Silver service

However, the duel between Yamaha's Mel Pocock and KTM UK teamster Elliott Banks-Browne for the MX2 crown went down to the last lap of the final race of the day, with so many plot changes it played out like a script from a TV soap.

 

The weather forecast at the beginning of the last week was not particularly encouraging.

 

But as the week progressed the forecast kept improving and as riders, teams and organisers turned out on Saturday the picturesque track was in prime condition, made that way by the hard-working Premier MX team with ACU Events and with a big helping of sunshine.

 

It was back to the two races each for the two main classes, followed by a combined MX1/ MX2 30-minute plus two-lap race to end the day – and the championship season.

 

Strijbos was in confident mood before racing started and admitted: "My plan is to do what I usually do, as you never know what will happen.

 

"I have to finish in the first four in the opening race to secure the title and that will be good for me and the team. 

 

"I am trying not to think about it too much, as I want to get a good start and just ride my own race. 

 

"It is very exciting as it will be my first national championship – if I clinch it.”

 

As for Pocock and Banks-Browne before racing? They both looked relaxed and confident, but everyone could feel the tension with an undercurrent of nerves, so they were best left to there own thoughts.

 

Tyco Suzuki's Martin Barr, fresh from a good showing at the MXdN, got the holeshot at the start of the first MX1 moto with Kristian Whatley now on a Dextra KTM in his wheel-tracks, as they powered up the red-earth hill for the first time.

 

On lap three Shaun Simpson moved into second, with Strijbos on his tail, as Whatley slipped back to fifth. Just two-laps later Strijbos, who seemed to have forgotten he only had to finish in the top four, was in the lead and setting a 

blistering pace that only Simpson seemed to be able to live with.

 

By the halfway stage, Frenchman Nicolas Aubin, having his first outing in the MX1 class for Buildbase Honda, was in third, as Barr hung on to fourth.

 

Brad Anderson was home from Australia and was getting used to the Maxxis race formula as he held sixth on his Carlton Dry Honda, with Whatley just behind him.

 

Barr crashed out with three laps 

remaining as Strijbos saw sense and let Simpson through to take the win, as the Belgian wrapped-up the MX1 title.

 

 

Rd 3 (Final) – Little Silver MP, nr Exminster (Little Silver Off Road Promotions)

 1 Gary Hoptrough (KTM) 25 + 25 = 50

 2 Phil Mercer (KTM) 20 + 22 = 42

 3 Greg Hanson (Lanes Kawasaki) 22 + 20 = 42

 4 Terry House (Poole Yamaha) 18 + 18 = 36

 5 Dave  Thomson (Tillit Husaberg) 16 + 16 = 32

 6 David Dunn (Swansea Drydocks KTM) 14 + 15 = 29

 7 Darren Scott (Bikesport Honda) 15 + 14 = 29

 8 Steve Elford (1st Choice Honda) 12 + 13 = 25

 9 David Hopkins (KTM) 11 + 12 = 23

10 Andrew Little (Melbourne Kawasaki) 10 + 11 = 21

11 Alan Eaves (Honda) 8+8=16, 12 Anthony Houseman (Surf & Turf KTM) 9+7=16, 13 Paul Curtis (KTM) 6+9=15, 14 Antony Tunnell (Williams Kawasaki) 13+0=13, 15 Cliff Lester (Fire Stop Suzuki) 7+4=11, 16 Alan Magee (Pirelli Honda) 0+10=10, 17 Steve Rowlands (???) 5+5=10, 18 Robert Glynn (Suzuki) 1+6=7, 19 Nick Seabright (Suzuki) 3+3=6, 20 Andrew Leask (Honda) 4+2=6.21 Anthony Worwood (Ray Cowles Suzuki) 2+0=2, 22 Phil Roberts (Honda) 0+1=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Hoptrough, 2 Hanson, 3 Mercer, 4 House, 5 Thomson, 6 Scott, 7 Dunn, 8 Tunnell, 9 Elford, 10 Hopkins, 11 Little, 12 Houseman, 13 Eaves, 14 Cliff Lester, 15 Curtis, 16 Rowlands, 17 Leask, 18 Seabright, 19 Worwood, 20 Glynn.

RACE TWO: 1 Hoptrough, 2 Mercer, 3 Hanson, 4 House, 5 Thomson, 6 Dunn, 7 Scott, 8 Elford, 9 Hopkins, 10 Little, 11 Magee, 12 Curtis, 13 Eaves, 14 Houseman, 15 Glynn, 16 Rowlands, 17 Cliff Lester, 18 Seabright, 19 Leask, 20 Roberts.

FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 3 rounds: 1 Phil Mercer 134 points (CHAMPION), 2 Gary Hoptrough 131, 3 Greg Hanson 122, 4 House 118, 5 Scott 79, 6 Thomson 65, 7 Coward 61, 8 Dunn 61, 9 Elford 54, 10 Bradley 51, 11 White 48, 12 Hopkins 44, 13 Little 27, 14 Hayworth 26, 15 Jones 26, 16 Wheeler 24, 17 Curtis 24, 18 Glynn 24, 19 Houseman 23, 20 Eaves 23,...

 

Rd 8 – Little Silver MP, nr Exminster (Little Silver Off Road Promotions)

 1 Shaun Simpson (Monster BikeIt Yam) 25 + 22 + 25 = 72

 2 Kevin Strijbos (HM Plant KTM UK) 22 + 25 + 20 = 67

 3 Brad Anderson (Honda) 18 + 20 + 14 = 52

 4 Gert Krestinov (Route 77 MVRD Honda) 13 + 14 + 18 = 45

 5 Alex Snow (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 16 + 15 + 12 = 43

 6 Kristian Whatley (PAR Honda) 15 + 13 + 11 = 39

 7 Nico Aubin (Buildbase Honda) 20 + 16 +  0 = 36

 8 Luke Hawkins (Rockstar KTM) 12 +  9 +  7 = 28

 9 Ross Rutherford (Bikesport Honda) 10 +  7 +  9 = 26

10 Jamie Law (D3 Racing KTM) 14 + 12 +  0 = 26

11 Tony Craig (Mickey Oates Honda) 4+10+10=24, 12 Jason Dougan (Route 77 MVRD Honda) 5+18+0=23, 13 Jake Shipton (Poole Yamaha) 11+11+0=22, 14 Connor Walkley (Maxxis Henderson Kawasaki) 9+0+8=17, 15 Josh Waterman (Dyer & Butler Suzuki) 8+8+0=16, 16 Jamie Skuse (Apico Suzuki) 6+6+1=13, 17 Ashley Wilde (Sandbach SM Kawasaki) 7+0+4=11, 18 Michael Mahon (VMX KTM) 0+5+0=5, 19 James Lassu (MX Madness Yamaha) 1+4+0=5, 20 Gordon Crockard (Maxxis Henderson Kawasaki) 2+2+0=4, 21 Sam Simmons (Motoward Yamaha) 0+3+0=3, 22 Carlton Husband (Wulfsport TM) 3+0+0=3, 23 Jackson Evans (Phoenix Tools Honda) 0+1+0=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Simpson, 2 Strijbos, 3 Aubin, 4 Anderson, 5 Snow, 6 Whatley, 7 Law, 8 Krestinov, 9 Hawkins, 10 Shipton, 11 Rutherford, 12 Walkley, 13 Waterman, 14 Wilde, 15 Skuse, 16 Dougan, 17 Craig, 18 Husband, 19 Crockard, 20 Lassu.

RACE TWO: 1 Strijbos, 2 Simpson, 3 Anderson, 4 Dougan, 5 Aubin, 6 Snow, 7 Krestinov, 8 Whatley, 9 Law, 10 Shipton, 11 Craig, 12 Hawkins, 13 Waterman, 14 Rutherford, 15 Skuse, 16 Michael Mahon, 17 Lassu, 18 Simmons, 19 Crockard, 20 Evans.

RACE THREE (Mixed MX1/MX2): 1 Simpson, 2 Elliott Banks-Browne (MX2), 3 Strijbos, 4 Gert Krestinov, 5 Mel Pocock (MX2), 6 Graeme Irwin (MX2), 7 Brad Anderson, 8 Bryan MacKenzie (MX2), 9 Alex Snow, 10 Kristian Whatley, 11 Tony Craig, 12 Ross Rutherford, 13 Connor Walkley, 14 Luke Hawkins, 15 Stuart Edmonds (MX2), 16 Adam Sterry (MX2), 17 Ashley Wilde, 18 Lewis Gregory (MX2), 19 Hamish Harwood (MX2), 20 Jamie Skuse.

FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 8 rounds: 1 Kevin Strijbos 530 points (CHAMPION), 2 Shaun Simpson 477, 3 Gert Krestinov 363, 4 Karro 308, 5 Law 272, 6 Barr 261, 7 Whatley 240, 8 Snow 229, 9 Coutts 212, 10 Sword 198, 11 Dougan 173, 12 Alfie Smith 157, 13 Parker 140, 14 De Reuver 136, 15 Craig 108, 16 Moffat 97, 17 Waterman 81, 18 Wilde 80, 19 Bird 77, 20 Rutherford 67,...

 

Rd 8 – Little Silver MP, nr Exminster (Little Silver Off Road Promotions)

 1 Elliott Banks-Browne (HM Plant KTM) 25 + 15 + 22 = 62

 2 Bryan MacKenzie (Rockstar KTM) 22 + 22 + 13 = 57

 3 Graeme Irwin (Emberson RFX Yamaha) 20 + 20 + 15 = 55

 4 Mel Pocock (Monster BikeIt Yamaha)  0 + 25 + 16 = 41

 5 Adam Sterry (PAR Honda) 13 + 18 +  5 = 36

 6 Stuart Edmonds (Tyco TAS Suzuki) 12 + 16 +  6 = 34

 7 Nathan Watson (PAR Honda) 15 + 13 +  0 = 28

 8 Lewis Tombs (John Banks Honda) 18 +  9 +  0 = 27

 9 Steven Lenoir (Emberson RFX Yamaha) 10 + 14 +  0 = 24

10 Neville Bradshaw (Evotech Stevens Hon) 11 + 11 +  0 = 22

11 Dan Thornhill (Grittenham Meredith Suzuki) 9+10+0=19, 12 Jordan Booker (Buildbase Honda) 6+12+0=18, 13 Lewis Gregory (Apico Suzuki) 14+0+3=17, 14 James Cottrell (Pulse DB Honda) 16+0+0=16, 15 Luke Remmer (MX Protech Yamaha) 8+7+0=15, 16 Hamish Harwood (DBG Eastwood Honda) 3+8+2=13, 17 James Harrison (Lanes Kawasaki) 4+4+0=8, 18 Luke Mellows (Meredith Suzuki) 7+0+0=7, 19 Lewis Trickett (Twisted7 PC Monster Kawasaki) 0+6+0=6, 20 Luke Norris (MNE Kawasaki) 0+5+0=5, 21 Tom Kelly (Rev Racing Honda) 5+0+0=5, 22 Jake Millward (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 0+3+0=3, 23 Liam Garland (RFX Kawasaki) 0+2+0=2, 24 Matt Bayliss (Wooldridge Helyar Honda) 1+1+0=2, 25 Sebastian Osbourne (IDS Transport Yamaha) 2+0+0=2.

RACE ONE: 1 Banks-Browne, 2 MacKenzie, 3 Irwin, 4 Tombs, 5 Cottrell, 6 Watson, 7 Gregory, 8 Sterry, 9 Stuart Edmonds, 10 Bradshaw, 11 Lenoir, 12 Thornhill, 13 Remmer, 14 Mellows, 15 Booker, 16 Kelly, 17 Harrison, 18 Harwood, 19 Osbourne, 20 Bayliss.

RACE TWO: 1 Mel Pocock, 2 MacKenzie, 3 Irwin, 4 Sterry, 5 Stuart Edmonds, 6 Banks-Browne, 7 Lenoir, 8 Watson, 9 Booker, 10 Bradshaw, 11 Thornhill, 12 Tombs, 13 Harwood, 14 Remmer, 15 Trickett, 16 Norris, 17 Harrison, 18 Millward, 19 Garland, 20 Bayliss.

FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 8 rounds: 1 Elliott Banks-Browne 447 points (CHAMPION), 2 Mel Pocock 442, 3 Bryan MacKenzie 343, 4 Irwin 335, 5 Bradshaw 334, 6 Lenoir 318, 7 Aubin 269, 8 Stuart Edmonds 238, 9 Tombs 183, 10 Cottrell 168, 11 Booker 157, 12 Watson 151, 13 Osborne 138, 14 Sterry 137, 15 Tonus 115, 16 Remmer 113, 17 Walkley 98, 18 Keet 94, 19 Carless 67, 20 Harwood 63,...