Master & Commander
By TMX Archives on 24th Jun 15
Kristian Whatley (Buildbase Honda) shrugged off an allergic reaction to medication prescribed following his recent collarbone operation to win the MX1 Pro class at round three of the Pirelli British Masters at Pontrilas.
Honours were shared in MX2 where Lewis Trickett (MBO Power ASA Yamaha) notched up his first pro class win and ended the day tied on points with Bryan MacKenzie (Pendrich Kawasaki) with the Scot standing on the top step of the podium thanks to his race two win.
A weekend with changeable weather saw a hot, humid Saturday with a heavy late afternoon shower turn into a breezy but dry Sunday with dust on parts of the track despite the best efforts of the track owner who watered the circuit late into the night.
Whatley holeshot the first combined pro race with Luke Hawkins (Dave Thorpe Honda), Alex Snow (Phoenix Husqvarna), Ray Rowson (Yamaha), Brad Anderson (MBO Power ASA Yamaha) and Jake Nicholls (Wilvo Forkrent KTM) following him around the opening lap.
First of the MX2 riders was Trickett from Brad Todd (Planet KTM), Carlton Husband (MBO Power ASA Yamaha) and Ollie Osmaston (MX World Honda) but MacKenzie was stuck at turn four, frantically trying to kick his stalled machine back into life.
By the halfway stage Anderson had passed Rowson, Snow and Hawkins and was doing his best to close the gap to Whatley with Trickett eighth on the track and first MX2 rider.
Whatley took his first win of the day by just over 13 seconds from Anderson and Snow with Nicholls fourth ahead of Ashley Wilde (Toughsheet Honda).
Trickett was first MX2 rider with MacKenzie recovering to come home just over a second behind chased by Todd, Husband and Osmaston.
Nicholls holeshot race two and held off Whatley until almost the end of the lap with Anderson and Hawkins waiting to pounce.
MacKenzie had made a great start and was mixing it with the bigger 450s in sixth place with Liam Garland (MX Zone Yamaha) next MX2 rider in 10th and Trickett three places further back.
Anderson was up to second place as they started lap two and was on Whatley's case for a couple of laps as the ex-British champions thrilled the crowd until Anderson made a mistake that allowed Whatley to open up a gap.
At the halfway stage the three leaders were separated by about six seconds as Wilde passed Hawkins for fourth.
MacKenzie was the first MX2 rider in eighth after losing a position to Gert Krestinov (Buildbase Honda) as Trickett found a way by Garland.
With three laps to go Whatley was having trouble with back markers which allowed Anderson to close but he ran out of time and Whatley took his second win of the day and the overall. Nicholls was a lonely third from Wilde and Snow.
Trickett spent most of the second half of the race trying to close down MacKenzie but in the end had to settle for second place.
"Earlier in the week I didn't even know if I was going to be riding today,” said Whatley, "but I've got better as the week went on and I have had two good starts and two race wins so it can't get much better then that.
"I had a bit of trouble with back markers not getting out of the way in race two which allowed Brad to catch me up a bit but it's always nice to leave a meeting with two race wins and the overall.”
Possibly the happiest rider on Sunday was Trickett who was celebrating his debut pro moto win.
"It's been a great day for me as I've won my first pro race although I did slip off in the first race and rode the rest of it a bit tight,” he said. "I could hear Bryan coming but managed to hold on for the win. In the second race I was chasing Bryan again but just couldn't catch him as he was riding so well.”
The rest of the classes had four races spread over the weekend.
Benjamin Butler (DSC Kawasaki) didn't finish out of the top three in the amateur MX1 class and beat races two and three winner Adam Harris (Underdog KTM) by just four points.
Scott Bates, who had finished in the runner-up spot in the first three races, messed up the last one and dropped to fourth overall on the same points as Harris.
The Apico MX2 class was close all weekend as Jacob Joyce (Bubblitex KTM) and Kyle Lane (D+N KTM) finished with the same points and only one race win between them as the rest of the field self-destructed.
Race one winner Stuart Owen (Yamaha) struggled with consistency the rest of the weekend and finished third overall and race two winner Jack Bas (MFB KTM) ended up fourth. Tim Burrows (DK Husqvarna) won the last race but was seventh overall.
FOR FUL REPORT & PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS, JUNE 25, (ISSUE 1977)
