YOU'RE BARR-ILLIANT
By TMX Archives on 12th Jun 09
RELENTLESS Suzuki teamster Martin Barr won the Pro MX1 class in the closely-fought round four of the British Masters Motocross Championship at the spectacular Foxhill circuit, just outside Swindon.
In the Pro MX2 class, Scott Elderfield (PAR Honda) and Shane Carless (Moto1 KTM) tied on points, with Elderfield climbing on to the top step of the podium because of his higher place finish in race two.
Over 300 keen racers made the trip to the once famous GP circuit over the weekend, and this time, unlike the final round at the venue last year, the organisers were extremely lucky with the weather, and everyone knows what Foxhill is like after heavy rain.
The forecast was for showers all through Saturday and Sunday but, unlike most of the country, it rained hard on Saturday morning but then seemed to clear pretty quickly. It rained again in the early hours of Sunday which left the track it good shape.
PRO MX1
LEWIS Gregory grabbed the holeshot in the first MX1 race with Barr in his wheel-tracks, but by the time the leaders came back into view at the end of a very long Foxhill lap, Kristian Whatley was at the front and he really flew.
Barr was in second with Jamie Lewis and Glen Phillips chasing as series points leader. Brad Anderson had a bad (by his standards) start, in seventh, and only made up one place during the opening lap.
Whatley stretched out a comfortable lead until, on lap four, he went missing when the pack came round and shortly afterwards he was spotted walking up the access road from the bottom of the valley.
He later explained: "It was all going well, then the clutch just gave up and the bike wouldn't even pull itself up the hill!”
This handed the lead to Barr, with Anderson – now in second – having a go with his young team-mate Elderfield. Lewis was a distant fourth, but doing all in his power to hold off an aggressive Phillips. Barr took the win by over 13 seconds ahead of Anderson and Elderfield, with Lewis and Phillips filling the next two places. Meanwhile, Mark Eastwood slotted into sixth on his 250 Honda two-stroke!
Seb Osborne and Phillips went into the first turn side-by-side in race two, but by the end of the lap the in-form Whatley had moved through to take up the front spot with Barr and Elderfield chasing after him, while Anderson fought his way up through the pack after a spill in the first corner.
At the half-way mark, Whatley was still in control and maintaining a comfortable margin over Barr and Elderfield, with Anderson up to fourth after restarting from almost last place.
The top four maintained their positions to the finish flag with Whatley first, Barr just over 10 seconds adrift and Elderfield and Anderson filling the next two places.
PRO MX2
SHANE Carless took the holeshot at the start of the first Pro MX2 race with the PAR Hondas of Elderfield and Anderson chasing him, but before the completion of the first lap Carless made a mistake and was quickly demoted to third, just in front of Whatley who was making a rare appearance on a 250 Kawasaki.
The PAR team-mates were inseparable during the first four laps as they fought for the lead.
At that point Anderson made an error and slipped off, rejoining back to third place as Carless started to take big chunks out of Elderfield's lead.
With four laps remaining Carless moved into the lead and there he remained to the finish flag to claim victory over Elderfield by just under six seconds, with Barr and Anderson following him home.
Whatley was a distant sixth and Joe Dark seventh.
Matthew Porter bagged the initial glory in race two with the holeshot ahead of Carless, but Elderfield caught and passed them both before the end of the opening lap to take the lead.
Anderson retired his 250 Honda at the end of lap three with Whatley struggling with the handling of his 250 Kawasaki. At the half-way stage, the gap between the leader Elderfield and second placed Carless was fairly constant while Barr overhauled Whatley for third spot.
Dark was fourth with Phil Mercer one place behind after completing the first lap back in tenth.
Elderfield took the race win by just over four seconds from Carless, with Barr a distant third and an unhappy Whatley fourth followed by Dark and Mercer.
OTHER CLASSES
STEPHEN Tillotson (No Limits Suzuki) seemed to like the Foxhill circuit as he won all four of his Amateur MX1 class races, leaving Chris Neesam and Alex Smith to fight it out for the remaining steps on the podium.
Like Tillotson in MX1, Luke Spence (KTM) repeated that formula in the Amateur MX2 class, with Scott Beevers second and Scott Mathia third. Ricky Lethaby spoilt his chances of a high overall place when he DNF-ed the fourth and final race.
In the Amateur MX2R class, double race winner Craig Maddock took the overall as both Harry Saywell and Shaun Scrivens didn't finish race three which spoilt their overall chances of victory.
After finishing second in race one, Paul Smith went on to win the next three in the Kawasaki Masters class, with Paul Neale and James Shaw joining Smith on the podium.
Luke Dean topped the MXY2 class by just five points from Matt Burrows, with Kristofer Ayres third.
Luke Norris won all four of his Big-wheel 85cc class races, while Callan Cooper earned similar success in the Small-wheel 85cc category.
BRITISH MASTERS MX CHAMPIONSHIP Rd 4 – Foxhill, Wiltshire (AMCA)
PRO MX1
1 Martin Barr (Relentless Suzuki) 60 + 54 = 114
2 Brad Anderson (PAR Homes Honda) 54 + 47 = 101
3 Scott Elderfield (PAR Homes Honda) 50 + 50 = 100
4 Glen Phillips (450 Honda) 45 + 45 = 90
5 Jamie Lewis (Nigel Arnold KTM) 47 + 43 = 90
6 Mark Eastwood (Eastwood Honda) 43 + 41 = 84
7 Luke Hill (KTM) 37 + 37 = 74
8 Jamie Skuse (Honda) 39 + 33 = 72
9 Luke Mellows (Meredith Suzuki) 31 + 39 = 70
10 Alex Butler (KTM) 41 + 29 = 70
PRO MX2
1 Scott Elderfield (PAR Honda) 54 + 60= 114
2 Shane Carless (Moto One KTM) 60 + 54= 114
3 Martin Barr (Relentless Suzuki) 50 + 50= 100
4 Kristian Whatley (LPE Kawasaki) 45 + 47= 92
5 Joe Dark (Meredith Suzuki) 43 + 45= 88
6 Lee Dunham (MotoXtreme Kawasaki) 41 + 41= 82
7 Phil Mercer (Delkevic Kawasaki) 37 + 43= 80
8 Ross Hill (KTM) 29 + 35= 64
9 Brad Cavill (Stevens Yamaha) 31 + 33= 64
10 Jim Davis (KTM) 35 + 24= 59
Amateur MX1: 1 Stephen Tillotson, 2 Chris Neesam, 3 Alex Smith, 4 Adam Castledine, 5 Alexander Hornsby, 6 Robert Fox, 7 Jamie McCarthy, 8 Steven Simpson.
Amateur MX2: 1 Luke Spence, 2 Scott Beevers, 3 Scott Mathia, 4 Joseph Del-Busso, 5 Gary Price, 6 Tom Neesam, 7 Ricky Lethaby, 8 Sam Robinson.
Amateur MX2R: 1 Craig Maddock, 2 Aled Bellis, 3 David Hanby, 4 Harry Saywell, 5 Shaun Scrivens, 6 Adam Extance, 7 Leon Davies, 8 Joe Wyse.
Kawasaki Masters: 1 Paul Smith, 2 Paul Neale, 3 James Shaw, 4 Matthew Williamson, 5 David Anthony, 6 Sam Mitchell, 7 Edward Briscoe, 8 Bradley Lofthouse.
MXY2: 1 Luke Dean, 2 Matt Burrows, 3 Kristofer Ayres, 4 Darryl Maxwell, 5 Jake Preston, 6 Ryan McLean, 7 Declan Burke, 8 Luke Houghton.
Big-wheel 85cc: 1 Luke Norris, 2 Jay Thomas, 3 Harry Bradley, 4 Adam Darbyshire, 5 Emerson Jones, 6 Lewis Lloyd, 7 Ryan Monkton, 8 George Clarke.
Small-wheel 85cc: 1 Callan Cooper, 2 Brad Freeman, 3 Keaton Parker-Butler, 4 Charlie Hamlet, 5 Henry Sidekin, 6 Dylan Lewis, 7 Lewis Wigger, 8 Danny Mell.
NEXT ROUND: July 4/5 – Landrake MP, nr Saltash, Cornwall (AMCA Ltd).
Martin Barr (right) flies to victory in the Pro MX1 class.