TopCat Strijbos

FatCat Moto Parc had the honour of hosting the opening round of Europe's most coveted domestic series and did so brilliantly. 

 

The venue's deep sand surface provided racing of the highest order for the riders and fans and racing was frenetic, as the 2012 Maxxis series went off with a bang. 

 

MX2 proved a war of attrition, with high profile DNFs and some classic dices throughout a top-quality field. 

 

MX1 was also tough on the more-established stars as the foreign sand-flies dominated the race action.

 

Last season you could've been forgiven for thinking that Steve Dixon's Yamaha pair of Arnaud Tonus and Zach Osborne were handed first and second as a matter of course in MX2 qualifying. 

 

Now under the new banner of Monster Energy Bike It Yamaha, the dynamic duo have become a trio with the welcome addition of Mel Pocock, back in the squad after a year's absence. 

 

The threesome were electric in the opening session and scored 1-2-3, with Osborne heading the way in 1m 41.05secss. 

 

Graeme Irwin completed a wonderful morning for Yamaha as he took his Emberson-prepared Samsung mount to fourth on his return to MX2 racing. 

 

Big guns Neville Bradshaw (Evo Tech Hon) and Elliott Banks-Browne – on his new HM Plant KTM – were sixth and seventh, while newcomers from the BYMX schoolboy ranks Ryan Houghton, Adam Sterry and Nathan Watson (all Honda and all under 18) were an amazing fifth, ninth and 11th respectively.

 

Osborne went out in the subsequent Superpole session and nailed his pole position with a time a shade under the one he originally set, leaving Tonus to second and the fast-improving Irwin third.

 

MX2 heat one was barely a few seconds old when the expected front-runners Nico Aubin (Buildbase Hon) and Bryan MacKenzie (MotoOne KTM) ended up in the cheap seats on the outside of turn one. 

 

No-one was surprised to see a bunch of Yamahas out front, as the top four qualifiers had made crucial starts from a very tight first turn and the race that unfolded was a stormer.

 

Tonus and Osborne soon gapped Pocock and Irwin and two great scuffles took place. 

 

The two pairings gave very little away early on but as the sand started to move and the time-ticked away mistakes were inevitably made. 

 

Arnaud had already let his initial lead slip, but Zach couldn't make the most of the gap he was afforded.  

 

Tonus steadily worked his way up to his team mate's rear wheel and by the end of lap eight he was through and was never headed again. 

 

Osborne was not happy having to settle for second but more drama was to come later in the day. 

 

The fight for third was following a similar pattern as Pocock and Irwin really rattled around for three-quarters of the race. That was until the slow-starting Elliott Banks-Browne came to spoil the party and with just two laps remaining launched an attack which almost ended in tears for all concerned. 

 

Having pounced so suddenly EBB had confused Mel into thinking he was a back-marker. Mel walloped into EBB's rear wheel and knocked himself down, relinquishing the first podium place of the year. 

 

Banks held on to third while Irwin grabbed fourth ahead of Pocock. Nathan Watson on his new PAR Honda was an impressive eighth after starting 20th.

 

Race two saw the first meaningful twist in the championship race, as both Tonus and Banks-Browne – the top two riders of 2011 – carded DNFs. 

 

 

Rd 1 – FatCat MP, Armthorpe, 

nr Doncaster (Speed McQueen Events)

 1 Kevin Strijbos (HM Plant KTM UK) 25 + 25 + 25 = 75

 2 Gert Krestinov (Route 77 MVRD Honda) 20 + 20 + 18 = 58

 3 Mattis Karro (STR KTM) 13 + 22 + 22 = 57

 4 Shaun Simpson (Monster BikeIt Yamaha) 22 + 18 + 16 = 56

 5 Martin Barr (Maxxis Henderson Kawasaki) 14 + 16 + 20 = 50

 6 Jason Dougan (Route 77 MVRD Honda) 18 + 12 + 15 = 45

 7 Stephen Sword (Tyco TAS Suzuki) 15 + 15 + 13 = 43

 8 Jamie Law (D3 Racing KTM) 12 + 11 + 12 = 35

 9 Dorren Coutts (PAR Honda)  9 +  9 + 14 = 32

10 Nathan Parker (STR KTM)  8 + 13 + 11 = 32

11 Marc De Reuver (Lanes Kawasaki) 16+14+0=30, 12 Matthew Moffat (Dean Moff Star KTM) 10+6+8=24, 13 Alex Snow (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 7+5+9=21, 14 Kristian Whatley (PAR Honda) 6+8+7=21, 15 Alfie Smith (JK Rinaldi Yamaha) 0+10+10=20, 16 Daniel Hutchinson (Bikesport KTM) 5+7+6=18, 17 Maarten Cremers (Phoenix Tools Honda) 11+0+0=11, 18 Aston Bird (Gateway Kawasaki) 1+4+3=8, 19 Ross Rutherford (Bikesport Honda) 0+3+4=7, 20 Jackson Evans (Phoenix Tools Honda) 4+2+1=7, 21 Ashley Wilde (Sandbach SM Kawasaki) 0+0+5=5, 22 Sam Simmons (Motoward Yamaha) 0+1+2=3, 23 Josh Waterman (Dyer & Butler Suzuki) 3+0+0=3, 24 John May (St Blazey Honda) 2+0+0=2.

RACE ONE: 1 Strijbos, 2 Simpson, 3 Krestinov, 4 Dougan, 5 De Reuver, 6 Sword, 7 Barr, 8 Karro, 9 Law, 10 Cremers, 11 Moffat, 12 Coutts, 13 Parker, 14 Snow, 15 Whatley, 16 Hutchinson, 17 Evans, 

18 Waterman, 19 May, 20 Bird.

RACE TWO: 1 Strijbos, 2 Karro, 3 Krestinov, 4 Simpson, 5 Barr, 6 Sword, 7 De Reuver, 8 Parker, 9 Dougan, 10 Law, 11 Alfie Smith, 12 Coutts, 13 Whatley, 14 Hutchinson, 15 Moffat, 16 Snow, 17 Bird, 18 Rutherford, 19 Evans, 20 Simmons.

RACE THREE: 1 Strijbos, 2 Karro, 3 Barr, 4 Krestinov, 5 Simpson, 6 Dougan, 7 Coutts, 8 Sword, 9 Law,                 10 Parker, 11 Alfie Smith, 12 Snow, 13 Moffat, 14 Whatley, 15 Hutchinson, 16 Wilde, 17 Rutherford, 18 Bird, 19 Simmons, 20 Evans.

SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 8) rounds: 1 Strijbos 75 points, 2 Krestinov 58, 3 Karro 57, 4 Simpson 56, 5 Barr 50, 6 Dougan 45, 7 Sword 43, 8 Law 35, 9 Coutts 32, 10 Parker 32, 11 De Reuver 30, 12 Moffat 24, 13 Snow 21, 14 Whatley 21, 15 Alfie Smith 20, 16 Hutchinson 18, 17 Cremers 11, 18 Bird 8, 19 Rutherford 7, 20 Evans 7,... 

NEXT ROUND: April 1 – Canada Heights, Swanley, Kent (Sidcup & DMCC Ltd).

 

Rd 1 – FatCat MP, Armthorpe, nr Doncaster (Speed McQueen Events)

 1 Zach Osborne (Monster BikeIt Yamaha) 22 + 25 + 22 = 69

 2 Mel Pocock (Monster BikeIt Yamaha) 16 + 22 + 20 = 58

 3 Graeme Irwin (Samsung Yamaha) 18 + 20 + 13 = 51

 4 Arnaud Tonus (Monster BikeIt Yamaha) 25 +  0 + 25 = 50

 5 Neville Bradshaw (Evotech Stevens Hon) 15 + 18 + 15 = 48

 6 Steven Lenoir (Samsung Yamaha) 10 + 15 + 16 = 41

 7 Jordan Booker (Buildbase Honda) 12 + 16 + 12 = 40

 8 Elliott Banks Browne (HM Plant KTM) 20 +  0 + 18 = 38

 9 Stuart Edmonds (Tyco TAS Suzuki) 14 + 11 + 11 = 36

10 Bryan MacKenzie (Rockstar KTM)  7 +  8 + 14 = 29

11 James Cottrell (Pulse DB Honda) 11+14+0=25, 12 Nicolas Aubin (Buildbase Honda) 0+13+10=23, 13 Nathan Watson (PAR Honda) 13+0+9=22, 14 Lewis Tombs (John Banks Honda) 2+9+6=17, 15 Bradley Pocock (Route 77 MVRD Honda) 0+12+1=13, 16 Shane Carless (Rockstar KTM) 3+10+0=13, 17 Connor Walkley (Maxxis Henderson Kawasaki) 5+5+2=12, 18 Sunny Thompson (Lanes Kawasaki) 6+4+0=10, 19 Luke Hawkins (Apico Suzuki) 0+2+7=9, 20 Alan Keet (Dyer & Butler Suzuki) 9+0+0=9, 21 Luke Remmer (MX Protech Yamaha) 0+0+8=8, 22 Michael McCammond (JAR Honda) 1+7+0=8, 23 Sean Mitchell (HM Plant KTM UK) 8+0+0=8, 24 James Dunn (HM Plant KTM) 4+0+3=7, 25 Luke Norris (MNE Kawasaki) 0+1+5=6, 26 Adam Sterry (PAR Honda) 0+6+0=6, 27 Jake Millward (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 0+0+4=4, 28 Hamish Harwood (???) 0+3+0=3.

RACE ONE: 1 Tonus, 2 Osborne, 3 Banks Browne, 4 Irwin, 5 Mel Pocock, 6 Bradshaw, 7 Stuart Edmonds, 8 Watson, 9 Booker, 10 Cottrell, 11 Lenoir, 12 Keet, 13 Mitchell, 14 MacKenzie, 15 Thompson, 16 Walkley, 17 Dunn, 18 Carless, 19 Tombs, 20 McCammond.

RACE TWO: 1 Osborne, 2 Mel Pocock, 3 Irwin, 4 Bradshaw, 5 Booker, 6 Lenoir, 7 Cottrell, 8 Aubin, 9 Bradley Pocock, 10 Stuart Edmonds, 11 Carless, 12 Tombs, 13 MacKenzie, 14 McCammond, 15 Sterry, 16 Walkley, 17 Thompson, 18 Harwood, 19 Hawkins, 20 Norris.

RACE THREE: 1 Tonus, 2 Osborne, 3 Mel Pocock, 4 Banks Browne, 5 Lenoir, 6 Bradshaw, 7 MacKenzie, 8 Irwin, 9 Booker, 10 Stuart Edmonds, 11 Aubin, 12 Watson, 13 Remmer, 14 Hawkins, 15 Tombs, 16 Norris, 17 Millward, 18 Dunn, 19 Walkley, 20 Bradley Pocock.

SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 8) rounds: 1 Osborne 69 points, 2 Mel Pocock 58, 3 Irwin 51, 4 Tonus 50, 5 Bradshaw 48, 6 Lenoir 41, 7 Booker 40, 8 Banks Browne 38, 9 Stuart Edmonds 36, 10 MacKenzie 29, 11 Cottrell 25, 12 Aubin 23, 13 Watson 22, 14 Tombs 17, 15 Bradley Pocock 13, 16 Carless 13, 17 Walkley 12, 18 Thompson 10, 19 Keet 9, 20 Hawkins 9,... 

NEXT ROUND: April 1 – Canada Heights, Swanley, Kent (Sidcup & DMCC Ltd).

 

Rd 1 – FatCat MP, Armthorpe, nr Doncaster (Speed McQueen Events)

 1 Phil Mercer (KTM) 25 + 25 = 50

 2 Greg Hanson (???) 22 + 22 = 44

 3 Gary Hoptrough (???) 18 + 18 = 36

 4 Terry House (Yamaha) 20 + 15 = 35

 5 Paul Coward (Kawasaki) 16 + 16 = 32

 6 Darren Scott (Honda) 15 + 14 = 29

 7 Scott Hayworth (Yamaha) 13 + 13 = 26

 8 Brian Wheeler (Kawasaki) 12 + 12 = 24

 9 Steve Elford (Honda) 10 + 11 = 21

10 Adrian  Bradley (Suzuki)  0 + 20 = 20

11 Peter Taylor (Yamaha) 14+6=20, 12 Jonathan White (Suzuki) 11+8=19, 13 Garry Jones (Honda) 7+7=14, 14 Phil Lewis (KTM) 8+5=13, 15 David Dunn (KTM) 0+10=10, 16 Richard Brown (KTM) 6+4=10, 17 Dave  Thomson (Husaberg) 0+9=9, 18 Colin Thomas (Kawasaki) 9+0=9, 19 David Hopkins (KTM) 4+3=7, 20 Alan Eaves (Honda) 5+2=7, 21 Robert Glynn (Suzuki) 3+1=4, 22 Paul Curtis (KTM) 2+0=2, 23 Neil Graham (Yamaha) 1+0=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Mercer, 2 Hanson, 3 House, 4 Hoptrough, 5 Coward, 6 Scott, 7 Taylor, 8 Hayworth, 9 Wheeler, 10 White, 11 Elford, 12 Thomas, 13 Lewis, 14 Jones, 15 Richard Brown, 16 Eaves, 17 Hopkins, 18 Glynn, 19 Curtis, 20 Graham.

RACE TWO: 1 Mercer, 2 Hanson, 3 Bradley, 4 Hoptrough, 5 Coward, 6 House, 7 Scott, 8 Hayworth, 9 Wheeler, 10 Elford, 11 Dunn, 12 Thomson, 13 White, 14 Jones, 15 Taylor, 16 Lewis, 17 Richard Brown, 18 Hopkins, 19 Eaves, 20 Glynn.

SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 3) rounds: 1 Mercer 50 points, 2 Hanson 44, 3 Hoptrough 36, 4 House 35, 5 Coward 32, 6 Scott 29, 7 Hayworth 26, 8 Wheeler 24, 9 Elford 21, 10 Bradley 20, 11 Taylor 20, 12 White 19, 13 Jones 14, 14 Lewis 13, 15 Dunn 10, 16 Richard Brown 10, 17 Thomson 9, 18 Thomas 9, 19 Eaves 7, 20 Hopkins 7,...