What’s up Dock?
By Dick Law on 25th Mar 15
Kristian Whatley (Buildbase Honda) was on fire at last weekends opening round of the Michelin MX Nationals, staged at a much improved Preston Docks venue in Lancashire.
While Whatley was dominating the MX1 Pros, Steven Lenoir (Dyer & Butler KTM) was leading the MX2 class home as the luckless Adam Sterry (Wilvo Forkrent KTM) – after being first MX2 rider to cross the line in race one – had to slow in race two with a cut hand following a first turn crash.
Two new classes have been added to the established format for 2015 with the introduction of Expert MX1 and MX2 divisions and the series now covers the complete range of age and talent of riders wanting to compete.
Whatley set fastest qualifying time half-a-second faster than Martin Barr (BRT KTM) with Lenoir third on his MX2 bike.
Ashley Wilde (Toughsheet Honda) got the holeshot in the first race but by the time they had completed the opening lap Whatley was in the lead from Wilde, Brad Anderson (MBO Power ASA Yamaha), Barr and Sterry and that was pretty much the last time any of the riders saw Whatley.
Anderson started to slow on lap four with arm pump and first Barr, then Graham Irwin (Heads & All Threads Suzuki), went past him. A lap later Sterry upped his pace and set off after the leaders, not that he needed to as he was the only MX2 machine in the top six.
By the halfway stage Barr was in second with Sterry chasing Wilde for third as Lenoir and Harri Kullas (Heads & All Threads Suzuki) pushed the struggling Anderson back another two places.
Great
In the last 10 minutes of the 30-minute plus two laps race – unknown territory for most UK riders – Sterry moved into second place but was unable to close on the flying Whatley in the time left.
Behind them it was Barr, Wilde, Kullas, Lenoir, Anderson and Irwin with Jake Millward (Verde Sports KTM) having a great ride in ninth. Once the classes had been scored according to capacity it was Whatley from Barr, Wilde and Kullas in MX1 and Sterry from Lenoir, Millward and Michael Eccles (Phoenix KTM) in MX2.
MICHELIN MX NATIONALS MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Preston Docks, Wallend Road, Preston (MX Nationals Ltd)
PRO MX1 CLASS
1 Kristian Whatley (Buildbase Honda) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Martin Barr (ERT KTM) 22 + 18 = 40
3 Brad Anderson (MBO ASA Yamaha) 16 + 22 = 38
4 Harri Kullas (Heads & All Threads Suzuki) 18 + 20 = 38
5 Ashley Wilde (Toughsheet Honda) 20 + 15 = 35
6 Graeme Irwin (Heads & All Threads Suzuki) 15 + 16 = 31
7 Josh Spinks (Verde Sports KTM) 14 + 14 = 28
8 Jamie Law (LPE Kawasaki) 11 + 12 = 23
9 James Hutchinson (Bikesport Newcastle KTM) 13 + 10 = 23
10 Lewis Tombs (Lings Husqvarna) 9 + 13 = 22
11 Dan Thornhill (Cab Screens Yamaha) 10+11=21, 12 Shane Carless (Oakleaf Honda) 12+6=18, 13 Ashley Greedy (MJW Shocktech Husqvarna) 7+9=16, 14 Luke Mellows (Park Lane IDS KTM) 8+7=15, 15 Jake Preston (???) 5+8=13, 16 Matt Moffat (Drydale Husqvarna) 6+0=6.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 6) rounds: 1 Whatley 50 points, 2 Barr 40, 3 Anderson 38, 4 Kullas 38, 5 Wilde 35, 6 Irwin 31, 7 Spinks 28, 8 Law 23, 9 Hutchinson 23, 10 Tombs 22, 11 Thornhill 21, 12 Carless 18, 13 Greedy 16, 14 Mellows 15, 15 Preston 13, 16 Moffat 6, 17 Smith.
PRO MX2 CLASS
1 Steven Lenoir (Dyer & Butler KTM) 22 + 25 = 47
2 Jake Millward (Verde Sports KTM) 20 + 22 = 42
3 Michael Eccles (Phoenix IFly Husqvarna) 18 + 20 = 38
4 Adam Sterry (Wilvo Forkrent KTM) 25 + 13 = 38
5 Erki Kahro (Route77 MVR-D Honda) 16 + 18 = 34
6 Lewis Trickett (Yamaha) 13 + 16 = 29
7 Liam Knight (Dyer & Butler KTM) 14 + 14 = 28
8 Nathan Dixon (Feehily KTM) 12 + 15 = 27
9 Brad Todd (Planet Suspension KTM) 15 + 8 = 23
10 Josh Gilbert (Route77 MVR-D Honda) 10 + 11 = 21
11 George Clarke (Cab Screens Yamaha) 9+9=18, 12 Josh Waterman (Wooldridge Demo Honda) 7+10=17, 13 Rob Davidson (Hardcore Husqvarna) 4+12=16, 14 Ben Putnam (SPH Fountain Yamaha) 11+0=11, 15 Rob Holyoake (???) 8+0=8, 16 Matt Callaghan (KTM) 6+0=6, 17 Neville Bradshaw (272 Raceschool Husqvarna) 5+0=5.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 6) rounds: 1 Lenoir 47 points, 2 Millward 42, 3 Eccles 38, 4 Sterry 38, 5 Kahro 34, 6 Trickett 29, 7 Knight 28, 8 Dixon 27, 9 Todd 23, 10 Gilbert 21, 11 Clarke 18, 12 Waterman 17, 13 Davidson 16, 14 Putnam 11, 15 Holyoake 8, 16 Callaghan 6, 17 Bradshaw 5.
NEXT ROUND: April 11/12 – Foxhill MP, Wanborough, nr Swindon (MX Nationals Ltd).
FOR RULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX MARCH 26 (ISSUE 1964)
