What's What' at Thoresway
By TMX Archives on 29th Apr 09
ONCE again the Fuchs-Silkolene British Two-stroke Championship was blessed with good weather as round three of the series moved further north to Thoresway. The recent warm weather was evident as even with regular watering the sweeping valley circuit still became hard-pack and fast, making the racing very intense as riders could not afford to make a single mistake and lose valuable time.
One rider who made very few mistakes was Kristian Whatley as he very nearly went three for three in the Open Expert class. The LPE Kawasaki rider and the rest of his team-mates rocked up to have a race away from their usual four-stroke mounts.
In the first Open race out though, it was Suzuki-mounted Matthew Moffat who grabbed the holeshot and led half the race before Whatley finally wore him down for the win, with series leader David Willet in third.
The second moto was a disaster for Willet as he crashed hard with several others on the first corner and took an age to resume the race as he straightened his bike.
Mark Eastwood took advantage of Willet's misfortune and broke away with a holeshot but it was short-lived as Whatley moved to the front and soon gapped the field. Eastwood held on to second and Moffat had another good ride for third.
It was damage limitation for Willet, literally, as he rode round with a twisted bike to come home 27th in class with a bruising to himself and his championship lead.
Showing his grit and determination though he came out in the final moto and took the win! Eastwood got another killer start from the far outside of the gate but once again Whatley quickly moved by into the lead. Willet followed through and with just one lap to go it looked like a hat-trick of wins for Whatley. However, the Kawasaki rider was badly delayed by back-markers on the final lap and Willet snuck through for the race win.
Further down the field, Anthony Reville took full advantage of Thoresway being his home track by convincingly winning the Junior Open class with two wins and a third over hard charging Yamaha rider, Ty Kellett, who nailed the other class win for second overall. Michael Hughes tied on points with Ben Howard but just edged third overall with the stronger final race performance.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2009
Expert Open class competitor, Lewis Rose gives his Kawasaki plenty going into a left-hander. Lewis eventually finished fourth overall.