Worcester MXC at Tirley

Written by MIKE WOOD Wednesday, 08 June 2011 00:00

The Worcester MXC returned to their hillside track at Tirley on Sunday, with a very good turnout of riders all eager for the first round of the Wessex / South Wales Championship. However, the weather was against them as what started as intermittent light showers turned into something heavier by lunchtime and eventually caused the meeting to be stopped short after two blocks of racing.

The MX1 Juniors started the day’s action, and it was a start to finish win for Jonathan Hampshire. Alex Merefield had moved very quickly through from fifth on the first lap to follow him home in second place, with Michael O’donnell taking third after a hectic battle with Martyn Clinton, Nigel Birkett and Jonathan Williams. Race two saw both Hampshire and Merefield having to work their way through a number of riders to catch early leader Dave Jones. Merefield hit the front first and started to gap the rest of the field. Hampshire got through to second by the halfway point and started to reel the leader in, with Daniel Vernall Smith heading the rest of the field behind him. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race, Hampshire was unable to catch Merefield by the end of the race, leaving the two riders tied on points with the verdict going to Merefield thanks to his higher second race finish. Nigel Birkett took third overall with a couple of fourth place rides on the day.

The MX2 Seniors were next, with Michael Croudace getting the holeshot, followed by Ryan Waterhouse and Ryan Davies. Davies quickly moved past Waterhouse and set off after Croudace, passing him on the next lap to take the lead and started to pull away. He was able to control the race from the front to take the win, with Croudace settling for second. Meanwhile, the battle for third was heating up, with Danny Finch, Paul Bennett and Rikki English all working their way past Waterhouse to fight for the last podium spot. Finch looked to have done just enough when he was past by both Bennett and English on the final lap, with Bennett getting the spot. The second race saw the rain starting to come down and turn the track into an ice rink. Davies lead the first lap before falling victim to the slippery conditions and dropped back to mid-pack, and although he fought back up to third, he was out of the race on lap five. Finch also suffered and was left right at the back of the field after the first lap and was not able to make much progress throughout the race. Croudace seemed to like the conditions though, and after a cautious start, passed Bennett for the lead and was never really challenged for the win. Bennett crossed the line in second, with Lewis Allen the best of the rest in third. This gave Croudace his first overall win in the MX2 Seniors class, with Bennett second and English in the third after a couple of solid fourth place finishes.

Tom Guilding won the MX2 Experts class, taking both wins in what were a couple of very close races. In the first moto, Joseph Meachin made his way past Mike Woolf for second place in the early stages and started to put pressure on Guilding – but he was never able to get closer than a couple of seconds behind him. In moto two, Guilding again lead from the start, with Woolf in close pursuit, but a small error on the second lap dropped Woolf to the back of the pack and allowed Leigh Martin, Adrian Phelpstead and Lee Chiswell through. By the end of the race, Woolf had fought his way back to third but was too far back to challenge Martin who took second place. Martin’s good second race result saw him take third overall, with Woolf’s brace of third places giving him second, behind Guilding’s well deserved first place.

The MX2 Juniors over 18 saw Stephen Guest take both wins on the day, although Chris Power kept him honest in the first race and was ready to take advantage of any mistakes. Power backed it off in the second race, choosing to settle for a fourth place finish in the slippery conditions which was enough to give him second overall on the day. Martyn Clinton finished a distant third in race one, but a DNF in race two on the final lap meant the final podium step was up for grabs. This was tied on points between Daniel Lovell and Ben Ridler, as both riders had finished fifth and sixth over the two races, but Lovell took the prize as he had scored the higher finish in the final race. The under 18 Juniors saw Sam Mumford take the class with a very strong ride, getting a first and second over the two races. Race one saw a very close battle between Josh Morris, Josh Bishop and Karl Gaulder – with Morris just beating Bishop across the line. Race two saw only five finishers, with Sean Wyndow taking full advantage of the treacherous conditions to win by almost a minute from Mumford, with Harry James the only other rider on the same lap in third. Those strong race two finishes were enough to give Wyndow second and James third overall, which was just reward for their efforts in the second race.

The Inter Juniors saw Zak Watkins take another overall win, but he had to settle for a second place finish in the wet race two as even he fell victim to the conditions, and David Fellows recovered from a race one DNF to win the final moto. Grant Jones put on another solid display, getting a second and a third to take second overall, with Josh Gethin getting third at the end of the day.

The first MX1 Seniors race was cut short due to crash on the far downhill section bringing out the red flag. We had seen a great battle developing between Scott Carter and Paul Woolf, with Woolf getting past early leader Carter, but neither rider being able to make a break. Sam Nicholas was classed as third when the race was stopped. Race two saw Nicholas out on lap three, and Woolf make a mistake early on and having to fight his way back through the field. Carter had hit the front at the start, but was pushed very hard in the early laps by Darren Davies. However, Marriott Pinder seemed to love the conditions, and took full advantage of his fourth place on lap one to get through to second on lap five and then challenge for the lead. With another lap, he would probably have caught Carter, but had to settle for second in the end. This gave the overall win to Carter, with Woolf in second and Darren Davies just taking third overall from Pinder.

The opening MX1 Experts race saw another incredible display of riding from the Lanes brothers. Simon Lane got the start, with Mark Bayliss in second and James Lane in third – but James quickly moved past Mark and set about his brother for the lead. The pass happened on lap two, and then they both pulled away from the rest of the group, winning by a margin of over forty seconds over third place, although the brothers were never more than a second apart. Third place saw a great battle between Bayliss and Darren Marklove, with Bayliss just holding him off at the flag. Race two saw another win for James, but it was a real scrap involving Simon and Aran Agius. Although the Lanes brothers held first and second for most of the race, Aran managed to get past Simon for second and even got past James to lead the race going into the final lap. However, with a fantastic display of skilful riding in the very difficult conditions, James forced his way past Aran to take the win by just over a second, with Simon a couple of seconds back in third. This gave James the overall, with Simon second and a tie in third between Bayliss and Agius, with the result going to Agius after his stunning second in moto 2.

It was a huge shame that the meeting had to be cancelled at the end of the second block. Stephen Maile and the whole of the Worcester club had put a massive amount of work into preparing the track, but safety has to come first and the decision was made that it was too dangerous to continue.

David Richards (www.mxdave.com)

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