Super' Saunders
By TMX Archives on 16th Apr 09
AFTER scoring maximum points in the opening AMCA Superclass championship round, reigning champion, Ben Saunders, retained his crown with another accomplished performance at Brookthorpe on Easter Sunday.In a total of six motos throughout the series, Saunders was in majestic form, being first past the chequered flag on five occasions, his only defeat inflicted by Delkevic Kawasaki team-mate Clinton Barrs in the final Brookthorpe clash.
Once again the top MX2 pilot in the Superclass series was MotoXtreme Kawasaki's Lee Dunham, with a final fifth overall just behind Barrs, Charlie Hollis and Aran Agius.
While Dunham deservedly took the honour of being top MX2 finisher, his fellow small capacity rider Jack Taylor attracted plenty of attention on Sunday. Just a week after having both of his bikes stolen and his van damaged in France, Taylor, made an unexpected appearance on a borrowed KTM and showed just why he is one of the AMCA's hottest young prospects, regularly mixing it at the front end of all three moto's with the 450F stars.
Report and Pictures:
MIKE WOOD
So, on a superb Brookthorpe circuit, again expertly prepared, it was fast starting Hollis who led the way in the first moto with Saunders, the impressive Agius, Jamie Powell, Danny Blakeley and Taylor in tow while both Barrs and Dunham were slicing their way through the pack after indifferent starts.
Quickly, Barrs hauled himself up to fourth, but already the leading trio had forged a comfortable advantage for themselves, making further progress for Barrs appear rather difficult.
As the moto reached the closing stages though, the leader-board again changed, as first Saunders stormed into pole position. Then Hollis struck trouble when his plastic rear brake disc guard worked loose and the gallant Taylor was forced to retire when holding fifth spot after his KTM engine mysteriously lost power.
Taking full advantage of all of this, Barrs continued his stunning comeback charge by slotting into second spot behind winner Saunders, while Agius claimed an impressive third ahead of Hollis, Powell and Dunham, who had recovered back strongly for a fine sixth.
It was that man Hollis again who grabbed the holeshot in moto two with Saunders, Agius, Barrs and Powell the challengers while Taylor was the top 250F pilot in a superb sixth. Dunham was on a recovery charge from a lap one fall.
Showing fantastic character following his recent problems, Taylor then not only remained in contact with the leading quartet but also started to mix it with the boys on the big bikes.
On the final lap, Jack even passed Barrs for a fantastic third spot behind winner Saunders and Hollis.
Producing another controlled, calculated performance, this win confirmed that Saunders had deservedly retained his Superclass title. After another fine ride, Agius was fifth at the flag ahead of Powell and Du-Feu.
Although Saunders had already wrapped up the Superclass title, there was still plenty to race for in the final moto as just three points separated Barrs and Hollis for the right to finish as series runner-up.
Right from the off though it was Barrs – getting stronger and faster every week following his 2008 injury – who led the way with Hollis, the incredible Taylor, Agius, Saunders, Du-Feu, Pearce and Dunham in tow.
Unfortunately, Taylor suffered a heavy crash, injuring his arm during the early exchanges.
At the front, Barrs remained composed to score a massive morale boosting win with champion Saunders working hard to get up into second with Hollis third,
Dunham a great fourth, Agius fifth and Du-Feu sixth and 250F riders Pearce, Dobson and Si Lane filling the next three slots.
On a very busy weekend for the supporting Wessex/ South Wales group riders, they backed up the main Superclass action with plenty of their own exciting racing.
In the Expert classes, a very rapid and impressive Kirk Richards topped the Expert MX1 with Scott Williams taking Expert MX2 honours. Senior victors on day one were Thomas White and Ryan James while Colin Jeffrey, Matthew Perkins, Jason Tillings and Ryan Probert all took home the first place silverware for their respective Junior classes.
AMCA SUPERCLASS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 – Brookthorpe (Cheltenham Spa MXC)
MOTO ONE: 1 Ben Saunders (450F Delkevic Kawasaki), 2 Clinton Barrs (450F Delkevic Kawasaki), 3 Aran Agius (450F MotoXtreme Kawasaki), 4 Charlie Hollis (450F Proppa Honda), 5 Jamie Powell (450F KTM), 6 Lee Dunham (250F MotoXtreme Kawasaki), 7 Shaun Pearce (250F Pete Jones Motorcycles Honda), 8 Jamie Dobson (250F MTR Honda), 9 Steven Bailey (450F Honda), 10 Rick Du-Feu (450F Delkevic Kawasaki), 11 Richard Meakin (450F Proppa Honda), 12 Danny Blakeley (250cc Silvester Yamaha), 13 Carl Benjamin (250F Thornbury Kawasaki), 14 James Lane (250F LTR Kawasaki), 15 Gavin Hookham (450F Thornbury Kawasaki), 16 Ben Smith (???), 17 Jamie Shaw (250F Delkevic Kawasaki), 18 Chris Neesam (450F Delkevic Kawasaki), 19 Andrew Marchant (450F KTM), 20 Simon Lane (250F LTR Kawasaki).
MOTO TWO: 1 Saunders, 2 Hollis, 3 Jack Taylor (250F Proppa Gear4 KTM), 4 Barrs, 5 Agius, 6 Powell, 7 Du-Feu, 8 Blakeley, 9 S Lane, 10 Pearce, 11 Dunham, 12 Bailey, 13 Dobson, 14 Benjamin, 15 Marchant, 16 Smith, 17 J Lane, 18 Hookham, 19 Clinton Thomas, 20 Neesam.
MOTO THREE: 1 Barrs, 2 Saunders, 3 Hollis, 4 Dunham, 5 Agius, 6 Du-Feu, 7 Pearce, 8 Dobson, 9 S Lane, 10 Blakeley, 11 Bailey, 12 Benjamin, 13 J Lane, 14 Smith, 15 Hookham, 16 Thomas, 17 Marchant, 18 Neesam, 19 Meakin, 20 Powell.
OVERALL ON DAY: 1 Saunders 174 points, 2 Barrs 161, 3 Hollis 151, 4 Agius 140, 5 Dunham 123, 6 Du-Feu 119.
FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS: 1 Ben Saunders 354 points (SUPERCLASS CHAMPION), 2 Clinton Barrs 281, 3 Charlie Hollis 268, 4 Agius 249, 5 Dunham 238, 6 Blakeley 226, 7 Pearce 211, 8 Powell 205, 9 Dobson 196, 10 J Lane 177, 11 C Neesam 168, 12 S Lane 167, 13 C Benjamin 158, 14 E Barrs 155, 15 R Meakin 149, 16 A Crowder 133, 17 M Reynolds 125, 18 S Bailey 117, 19 J Shaw 104, 20 A Marchant 91,...
WESSEX, SOUTH WALES GROUP SUPPORT CLASSES
Expert MX1: 1 Kirk Richards, 2 Jay James, 3 Chris Rudd
Expert MX2: 1 Scott Williams, 2 Alex Shaw, 3 Chris Jones.
Senior MX1: 1 Thomas White, 2 John Card, 3 Michael Payne.
Senior MX2: 1 Ryan James, 2 Stephen Evans, 3 Lee Truman.
Junior Unlimited: 1 Colin Jeffrey, 2 Matthew Rees, 3 Alun Watkins.
Junior MX2 Group One: 1 Matthew Perkins, 2 Cameron Evans, 3 Danny Finch.
Junior MX2 Group Two: 1 Jason Tillings, 2 Robert Edwards, 3 Scott Jordan.
Inter Junior: 1 Ryan Probert, 2 Macauley Davies, 3 Ciaran Brain.
First corner action sees Jamie Powell (11) dice with Steve Bailey (19) and Clinton Barrs (6) at the start of the opening moto at Brookthorpe, on Sunday...