Scott Leuch's above PAR
By TMX Archives on 5th Aug 09
THERE'S nothing like a nine-hour drive, for some, a last minute silencer change-over or a leaky plumbing system on your Quad, hitting an ill-timed neutral and team-mates finishing one-two on the podium to liven up your near-end of motocross championship season.
Glenrothes Youth MCC played host to the penultimate rounds of the ACU British Open, Under 21 and last but two Quad MMX Championship at its extremely well prepared circuit at Commerton Farm, Leuchars, on the east coast of Scotland, at the weekend.
The weather played its part in that the sun shone on the guys and gals that had travelled from afar with a breeze that kept the considerable number of spectators cool during the hot action going on around them.
As the day began under the blazing sun, the qualifying sessions were reduced to gate choice positions as a fair number of series riders had chosen not to make the long journey north.
Elliott Banks-Browne grabbed the overall honours in the Open class while teenage sensation PAR Homes' Scott Elderfield took top honours after the Under 21 battles with Scotsman John Mitchell back to great form on his ATV World Yamaha on the top step in the Quad class.
OPEN
OPEN class series leader and just back from a month off his bike due to injury, Kristian Whatley took pole position just under a second faster than fellow series contenders Carl Nunn and Brad Anderson.
However, it was the on-form Elliott Banks-Browne who took the holeshot in race one with Whatley, Anderson and Alex Snow amongst others all over him early doors.
Anderson quickly took over at the front before a half-a-lap was completed as Banks-Browne fought off the concerted attacks from Whatley and Nunn. Loud barking noises began to emanate from BOTH Anderson and Nunn's exhausts. Then, there came the extraordinary scenes of skilful mechanical prow-ess from both riders' team spanner-men.
Anderson came in to have his split silencer changed in a matter of seconds by mechanic Chris Muir, Banks-Browne took over in the lead for two laps before Nunn shot through to take over at the front.
Nunn's tail pipe took exception to the power increase and blew itself apart!
From the lead, Nunn then shot into the pit box with just two laps remaining in order to have his silencer replaced by the G-man himself, Gareth Chamberlain.
Gareth whipped off his team T-shirt to use as a hand protector from the hot pipe NOT for, as some uttered: "...oh, there's Mr Universe at it again!”
"How often does that happen?” queried Stuart Nunn, Carl's dad. "Two riders blowing pipes while in the lead, in the same race? And a half-naked mechanic?”
Banks-Browne took the win ahead of team-mate Whatley (rumours of a board posting being made ready to ask Banks-Browne to let series leader Whatley past ‘may' have been exaggerated? Maybe not?) Ray Rowson, back to his speedy best after many months on the injured list, came back through the pack after a slow reaction to the gate to take a well deserved third spot.
UNDER 21
WITH the top three riders in the series coming into the second last round equal on points, it was always going to be a tense affair in the Under 21 category.
Series leader, Scott Elderfield, Moto One's Shane Carless and Graeme Irwin were on 166 points apiece after the previous four rounds and so it was all set for an exciting match-up.
Elderfield took pole ahead of KTM UK's Irwin and Alan Keet and the stage was set.
Elderfield shot into the lead in the opening race with Carless and Irwin hunting him down like wolves on the prowl.
Irwin took over in second place from Carless on lap two and set off after the disappearing Elderfield, with Keet following in fourth.
Then, at half distance, more drama. Irwin hit neutral on a slow corner and stalled the KTM UK rocket ship. He found it hard to re-start and lost nearly a dozen places before he fired up the orange beast once again.
By this time though, Elderfield was nearly 25 seconds ahead of second placed Carless and had an easy trip to the chequered flag. Third spot went to Twisted 7's delighted foreign import, Richard Sandberg.
QUAD
THE four-wheelers were going to find the Commerton Farm tough with its deep sand and man-made jumps, but they ripped into the circuit like they were made for each other.
Paul Holmes showed how a confident man on form and lying in second place in the championship can perform by sweeping to pole position by nearly two-and-a
half seconds ahead of Scotland's favourite Quadster, John Mitchell, and three seconds quicker than Stefan Murphy with third fastest time.
Holmes shot into the lead in race one and looked comfortable as he opened up an immediate gap on the chasing pack, which included Mitchell and MacBeth and the injured Leon Beda.
Scotsman Beda is recovering from three broken fingers, racing with a protective guard over his right handlebar grip.
However, three laps in, Holmes pulled in to the pit box with steam coming out from his engine.
His crew hunted quickly for the problem but couldn't find exactly where the water was coming from. So after another exploratory lap he pulled in and retired of the race.
The eventual moto win went to Mitchell with a slow-starting series leader, Paul Winrow, fighting back for second and Jason MacBeth slotting into third spot.
Holmes' crew worked out the problem with the water works before race two and there was no stopping the man from Harrogate with a gate to flag victory ahead of Mitchell and MacBeth.
Mitchell was delighted to take overall honours in his native Scotland: "It's always nice to win at home in front of the family!”
MacBeth and Winrow snatched runner-up and third places respectively.
Winrow now has a 38-point gap at the top of the table, but with two rounds to go, anything can
happen!
BRITISH OPEN MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 5 – Comerton Farm, Leuchars, Fife (Glenrothes Youth MCC)
1 Elliott Banks-Browne (LPE Kawasaki) 25 + 20 = 45
2 Kristian Whatley (LPE Kawasaki) 22 + 16 = 38
3 Brad Anderson (PAR Honda) 10 + 25 = 35
4 Alex Snow (KTM UK) 18 + 15 = 33
5 Ray Rowson (Buildbase CCM) 20 + 13 = 33
6 Gordon Crockard (PAR Honda) 13 + 18 = 31
7 Danny Smyth (Eastwood Honda) 14 + 14 = 28
8 Carl Nunn (MVR-D Suzuki) 5 + 22 = 27
9 Jamie Law (Relentless Suzuki) 15 + 12 = 27
10 Tony Craig (Dennis Irvine KTM) 16 + 9 = 25
11 Ross Rutherford (MOM Honda) 12+11=23, 12 Jamie Smith (LPE Kawasaki) 11+7=18, 13 Ashley Wilde (Manchester Xtreme Yamaha) 9+8=17, 14 Wayne Garrett (TSR KTM) 6+10=16, 15 Sam Simmons (Moto-Ward Yamaha) 4+6=10, 16 Peter Mitchell (???) 8+0=8, 17 David Frankland (Castledine Honda) 3+4=7, 18 Andreas Johansson (Twisted7 Honda) 7+0=7, 19 Gavin Robertson (Moto1 KTM) 0+5=5, 20 Ryan Blair (Suzuki) 0+3=3, 21 Jamie Tempest (Yamaha) 2+1=3, 22 John Williamson (Honda) 0+2=2, 23 Craig Clunie (KTM) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Banks-Browne, 2 Whatley, 3 Rowson, 4 Snow, 5 Craig, 6 Law, 7 Smyth, 8 Crockard, 9 Rutherford, 10 Smith, 11 Anderson, 12 Wilde, 13 Mitchell, 14 Johansson, 15 Garrett, 16 Nunn, 17 Simmons, 18 Frankland, 19 Tempest, 20 Clunie.
RACE TWO: 1 Anderson, 2 Nunn, 3 Banks-Browne, 4 Crockard, 5 Whatley, 6 Snow, 7 Smyth, 8 Rowson, 9 Law, 10 Rutherford, 11 Garrett, 12 Craig, 13 Wilde, 14 Smith, 15 Simmons, 16 Robertson, 17 Frankland, 18 Blair, 19 John Williamson, 20 Tempest.
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 6) rounds: 1 Whatley 197 points, 2 Anderson 188, 3 Nunn 171, 4 Snow 150, 5 Smyth 122, 6 Law 121, 7 Columb 109, 8 Bradshaw 105, 9 Banks-Browne 93, 10 Barr 85, 11 Wilde 54, 12 Crockard 51, 13 Willet 50, 14 Lloyd Vercuil 45, 15 Smith 45, 16 Simmons 45, 17 Garrett 44, 18 Rose 43, 19 Tom Church 42, 20 Sword 42,...
FINAL ROUND: September 20 – Culham MP, nr Abingdon, Oxon (Nora-Mx).
BRITISH UNDER 21 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 5 – Comerton Farm, Leuchars, Fife (Glenrothes Youth MCC)
1 Scott Elderfield (PAR Honda) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Shane Carless (Moto One KTM) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Richard Sandberg (Twisted 7 Honda) 20 + 20 = 40
4 Matthew Moffat (Bikesport KTM) 16 + 16 = 32
5 Graeme Irwin (KTM UK) 13 + 18 = 31
6 Alex Rockwell (R&T Yamaha) 18 + 13 = 31
7 Ashley Greedy (Talbot Cabs Suzuki) 15 + 11 = 26
8 Ewan McLaren (Moto1 KTM) 14 + 9 = 23
9 James Hutchinson (Moto1 KTM) 7 + 15 = 22
10 Lewis Tombs (Utag Yamaha) 12 + 10 = 22
11 James Dodd (MotoXtreme Kawasaki) 9+12=21, 12 Ryan McLean (???) 10+7=17, 13 Alan Keet (Kawasaki) 0+14=14, 14 Christopher Wratten (Hanson Yamaha) 8+5=13, 15 Gary Sharp (???) 11+0=11, 16 Gregory Fisher (Twisted 7 Honda) 4+6=10, 17 Scott Findlay (Suzuki) 1+8=9, 18 Mark Perfect (KTM) 5+2=7, 19 Alistair Brodie (???) 2+4=6, 20 Sean McDonald (KTM) 6+0=6, 21 Russell Valentine (???) 0+3=3, 22 Ryan Blair (Suzuki) 3+0=3, 23 Thomas Robertson (???) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Elderfield, 2 Carless, 3 Sandberg, 4 Rockwell, 5 Moffat, 6 Greedy, 7 McLaren, 8 Irwin, 9 Tombs, 10 Sharp, 11 McLean, 12 Dodd, 13 Wratten, 14 Hutchinson, 15 McDonald, 16 Perfect, 17 Fisher, 18 Blair, 19 Brodie, 20 Findlay.
RACE TWO: 1 Elderfield, 2 Carless, 3 Sandberg, 4 Irwin, 5 Moffat, 6 Hutchinson, 7 Keet, 8 Rockwell, 9 Dodd, 10 Greedy, 11 Tombs, 12 McLaren, 13 Findlay, 14 McLean, 15 Fisher, 16 Wratten, 17 Brodie, 18 Valentine, 19 Perfect, 20 Robertson.
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 8) rounds: 1 Elderfield 216 points, 2 Carless 210, 3 Irwin 197, 4 Sandberg 174, 5 Rockwell 123, 6 Keet 106, 7 Dodd 93, 8 Dark 87, 9 Tombs 79, 10 Goosen 78, 11 Arnold 60, 12 Waterman 57, 13 Lassu 51, 14 Nicholls 50, 15 Hutchinson 48, 16 Greedy 48, 17 Moffat 46, 18 Cavill 40, 19 Remmer 39, 20 McLaren 36,...
FINAL ROUND: September 20 – Culham MP, nr Abingdon, Oxon (Nora-Mx).
BRITISH QUAD-CROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 7 – Comerton Farm, Leuchars, Fife (Glenrothes Youth MCC)
1 John Mitchell (ATV World Yamaha) 25 + 22 = 47
2 Jason MacBeth (Fourtech Honda) 20 + 20 = 40
3 Paul Winrow (Winrow Honda) 22 + 14 = 36
4 Carl Bunce (Anderson Suzuki) 15 + 18 = 33
5 Stefan Murphy (SM Racing Honda) 16 + 16 = 32
6 Leon Beda (ATV World Yamaha) 18 + 11 = 29
7 William Waggott (KIK Honda) 13 + 13 = 26
8 Justin Reid (Team Can-Am) 14 + 12 = 26
9 Paul Holmes (KTM UK) 0 + 25 = 25
10 James Behan (Fourtech Honda) 10 + 15 = 25
11 David Cowan (Yamaha) 12+10=22, 12 James Hellewell (Filtec KTM) 8+8=16, 13 Oliver Sansom (MKM Rocketman Suzuki) 9+3=12, 14 Lindsey Duke (L&G Plant Honda) 5+6=11, 15 Giles Davies (Winrow Honda) 11+0=11, 16 John Pilbrow (Yamaha) 3+7=10, 17 Sam Bryan (Honda) 6+4=10, 18 Sean Goss (Yamaha) 0+9=9, 19 Liam Cater (DG Yamaha) 4+5=9, 20 Paul Broomhead (Anderson Suzuki) 7+0=7, 21 Simon Walton (???) 0+2=2, 22 Josh Barrett (ATV World Yamaha) 2+0=2, 23 Sam Harrison (CB Tuning Yamaha) 0+1=1, 24 Richard Telford (???) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Mitchell, 2 Winrow, 3 MacBeth, 4 Beda, 5 Stefan Murphy, 6 Bunce, 7 Reid, 8 Waggott, 9 Cowan, 10 Davies, 11 Behan, 12 Sansom, 13 Hellewell, 14 Broomhead, 15 Bryan, 16 Duke, 17 Cater, 18 Pilbrow, 19 Barrett, 20 Telford.
RACE TWO: 1 Holmes, 2 Mitchell, 3 MacBeth, 4 Bunce, 5 Stefan Murphy, 6 Behan, 7 Winrow, 8 Waggott, 9 Reid, 10 Beda, 11 Cowan, 12 Sean Goss, 13 Hellewell, 14 Pilbrow, 15 Duke, 16 Cater, 17 Bryan, 18 Sansom, 19 Walton, 20 Harrison.
SERIES STANDINGS after 7 (of 8) rounds: 1 Winrow 304 points, 2 Holmes 266, 3 MacBeth 258, 4 Beda 184, 5 Bunce 182, 6 Stefan Murphy 181, 7 Reid 176, 8 Waggott 148, 9 Mitchell 142, 10 Behan 135, 11 Cowan 130, 12 Watson 119, 13 Wray 108, 14 Davies 103, 15 Sean Goss 88,...
FINAL ROUND: August 16 – Blaxhall Circuit, nr Woodbridge, Suffolk (Woodbridge & DMCC).
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2009
Graeme Irwin went to Leuchars level on points with Carless and Elderfield but a disappointing fifth left him in third place in the series.