Reports AMCA 2-Stroke and Veterans MX Championships
Written by MIKE WOOD Tuesday, 11 September 2012 00:00
Walterstone,Herefordshire was the venue for the latest action in the AMCA 2-Stroke and Veterans MX Championships.Read on for Peter Reed's report on what was another superb AMCA event!!.
Hereford MXC welcomed round 5 of the Vets & 2 Stroke Championship to their re vamped Walterstone circuit, with both classes providing a sun baked crowd to some thrilling racing leaving just 21 points between the top two in the 2 strokes and less than 30 points between the first four Vets riders heading into the final round at Condover later this month.
The 2 Strokes kicked things off with KTM mounted Joe Wright grabbing an early holeshot before the runaway leaders in the series Adam Harris and Sean Eckersley took control by the end of lap one. After passing Wright,Harris then controlled proceedings all the way to the flag,in the process also moving back to the top of the title standings ahead of Eckersley whom he trailed by a single point going into the day. Thomas Herbert took third in moto one from home club favourite Terry Lloyd winning a race long battle between the duo by just a few seconds, following his super start Wright rounded off the top five followed by Stuart West and Scott Donativo.
In race two it was the same top six straight from the start with Harris and Eckersley quickly moving past the fast starting West, Truman and Wright before they set about battling out the win as the pair finished over 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. It was Wright who won the three way battle for third as he held on despite the attentions of Lloyd in 4th and Herbert in 5th. West repeated his first race 6th while Donativo dropped a place to 8th losing out to Lee Truman with Jack Bas a hard thought 9th having come from the back after hitting the gate.
In the final moto Harris set about his persuit of a maximum with another top three start but rival Eckersley was buried in the pack having to charge through on a track that was deteriating and sapping the energy of the riders lap after lap. Bolton man Eckersely gave it everything in pursuit of his rival and narrowly missed out on 2nd with Herbert pipping him and following Harris home. Wright came home 4th and Lloyd 5th. Truman topped off an ever improving day by pushing up one more place to 6th, West 7th, Sean Wainwright 8th and Donativo 9th.
Harris's Walterstone maximum now means the Uley man turns a 1 point deficit into a 21 point lead over Lancastrian Eckersely as the pair head for Condover for the final round. A good way back from the runaway duo,Herbert now sits a comfortable 3rd just short of 50 points clear of Sean Wainwright in 4th with West and Lloyd a few points adrift in 5th and 6th.
In the Vets it was the top three in the standings that took control early on in race one with Colin Condiut giving chase to Honda duo Matt Ryder and series leader Brian Staples. Andy Watkins was in 4th on board the EVO 500 Honda with Sean Smith, Rob Prosser, Grahm Nicklin, Paul Kroner and Dave Hopkins all battling inside the top 10. Having battled for the lead with Condiut and Staples a mistake on the penultimate lap slipped Ryder down to 5th as Staples pipped KTM mounted Condiut by less than a second to the first chequered flag of the day followed by Sean Smith who managed to hold off Watkins with Ryder 5th, Nicklin 6th, Kroner 7th Prosser 8th, Steve Baddeley 9th and Hopkins 10th.
The usual suspects were out front off the start of race two as Ryder holeshoted followed by Condiut, Smith & Staples with Watkins slotting in to 5th. As Watkins and Smith scrapped it out for 4th it became a three way battle for the lead as Condiut twice led and went onto post the fastest lap but it was Ryder who made the pass stick and held off his rivals to make up for his race one disappointment to record the win with staples just a couple of seconds behind in second and the hard charging Condiut 3rd. Watkins won the race long battle with Smith for forth with Baddeley 6th, Kroner 7th and Prosser 8th, Nicklin 9th and Simon Bracey rounding off the top 10.
In the final moto it was all to play for in the championship and it was Ryder who led the way once again with the same old faces chasing in the shape of Condiut, Staples, Smith & Watkins. With the top two series contenders out front in the shape of Honda pilots Ryder and Staples it looked all set for a showdown for the overall and the series lead but disaster struck midway through for Staples as he lost the use of the leftside foot peg with it dangling down, forcing him to have to nurse it home on a very technical track that was getting rougher and rougher by the lap. Smith was the first to go through followed by fellow KTM pilot Condiut and Watkins,but rather than sinking through the field the experienced Staples actually went back past Watkins to claim 4th at the flag behind Ryder Smith and Condiut.
With the overall going to Ryder, Staples ended up 4 points further back in 2nd, incredibly the same points lead he took into the 5th round means the Honda pair are tied on 719 points as they head to Condover a week Sunday. Condiut is just 19 points further back in 3rd and Smith a further 23 points back in 4th.
The traditional old school layout at Walterstone seemed to suit many of the experienced riders in both championship classes and both line ups didn't disappoint the crowd putting on a superb spectacle with some tense tight racing all day in the tough dry humid conditions. The series finale at Condover looks set to be a thriller, don't miss it!
In support classes, Stormer Suzuki pilot Scott Williams took an impressive maximum in the MX2 Experts with James Lane following him home with 3 2nd places and Kieran Mulloy collecting a hat trick of 3rds. In the MX1 Experts Simon Lane pipped Craig Badman to the overall with David Jones following them home in 3rd. Sam Danahar topped a competitive MX2 Senior class following a day long tussle with second place Matt Alford with Chad Prosser filling the final podium spot. Richard Caddick topped the MX1 Seniors from Craig Newton with Chris Wainwright rounding out the top 3.
MX2 Juniors was won by Grant Jones, with fellow home club member Harvey Powell in second and George Lovell 3rd. MX1 Juniors were won by Raglan's Kevin Lewis with Ben Swambo in second and Johnno Williams 3rd.
The Inter Juniors saw an overall win for Kyle Hall with Tom Watson 2nd and Conor Brookes just squeezing out Tom Mumford for 3rd.
Words by Peter Reed
Results
