Wheeler's in motion
By TMX Archives on 20th Feb 08
FOLLOWING a heavy overnight frost which had seen temperatures drop to minus-six Centigrade, conditions were decidedly slippery for the opening round of the 2008 Hewitt National Cross-Country Series at Chavenage on Sunday. While the wooded sections remained frozen, the open fields slowly started to thaw and it was not until well past the halfway mark of the three-hour blast that the going started to improve.
Right from the off, the cambered downhill corners saw numerous riders parting company with their machines. Giving a clear indication of just how tricky the early stages were, eventual Experts class winner Darren Wheeler aboard his Midwest Racing Husaberg posted an opening lap time of 28-minutes and 25-seconds.
Eventually, Darren was able to complete a total of nine laps of the seven-mile circuit, a total matched by all of the six leading riders in the Expert class.
At the finish, Darren, the 2007 Hewitt series runner-up, had reduced his lap times by over ten-minutes.
When the chequered flag fell, Wheeler was seven minutes ahead of Chris Dustow with Rich Warner third, Dave Nuttall fourth, Gary Baker fifth and Neil Thomas sixth.
In Clubman 2T, the top four Matthew Woodham, Martin Hillman, Ben Roberts and Peter Kyte all completed a total of eight-laps. Woodham's eventual winning margin was just over three-minutes.
Over in the Clubman Four-stroke action, the top three, Tyson Mayton-Jones, Mark Saunders and Wayne Partington, also recorded a total of eight laps during their three hours on the course. At the finish, Mayton-Jones was a clear 11-minutes ahead, with Saunders a further one-minute-plus in front of Partington.
HEWITT NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPS
Rd 1 Chavenage (Midwest MCC)
Expert: 1 Darren Wheeler, 2 Chris Dustow, 3 Rich Warner, 4 Dave Nuttall, 5 Gary Baker, 6 Neil Thomas.
Veteran Expert: 1 Gerald Poole, 2 Jerry Adams, 3Terry Beecham, 4 Marcus Barnes, 5 Alastair Bramwell, 6 Martin Coleman.
Clubman Two-stroke: 1 Matthew Woodham, 2 Martin Hillman, 3 Ben Roberts, 4 Peter Kyte, 5 Anthony Rymer, 6 Seb Dexter.
Clubman Four-stroke: 1 Tyson Mayton-Jones, 2 Mark Saunders, 3 Wayne Partington, 4 Rhydian Evans, 5 Mark Taylor, 6 Kye Banks.
Veteran: 1 Guy Mansfield-Smith, 2 James Browning, 3 Paul Hoskins, 4 Andrew Taylor, 5 David Jarman, 6 Robert Shore.
Sportsman Two-stroke: 1 Paul Jones, 2 Daniel Hosznyak, 3 Shaun Street, 4 Benjamin Wyles, 5 Robert McFarlane, 6 Graham Jones.
Sportsman Four-stroke: 1 Stephen Walker, 2 John Bradley, 3 Lee Burgess, 4 Nathan Kennedy, 5 Colin Smith, 6 Sean Smith.
NEXT ROUND: March 30 Manor Farm, Lower Woodford.
For full report see T+MX NEWS, Friday, February 22, 2008