Sword takes the Max
By TMX Archives on 25th Sep 08
HAWKSTONE Park in Shropshire was the fitting venue for the final round of the 2008 Maxxis British Motocross Championship when the host Salop MC oversaw the crowning of two worthy British champs in the form of rampant Scots Shaun Simpson and Billy MacKenzie...
Scotland 2 Rest of the World 0
NOT my words but those of Maxxis champs and Eurosport TV commentator, Roger Warren, as he hailed the 2008 British MX1 and MX2 motocross champions, Billy MacKenzie and Shaun Simpson respectively, at a fabulous final round at Hawkstone Park, in Shropshire, last Sunday.
There was more joy for the Celtic nations as Welshman Neil Prince retained his much sought-after ‘Mechanics Race' championship crown and Irish lady superstar-in-the-making, Natalie Kane, destroyed all challengers to retain the British Ladies crown.
Ever the bride's maid and (surely not)! never the bride, James Noble again claimed MX1 series runner-up spot, 11 points ahead of his fiercest rival Brad Anderson after some titanic battles over the eight rounds this season and Swordy did all he could do in the final MX2 duels with Simpson but it was not to be and had to be happy with series runner-up, a massive 88-points ahead of talented Ulsterman Martin Barr in third.
After those present were treated to some shocking 1980s electro pop music (you've just got to get a new eight-track tape Chris Sprawson) to wake us up, magnificent sunshine warmed the large crowd, the teams and riders for the final showdown of what has been, by all accounts, one of the best British championship series for a long time.
The top spots on the day however were claimed by local hero Ray Rowson after two awe inspiring rides in the MX1 class and double MX2 class race winner Stephen Sword.
Swordy was just 15 points adrift of Simpson going in to the event and had every chance to pip his fellow Scotsman for the MX2 title. However, it was not to be for the Molson Kawasaki pilot as his younger KTM UK rival played the sensible card to finish runner-up on the day and gathered enough points to snatch what his father Willie could only dream about, a British National title from Sword with Gareth Swanepoel in third.
Tom Church claimed runner-up spot in the MX1 class on the day to give the disbanding Molson Kawasaki squad a cracking send-off with its team riders therefore helping the team claim first, second and third places in the two classes with the ever-improving Suzuki Swiftster, Brad Anderson, finishing off the season with third overall on the day. >>>>
WITH the sun blazing down in the morning, timed qualification saw Simpson throw his gauntlet down early in MX2 taking pole position with Swordy just a fraction of a fraction of a second adrift.
The nervous tension was visible in the waiting zone before the riders set off to their gates and the last thing riders would want to do would be to have idle chit chat as they focussed on the job in hand, but, the bold Roger Warren went in there with his mic and got the lowdown on Swordy's final thoughts.
However, it seemed to perk the Molson man up as he blasted from the gates into the lead with Barr, Suso Suzuki new boy, Latvian Matiss Karo, Shane Carless, Simpson, Scott Elderfield and Jake Nicholls for early company.
Simpson had a job to pass the 16-year-old Karro, even attempting passes DOWN the Hawkstone hill, but to no avail as Sword ripped open a familiar early gap, this time to Barr in second.
Eventually Simpson passed Karro and set-off after Barr. However, the Irish U Tag Yamaha rider threw himself quite unceremoniously at the Shropshire countryside and was out three-quarters into the race giving himself a heavy dead left leg and a bruised left hand leaving the second spot to Simpson.
Barr's team-mate Zach Osbourne suffered a mid-pack start but fought his way through to slip into third behind eventual winner by 13 seconds Sword and second placed Simpson, now just 12 points ahead of his fellow Scot going into the final encounter.
Karro held fourth with Swanepoel, Elliott Banks-Brown, Neville Bradshaw, Carless, Lewis Gregory and Marcus Norlen completed the top ten.
So it came down to the final race of the final round of 2008 and again Sword blasted out of the gate and went hell for leather to try to open an early gap, which he did with ease ahead of Karro, Swanepoel, Carl Nunn (who suffered a sickly Suzuki in race one), Elderfield and Alex Snow.
Simpson's rear wheel spun on the concrete gate block and he slid sideways and set off just in the top ten. However, with a championship at stake Simpson took just three laps to slip into second spot, where he was told by his ever faithful brother/ mechanic Stefan's pit signals, that he was to concentrate and stay strong, which he did. And after Sword crossed the line as race winner, ten seconds later the Scottish flags continued to be waved frantically around the finish line reminiscant of those many many Scottish footballing victories over the years...and the Simpson family celebrated with the KTM UK team as their young protégé crossed the line for the full champagne works.
Gareth Swanepoel snatched third place ahead of Karro and a rejuvenated Carl Nunn with Bradshaw, Norlen, teenagers Elderfield, Daniel Arnold and Mel Pocock completing the top ten.
"I can't begin to tell you how magic this win is,” added Simpson after being sprayed with champagne by team boss Roger Magee and tears of pride by Stefan and mum Vanda.
"It's been a hard season with Stephen (Sword) making me work at every round in every race, but the team has built a fabulous bike and I will be sorry to leave them, but onwards and upwards to a factory bike next season and hopefully better things at GP level too.”
BRITISH MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 8 – Hawkstone Park, nr Shrewsbury
(Salop MC)
1 Stephen Sword (Molson Kawasaki) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Shaun Simpson (KTM UK) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Gareth Swanepoel (Molson Kawasaki) 16 + 20 = 36
4 Matiss Karro (Suzuki) 18 + 18 = 36
5 Neville Bradshaw (DB Honda) 14 + 15 = 29
6 Marcus Norlen (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 11 + 14 = 25
7 Elliott Banks-Browne (Swift Suzuki) 15 + 9 = 24
8 Shane Carless (PAR Honda) 13 + 10 = 23
9 Scott Elderfield (Suzuki) 8 + 13 = 21
10 Daniel Arnold (Pioneer Yamaha) 9 + 12 = 21
11 Mel Pocock (Utag Yamaha) 10 + 11 = 21
12 Zach Osborne (Utag Yamaha) 20 + 0 = 20
13 Carl Nunn (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 0 + 16 = 16
14 Rasmus Jorgensen (Suzuki) 6 + 8 = 14
15 Matthew Moffat (Scott Leathers KTM) 7 + 7 = 14
16 Lewis Gregory (Relentless Suzuki) 12+0=12, 17 Robert Hamilton (Pioneer Yamaha) 5+6=11, 18 Alan Keet (KTM) 3+5=8, 19 Ashley Greedy (PAR Honda) 4+4=8, 20 Lloyd Vercueil (KTM) 0+3=3, 21 Graeme Irwin (Moto One Suzuki) 2+1=3, 22 James Hutchinson (???) 0+2=2, 23 Alex Butler (Corby Kawasaki) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Sword, 2 Simpson, 3 Osborne, 4 Karro, 5 Swanepoel, 6 Banks-Browne, 7 Bradshaw, 8 Carless, 9 Lewis Gregory, 10 Norlen, 11 Pocock, 12 Arnold, 13 Elderfield, 14 Moffat, 15 Jorgensen, 16 Hamilton, 17 Greedy, 18 Keet, 19 Irwin, 20 Butler.
RACE TWO: 1 Sword, 2 Simpson, 3 Swanepoel, 4 Karro, 5 Nunn, 6 Bradshaw, 7 Norlen, 8 Elderfield, 9 Arnold, 10 Pocock, 11 Carless, 12 Banks-Browne, 13 Jorgensen, 14 Moffat, 15 Hamilton, 16 Keet, 17 Greedy, 18 Vercueil, 19 Hutchinson, 20 Irwin.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 8 rounds: 1 Shaun Simpson 342 points (CHAMPION), 2 Stephen Sword 333, 3 Martin Barr 245, 4 Bradshaw 206, 5 Nunn 190, 6 Banks-Browne 185, 7 Dougan 162, 8 Norlen 155, 9 Pocock 137, 10 Lewis Gregory 136, 11 Osborne 103, 12 Leuret 103, 13 Snow 93, 14 Swanepoel 90, 15 Nicholls 89,...
BRITISH MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 8 – Hawkstone Park, nr Shrewsbury
(Salop MC)
1 Ray Rowson (PAR Honda) 22 + 25 = 47
2 Tom Church (Molson Kawasaki) 20 + 18 = 38
3 Brad Anderson (Swift Suzuki) 15 + 22 = 37
4 Gordon Crockard (PAR Honda) 14 + 20 = 34
5 James Noble (KTM UK) 16 + 14 = 30
6 Jordan Rose (PAR Honda) 12 + 16 = 28
7 Billy MacKenzie (CAS Honda) 25 + 0 = 25
8 Alex Rach (Eurotek KTM) 10 + 13 = 23
9 Mark Eastwood (Wiseco Honda) 11 + 12 = 23
10 Jamie Lewis (Kawasaki) 7 + 15 = 22
11 Bryan MacKenzie (Twisted7 Kawasaki) 13 + 8 = 21
12 Mark Jones (Kawasaki) 18 + 0 = 18
13 David Willet (Yamaha) 5 + 11 = 16
14 Jonathan Pettitt (TM UK) 9 + 6 = 15
15 Danny Smyth (Wiseco Honda) 4 + 10 = 14
16 Kristian Whatley (CCM) 8+5=13, 17 Luke Mellows (DBS KTM) 2+9=11, 18 Jim Murro (STR Honda) 0+7=7, 19 Alex Rockwell (Danger Honda) 3+3=6, 20 Richard Lawson (Twisted7 Kawasaki) 6+0=6, 21 Richard Cannings (???) 0+4=4, 22 Andreas Johansson (Twisted7 Kawasaki) 0+2=2, 23 Brett Hillman (???) 0+1=1, 24 Carl Brogden (NA Robinson KTM) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Billy MacKenzie, 2 Rowson, 3 Church, 4 Jones, 5 Noble, 6 Anderson, 7 Crockard, 8 Bryan MacKenzie, 9 Rose, 10 Eastwood, 11 Rach, 12 Pettitt, 13 Whatley, 14 Lewis, 15 Lawson, 16 Willet, 17 Danny Smyth, 18 Rockwell, 19 Mellows, 20 Brogden.
RACE TWO: 1 Rowson, 2 Anderson, 3 Crockard, 4 Church, 5 Rose, 6 Lewis, 7 Noble, 8 Rach, 9 Eastwood, 10 Willet, 11 Danny Smyth, 12 Mellows, 13 Bryan MacKenzie, 14 Murro, 15 Pettitt, 16 Whatley, 17 Cannings, 18 Rockwell, 19 Johansson, 20 Hillman.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 8 rounds: 1 Billy MacKenzie 305 points (CHAMPION), 2 James Noble 288, 3 Brad Anderson 277, 4 Jones 249, 5 Church 234, 6 Wayne Smith 195, 7 Eastwood 177, 8 Bryan MacKenzie 153, 9 Hucklebridge 124, 10 Rowson 123, 11 Lewis 123, 12 Rose 122, 13 Murro 109, 14 Danny Smyth 93, 15 Jamie Smith 91,...
BRITISH LADIES MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 2 – Hawkstone Park, nr Shrewsbury
(Salop MC)
1 Natalie Kane (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 30 + 30 = 60
2 Hannah McLeod (KTM) 27 + 25 = 52
3 Amy Goodlad (???) 23 + 23 = 46
4 Louise Williams (KTM) 25 + 21 = 46
5 Kerry Wilson (KTM) 13 + 27 = 40
6 Lesa Dransfield (Yamaha) 19 + 19 = 38
7 Georgina Hayhurst (Suzuki) 17 + 17 = 34
8 Danielle Hipgrave (KTM) 15 + 15 = 30
9 Amber Saunders (Yamaha) 21 + 5 = 26
10 Louise Curtis (???) 11 + 13 = 24
11 Emma Hucklebridge (Kawasaki) 8+10=18, 12 Laura Farrow (Honda) 7+8=15, 13 Kerry Hind (???) 3+11=14, 14 Laura Ward (Yamaha) 5+9=14, 15 Jemma Bulmer (???) 6+7=13, 16 Hannah Louise Spencer (???) 9+3=12, 17 Becky Rowlinson (Honda) 4+6=10, 18 Nicole Hatcliffe (???) 10+0=10, 19 Hollie Pentelow (Kawasaki) 0+4=4, 20 Danielle Hatcliffe (???) 2+0=2, 21 Louise Sheppard (Kawasaki) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Kane, 2 McLeod, 3 Williams, 4 Goodlad, 5 Saunders, 6 Dransfield, 7 Hayhurst, 8 Hipgrave, 9 Wilson, 10 Curtis, 11 Hatcliffe, 12 Spencer, 13 Hucklebridge, 14 Farrow, 15 Bulmer, 16 Ward, 17 Rowlinson, 18 Hind, 19 Hatcliffe, 20 Sheppard.
RACE TWO: 1 Kane, 2 Wilson, 3 McLeod, 4 Goodlad, 5 Williams, 6 Dransfield, 7 Hayhurst, 8 Hipgrave, 9 Curtis, 10 Hind, 11 Hucklebridge, 12 Ward, 13 Farrow, 14 Bulmer, 15 Rowlinson, 16 Saunders, 17 Pentelow, 18 Spencer.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 2 rounds: 1 Natalie Kane 120 points (CHAMPION), 2 Hannah McLeod 100, Louise 3 Williams 98, 4 Dransfield 72, 5 Hipgrave 70, 6 Wilson 67, 7 Saunders 59, 8 Hayhurst 52, 9 Goodlad 46, 10 Hucklebridge 35, 11 Lewis 34, 12 Ward 31, 13 Farrow 31, 14 Wyatt 30, 15 Curtis 24, 16 Pentelow 21, 17 Parkin 19, 18 Irving 17, 19 Hind 14, 20 Bulmer 13,...
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2008