True Brits
By Dick Law on 25th Mar 11
Two young British motocross stars made a triumphant return to the UK from racing Stateside and dominated the Hawkstone International on Sunday, as team-mates Tommy Searle and Max Anstie on Monster their CLS Pro-Circuit Kawasakis set the place alight, and gave the very large crowd something to really shout about.
TOMMY Searle was on the pace from the start, setting a qualifying time a staggering two-seconds quicker than second-fastest rider, Zac Osborne, on his Bike It Cosworth Yamaha, and just under two-seconds faster than best MX1 rider, TM Factory rider Tanel Leok.
Everything was just right for the club this year and decent weather brought crowds in their droves, filling up to overflowing the camp site on Saturday with full car parks on Sunday.
The track was in excellent condition, and dry for the time of year, with the trade stands adding a touch of colour to the event.
Searle got the holeshot at the start of the first MX2 race with Mattis Karro in his wheel tracks as Elliot Banks-Browne went wide, in third and Anstie slotted into fourth.
By the end of lap two, Arnaud Tonus passed Banks-Browne for second as Karro crashed out, while a lap later Anstie pushed Banks-Browne down another place.
The pace was hotting up as the race reached its halfway mark, but since the very first lap Luke Hawkins had been laying at the side of the track after coming up short on one of the triples.
With no easy access to the portion of the track the race was stopped to enable an ambulance in to transport him to an awaiting air-ambulance.
Luckily the action was halted just after a result could be declared.
Searle was the winner but just over 12 seconds ahead of Tonus, Anstie and Banks-Browne.
Valentin Teillet had climbed up from eighth at the start to fifth while Osborne fought off Scott Elderfield for sixth.
In race two, Tonus got the holeshot from Searle, but by the end of the lap the flying Searle was out in front and opening up an increasingly large lead.
From the second lap Osborne was piling the pressure on Tonus.
Then, on lap four, he managed to pass and opened up a gap he maintained right to the finish.
It took Anstie a while to settle into the race, but once he did, he started to reel in Tonus second by second.
However, with three laps to go, Anstie's Kawasaki started giving him problems and he had to slow.
Nevertheless he still finished fourth with Teillet crossing the finish line just behind him.
Overall it was Searle, from Tonus and Anstie, with Osborne missing out on the podium by a single point.
After the race winner Searle said: "I have had some bad luck at internationals in the past and it's good to race against 250s again as I have been racing against the big bikes so far this year.
"It's important for me to lead races again and to make no mistakes.
"I think I showed today that I am smarter, faster and stronger then I was when I left for the US.
"I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think I am riding better and with the team we are making good progress each week.”
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX MARCH 25
HAWKSTONE INTERNATIONAL MOTOCROSS
Hawkstone Park, nr Shresbury (HIMX)
MX1 CLASS OVERALL
1 Clement Desalle (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 20 + 20 = 40
2 Tanol Leok (EW - Bonver TM) 17 + 17 = 34
3 Steve Ramon (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 15 + 15 = 30
4 Shaun Simpson (LS Honda) 11 + 13 = 24
5 Brad Anderson (PAR Honda) 13 + 8 = 21
6 Anthony Boissiere (F - Rockstar Suzuki) 9 + 10 = 19
7 Sebastien Pourcel (F - KRT Kawasaki) 8 + 9 = 17
8 Graeme Irwin (IRL - HMP Red Bull KTM) 10 + 6 = 16
9 Markus Shiffer (D - Suzuki International) 6 + 7 = 13
10 Martin Barr (IRE - Proppa.com KTM) 0 + 11 = 11
11 Jamie Law (D3 KTM) 3 + 5 = 8
12 Stephen Sword (Buildbase CCM) 7 + 0 = 7
13 Alex Snow (Lanes Kawasaki) 2 + 4 = 6
14 Jason Dougan (Bike It Cosworth WW Yam) 5 + 0 = 5
15 Gert Krestinov (EST - Maxxis Henderson Kaw) 4 + 0 = 4
16 Dorren Coutts (Yamaha) 0 + 3 = 3
17 Alfie Smith (JK Aprilia) 0 + 2 = 2
18 Arunas Gelazninkas (LIT - Route77 Kaw) 1 + 1 = 2
MOTO ONE: 1 Desalle, 2 Leok, 3 Ramon, 4 Anderson, 5 Simpson, 6 Irwin, 7 Boissiere, 8 Pourcel, 9 Sword, 10 Schiffer, 11 Dougan, 12 Krestinov, 13 Law, 14 Snow, 15 Gelazninkas.
MOTO TWO: 1 Desalle, 2 Leok, 3 Ramon, 4 Simpson, 5 Barr, 6 Boissiere, 7 Pourcel, 8 Anderson, 9 Schiffer, 10 Irwin, 11 Law, 12 Snow, 13 Coutts, 14 Smith, 15 Gelazninkas.
MX2 CLASS OVERALL
1 Tommy Searle (Monster CLS PCKaw) 20 + 20 = 40
2 Arnaud Tonus (CH - Bike It Cosworth Yam) 17 + 15 = 32
3 Max Anstie (Monster CLS PC Kaw) 15 + 13 = 28
4 Zach Osborne (US - Bike It Cosworth Yam) 10 + 17 = 27
5 Valentin Teillet (F - Suzuki MX2 Europe) 11 + 11 = 22
6 Elliott Banks-Browne (DB Honda) 13 + 9 = 22
7 Scott Elderfield (Lanes Kawasaki) 9 + 8 = 17
8 Jordan Booker (HM Plant Red Bull KTM) 8 + 7 = 15
9 Mattis Karro (LV - Route77 MVR-D Honda) 3 + 10 = 13
10 Lewis Tombs (Route77 MVR-D Honda) 6 + 5 = 11
11 Anthony Reville (PAR Honda) 7 + 0 = 7
12 Alan Keet (Dyer & Butler Suzuki) 0 + 6 = 6
13 James Dunn (JCS KTM) 5 + 1 = 6
14 Sean Mtchell (Route77 MVR-D Honda) 4 + 0 = 4
15 Matt Bayliss (Wooldridge Helyar Honda) 0 + 4 = 4
16 Ashley Wilde (Sandbach SMB Yamaha) 2 + 2 = 4
17 James Cottrell (DB Honda) 0 + 3 = 3
18 Sunny Thompson (Bikesport Kawasaki) 1 + 0 = 1
MOTO ONE: 1 Searle, 2 Tonus, 3 Anstie, 4 Banks-Browne, 5 Teillet, 6 Osborne, 7 Elderfield, 8 Booker, 9 Reville, 10 Tombs, 11 Dunn, 12 Mitchell, 13 Karro, 14 Wilde, 15 Thompson.
MOTO TWO: 1 Searle, 2 Osborne, 3 Tonus, 4 Anstie, 5 Teillet, 6 Karro, 7 Banks-Browne, 8 Elderfield, 9 Booker, 10 Keet, 11 Tombs, 12 Bayliss, 13 Cottrell, 14 Wilde, 15 Dunn.
SUPERFINAL: 1 Anstie (MX2), 2 Ramon, 3 Simpson, 4 Desalle, 5 Leok, 6 Karro (MX2), 7 Boissiere, 8 Teillet (MX2), 9 Tonus (MX2), 10 Osborne (MX2), 11 Shiffer, 12 Krestinov, 13 Law, 14 Snow, 15 Tombs (MX2).
SUPPORT CLASS OVERALL
1 Barry Turnball (500 Honda 2T) 20 + 20 = 40
2 Taylor Dodds (Wulfsport Kawasaki) 15 + 17 = 32
3 Scott Smith (Cartwright ???) 17 + 15 = 32
4 Matt Morris (Kawasaki) 13 + 9 = 22
5 Jamie McCarthy (Honda) 6 + 13 = 19
6 Tom Neesam (DK Off-Road Kawasaki) 11 + 5 = 16
7 Adam Wells (Cal4U Yamaha) 7 + 8 = 15
8 Lee Clarkson (Haz-Port Kawasaki) 2 + 11 = 13
9 Dean Simes (QRM Honda) 3 + 10 = 13
10 David Blackburn (Blackburn Honda) 9 + 2 = 11