PARty in the Park
By TMX Archives on 1st Nov 10
A lot of hard work along with some five-star grooming and preparation by the ACU track management team following revamp advice from ace course-designer, Justin Barclay, has created a circuit of note at Milton Park, near Northampton, venue for the final round of the Dunlop-supported British MX323 Championships on Sunday.
Next year the Park will play host to a round of the Maxxis series – and possibly one of the BYMX series events too!
With both titles – British MX3 and British Under 23 – too close to call going into the event, it was always going to be a fully pumped day in the MX3 class for Messrs Ray Rowson, Jamie Lewis and Jamie Law – but no one warned them about the teenage terror that was Alfie Smith!
Meanwhile, in the Under 23 title battle, Alan Keet and Scott Elderfield took it all the way to a last race ‘winner takes all' title decider.
On a crisp and sunny autumn day Milton Park unveiled in all it's glory was the first revelation – and 17-year-old Alfie Smith, piloting an Italian Aprilla, proved to be the second.
Smithy came out all guns blazing in qualification to fire an early warning shot across the bows of the more seasoned Pros, setting a time two-secs faster than the best of the rest of the field.
That best of the rest was Law on the Lakeland Spa Suzuki, with Rowson on a PAR Honda third.
In the Under 23 class, Rowson's PAR Honda team-mate Elderfield claimed pole, half-a-second in front of the Dyer and Butler Suzuki of Alan Keet – with a flu-laden and coughing Shane Carless on the AB Motorcycles KTM in third.
In the opening MX3 moto Alfie Smith tore off the line with Rowson on his inside. Rowson actually looked favourite for the lead but Smithy got the drive down early on the faster wide line – barged his way clear and totally checked out for a convincing race win.
Rowson eventually claimed second, but with Law closing him down fast at the flag – all following a slick move by the Suzuki rider, which relegated Lewis to fourth place five laps from home.
Lee Foyle made a good start in fourth but eventually finished in seventh. It was Kevin Wells who claimed fifth with Dan Latham working his way up from ninth to end the race in sixth.
Race two took on an almost identical ‘MO'! Following a bit of elbows in the first corner, Smith on the Aprilla ruled the roost once again from turn one with Rowson in tow.
Smith was visibly faster and he never really looked like being caught. Lewis was third, followed by Law in a close fourth.
During the closing stages of the moto, Law once again got the better of Lewis to snatch third at the flag. Wells worked hard to take fifth and Latham finished in sixth, again.
The third race of the day gave the crowd something special to possibly savour as Rowson nailed the hole-shot with Smith climbing all over the back of the PAR Honda.
Could Rowson hold him off?
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX OCTOBER 29
BRITISH MX3 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 – Milton Malsor MP, nr Northampton (ACU Events Ltd)
1 Alfie Smith (SPH Aprilia) 25 + 25 + 25 = 75
2 Ray Rowson (PAR Honda) 22 + 22 + 20 = 64
3 Jamie Law (Bikesport Suzuki) 20 + 20 + 22 = 62
4 Jamie Lewis (Honda) 18 + 18 + 18 = 54
5 Kevin Wells (Kawasaki) 16 + 16 + 16 = 48
6 Daniel Latham (Dirtbikebitz Honda) 15 + 15 + 15 = 45
7 George Purchase (Sealmoto KTM) 12 + 14 + 13 = 39
8 Ross Keyworth (Kawasaki) 11 + 13 + 14 = 38
9 Lee Foyle (Dyer & Butler Suzuki) 14 + 12 + 12 = 38
10 Brett Hillman (Thunderroad Honda) 13 + 11 + 11 = 35
11 David Frankland (Castledine Honda) 10+9+8=27, 12 Aaron Lowe (???) 8+8+10=26, 13 Christopher Wratten (ALC Yamaha) 3+10+9=22, 14 Alex Cox (JP Cox Plant Honda) 9+7+6=22, 15 Jamie McCarthy (Honda) 7+5+7=19, 16 Sam Nicholls (Kawasaki) 6+3+5=14, 17 Paul Watts (Pope Suzuki) 4+6+4=14, 18 James Watts (Suzuki) 5+4+0=9.
RACE ONE: 1 Smith, 2 Rowson, 3 Law, 4 Lewis, 5 Wells, 6 Latham, 7 Foyle, 8 Hillman, 9 Purchase, 10 Keyworth, 11 Frankland, 12 Cox, 13 Lowe, 14 McCarthy, 15 Nicholls, 16 James Watts, 17 Paul Watts, 18 Wratten.
RACE TWO: 1 Smith, 2 Rowson, 3 Law, 4 Lewis, 5 Wells, 6 Latham, 7 Purchase, 8 Keyworth, 9 Foyle, 10 Hillman, 11 Wratten, 12 Frankland, 13 Lowe, 14 Cox, 15 Paul Watts, 16 McCarthy, 17 James Watts, 18 Nicholls.
RACE THREE: 1 Smith, 2 Law, 3 Rowson, 4 Lewis, 5 Wells, 6 Latham, 7 Keyworth, 8 Purchase, 9 Foyle, 10 Hillman, 11 Lowe, 12 Wratten, 13 Frankland, 14 McCarthy, 15 Cox, 16 Nicholls, 17 Paul Watts.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 4 rounds: 1 Ray Rowson 241 points (CHAMPION), 2 Jamie Law 225, 3 Jamie Lewis 222, 4 Wells 160, 5 May 138, 6 Cavill 107, 7 Smith 105, 8 Keyworth 104, 9 Hillman 103, 10 Latham 93, 11 Frankland 70, 12 Bird 50, 13 Skuse 48, 14 Foyle 47, 15 McCarthy 42, 16 Purchase 39, 17 Talbott 38, 18 Paul Watts 38, 19 Griffith 36, 20 Cox 29,...
SUPPORTING QUAD CLASS (Non Championship)
Overall: 1 Stefan Murphy (SMR Nora MX Honda) 72 points, 2 Giles Davies (5 Owe Honda) 69, 3 Sam Barrett (???) 55, 4 Chris Murphy (Honda) 52, 5 Mark Smith (???) 47, 6 Darren Jukes (???) 42.
BRITISH UNDER 23 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 – Milton Malsor MP, nr Northampton (ACU Events Ltd)
1 Scott Elderfield (PAR Honda) 25 + 25 + 25 = 75
2 Alan Keet (Suzuki) 22 + 22 + 22 = 66
3 Shane Carless (Moto One KTM) 20 + 20 + 20 = 60
4 Anthony Reville (TRM Honda) 18 + 18 + 18 = 54
5 Ross Hill (Dyer & Butler Suzuki) 15 + 16 + 14 = 45
6 Matt Burrows (Rob Hooper Suzuki) 14 + 15 + 15 = 44
7 Rob Muscat (Honda) 13 + 14 + 16 = 43
8 Jack Plowman (KTM 12 + 12 + 11 = 35
9 Gareth Rees-Jones (KTM) 11 + 10 + 13 = 34
10 Zac Stealey (Kawasaki) 10 + 13 + 8 = 31
11 Nicky Watts (KTM) 8+9+12=29, 12 Aaron Pipon (???) 7+8+9=24, 13 Luke Dean (Buff Husqvarna) 16+7+0=23, 14 James Rutter (???) 0+11+10=21, 15 Ben Putnam (???) 6+6+7=19, 16 Nick Wadge (Albion Honda) 9+5+5=19, 17 Jacob Lowe (???) 5+4+6=15, 18 ??? Simms (???) 0+0+4=4, 19 Jamie Collins (???) 0+0+3=3, 20 ??? Ayres (???) 0+0+2=2, 21 James Harrison (???) 0+0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Elderfield, 2 Keet, 3 Carless, 4 Reville, 5 Dean, 6 Hill, 7 Burrows, 8 Muscat, 9 Plowman, 10 Rees-Jones, 11 Stealey, 12 Wadge, 13 Nicky Watts, 14 Pipon, 15 Putnam, 16 Lowe.
RACE TWO: 1 Elderfield, 2 Keet, 3 Carless, 4 Reville, 5 Hill, 6 Burrows, 7 Muscat, 8 Stealey, 9 Plowman, 10 Rutter, 11 Rees-Jones, 12 Nicky Watts, 13 Pipon, 14 Dean, 15 Putnam, 16 Wadge, 17 Lowe.
RACE THREE: 1 Elderfield, 2 Keet, 3 Carless, 4 Reville, 5 Muscat, 6 Burrows, 7 Hill, 8 Rees-Jones, 9 Nicky Watts, 10 Plowman, 11 Rutter, 12 Pipon, 13 Stealey, 14 Putnam, 15 Lowe, 16 Wadge, 17 Simms, 18 Collins, 19 Ayres, 20 Harrison.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 4 rounds: 1 Scott Elderfield 252 points (CHAMPION), 2 Alan Keet 246, 3 Shane Carless 217, 4 Burrows 137, 5 Hill 125, 6 Bayliss 110, 7 Reville 109, 8 Dodd 107, 9 Spinks 91, 10 Wadge 79, 11 Dark 76, 12 Rees-Jones 68, 13 Wilde 64, 14 Tombs 58, 15 Nicky Watts 56, 16 Stealey 53, 17 Osborne 44, 18 Muscat 43, 19 Houghton 40, 20 Plowman 35