0+2=2, 24 Matthew Moffat (Scott Leathers KTM) 2+0=2, 25 Joseph Dark (Meredith Suzuki) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Simpson, 2 Sword, 3 Barr, 4 Dougan, 5 Nunn, 6 Banks-Browne, 7 Campano, 8 Leuret, 9 Pocock, 10 Whatley, 11 Probert, 12 Carless, 13 Bradshaw, 14 Snow, 15 Norlen, 16 Keet, 17 Greedy, 18 Pettitt, 19 Moffat, 20 Gunderson.
RACE TWO: 1 Simpson, 2 Barr, 3 Bradshaw, 4 Sword, 5 Leuret, 6 Brown, 7 Dougan, 8 Banks-Browne, 9 Whatley, 10 Campano, 11 Norlen, 12 Gercar, 13 Nyegaard, 14 Greedy, 15 Pocock, 16 Gunderson, 17 Nunn, 18 Snow, 19 Butler, 20 Dark.
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 8) rounds: 1 Sword 84 points, 2 Barr 74, 3 Simpson 70, 4 Leuret 67, 5 Bradshaw 56, 6 Campano 55, 7 Banks-Browne 51, 8 Searle 50, 9 Whatley 42, 10 Nunn 33, 11 Dougan 32, 12 Swanepoel 30, 13 Pocock 30, 14 Brown 29, 15 Snow 29, 16 Norlen 28, 17 Probert 21, 18 Gunderson 14, 19 Greedy 11, 20 Butler 11, 21 Pettitt 10, 22 Keet 10, 23 Gercar 9, 24 Carless 9, 25 Arnold 9,
NEXT ROUND: Apr 13 Waggadon Farm, Torrington, Devon (Torridge & DMCC).
For full report and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, March 28, 2008