Stratford Pyramids at Weatheroak Hill

Written by MIKE WOOD Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:00

Rain on Saturday and cloud on Sunday should have made for excellent racing conditions as Stratford Pyramids staged their second event of the season at Weatheroak Hill near Redditch over the weekend.Although conditions proved to be dusty by the end of the day, the quality of racing was terrific as the club ran 24 races with no stoppages, around the small but intense track.

Weatheroak Hill is a racers track where picking the right line is everything and there were plenty of very close races with tight competition.The event pulled in a good entry and the club was able to stage an extra race for Veteran riders, over 40. This is only possible if the entry is strong across all classes as the Vets are made up of over 40 riders irrespective of their class. It is the only opportunity for Juniors to mix it up with Senior and Expert riders and it worked really well.

Startford’s own MX1 Expert Neil Corbett was out in front for most of the first Vets race, leading by a country mile, until he tangled with the ropes just five yards from the finish flag and watched as the field streamed past him. He did eventually take third overall while Tim Sabine took second place but it was Paul Kroner of Avon Sporting who again took the overall win.

Stratford rider Jamie Wilson restored club pride with a solid performance in the MX1 Expert class to finish first overall ahead of Adam Casteldine and Sam Kirby. Avon Sporting struck back in the MX2 Expert class as Robert Clark won all three races and nailed the overall win ahead of Chris Hill who took three second spots and Adam Constable, who eventually finished in third.

The MX1 Senior class was dominated by John Foster, who was untouchable in all three races but Martin Groves gave his all to take second spot, tussling with Viktors Vavilovs in third for most of the day. Jack Smith’s win in the MX2 Seniors, followed by Mark Paterson and Dan Handley gave the host club a 1-2-3 result.

Michael Collins recovered his composure following an opening race hiccup to go on to win the next two races and take the MX1 Juniors overall win. Just three points separated Michael Browning in second spot and Aron Smith in third. Cannock’s Grant Harrison blitzed the MX2 Juniors with three straight wins and top spot at the end of the day as Sam Clark narrowly beat Tom Trawford to second place.

A sparse Inter Juniors class was won by Coalville’s Jack Beniston ahead of Josh Wharton and William Morris, they may have been down on numbers but they raced as if there was a full gate – flat out over each race.

Stratford Pyramids always run a good show and this event was no different. The ground was hard-packed and it was dusty at times, something the club will address in the future but it was hard to see the dust problem arising following the amount of rain in the area over the week preceding the event.

Report and pics by Tim Tighe

Tim & Vanessa Tighe (www.foto-x.co.uk)

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