Maxxis British Motocross Championship, Round One

 

 

Shaun Simpson rode three strong races to win the MX1 class, while his 

team-mate Mel Pocock fought off challenges from the flying Latvian Matiss Karro to take the win in MX2, after the pair tied on points.

 

Two weeks ago you would have bet good money that the event would be cancelled due to the rain in the south west.

 

But what a difference a couple of weeks of makes, as the track was in prime condition, with the club even having to water some parts of the course which had been dried out by the wind and sun.

 

Jake Nicholls has almost recovered from his recent injury and he bagged the holeshot at the start of the first MX1 race from reigning Champion Kristian Whatley. 

 

Elliott Banks-Browne was close behind in third, with Simpson back in seventh.

 

As they came towards the end of the opening lap Matthew Moffat crashed off the downhill jump before going round the back of the start line .

 

Scott Elderfield – who couldn't see Moffat's bike laying in the track as he took off – hit it, sending him over the bars and out of the race battered and bruised with a very bent bike.

 

The pair of fast leaders were pulling away from the rest of the field at such a pace that, by the time Simpson had passed 

Banks-Browne on the third lap, they were out of reach.

 

Nicholls and Whatley passed the finish line three seconds apart, with Simpson on his own in third some 21 seconds behind the leaders.

 

Banks-Browne and Brad Anderson were fourth and fifth with Shane Carless sixth.

 

Simpson's HM Plant KTM team made some set-up changes before the second MX1 race and they seemed to pay off, as Simpson got the holeshot and powered away from the chasing pack for a fine win.

 

Anderson was second going into turn one with a surprised Josh Spinks third, from Banks-Browne and Nicholls, while Whatley – who had trouble up the start straight – was way back in eighteenth place.

 

As the race reached the four laps mark, and with Simpson stretching his lead out in front, Nicholls was in third and putting Anderson under pressure.

 

Whatley was fourth, having already passed Banks-Browne who was suffering with arm pump.

 

With four laps to go both Nicholls and Whatley had passed Anderson but Simpson was well gone by that time.

 

A lap later, though, a mistake dropped Whatley down to seventh.

 

Rd 1 – Landrake MP, nr Saltash, Cornwall (Premier MX)

 1 Shaun Simpson (HM Plant KTM UK) 20 + 25 + 25 = 70

 2 Jake Nicholls (Wilvo Forkrent KTM) 25 + 22 + 20 = 67

 3 Kristian Whatley (MBO Sport Yamaha) 22 + 16 + 22 = 60

 4 Elliott Banks-Browne (Buildbase Honda) 18 + 18 + 18 = 54

 5 Brad Anderson (Buildbase Honda) 16 + 20 + 16 = 52

 6 Alex Snow (Phoenix Rocket Honda) 11 + 15 + 14 = 40

 7 Jamie Law (Dyer & Butler KTM) 12 + 11 + 11 = 34

 8 Gert Krestinov (EST - Apico LPE Kaw)  6 +  8 + 15 = 29

 9 Nathan Watson (Dantec Husqvarna UK) 14 + 13 +  2 = 29

10 Graeme Irwin (Heads & All Threads Suz)  2 + 10 + 13 = 25

11 Jake Shipton (Crescent KTM) 13+0+12=25, 12 Shane Carless (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 15+3+6=24, 13 Matt Moffat (JAR Honda) 0+12+10=22, 14 Ross Rutherford (Pendrich Kawasaki) 8+5+9=22, 15 Josh Spinks (HM Plant KTM UK) 0+14+8=22, 16 Gary Gibson (Suzuki) 10+9+0=19, 17 Stuart Edmonds (CCR Suzuki) 9+2+4=15, 18 Ashley Wilde (SSM Honda) 4+7+3=14, 19 Priit Ratsep (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 5+0+7=12, 20 Alfie Smith (Lanes MVR-D Honda) 7+0+0=7, 21 James Dodd (TwoNineTwo Honda) 1+0+5=6, 22 Tony Craig (Carnegie Fuels Suzuki) 0+6+0=6, 23 Luke Hawkins (Phoenix Tools Honda) 0+4+0=4, 24 Lewis Gregory (GL12 Yamaha) 3+1+0=4, 25 Yentel Martens (NL - Talon Kawasaki) 0+0+1=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Nicholls, 2 Whatley, 3 Simpson, 4 Banks-Browne, 5 Anderson, 6 Carless, 7 Watson, 8 Shipton, 9 Law, 10 Snow, 11 Gibson, 12 Edmonds, 13 Rutherford, 14 Smith, 15 Krestinov, 16 Ratsep, 17 Wilde, 18 Gregory, 19 Irwin, 20 Dodd.

RACE TWO: 1 Simpson, 2 Nicholls, 3 Anderson, 4 Banks-Browne, 5 Whatley, 6 Snow, 7 Spinks, 8 Watson, 9 Moffat, 10 Law, 11 Irwin, 12 Gibson, 13 Krestinov, 14 Wilde, 15 Craig, 16 Rutherford, 17 Hawkins, 18 Carless, 19 Edmonds, 20 Gregory.

RACE THREE: 1 Simpson, 2 Whatley, 3 Nicholls, 4 Banks-Browne, 5 Anderson, 6 Krestinov, 7 Snow, 8 Irwin, 9 Shipton, 10 Law, 11 Moffat, 12 Rutherford, 13 Spinks, 14 Ratsep, 15 Carless, 16 Dodd, 17 Edmonds, 18 Wilde, 19 Watson, 20 Martens.

SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 8) rounds: 1 Simpson 70 points, 2 Nicholls 67, 3 Whatley 60, 4 Banks-Browne 54, 5 Anderson 52, 6 Snow 40, 7 Law 34, 8 Watson 29, 9 Krestinov 29, 10 Shipton 25, 11 Irwin 25, 12 Carless 24, 13 Spinks 22, 14 Moffat 22, 15 Rutherford 22, 16 Gibson 19, 17 Edmonds 15, 18 Wilde 14, 19 Ratsep 12, 20 Smith 7,...

NEXT ROUND: April 6 – Cadders Hill, Lyng, Norfolk (Norwich Viking MCC Ltd).

 

Rd 1 – Landrake MP, nr Saltash, Cornwall (Premier MX)

 1 Mel Pocock (HM Plant KTM UK) 22 + 22 + 20 = 64

 2 Matiss Karro (LAT - Wilvo Forkrent KTM) 25 + 25 + 14 = 64

 3 Steven Lenoir (F - Dantec Husqvarna UK) 20 + 16 + 22 = 58

 4 Neville Bradshaw (ZA - Putoline Apico Hon) 15 + 15 + 15 = 45

 5 Bryan MacKenzie (Pendrich Kawasaki) 10 +  9 + 25 = 44

 6 James Dunn (HM Plant KTM UK) 18 + 12 + 13 = 43

 7 Adam Sterry (Wilvo Forkrent KTM) 11 + 13 + 18 = 42

 8 Lewis Trickett (MBO Sport Yamaha) 12 + 14 + 16 = 42

 9 Jason Dougan (Lanes MVR-D Honda) 13 + 18 + 11 = 42

10 Lewis Tombs (JAR Honda)  7 + 11 +  8 = 26

11 Ben Watson (HM Plant KTM UK) 0+20+1=21, 12 James Cottrell (HM Plant KTM UK) 6+8+6=20, 13 Steven Clarke (Dyer & Butler KTM) 16+4+0=20, 14 Josh Waterman (IDS Transport KTM) 0+7+12=19, 15 Jordan Booker (Pendrich Kawasaki) 9+10+0=19, 16 Carlton Husband (JLP Bikesport KTM) 0+6+9=15, 17 Martin Barr (VMX Malin KTM) 14+0+0=14, 18 Michael Eccles (Sliver Action KTM) 0+2+10=12, 19 Erki Kahro (EST - SJR Kawasaki) 0+3+7=10, 20 Robert Davidson (MJW Kawasaki) 5+0+4=9, 21 Jake Millward (Shocktech Kawasaki) 8+0+0=8, 22 Mathew Callaghan (Verde Sports KTM) 1+5+0=6, 23 Matt Burrows (SBW KTM) 0+0+5=5, 24 Jordan Divall (Yamaha) 4+0+0=4, 25 Brad Todd (Planet Suspension KTM) 0+0+3=3, 26 James Harrison (Putoline Apico Honda) 3+0+0=3, 27 James Rutter (Spectrum Hose Honda) 0+0+2=2, 28 Luke Burton (Heads & All Threads Suzuki) 2+0+0=2, 29 Luke Norris (MNE KTM) 0+1+0=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Karro, 2 Pocock, 3 Lenoir, 4 Dunn, 5 Clarke, 6 Bradshaw, 7 Barr, 8 Dougan, 9 Trickett, 10 Sterry, 11 MacKenzie, 12 Booker, 13 Millward, 14 Tombs, 15 Cottrell, 16 Davidson, 17 Divall, 18 Harrison, 19 Burton, 20 Callaghan.

RACE TWO: 1 Karro, 2 Pocock, 3 Watson, 4 Dougan, 5 Lenoir, 6 Bradshaw, 7 Trickett, 8 Sterry, 9 Dunn, 10 Tombs, 11 Booker, 12 MacKenzie, 13 Cottrell, 14 Waterman, 15 Husband, 16 Callaghan, 17 Clarke, 18 Kahro, 19 Eccles, 20 Norris.

RACE THREE: 1 MacKenzie, 2 Lenoir, 3 Pocock, 4 Sterry, 5 Trickett, 6 Bradshaw, 7 Karro, 8 Dunn, 9 Waterman, 10 Dougan, 11 Eccles, 12 Husband, 13 Tombs, 14 Kahro, 15 Cottrell, 16 Burrows, 17 Davidson, 18 Todd, 19 Rutter, 20 Watson.

SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 8) rounds: 1 Pocock 64 points, 2 Karro 64, 3 Lenoir 58, 4 Bradshaw 45, 5 MacKenzie 44, 6 Dunn 43, 7 Sterry 42, 8 Trickett 42, 9 Dougan 42, 10 Tombs 26, 11 Watson 21, 12 Clarke 20, 13 Cottrell 20, 14 Waterman 19, 15 Booker 19, 16 Husband 15, 17 Barr 14, 18 Eccles 12, 19 Kahro 10, 20 Davidson 9,...

NEXT ROUND: April 6 – Cadders Hill, Lyng, Norfolk (Norwich Viking MCC Ltd).

 

Rd 1 – Landrake MP, nr Saltash, Cornwall (Premier MX)

 1 Phil Mercer (IDS Transport KTM) 25 + 20 = 45

 2 Brian Wheeler (GL12 Kawasaki) 22 + 22 = 44

 3 Greg Hanson (Readl Power KTM) 18 + 25 = 43

 4 Rick Du-Feu (KTM) 16 + 18 = 34

 5 Darren Scott (Bikesport NHR Honda) 14 + 16 = 30

 6 Shaun Sabin (Sabin Martial Arts Honda) 13 + 15 = 28

 7 Phil Lewis (KTM) 12 + 14 = 26

 8 Tony Tunnell (Williams Wulfsport Kawasaki) 11 + 13 = 24

 9 Ricky Hanson (Hansons Garage Honda) 15 +  6 = 21

10 Terry House (Poole Yamaha)  9 + 11 = 20

11 Terry House (Poole Yamaha) 20+0=20, 12 Paul Willis (Yamaha) 7+12=19, 13 Strephen Atkins (Herts MX Honda) 8+9=17, 14 Paul McSorley (KTM) 6+10=16, 15 Robert Glynn (MB Centre Suzuki) 4+8=12, 16 Paul Curtis (KTM) 5+7=12, 17 Stephen Elford (Gabriel Insulation Honda) 10+2=12, 18 Steven Bottoms (KTM) 3+4=7, 19 Shaun Brooker (SB Surfacing KTM) 0+5=5, 20 Johnny McGrath (TMC Suzuki) 0+3=3, 21 Simon Smart (Poole Yamaha) 2+1=3, 22 Christopher Stemp (Honda) 1+0=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Mercer, 2 Wheeler, 3 House, 4 Greg Hanson, 5 Du-Feu, 6 Ricky Hanson, 7 Scott, 8 Sabin, 9 Lewis, 10 Tunnell, 11 Elford, 12 Rutherford, 13 Atkins, 14 Willis, 15 McSorley, 16 Curtis, 17 Glynn, 18 Bottoms, 19 Smart, 20 Stemp.

RACE TWO: 1 Greg Hanson, 2 Wheeler, 3 Mercer, 4 Du-Feu, 5 Scott, 6 Sabin, 7 Lewis, 8 Tunnell, 9 Willis, 10 Rutherford, 11 McSorley, 12 Atkins, 13 Glynn, 14 Curtis, 15 Ricky Hanson, 16 Brooker, 17 Bottoms, 18 McGrath, 19 Elford, 20 Smart.

SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 3) rounds: 1 Mercer 45 points, 2 Wheeler 44, 3 Greg Hanson 43, 4 Du-Feu 34, 5 Scott 30, 6 Sabin 28, 7 Lewis 26, 8 Tunnell 24, 9 Ricky Hanson 21, 10 House 20, 11 Rutherford 20, 12 Willis 19, 13 Atkins 17, 14 McSorley 16, 15 Elford 12, 16 Glynn 12, 17 Curtis 12, 18 Bottoms 7, 19 Brooker 5, 20 McGrath 3,...

NEXT ROUND: April 27 – Foxhill MP, Wanborough, nr Swindon, Wilts (West Devon MCC).