The Long' way round
By TMX Archives on 18th Sep 08
THE Severn Valley MCC played host to the final round of the Moggstar ACU British Youth Motocross Championship at Longdon, following a last-minute switch from Brookthorpe due to the bad weather, over the past couple of weeks. There were some nerves on day one of racing, but come day two, with better track conditions and the nerves subsiding, some great end of season battles were witnessed by all.
The Big-wheel 85cc boys got the racing under way on day one, and it was series leader Luke Hawkins who took the lead, followed closely by Daniel Hutchinson and Nathan Watson. Hawkins kept the lead for a couple of laps, until a fall, Hutchinson took over the lead as Hawkins struggled to get the bike started, with Watson just behind him, closely followed by Luke Newman. Lap four and Hawkins was back in third and chasing hard when again he came off in the tricky conditions, and slid down the field again.
Bradley Pocock, who had a bad start, was making his way up the field, but all too late, as Hutchinson took race one, with Watson second, Pocock finally got past Newman to take the third place.
Race two and Ryan Houghton took the lead, as everyone else was sorting themselves out after a first corner crash. Newman had missed the clash and was giving chase along with Watson. Houghton held the lead for five laps, but Pocock and Matthew Fleming, who were having a great battle caught him, and the three battled for the lead. Houghton saw Pocock sail past on lap six, and go on to win race two.
Houghton was soon under pressure from Fleming, who took him on lap seven to claim second place, Houghton eventually settled for third.
Hawkins had another bad race and finished in eleventh after getting up to fourth place. However, he tried a move on Houghton on the last lap which didn't work and down he went again, and problems with the bike saw him struggle again.
Ben Watson was the man on a mission in the Small-wheel 85cc class, as he blasted a start-to-finish win in race one, leaving Callan Cooper and Michael Eccles to battle for second and third. Cooper eventually won the battle with Eccles in second place. Eccles took third, just ahead of Tom Neal in fourth.
Series leader Jordan Godwin was having a terrible time with the track conditions and finished down in 17th.
In race two, Watson again took off in the lead, to take his second start-to-finish win, but this time Tom Neal took second place, with Rickie Rodderick claiming third, just ahead of Eccles and Cooper.
Race one in the Junior 65cc class saw Danny Lanfear, overall winner at the last round at Cusses Gorse, continue his form, as he took the lead ahead of Alfie Bowtell and Robert Yates. Championship leader Ben Green was way down the field after a bad start, and struggling with the conditions.
Bowtell took over from Lanfear after a fall, and went on to win race one. Lanfear and Yates came home second and third.
Race two and another pile-up at the start, made it difficult for Green, as he came off again, letting Bowtell take the lead. Henry Williams was in second, with Ryan Snaith in third place.
Bowtell dropped his bike on lap two, and let Williams take the lead with Lanfear, who was down in 20th place on lap one after the melee at the start, back up to second to put the pressure him. Lanfear passed on lap four and went on to win race two. Yates came home second, with Snaith getting the third place.
Race one of the big boys of the Open class saw Edward Allingham get the holeshot, with Scott Elderfield, now on the PAR Honda, in second and Lewis King on his two-stroke TM machine in third.
Allingham could only hold his team-mate Elderfield for just one lap, as he flew past and went on to win race one. Allingham settled for second, but the battle was behind as King dropped his bike on lap two to let Joe Gregory take third place, and Josh Waterman came home in fourth.
Race two and Elderfield was first to the first corner ahead of King, Jack Rowland, Connor Walkley and Allingham, who all tussled for the second place. Elderfield went on to take his tally to two race wins and also take the Championship with one race to go on day two.
King came home in a credible second place on his two-stroke machine, Allingham eventually got past Rowland to take the third place.
Day two and with the mist and fog lifting and all the nerves gone from day one, racing got under way with the Big-wheel 85cc class. Luke Hawkins must have slept well, as he took the lead in race three and was never headed all race long to take the win. Pocock claimed second and Luke Dean third.
Race four and Hawkins again had a bad start, and it was Jamie McCanney who hit the front, with Dean and Pocock on his back wheel. Pocock eventually took the lead on lap three, and by lap four, he was in a battle with Hawkins for the lead.
It went on right up to the last lap when Hawkins tried a move and got in front, only to bin it on the next corner, Pocock couldn't miss Hawkins and hit him hard. Pocock won but was more concerned about Hawkins than to take the praise.
Dean finished second and McCanney third. Hawkins came in eighth but had done enough to retain his number one plate, and the championship.
Only one other rider managed to take all the wins, apart from Elderfield in the Open class, and that was young Ben Watson in the Small-wheel class.
Race three saw Watson take another start-to-finish win. Callan Cooper took second ahead of Michael Eccles third. Race four and Watson claimed his fourth start-to-finish win, with Cooper and Eccles again finishing second and third. Jordan Godwin, the series leader, had a real bad weekend but did enough to take the championship overall.
Danny Lanfear took the win in race three for the 65cc class, with Yates second and Bowtell third. Race four and Yates took the win with Lanfear in second and Todd Kellett third. Lanfear took the overall on the weekend, with Yates second and Bowtell third. Ben Green came home fourth overall and did enough to take the Championship win.
Elderfield, who had already won the championship, went out looking for the overall, but Jack Rowland kept him at bay until lap four in race three of the Open class. Elderfield won his third race, ahead of Rowland in second and Allingham third. Elderfield took the overall with three race wins, Allingham claimed second and Waterman third, over the weekend.
MOGGSTAR BYMX CHAMPS
Final Rd – Longdon (Severn Valley MCC)
Open Class: 1 Scott Elderfield (Champion), 2 Edward Allingham, 3 Josh Waterman, 4 Tommy Fenwick, 5 Lewis King, 6 Joe Gregory, 7 David Games, 8 Marc Dean, 9 Daniel McCanney, 10 Charles Stuart.
Big-wheel 85cc: 1 Bardley Pocock, 2 Daniel Hutchinson, 3 Jamie McCanney, 4 Ryan Houghton, 5 Luke Hawkins (Champion), 6 Luke Dean, 7 Jake Millward, 8 Luke Norris, 9 Aaron Pipon, 10 Nathan Watson.
Small-wheel 85cc: 1 Ben Watson, 2 Callan Cooper, 3 Michael Eccles, 4 Rickie Rodderick, 5 Tom Neal, 6 Corie Southwood, 7 Robert Davidson, 8 Stuart Fee, 9 Matthew Callaghan, 10 Alistaire Evans, 12 Jordan Godwin (Champion)
Junior 65cc: 1 Danny Lanfear, 2 Robert Yates, 3 Alfie Bowtell, 4 Ryan Snaith, 5 Ben Green, (Champion), 6 Jason Meara, 7 Stuart Simpson, 8 Lewis Houghton, 9 Henry Williams, 10 Sam Braithwaite.
Overall Championship Results
Open Class: 1 Scott Elderfield (Champion) 800 points, 2 Edward Allingham 689, 3 Lewis King 668, 4 Joe Gregory 655, 5 Tommy Fenwick 655, 6 David Games 637, 7 Josh Waterman 598, 8 Daniel McCanney 580, 9 Connor Walkley 519, 10 Jack Rowland 499.
Big-wheel 85cc: 1 Luke Hawkins (Champion) 1057 points, 2 Daniel Hutchinson 988, 3 Ryan Houghton 981, 4 Bradley Pocock 912, 5 Jamie McCanney 843, 6 Bryn Clarke 823, 7 Luke Norris 807, 8 Jake Millward 780, 9 Luke Dean 773, 10 Matthew Fleming 745.
Small-wheel 85cc: 1 Jordan Godwin (Champion) 1028 points, 2 Michael Eccles 1003, 3 Callan Cooper 910, 4 Ben Watson 882, 5 Rickie Rodderick 855, 6 Corie Southwood 854, 7 Tom Neal 813, 8 Robert Davidson 762, 9 Liam Knight 734, 10 James Dunn 713.
Junior 65cc: 1 Ben Green (Champion) 1089 points, 2 Robert Yates 1030, 3 Jason Meara 983, 4 Ryan Snaith 907, 5 Jay Lamb 847, 6 Josh Gilbert 826, 7 Stuart Simpson 824, 8 Sam Braithwaite 819, 9 Lewis Houghton 766, 10 Danny Lanfear 740.
Small-wheel action gets under way with Ben Watson (98), Callan Cooper (6), and Michael Eccles (78) getting into the mix.