Raging Bulls
By TMX Archives on 18th May 12
They say youre judged by the decisions you make in life get it right and youre a hero, get it wrong youre a zero!Events 22s decision to postpone the opening round of the 2012 Red Bull Pro Nationals at Landrake proved a masterclass in the dark art of decision making.
What would have been a total mudfest turned out to be a perfect weekend, complete with perfect scores, as Stephen Sword and Elliott Banks-Browne walked away with a couple of wins apiece.
It's one thing getting to the corner first, getting around it is another thing and that was a lesson learned the hard way by Nico Aubin, as he drifted wide at the top of the start straight in the opening combined MX1/MX2 pro moto.
This allowed Stephen Sword to slide through and claim the holeshot and with a clear track in front of him he put his head down and started to pull away.
The rest of the field jostled for their opening lap positions with Alex Snow and Kristian Whatley falling into second and third.
As Sword slowly started increasing his lead Elliott Banks-Browne began to make his way through the MX1 traffic and by the end of the second lap was sitting pretty in third after making a pass on Snow.
Not content with third, EBB started to reel in Whatley as behind them Marc de Reuver found his groove and began a charge towards the front.
With Sword already out of reach barring a mistake, Banks-Browne picked his moment to pass Whatley for second – a move that also opened the door for the Flying Dutchman to slip through and demote Whatley from second to fourth in the blink of an eye.
With Elliott mixing it up at the front with the MX1 boys, Stephen Lenoir and Neville Bradshaw were battling it out for second and third in the MX2 class and as they crossed the line for the finish that was how the positions remained.
"That was great,” grinned Swordy.
"I got the holeshot that I wanted, got my head down and pulled a gap and controlled it from there.
"I got a bit tight towards the end and it got a bit hectic with the backmarkers but it's certainly been an improvement on what's been happening so far this season.
"Another one of those will do nicely!”
Aubin took the holeshot next time out and began to pull away from Sword and Whatley as they crossed the line at the end of the first lap.
In the MX2 class Banks-Browne was once again the lead man sitting in sixth, with Lenoir and Bryan MacKenzie right on his tail as they battled to keep up with the 450s.
With a comfortable lead a mistake from Aubin saw him lose the front end at the six-lap mark, gifting Sword the lead.
By the time Aubin was up and back on it a herd of riders had passed him – but he set about carving his way back towards the front, passing MacKenzie, Lenoir, EBB, Martin Barr and Snow in the process.
When the two-lap board was shown, just over a second separated Sword and Whatley, with Aubin having made his way back to third but too far back to make a challenge on the leading duo.
As they crossed the line for the last lap Sword made cleaner work of a group of backmarkers, gaining precious time on Whatley who was left with too much to do.
In the MX2 Elliott was the first 250 across the line in fourth place with Lenoir and Irn-Bry coming home just behind him.
