Taylor-made for Christian
By TMX Archives on 16th Jul 08
IT seemed like round five of the DEP Two-stroke Series at Skelder Bank, Whitby, might be in jeopardy in the build-up to the event the wonderful British July weather saw Yorkshire just as rain-lashed as the rest of the country. However, a track inspection early on Friday revealed that the circuit was almost perfect. With Sunday largely bright and sunny, a big crowd basked in the warmth and saw some epic racing and, with no clashing events, some of the Grand Prix boys came out to play, too.
The 125cc A class saw a wildcard entry for Grand Prix regular, Jason Dougan, but his dominance at last year's Landrake round was not repeated at Whitby.
Jack Brunell led the pack away in moto one, with Paul Shires, Craig English, Lloyd Morgan and Dave Willett in tow. Jonathan Pettitt gave himself a lot to do, mired mid-pack, with Dougan even further back.
Reigning champion, Willett, wasted no time working his way into second and immediately set about closing the gap to Brunell as Pettitt scythed his way through into third and began to run down Willett.
As Brunell fought to keep his lead, Pettitt ousted Willett for second place. Willett immediately latched on to Pettitt's tail as they began to eat into Brunell's lead.
Then, Pettitt made an uncharacteristic mistake, dropping it by the finish line loop, and rejoined a distant third. Meanwhile, Willett sneaked up to Brunell through the traffic, making his way into the lead for the first time with little more than a lap left.
Brunell launched a furious counter-attack, but ‘Ironman' Willett was on full loud, and Brunell suffered a minor spill, dropping his bike but maintaining second.
Pettitt cruised home third as Dougan made his way past Morgan for fourth at the flag, with Christian Taylor sixth, and Paul Shires seventh.
Moto two saw English, Taylor and Jamie Smith head the pack as the big guns struggled with average starts. However, after just a handful of laps the status quo was restored, Pettitt leading Willett and Brunell as Smith struggled to stay with them.
Dougan again had a poor start, but was better placed than he had been in the opener, sliding through the pack.
‘Doogie' made his way past Willett for second and set off after Pettitt, but the 21-year-old ran out of time, Pettitt running out the winner.
Pettitt seemed to struggle with the concrete start, again getting off the line slowly as Brunell and Willett led the pack in race three. ‘Ironman' made an early move for the lead and started to edge away, but Pettitt was on a charge, fighting through the pack past Smith, James Kensington, Morgan and Davies.
Dougan had again made a poor start, and was coming from even further back than Pettitt. The latter was relentless, moving passed Brunell and starting to close down the gap to Willett, as Brunell hitched a lift and tried to go with him.
It was a thrilling finale, Pettitt caught Willett and made his way through in spectacular fashion exiting the rhythm section, but Willett fought back.
Pettitt managed to cling on, but it was a close run thing, barely three-quarters of a second separating them at the flag. Brunell finished a lonely third, as Dougan won a turbulent battle with Smith and Davies, and Taylor took the decision for best Junior over Morgan.
Matt Ridgeway led a talented pack of 250cc A riders away in moto one, but he had company in the form of Jamie Smith, Willett, Mark Eastwood, James Noble, Carl Nunn and Andre David.
Willett and Eastwood were at the head of the field by the end of lap one, but GP stars Noble and Nunn were soon on the case and closing up.
Noble made some tidy moves to get by for the lead on a track he knows well and began to ease away, taking Willett with him as Eastwood came under fire from Nunn. The former British 125cc champion made an uncharacteristic mistake and slid off, however, offering Eastwood some breathing space, but Nunn was right back on it and ran the reigning champion down, fighting his way past and started to chase after Willett.
The clock ran down, however, as Noble crossed the line ahead of Willett, Nunn and Eastwood, with Andre David making a late pass on Ridgeway for an excellent fifth.
The DEP regulars struggled to get a look-in in moto two, however, as Noble and Nunn barged past Eastwood and Willett early on.
The wildcard pairing ran away with it, as Nunn slowly closed down Noble and it looked set for a grandstand finish.
However, Noble made a mistake somewhere out of sight, Nunn cruising around with almost 20-seconds in hand over the local favourite. Eastwood and an unusually lack-lustre Willett were a long way back.
Nunn didn't need anyone to make a mistake in race three, the GP regular gated second behind Willett, made an early move for the lead through the rhythm section and just cleared off for the win.
Willett tried desperately to stay in touch and stayed out of Noble's clutches in the process. Eastwood was dropping back on fourth, the throttle hard on the stops, but it just wasn't working for ‘Easty' in this race.
Noble edged up on Willett's back wheel, but the Ironman brought it all the way home for an excellent second, Noble less than two-seconds in arrears, and a perturbed Eastwood almost 20-seconds further back, crossing the line arms aloft in mock celebration.
The series heads into the second half of the season at Wakes Colne on August 10. With the Grand Prix regulars back on World Championship duty, it promises more great battles between the championship contenders.
DEP TWO-STROKE BRITISH MX CHAMPS
Rd 5 – Skelder Bank, Whitby (MC Federation)
Expert 125cc
1 Jonathan Pettitt 39 + 45 + 45 = 129
2 Dave Willett 45 + 39 + 42 = 126
3 Jack Brunell 42 + 36 + 39 = 117
4 Jason Dougan 36 + 42 + 36 = 114
5 Jamie Smith 26 + 33 + 33 = 92
6 Jim Davies 30 + 30 + 30 = 90
7 Paul Shires 33 + 26 + 28 = 87
8 Brett Wheeler 24 + 24 + 26 = 74
9 Adam Reynolds 28 + 22 + 22 = 72
10 Jim Scrafton 20 + 28 + 16 = 64
Junior 125cc
1 Christian Taylor 42 + 45 + 45 = 132
2 Lloyd Morgan 45 + 42 + 42 = 129
3 Jack Plowman 39 + 39 + 39 = 117
4 Ryan Mclean 36 + 33 + 36 = 105
5 Ryan Turner 18 + 26 + 33 = 77
6 Matthew Thomas 19 + 24 + 30 = 73
7 Bradley Howlett 30 + 28 + 15 = 73
8 Oliver Rusby 33 + 36 + 0 = 69
9 Steve Gesner 20 + 20 + 26 = 66
10 Daniel Ward 24 + 17 + 20 = 61
Expert 250cc
1 Carl Nunn 39 + 45 + 45 = 129
2 James Noble 45 + 42 + 39 = 126
3 Dave Willett 42 + 36 + 42 = 120
4 Mark Eastwood 36 + 39 + 36 = 111
5 Andre David 33 + 26 + 28 = 87
6 Lewis Tombs 28 + 28 + 26 = 82
7 Matthew Moffat 19 + 30 + 30 = 79
8 Jamie Smith 0 + 33 + 33 = 66
9 Alistair Clarke 22 + 24 + 10 = 56
10 Justin Robinson 17 + 15 + 22 = 54
Junior 250cc
1 Alfie Smith 42 + 45 + 42 = 129
2 David Dibble 39 + 42 + 39 = 120
3 Nathan Rooks 45 + 28 + 45 = 118
4 Daniel Grove 36 + 36 + 36 = 108
5 Justin Penty 33 + 33 + 33 = 99
6 Ashley Pennycook 30 + 26 + 30 = 86
7 Scott Senter 26 + 30 + 28 = 84
8 Darren Marklove 24 + 24 + 26 = 74
9 Karl Johnson 28 + 39 + 0 = 67
10 Lee Thornton 19 + 19 + 24 = 62