Mega 'pool party for CCM!
By Jason Bellinger on 28th Feb 11
The CCM duo of Stephen Sword and Tom Church claimed the British bike manufacturer's first indoor titles in this country as they won the British Open and Pro SX1 classes respectively at the third and final round of the Future West British SX Championships at Liverpool's Echo Arena last Saturday night.
Over in the Pro SX 2 final Jack Brunell got the better of Welshman Ashley Greedy, a reverse of the German SX Championships so honours are even for them. Before things got under way the Monster Energy girls paraded in front of the crowd which got them in the mood for the night's proceedings, after which the action got going.
Heat one of the Pro SX1 saw Tom Church and Ashley Greedy take an early lead into the first corner but it was Church who pulled away and found his rhythm first and was largely untroubled as he negotiated the fast-flowing course with ease.
The 29-year-old never put a foot wrong and took a comfortable victory. Greedy was never too far behind but didn't match the pace of Church and settled for his second place. Adam Chatfield led the rest of the pack in a close contest and finished third, with those three going into the final.
Ulsterman and crowd favourite Gordon Crockard took his Suzuki to fourth which meant he would have to try his luck in the LCQ to reach the final.
Heat two saw Church's team-mate Stephen Sword up against the likes of Alex Snow, Jack Brunell, and Steven Clarke. Brunell showed his metal to finish first, pushing Swordy into second place but it was a close run race with both of these two flying over the fast whoop section at an electric pace. Snow came third to book his place in the night's showpiece finale. Steven Clarke finished a disappointing seventh so he even missed the LCQ, not a good start for him.
Crockard won the LCQ and showed the fans why he is a favourite with them as he got some massive air off the finish line to cement his place to be there at the end of the night.
Onto the final and Church who, with the absence of South African Neville Bradshaw, had a healthy lead of 15 points over Jack Brunell and was a definite favourite for his first indoor title. With the crowd roaring, the final got under way and the CCM duo of Sword and Church were out of the blocks first with Church just grabbing the holeshot from his team-mate. The two of them quickly started to pull away from the rest of the pack and it was clear to see only individual errors would stop them taking a 1-2 finish.
Behind them Crockard was best of the rest, making third position his own from Jack Brunell and Alex Snow. By mid-race Church and Swordy were still at the front but Church had pulled away while the Crockstar was slowly reeling in Swordy as he went round the course at a frightening pace but it was a case of too little too late.
Church went on to take his first ever indoor title and punched the air as he crossed the finish line, clearly delighted with his victory. Swordy deserved his runner-up place at his first showing of the Championships and Crockard came home third to cap a good night for the Ulsterman, who also came away with second overall in the Championship. Jack Brunell's fourth place finish gave him third overall.
With the absence of Neville Bradshaw the Pro SX2 final was realistically a three-way battle between Ashley Greedy, Jack Brunell and Adam Chatfield, with just ten points separating them. Brunell and Chatfield both won their heats so started as favourites but Greedy was eager to get his name on the trophy.
As the gate dropped it was Brunell who nailed the holeshot and went into the first corner with an already sizeable lead which he never relinquished. Greedy was always hot on his back wheel but just couldn't find a way past him on the very technical course and had to settle for second on the night and second overall just three points behind Brunell after the three round series. Chatfield came away with third on the night and third overall for the Championship.
Matthew Bayliss came away with a very creditable fourth overall.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX FEBRUARY 25
FUTURE WEST ACU BRITISH SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Final Rd - Echo Arena, Liverpool
Pro SX1: 1 Tom Church, 2 Stephen Sword, 3 Gordon Crockard, 4 Jack Brunell, 5 Alex Snow, 6 Ashley Greedy, 7 Mathew Bayliss, 8 Adam Chatfield, 9 Tony Cuddy, 10 Ross Clarke.
Overall: 1 Tom Church (Champion), 2 Gordon Crockard, 3 Jack Brunell, 4 Ashley Greedy, 5 Neville Bradshaw, 6 Adam Chatfield, 7 Mathew Bayliss, 8 Shaun Simpson, 9 Evgeny Bobryshev, 10 Tony Cuddy.
Pro SX2: 1 Jack Brunell, 2 Ashley Greedy, 3 Adam Chatfield, 4 Mathew Bayliss, 5 Danny Tollet, 6 Luke Norris, 7 Harry Snow, 8 Daniel Brough, 9 Rowan Hill.
Overall: 1 Jack Brunell (Champion), 2 Ashley Greedy, 3 Adam Chatfield, 4 Mathew Bayliss, 5 Neville Bradshaw, 6 Daniel Brough, 7 Rowan Hill, 8 Mike Brown, 9 Evgeny Bobryshev, 10 Martin Barr.
British Open: 1 Stephen Sword, 2 Adam Chatfield, 3 Tom Church, 4 Alex Snow, 5 Jack Brunell, 6 Ashley Greedy, 7 Mathew Bayliss, 8 Danny Tollet, 9 Tony Cuddy, 10 Gordon Crockard.
Overall: 1 Tom Church (Champion), 2 Ashley Greedy, 3 Jack Brunell, 4 Adam Chatfield, 5 Gordon Crockard, 6 Martin Barr, 7 Neville Bradshaw, 8 Alex Snow, 9 Mathew Bayliss, 10 Stephen Sword.
Quad: 1 Mark Watson, 2 Brad Frost, 3 Michael McAneney, 4 Jonathan Kelly, 5 Oliver Sansom, 6 Steven Tinney, 7 Connor Smith.
Overall: 1 Mark Watson (Champion), 2 Michael McAneney, 3 Jonny Kelly, 4 Brad Frost, 5 Oliver Sansom, 6 Steven Tinney, 7 Jamie Clarke, 8 Geoff Ingram, 9 Connor Smith, 10 Ben Harman.
Clubman Open: 1 James Dunn, 2 Tony Cuddy, 3 Mark Perfect, 4 Sean MacDonald, 5 Ryan Adair, 6 Matthew Williamson, 7 Ryan Williams, 8 Sean Eckersley, 9 Grant Martin.
Overall: 1 James Dunn (Champion), 2 Mark Perfect, 3 Ryan Williams, 4 Tony Cuddy, 5 Ryan Adair, 6 Grant Martin, 7 Edward Briscoe, 8 Dan Thornhill, 9 Adrian Weatherhead, 10 Sean MacDonald.
Clubman Lites: 1 James Dunn, 2 Luke Norris, 3 Daniel Brough, 4 Alex Davies, 5 Harry Snow, 6 Ryan Adair, 7 Mark Perfect, 8 Ryan Crowder, 9 Ryan Mason, 10 Malachi Mitchell-Thomas.
Overall: 1 Daniel Brough (Champion), 2 James Dunn, 3 Luke Norris, 4 Mark Perfect, 5 Ryan Adair, 6 Alex Davies, 7 Arron Jenner, 8 Ryan Mason, 9 Dan Thornhill, 10 Rowan Hill.
Youth Lites: 1 James Dunn, 2 Luke Norris, 3 Ryan Williams, 4 Alex Davies, 5 Mark Perfect, 6 Harry Snow, 7 Macauley Edgerton, 8 Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, 9 Jack May, 10 Jack Gregory.
Overall: 1 James Dunn (Champion), 2 Mark Perfect, 3 Luke Norris, 4 Ryan Williams, 5 Harry Snow, 6 Jack Gregory, 7 Alex Davies, 8 Nathan Watson, 9 Shane Mulligan, 10 Dan Thornhill.
Super-mini: 1 Max Acres, 2 Scooter Webster, 3 Alex Boyce, 4 Gradie Featherstone.
Overall: 1 Ben Watson (Champion), 2 Max Acres, 3 Scooter Webster, 4 Grdie Featherstone, 5 Glnn McCormik, 6 Alex Boyce, 7 Mtchell Lewis, 8 Tom Neal, 9 Chubbie Hammod, 10 Ethan Wichester.
Small-wheel 85cc: 1 Gradie Featherstone, 2 Matt Lomas.
Overall: 1 Gradie Featherstone (Champion), 2 Matt Lomas, 3 Mitchell Lewis, 4 Jay McCrum, 5 Connor Hughes, 6 Eddie Remmer, 7 Taylor Hammal, 8 David Galvin, 9 Aaron Wilson, 10 Joel Hart.
Junior 65cc: 1 Dylan Woodcock, 2 Harry Kimber, 3 Rhys Goodhall, 4 Tom Grimshaw, 5 Connor Ellis.
Overall: 1 Dylan Woodcock (Champion), 2 Harry Kimber, 3 Connor Ellis, 4 Rhys Goodhall, 5 Tom Grimshaw, 6 Josh Greedy, 7 David Robson, 8 Aaron McGregor, 9 Adam Dunn, 10 Ryan Allison.
Auto: 1 Finley Beard, 2 Callum Beeken, 3 Lee Percy, 4 Kian Collingwood, 5 Liam Brosnan, 6 Ellis Jones, 7 Cain Marsh, 8 Joel Rizzi, 9 Buster Hart, 10 Lewis Wood.
Overall: 1 Callum Beeken (Champion), 2 Finley Beard, 3 Lee Percy, 4 Daniel Breen 5 Buster Hart, 6 Cain Marsh, 7 Liam Brosnan, 8 Ellis Jones, 9 Ryan Mawhinney, 10 Kian Collingwood.