The Great in Britain!
By TMX Archives on 4th Aug 10
ON another glorious day for British riders contesting an IMBA European Championship event, wildcard entry Richard Cannings took the overall win at Branston on Sunday with Brad O'Leary finishing runner-up to also move to the top of the IMBA MX1 standings.
Ben Saunders, Elliot Barrs, Clinton Barrs and Richard Meakin also got home in a top ten overall position with Alan Pearce despite having broken bones in his left hand earning a brave 15th spot. Indeed, it could and should have been even better for our super Brits as only an unfortunate last moto incident robbed Ben Saunders the certain chance of joining Rich Cannings and Brad O'Leary on the podium.
When holding second spot on lap seven, Ben was forced to take evasive action as a stubborn backmarker decided to ride the same line. That incident dropped the Delkevic Kawasaki pilot down to ninth, thus finishing on a points total of 141, the same accumulated by German Frank Jansen-Teitz, the defending champion. Unfortunately though with Teitz getting home in fourth in that last moto, he also earned the third place overall trophy.
In the AMCA MX2 Championship at Branston, Jack Taylor was in simply stunning form, blasting to three wins and maximum points. That result also lifted him above Phil Mercer and up into second spot in the title race, 56 points behind series leader and reigning champion Lee Dunham.
Whilst Taylor, Shane Holmes and Dunham filled the podium, Mercer suffered a painful day, crashing heavily in moto one. At Branston, Mercer eventually had to settle for sixth overall as both Sean Frayne and the impressive Aled Bellis both finished ahead of him.
SO, back to the main action of the day, and disaster for Elliot Barrs in the opening IMBA MX1 clash as he hit the start gate then fell after being involved in a turn one collision which also collected his British team-mate Rich Meakin.
Upfront, O'Leary had made a super start to lead the pack chased hard by Teitz, Clinton Barrs, Saunders, Dutchman Danny Langenberg and Cannings. By lap four and much to the delight of the watching crowd, it was now a British 1-2-3 as O'Leary still controlled proceedings with Saunders and Cannings in tow.
Just two laps from home, Cannings blasted past Saunders and finished over seven seconds behind a delighted winner O'Leary.
After his early problems, Elliot Barrs brilliantly recovered back to seventh with Meakin 15th and Alan Pearce aboard his 250F KTM a gallant 16th. After gating in third, Clinton Barrs dropped back to tenth, suffering from clutch problems and a badly bent rear-brake.
After his great moto one win, O'Leary was rather anxious to make another rapid getaway in the second IMBA clash as he hit the start gate, thus being relegated back to near last place. Upfront though it was still British glory as Saunders led the way from Clinton Barrs and Cannings, with Elliot Barrs holding fifth, Meakin eighth and Pearce 16th.
Incredibly by lap two, O'Leary had already climbed back to tenth and was on a serious charge. In a fierce battle for the moto leadership, Cannings passed Saunders with just three laps remaining and thus snatch the win.
Making it another memorable British 1-2-3, Elliot Barrs passed Tietz for third whilst O'Leary displayed plenty of his trademark speed, aggression and determination to eventually post a strong sixth place, one spot ahead of Clinton Barrs. The two remaining Brits Meakin and Pearce eventually took 10th and 15th respectively.
Following two great performances by our British lads, surely it could not have got any better in moto three - but it did! In the early stages of that final clash it was glory all the way as Saunders again led from O'Leary and backed up by Cannings in third and Clinton Barrs fourth, Meakin sixth and Elliot Barrs ninth.
On lap four, O'Leary then blasted past Saunders for the lead only for Ben to suffer three laps later following that aforementioned incident with a stray backmarker. With Ben dropping down to ninth, impressive Belgian Stijn Verstrepen moved up to split the British monopoly, then on the final lap Teitz passed Clinton Barrs for fourth, a move which proved to be very decisive in the final overall standings.
At the chequered flag it was victory to a jubilant O'Leary ahead of Cannings, Verstrepen, Teitz, Clinton Barrs, Meakin and Elliot Barrs with Pearce battling hard in 14th.
In the Championship standings, O'Leary now leads the way, 11 points ahead of Teitz with Clinton Barrs just a further 66 points in arrears in fifth, Meakin seventh, Elliot Barrs tenth and Peacre 12th.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX AUGUST 6.
IMBA MX1 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 3 - Branston (Burntwood Barracudas MCC)
MOTO ONE (TOP 20): 1 Brad O'Leary (GB), 2 Richard Cannings (GB), 3 Ben Saunders (GB,) 4 Frank Jansen-Teitz (Germany), 5 Tomas Lhotsky (Czech Republic), 6 Stijn Verstrepen (Belgium), 7 Elliot Barrs (GB), 8 Danny Langenberg (Holland), 9 Kai Wirtz (Germany), 10 Clinton Barrs (GB), 11 Rob van Uden (Holland), 12 Jarno Verhorevoort (Holland), 13 Thomas Kongshoj (Denmark), 14 Alexander Farkas (Germany), 15 Richard Meakin (GB), 16 Alan Pearce (GB), 17 Jiliani Cambre (Belgium), 18 Francois Adeline (France), 19 Cris Fleerackers (Belgium), 20 Loic Cartier (France).
MOTO TWO: 1 Cannings, 2 Saunders, 3 E Barrs, 4 Teitz, 5 Verstrepen, 6 O'Leary, 7 C Barrs, 8 Lhotsky, 9 Langenberg, 10 Meakin, 11 Verhorevoort, 12 Cambre, 13 Kevin Braun (Germany), 14 Lukas Mohaupt (Czech Republic), 15 Pearce, 16 Kongshoj, 17 Wirtz, 18 Farkas, 19 Fleerackers, 20 Rasmus Lykke (Denmark).
MOTO THREE: 1 O'Leary, 2 Cannings, 3 Verstrepen, 4 Teitz, 5 C Barrs, 6 Meakin, 7 E Barrs, 8 Cambre, 9 Saunders, 10 Lhotsky, 11 Braun, 12 Wirtz, 13 Kongshoj, 14 Pearce, 15 Langenberg, 16 Fleerackers, 17 Farkas, 18 Lykke, 19 Fabian Hoffman (Switzerland), 20 Mohaupt.
OVERALL: 1 Cannings 168 points, 2 O'Leary 163, 3 Teitz 141, 4 Saunders 141, 5 Verstrepen 138, 6 E Barrs 132, 7 C Barrs 121, 8 Lhotsky 119, 9 Meakin 104, 10 Langenberg 102,... Other British placing: 15 Pearce 78.
LEADING CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS: 1 O'Leary 379 points, 2 Teitz 368, 3 van Uden 313, 4 Verstrepen 308, 5 C Barrs 302, 6 Lhotsky 294, 7 Meakin 275, 8 Kongshoj 266, 9 Langenberg 264, 10 E Barrs 257, 11 Verhorevoort 235, 12 Pearce 213.
SUPPORT RACES
CHAMPIONSHIP NON-QUALIFIER AND EXPERT: 1 Andrew Marchant 174 points, 2 Joe Wright 158, 3 Christopher Hill 144, 4 Richard Tudor 133, 5 Danny Hope 115, 6 Gary Evans 109.
SENIOR: 1 Andrew Tait 180 points, 2 Reece Groves 162, 3 Jason Queenan 142, 4 Sean Wainwright 142, 5 Brad Tiley 136, 6 Ian Rowley 111.
JUNIOR: 1 Thomas Coleman 170 points, 2 John Thornley 162, 3 Luke Wainwright 160, 4 Oliver Brockley 139, 5 Martyn Evans 127, 6 Craig Perks 115.
AMCA MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 6 – Lawns Farm, Branston, nr Burton-on-Trent (Burntwood Barracudas MCC)
1 Jack Taylor (Delkevic Kawasaki) 60 + 60 + 60 = 180
2 Shane Holmes (Ride MX IDS Yamaha) 54 + 54 + 50 = 158
3 Lee Dunham (Maxxis Henderson Kawa) 50 + 47 + 54 = 151
4 Sean Frayne (SPS Honda) 47 + 43 + 43 = 133
5 Aled Bellis (Trackspare Honda) 41 + 39 + 41 = 121
6 Phil Mercer (Premier Bikes KTM) 23 + 50 + 47 = 120
7 Scott Williams (Suzuki) 27 + 45 + 39 = 111
8 Richard Du-Feu (Delkevic Kawasaki) 37 + 35 + 31 = 103
9 Brad Nixon (Honda) 39 + 25 + 33 = 97
10 Paul Neale (RaceSpec Kawasaki) 43 + 27 + 25 = 95
11 Carl Benjamin (Thornbury Bensons Kawa) 45+0+45=90, 12 Sam Smith (Honda) 20+33+35=88, 13 Scott Mathia (Hazport Suzuki) 9+41+37=87, 14 Jack Meachin (Yamaha) 31+26+27=84, 15 Kristofer Ayres (KTM) 29+37+17=83, 16 Matthew Bath (Kawasaki) 21+31+22=74, 17 Ryan Jones (KTM) 22+24+26=72, 18 Ryan Crowder (Rocket Centre Honda) 25+20+24=69, 19 Brandon Benjamin (Thornbury Kawasaki) 26+21+20=67, 20 Tom Neesam (Delkevic Suzuki) 24+19+23=66.
RACE ONE: 1 Taylor, 2 Holmes, 3 Dunham, 4 Frayne, 5 Carl Benjamin, 6 Neale, 7 Bellis, 8 Nixon, 9 Du-Feu, 10 Yarranton, 11 Del-Busso, 12 Meachin, 13 Ayres, 14 Scott Williams, 15 Brandon Benjamin, 16 Crowder, 17 Neesam, 18 Mercer, 19 Jones, 20 Bath.
RACE TWO: 1 Taylor, 2 Holmes, 3 Mercer, 4 Dunham, 5 Scott Williams, 6 Frayne, 7 Mathia, 8 Bellis, 9 Ayres, 10 Du-Feu, 11 Sam Smith, 12 Bath, 13 Swift, 14 Neale, 15 Meachin, 16 Nixon, 17 Jones, 18 Roe, 19 Bowen, 20 Brandon Benjamin.
RACE THREE: 1 Taylor, 2 Dunham, 3 Holmes, 4 Mercer, 5 Carl Benjamin, 6 Frayne, 7 Bellis, 8 Scott Williams, 9 Mathia, 10 Sam Smith, 11 Nixon, 12 Du-Feu, 13 Yarranton, 14 Meachin, 15 Jones, 16 Neale, 17 Crowder, 18 Neesam, 19 Bath, 20 Roe.
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 (of 8) rounds: 1 Dunham 951 points, 2 Taylor 895, 3 Mercer 882, 4 Frayne 816, 5 Holmes 794, 6 Carl Benjamin 646, 7 Bellis 629, 8 Scott Williams 564, 9 Neale 535, 10 Yarranton 501, 11 Powell 494, 12 Neesam 438, 13 Ayres 427, 14 Mathia 414, 15 Sam Smith 400, 16 Pearce 389, 17 Crowder 385, 18 Del-Busso 328, 19 Scott Smith 320, 20 Roe 314,...
NEXT ROUND: August 29 – Haverigg, Cumbria (Lancaster MXC).