Searle rains supreme

But seeing Tommy ride his CLS Monster Energy Kawasaki, you would have thought he was on a different track to the other 

riders such was his incredible speed through the deep sand, ruts, deep puddles and mud. 

 

In fact he was so fast that in the second MX1 race he lapped up to fifth place, in the 20-minute plus two-lap race – and those lapped included a multiple British champion and an ex-world champion.

 

In the MX2 class Mel Pocock was fastest in qualifying by a long shot, but had his day ruined just a quarter of a lap into race one when his Monster Energy Yamaha expired going over the table-top jump, handing the race win and the overall to his nemesis from last year, Elliott Banks-Browne.

 

The venue was already very wet as the teams turned up on Sunday morning and as it started to rain after practice track 

conditions deteriorated. And just when it seemed like things couldn't get any worse, it started to snow, making the top surface of the course a sloppy mess, with most of the surprisingly large crowd left ankle deep in water. 

 

If it wasn't for the hard work of the track officials and the ACU's choice of venue, plus the fact that the paddock had hard standing, everyone would have gone home without a wheel turning on the track.

 

A rejuvenated Kristian Whatley, back on the Yamaha he likes so much – this time under the MBO Sport banner – got the holeshot at the start of the first MX1 race, with Searle in his wheel tracks, followed by Nicolas Aubin and Steve Ramon.

 

It took Searle a lap to find away past the fast-starting Whatley as Dorren Coutts passed Ramon for third, with Jonathan Barragan moving up from a mid-field start into third before the race was three laps old.

 

On the very next lap, Aubin slipped off and dropped back to eleventh as Barragon passed Whatley for second, and set off to try and catch Searle.

 

By the halfway stage, Searle had dashed into the work area to emerge with a clean pair of gloves, leaving Barragan in the lead with Searle just in front of Whatley in third and Ramon fourth.

 

With four laps to go Searle turned on top speed again and retook the lead to cruise to a win by 28 seconds over Barragan, with Whatley a comfortable third.

 

Ramon was a distant fourth, just in front of Gert Krestinov, who had made his way up from twelfth at the start.

 

Aubin didn't seem to get going again after his off, ending the race in eleventh, while Tanel Leok seemed to make extra hard work of his race.

 

Starting 14th, he forced his way up to eighth, only to crash back down to 26th, but fought his way back to cross the finish line in fourth.

 

In race two it was Searle all the way and after passing Aubin on turn three he just pulled away from the pack.

 

 

Rd 1 – FatCat MP, Armthorpe, nr Doncaster (Speed McQueen Promotions)

 1 Tommy Searle (CLS Monster PC Kawasaki) 37 + 37 = 74

 2 Jonathan Barragan (Team STR KTM) 33 + 30 = 63

 3 Kristian Whatley (MBO Sport Yamaha) 30 + 27 = 57

 4 Tanel Leok (Route77 MVRD Honda) 22 + 33 = 55

 5 Steve Ramon (Buildbase Honda) 27 + 13 = 40

 6 Nicolas Aubin (Buildbase Honda Racing) 15 + 24 = 39

 7 Stuart Edmonds (CCR TM) 15 + 21 = 36

 8 Nathan Parker (Revo Talon Kawasaki) 21 + 12 = 33

 9 Ross Rutherford (Pendrich Kawasaki) 12 + 18 = 30

10 Gert Krestinov (Apico Ansa Kawasaki) 24 +  6 = 30

11 Dorren Coutts (Maxxis LPE Kawasaki) 19+10=29, 12 Alfie Smith (iFly Lanes Kawasaki) 6+19=25, 13 Shane Carless (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 10+15=25, 14 Brad Anderson (Maxxis LPE Kawasaki) 0+22=22, 15 Matthew Moffat (Armitage Transport KTM) 18+0=18, 16 Jamie Law (Dyer & Butler KTM) 0+15=15, 17 Scott Elderfield (CMP Racewear Kawasaki) 13+0=13, 18 Alex Snow (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 0+9=9, 19 Tony Craig (MOM Carnegie Honda) 9+0=9, 20 Daniel Hutchinson (JLP Bikesport KTM) 0+7=7, 21 Luke Hawkins (Phoenix Tools Honda) 4+3=7, 22 Ashley Wilde (Sandbach SM Kawasaki) 7+0=7, 23 James Dodd (St Blazey Honda) 0+4=4, 24 Sean Mitchell (Marchetti KTM) 3+0=3, 25 Gary Gibson (Bannside Pallets Suzuki) 1+1=2.

RACE ONE: 1 Searle, 2 Barragan, 3 Whatley, 4 Ramon, 5 Krestinov, 6 Leok, 7 Parker, 8 Coutts, 9 Moffat, 10 Aubin, 11 Edmonds, 12 Elderfield, 13 Rutherford, 14 Carless, 15 Craig, 16 Wilde, 17 Smith, 18 Hawkins, 19 Sean Mitchell, 20 Gary Gibson.

RACE TWO: 1 Searle, 2 Leok, 3 Barragan, 4 Whatley, 5 Aubin, 6 Anderson, 7 Edmonds, 8 Smith, 9 Rutherford, 10 Carless, 11 Law, 12 Ramon, 13 Parker, 14 Coutts, 15 Snow, 16 Hutchinson, 17 Krestinov, 18 Dodd, 19 Hawkins, 20 Gary Gibson.

Rejigged ‘Wet' Programme: Just 2 races staged.

SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 8) rounds: 1 Searle 74 points, 2 Barragan 63, 3 Whatley 57, 4 Leok 55, 5 Ramon 40, 6 Aubin 39, 7 Edmonds 36, 8 Parker 33, 9 Krestinov 30, 10 Rutherford 30, 11 Coutts 29, 12 Smith 25, 13 Carless 25, 14 Anderson 22, 15 Moffat 18, 16 Law 15, 17 Elderfield 13, 18 Snow 9, 19 Craig 9, 20 Hutchinson 7,... 

NEXT ROUND: March 24 – Canada Heights, Swanley, Kent (Sidcup & DMCC).

 

Rd 1 – FatCat MP, Armthorpe, nr Doncaster (Speed McQueen Events)

 1 Elliott Banks-Browne (HM Plant KTM UK) 37 + 33 = 70

 2 Steven Lenoir (Evotech Stevens KTM) 33 + 27 = 60

 3 Graeme Irwin (Heads & All Threads Suzuki) 22 + 30 = 52

 4 Nathan Watson (HM Plant KTM UK) 21 + 24 = 45

 5 Neville Bradshaw (Putoline Honda) 24 + 21 = 45

 6 James Cottrell (Putoline Honda) 18 + 22 = 40

 7 Arminas Jasikonis (Route 77 Energy Honda) 19 + 19 = 38

 8 Mel Pocock (Monster Energy Yamaha)  0 + 37 = 37

 9 Adam Sterry (Team STR KTM) 27 +  9 = 36

10 Martin Barr (VMX Moto KTM) 30 +  0 = 30

11 Matt Burrows (SBW Honda) 10+15+0=25, 12 Lewis Tombs (JAR IFS Honda) 9+15+0=24, 13 Bryan Mackenzie (Pendrich Kawasaki) 12+7+0=19, 14 Ryan Houghton (Monster Energy Yamaha) 0+18+0=18, 15 Stephen Sword (David Thorpe OR Centre Honda) 15+0+0=15, 16 James Dunn (HM Plant KTM UK) 15+0+0=15, 17 Dan Thornhill (Revo Talon Kawasaki) 1+13+0=14, 18 Ben Watson (HM Plant KTM UK) 13+1+0=14, 19 Lewis Trickett (iFly Lanes Kawasaki) 0+12+0=12, 20 Luke Remmer (MJW Kawasaki) 7+4+0=11, 21 Sam Winterburn (D3 Racing KTM) 0+10+0=10, 22 Ray Rowson (Hawk Racing KTM) 0+6+0=6, 23 Luke Norris (OctX MNE Kawasaki) 6+0+0=6, 24 Jake Millward (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 4+0+0=4, 25 Mathew Bayliss (Why Not Compare Honda) 0+3+0=3, 26 Lewis Gregory (MD Racing  Yamaha) 3+0+0=3.    

RACE ONE: 1 Banks-Browne, 2 Lenoir, 3 Barr, 4 Sterry, 5 Bradshaw, 6 Irwin, 7 Nathan Watson, 8 Jasikonis, 9 Cottrell, 10 Sword, 11 Dunn, 12 Ben Watson, 13 Mackenzie, 14 Burrows, 15 Tombs, 16 Remmer, 17 Norris, 18 Millward, 19 Gregory, 20 Thornhill.

RACE TWO: 1 Pocock, 2 Banks-Browne, 3 Irwin, 4 Lenoir, 5 Nathan Watson, 6 Cottrell, 7 Bradshaw, 8 Jasikonis, 9 Houghton, 10 Burrows, 11 Tombs, 12 Thornhill, 13 Trickett, 14 Winterburn, 15 Sterry, 16 Mackenzie, 17 Rowson, 18 Remmer, 19 Bayliss, 20 Ben Watson.

Rejigged ‘Wet' Programme: Just 2 races staged.

SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 8) rounds: 1 Banks-Browne 70 points, 2 Lenoir 60, 3 Irwin 52, 4 Nathan Watson 45, 5 Bradshaw 45, 6 Cottrell 40, 7 Jasikonis 38, 8 Pocock 37, 9 Sterry 36, 10 Barr 30, 11 Burrows 25, 12 Tombs 24, 13 Mackenzie 19, 14 Houghton 18, 15 Sword 15, 16 Dunn 15, 17 Thornhill 14, 18 Ben Watson 14, 19 Trickett 12, 20 Remmer 11,...

NEXT ROUND: April 1 – Canada Heights, Swanley, Kent (Sidcup & DMCC Ltd).