RULE BRITANNIA
By Alex Hodgkinson on 23rd Sep 10
Farleigh Castle hosted the biggest weekend in UK motocross this summer with a crowd significantly more than at last month's Maxxis, more than 400 entries, and a stunning victory for the home team in the unofficial Vets Motocross des Nations.
Terry House, Neil Prince, Pete Mathia and last-minute stand-in Brian Wheeler were in rampant form to clinch the Danny "Magoo” Chandler Trophy, with half the score of second-placed France, and that despite wrecking bikes and bodies galore on the way!
House, racing a Maico borrowed from MD Racing, was best individual performer, but all four lads more than played their part to overcome fuel starvation, a broken shock mount, a lack of gears, a lost plug and a damaged wrist. "It's a shame he didn't back off, he'd have been alright then!” quipped cheeky chappie Brian Wheeler after taking out Werner Dewit's front wheel in Saturday's opening race.
"I thought Brian might have mellowed in the last 20 years, but I guess I should have known better,” grinned the Belgian, taking it on the chin like a man on a weekend when no-one held grudges at the end, but racing was as competitive as it had been when the contestants were in their heyday.
House's charge to fifth was particularly impressive after looping at the gate: "I was in neutral when the gate dropped, panicked, kicked it into gear, and...”With all four riders in the first seven of that Saturday moto and nobody else getting more than two men in the first dozen, the home squad moved into an immediate substantial lead, but the second moto on Sunday morning saw the first potential cracks.
"I was going inside this Frenchman and just slipped out,” explained team elder statesman "Math” as the expression on his face told the tale.
"I put my right hand down and haven't been in as much pain since I did my scaphoid about 30 years ago, but I was determined to finish.”
In the end it didn't matter (the three best scores in each moto counted), but the gritty determination of the Cheshire Cat was called on twice later in the day as, his hand and wrist taped up, he overcame the pain barrier for significant scores.
With only Dewit and Jan Blancquaert – riding in different Belgian teams – on the pace of the British contingent, the situation was still well under control with three red shirts in the top five, but suddenly Prince and Wheeler were slipping downfield, clearly in trouble.
The Welshman had surrendered the lead when he stalled, but was already back into the top six before the pipe snapped off his Honda and the lack of a front brake added to his difficulties.Wheeler meanwhile had lost third gear and was also slipping back to the edge of the top ten.
So it was House who took up the cudgels against ex-GP podium man Dewit, running him down and storming away for what seemed a secure win until the final lap: "It started spluttering and I thought I was out of fuel. Werner passed me back as I coasted down the last hill.”
Salvaging second, Terry, whose only previous outing on a Maico had been at last year's race, had it explained to him back in the pits that the fuel tap on the German bikes had two settings, one to cut the flow with a couple of litres left, to let enduro riders realise they were getting low.
Scotland's David Campbell had raced the English too until forced to nurse home a decidedly wobbly rear wheel.
Still England led however as the team fronted by Dewit only had two men capable of the top 20, but the warnings were taken to heart and the home team knew they had to finish at all costs.
Race three followed the same pattern as its predecessors, but Mathia had to battle from dead last, victim of a collision at the tree turn, and how decisive his effort was to prove!
On Bill Brown's spare, Wheeler was overcoming the "smooth power of an old man's bike” (Bill's words) as three Brits battled Dewit for the win until he suddenly coasted to the side of the track before pushing it back onto the racing line.
"The plug had come out. I wasn't going back on my hands and knees without the bike!”
He was eventually excluded for outside assistance, and Mathia's 13th counted.
Prince had a wobbly ride to fourth: "I could feel something. I just thought the shock was fading.”
When he finished, he saw it was more serious – one shock mount had sheared completely!
With a 35-point lead after three races, victory was as good as secured even before the Belgians packed their bags.
Jan Geboers: "We all have to work tomorrow, and have to make sure we keep our reservation at the tunnel.”
Werner Dewit, clear leader individually with two wins and that defeat by Wheeler, admitted however: "My knees have gone. I don't know if I could manage another race.”
The French were only eight back on the Belgians, so England still had to finish off the job.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX SEPTEMBER 24
FARLEIGH MOTOCROSS DIRT NATIONAL
Farleigh Castle, nr Corsham, Wiltshire
Vets Motocross Dirt National: 1 England 67 points, 2 France 140, 3 Germany 171, 4 North of England 186, 5 Scotland 212, 6 Belgium (Geboers) 230, 7 Monaco 270, 8 Belgium (JMD) 300, 9 Australia 321, 10 Spain 339.
Individual Overall: 1 Terry House (ENG - Maico), 2 Jan Blancquaert (B - Suzuki), 3 Neil Prince (ENG - Honda/ Maico), 4 David Campbell (SCOT - Maico), 5 David Bruno (F - Honda), 6 Paul Chiappa (SCOT - Maico).
MOTO ONE: 1 Brian Wheeler (ENG - Maico), 2 Werner Dewit (B - Suzuki), 3 Blancquaert, 4 Prince, 5 House, 6 Bruno, 7 Pete Mathia (ENG - Maico), 8 Danny Hens (B - Suzuki), 9 Vincent Vliarars (F - Honda), 10 Campbell, 11 Jeff Leisk (Aus - Maico), 12 Ed Bradley (NoE - Maico).
MOTO TWO: 1 Dewit, 2 House, 3 Blancquaert, 4 Jurgen Kupbers (D - Husqvarna), 5 Hens, 6 Mark Jackson (NoE - Maico), 7 Bruno, 8 Campbell, 9 Wheeler, 10 Prince, 11 Chiappa, 12 Didier Stomnen (B - Suzuki).
MOTO THREE: 1 Dewit, 2 Kupbers, 3 House, 4 Prince, 5 Bruno, 6 Hens, 7 Campbell, 8 Stomnen, 9 Blancquaert, 10 Martial Briens (F - Maico), 11 Chiappa, 12 Leisk.
MOTO FOUR: 1 House, 2 Blancquaert, 3 Bradley, 4 Campbell, 5 Leisk, 6 Kupbers, 7 Wheeler, 8 Mathia, 9 Prince, 10 Chiapa, 11 Bruno, 12 Nicolas Ollive (F - Honda).
Twin-shock Over 50 (Dave Brown Memorial Cup): 1 Stephen Adams (Maico) 6 points, 2 Stuart Miller (Maico) 16, 3 Chris Stone (Yamaha) 19, 4 Phil Wadsworth (HPF) 23, 5 Philip Ryan (Suzuki) 24, 6 Martin Stokes (Honda) 30, 7 Stef Tirot (Honda) 33, 8 Chris Bryan (Maico) 56, 9 Alan Paton 62, 10 Andrew Gregory (Yamaha) 62.
Twin-shock Over 40: 1 Keith Rice (Honda) 9, 2 Chris Woodward (Honda) 15, 3 Alan Brown Kawasaki) 27, 4 Chris Pritchett (Maico) 36, 5 Stephen McCormick (Maico) 39, 6 Tim Hedgecock (Husqvarna) 40, 7 Les Rampton 45, 8 Steve Ryan (Yamaha) 46, 9 Kevin Spencer (Maico) 65, 10 Shaun Newbury (Honda) 68.
Twin-shock Open: 1 Howard Stanfield (Maico) 13, 2 Kristian Marshall (Maico) 18, 3 Ashley Hudson (Suzuki) 29, 4 Craig Garrett (Maico) 29, 5 Josh Coppins (Maico) 52, 6 Scott Elderfield (Suzuki) 53, 7 Callum Sangster (Maico) 54, 8 Paul Clark (Honda) 62, 9 Jurgen Kupburs (Husqvarna) 62, 10 Hubert Emmandel 63.
Pre-85 Four-stroke: 1 Gary Parker (HPF) 11, 2 Steve Wells (Kawasaki) 15, 3 Marc Popperwell (Yamaha) 21, 4 Warren Berthiaume (Honda) 21, 5 Steve How (Husqvarna) 26, 6 Carl Pope (Honda) 31, 7 Daryl Wallington (Honda) 39, 8 Rob Prosser (Kawasaki) 46, 9 David Williams (190 Cagiva) 47, 10 Ken Hanson 50.
Evo 500cc: 1 Gordon Crockard (Kawasaki) 4, 2 Adam Winslet (Suzuki) 19, 3 Steve Grimshaw (Honda)23, 4 Robert Stringer (Kawasaki) 25, 6 Sam Chapman (Kawasaki) 26, 6 Jason Fraser (Honda) 30, 7 Lee Jackson (Kawasaki) 32, 8 Mike Townsend (Kawasaki) 37, 9 Daren Pocock (Honda) 39, 10 Trevor Sheppard (Honda) 41.
Evo 250cc: 1 Craig Pratley (Honda) 7, 2 Benjamin Warren (Kawasaki) 13, 3 Sam Sunderland (Kawasaki) 14, 4 James Cole (Suzuki) 26, 5 Lewis Abbott (Kawasaki) 35, 6 Ryan Towells (Honda) 37, 7 David Alderton (Suzuki) 41, 8 Dave Lopez (Honda) 52, 9 James Dance (Honda) 59, 10 Ashley Hawkins (Honda) 60.
Evo 125cc: 1 Rikki Priest (Suzuki) 5, 2 Jonathan Cole (Suzuki) 7, 3 Steve Ruddock (Kawasaki) 14, 4 Bradley Wheeler 21, 5 Michael Exton (Honda) 25, 6 Ryan Newbury (Honda) 30, 7 Richard Wareham (Honda) 41, 8 Jean-Claude Gauquelin (Kawasaki) 46, 9 Fred Barrett (Cagiva) 52, 10 Christophe Chauvet (Gilera).
Vets Inter A: 1 Greg Hanson (Kawasaki) 4, 2 Ryan Hunt (Kawasaki)14, 3 Phil Mercer (KTM) 15, 4 Andy Watkins (Yamaha) 22, 5 Phil Lewis (Suzuki) 23, 6 Mark Fulton (Kawasaki) 27, 7 Dave Thorpe (CCM) 29, 8 Stephen Elford (Honda) 33, 9 Jason Smythe 38, 10 Russ Jarman (Honda) 41.
Vets Inter B: 1 Gary Chappell 5, 2 Keith Rice (Honda) 9, 3 Neil Long (Yamaha) 18, 4 Jason Turner (Honda) 18, 5 Kevin Ruddick (Kawasaki) 24, 6 Jason Cooke (Yamaha) 33, 7 Pieter Does (Honda) 33, 8 Nick Seabright (Honda) 43, 9 Robert Coxen (Honda) 51, 10 Andy Perrett (Honda) 60.