No Holds Barrs!
By TMX Archives on 16th May 14
Great racing, close finishes and dramatic incidents all played out on a track in absolute prime condition at the opening round of the Datatag AMCA British Motocross Championship.
It was a memorable day as Brad O'Leary, Clinton Barrs and Richard Cannings all bagged an MX1 moto win apiece at Nympsfield on Sunday.
Barrs, despite nursing a sore knee, still claimed a morale-boosting overall victory from O'Leary, while Luke Mellows made his AMCA Championship debut.
In an equally compelling MX2 contest, Carl Benjamin (2) and Paul Neale took the race victories with Benjamin earning the overall ahead of Neale and Saunders.
As expected, both classes proved to be highly competitive and while some of the potential title-chasing regulars stuttered to get their campaigns off the ground, the new boys on the block making their title debuts in the series shone brightly.
As well as Mellows earning that great third in MX1, Joe Jones took fourth, Luke Blanchard seventh and Ashley Thomas eighth.
Pick of the MX2 new boys was Lewis King who piloted his 144 TM two-stroke to a brilliant fourth overall.
So, on a Nympsfield track expertly prepared by the organising Dursley MXC, it was time for the riders to discover if they were truly on the pace as title contenders.
While a rapid Luke Blanchard set the fastest time in qualification and showed he was up for the challenge, Luke Meredith suffered a painful and potentially disastrous start, jarring his ankle in a rutted turn and suffering a suspected fracture.
Undeterred and still desperate to try and take his place on the start line for moto one, Meredith – with duct tape acting as a support for the injury – was ready and willing to go.
When that gate did eventually drop, the race to the first turn of the opening MX1 contest proved to be brutal and potential title contender Richard Cannings bit the dirt, along with Kristofer Ayres and Andrew Smart.
Meanwhile, up front, new kid on the block Blanchard led the charge with O'Leary, Arran Poolman, Elliot Barrs, Clinton Barrs, Shaun Pearce and Jack Cox in tow.
Blanchard's joy at leading the pack lasted just one further lap as he stalled his machine, dropping right back to 16th place.
While O'Leary galloped to a smooth, controlled win, battle raged behind him as the Barrs cousins locked horns.
Eventually Clinton overhauled Elliot to earn second, with Cox pushing Elliot one place further back down the leader-board to fourth and finishing just ahead of Poolman, Mellows and Joe Jones.
Early faller Cannings had to settle for 14th, while despite being in immense pain, Meredith bagged a brave tenth.
If the opening MX1 clash of the series was good, it was certainly trumped by an absolute classic moto two, which produced entertainment of the very highest quality
Once again the impressive Blanchard was quickest away, but as the race unfolded it developed into an incredible eight-rider scrap for ultimate victory.
Lap by lap, Blanchard maintained the narrowest of advantages as Ashley Thomas, Cannings, Mellows, C Barrs, O'Leary, Jones and E Barrs continually snapped at the leaders' heels, in the process regularly swapping positions.
On lap seven Clinton Barrs broke through the chasers to swoop past Blanchard into the lead.
Then in the final few laps, Clinton had to work overtime and snatched the win by the narrowest of margins, just yards ahead of O'Leary, who grabbed second on the final lap ahead of Blanchard.
After starting strongly, Thomas dropped back to eighth, while another major contender, Cox, could only muster 26th after crashing twice and bending the front end of his Yamaha.
After that thrilling moto the final MX1 encounter was rather less frantic, but no less entertaining.
In the early exchanges, Cannings and Mellows hotly disputed the lead before determined Yorkshireman Cannings broke free and blasted to his maiden AMCA MX1 moto win.
With series newcomers Mellows, Jones, Thomas and Smith all mixing it again at the top end of the
leader-board, O'Leary was surprisingly down in fourth as Cox endured a nightmare in 16th, with Blanchard holding 20th.
As the moto progressed, all three riders climbed the leader-board with O'Leary just fending off the close attentions of Cox to eventually get home fifth, while Blanchard was tenth.
At the front Mellows maintained an impressive second spot, with Jones also flying high to earn third as Clinton Barrs crucially crossed the line in fourth.
That earned Clinton the overall win, just two-points ahead of O'Leary.
Afterwards the delighted Bristolian said: "Today my main goal was to come away in the top three, so I was really happy with the win, especially as this class is now so strong with the new riders coming in.
"The track was prepared perfectly giving lots of line choices, making for some very fast, close racing, but one mistake and you could easily lose four or five places.
"All in all it was a great day, so I just need to take this confidence to the next round and do the same again.”
Not to be outdone, the MX2 class also produced plenty of great action, which started with a moto-one thriller.
Paul Neale produced a trademark lightning-fast start, but one of the expected title contenders was already in trouble, as Ben Saunders was forced to take evasive action and avoid a big collision while the pack raced towards the opening turn.
As Saunders regained forward momentum to chase the disappearing pack, Neale was on-fire at the front and setting a tremendous pace.
In the early stages, Scott Mathia, Ryan Morris, Jack Gardner, Matt Ridgway, Lewis King and Carl Benjamin provided the main challenge as they locked horns in a titanic struggle for the right to challenge leader Neale.
As Ridgway and Morris both suffered rear wheel punctures, and dropped down the leader-board, the main focus was on the progress of Benjamin and Saunders.
By lap five, Benjamin was up to second and looking to reel in the flying Neale while, incredibly, Saunders had soared back to seventh.
Benjamin continued to reduce Neale's advantage before setting up a stunning conclusion and on a frantic final lap, caught his rival before producing a hard but fair inside pass to snatch a superb win.
Third in this opener was the
in-form Mathia with Lewis King on the tiny 144 TM getting home in a brilliant fourth from Saunders.
After starring in the recent AMCA Superclass series, the opening MX2 clash did not go to plan for Adam Wells, with the youngster way down in 21st before recovering to 11th.
After that late defeat in the opening MX2 moto, Neale was determined to make amends in race two.
And, with a copybook performance he made no mistakes this time, leading the charge from gate to flag.
Chasing Neale home was Benjamin, who had moved from eighth through to second to finish ahead of Saunders.
The main battle in this race was four fourth spot as Morris, Ryan Crowder and Jamie Smith slugged it out, with the verdict going to Morris.
So with one moto win each, it came down to a head-to-head between Benjamin and Neale for the first overall victory of the season.
Right from the off Benjamin held the lead, just ahead of Neale, with King third.
Setting a terrific pace at the front, Benjamin dictated proceedings, holding off Neale to take the flag, as King held third.
Completing a miserable day, Wells missed the start of this final moto after being forced to make a late switch to his spare bike.
Starting last, he got back to 21st and will be hoping for better fortune at round two.
While Wells was disappointed, Benjamin, in contrast, was totally elated.
"The track was awesome and it produced some great racing,” he said.
"Coming away with three solid rides and the overall is a great way to start the 2014 campaign.
"Bring on round two!”
In the battle of the AMCA Championship Non-Qualifiers at Nympsfield, Sean Wainwright gained some consolation for missing the cut into the main races by taking overall victory while James Lane, Jack Jackett, Tom Guilding and Owen Coates topped the respective Expert, Senior, Junior and Inter Junior support classes.
