The Wey we were!
By Mike Wood on 21st Oct 11
Once again the Purbeck MXC and Weymouth and Portland Lions Club pulled out all the stops, with their joint promotional skills ensuring that the 2011 edition of the AMCA Weymouth Beach Motocross was another roaring success.
On Sunday, during the 26th staging of the annual event, an estimated 10,000-strong crowd lined the promenade of the Dorset town, basking in glorious October sunshine and watching the action unfold – all FREE of charge!
Of course the participating riders also played their part, taking every opportunity to thrill the captivated audience with a full display of motocross racing skills. Although the event is meant to be a relaxed, end-of-season, fun meeting, the desire was still naturally high to be the first rider past the chequered flag!
Following six, frantic, all-action and entertaining battles, taking home the winners silverware in the respective Junior, Senior and Expert classes were Leonard Paget, Jonathan Cole and Richard Meakin.
After the mandatory practice session had been completed on the beach circuit – prepared on the morning of the event – it was time to go racing!
Just about right on cue, the sun also appeared as Jim Shipton dropped the flag to signal the start of the first Junior race. From a dead-engine start, Mark Teggin grabbed the holeshot to lead the thundering pack down the long start straight and into turn one. Teggin though got a little excited, and dropped his bike just as he completed the opening circuit!
Such was his early advantage that he was still able to remount and remain in control of proceedings as Craig Redmond, Leonard Paget, Daniel Crocker, George Fraser and Dave King gave chase.
Teggin's lead lasted two laps until he disappeared from proceedings, so it was then Paget the pace-setter and that's the way it remained.
So with the smell of red-hot clutches filling the air, the opening moto victory belonged to Paget followed by Crocker, King, Fraser, Redmond, Tom Salt and Tommy Reeve, who had initially gated in 21st place.
In the decisive moto two, Fraser led the Junior pack during the frantic early exchanges. However local lad, Karl Dudman, resplendent in his pink and black fancy dress outfit was soon in control before blasting onward to victory. Dudman's winning margin was some 31-seconds ahead of King, Padget, Fraser, Reeve and Drew Slevin.
Another rider entering the Weymouth spirit and competing in fancy dress was David Honeybun. His outfit, of course, was the ‘Honey Monster' and David eventually finished seventh overall with victory in this class going to Paget.
You can always guarantee that the Senior racing is going to be very competitive, and that's the way it proved yet again. Neil Hawker, Dean Taylor and Jonathan Cole all took turns to lead moto one. And, although Taylor briefly lost his advantage on lap six, he fought back to snatch victory, finishing just over four-seconds in front of Cole, who had initially started right back in 17th spot. Completing the top six in this clash were Kelvin Hammer, Lewis Barfoot, Dean Jewer and Justin Cadman.
Neil Hawker was in control of the opening exchanges in Senior moto two but just one circuit later he had slipped back to 17th with Cole leading the way. From there onwards, Cole stretched the wire and blasted to a 22-seconds win over Taylor, who had worked his way through from an early ninth spot. Barfoot, Cadman and Hammer all again finished inside the top six.
In the final overall reckonings, both Cole and Taylor had remarkably earned a 114 points tally although first place trophy belonged to Cole, courtesy of his moto two victory.
In the Expert class, 2010 winner Rick Du-Feu made a dream start to lead the charge in moto one. However, as the pack braked to take turn one on their second lap, Jake Shipton – son of Weymouth starter, Jim – slipped past Du-Feu and into the lead with Brad Cavill, Nick Life, Will Worden and Dexter Marks giving chase while Richard Meakin was working his way through the pack.
From a dead-engine start, Meakin's Honda had initially refused to start but already the AMCA and IMBA Championship rider was up to 13th on a determined charge!
Leader Shipton stretched his lead and looked impressive until his Yamaha's clutch cooked on lap five!
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX OCTOBER 21
AMCA WEYMOUTH BEACH MOTOCROSS
Weymouth Beach (Purbeck Mxc and Weymouth & Portland Lions Club)
JUNIOR UNLIMITED (Sponsored by Caroline Racing)
MOTO ONE: 1 Leonard Paget, 2 Daniel Crocker, 3 Dave King, 4 George Fraser, 5 Craig Redmond, 6 Tom Salt, 7 Tommy Reeve, 8 Stephen Reynolds, 9 Sean Renovoize, 10 Dave Charrett.
MOTO TWO: 1 Karl Dudman, 2 King, 3 Paget, 4 Fraser, 5 Reeve, 6 Drew Slevin, 7 Redmond, 8 Brett Revell, 9 David Honeybun, 10 Simon Gracia.
OVERALL: 1 Paget 110 points, 2 King 104, 3 Fraser 94, 4 Reeve 86, 5 Redmond 86, 6 Crocker 78, 7 Honeybun 70, 8 Slevin 69, 9 Salt 68, 10 Charrett 62.
SENIOR UNLIMITED (Sponsored by Richie Racing)
MOTO ONE: 1 Dean Taylor, 2 Jonathan Cole, 3 Kelvin Hammer, 4 Lewis Barfoot, 5 Dean Jewer, 6 Justin Cadman, 7 Dave Whitehead, 8 David Gane, 9 Darren Hounsell, 10 Nathan Bascombe.
MOTO TWO: 1 Cole, 2 Taylor, 3 Barfoot, 4 Ross Parham, 5 Cadman, 6 Hammer, 7 Hounsell, 8 Jewer, 9 Gane, 10 Whitehead
OVERALL: 1 Cole 114 points, 2 Taylor 114, 3 Barfoot 97, 4 Hammer 93, 5 Cadman 88, 6 Jewer 84, 7 Hounsell 78, 8 Gane 76, 9 Whitehead 76, 10 Bascombe 68.
EXPERT UNLIMITED (Sponsored by Poole Yamaha Racing)
MOTO ONE: 1 Nick Life, 2 Will Worden, 3 Richard Meakin, 4 Richard Du-Feu, 5 Phil Studley, 6 Dexter Marks, 7 Nick Wadge, 8 Luke Mellows, 9 Jason Williams, 10 Christopher Gomm.
MOTO TWO: 1 Jake Shipton, 2 James Harrison, 3 Wadge, 4 Brad Cavill, 5 Meakin, 6 Du-Feu, 7 Mellows, 8 Marks, 9 Gomm, 10 Lee Williams.
OVERALL: 1 Meakin 95 points, 2 Wadge 91, 3 Life 91, 4 Du-Feu 90, 5 Marks 82, 6 Mellows 80, 7 Studley 78, 8 Shipton 60, 9 Williams 60, 10 Martin Jessop 59.
