Teme Valley at Boraston

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

Chris Czora reports on the Teme Valley meeting at Boraston on Sunday,19th June whilst Basil Lello provides the images.

The popular circuit at Boraston, South Shropshire has been a mainstay on the AMCA calendar for over 25 years, and on Sunday the circuit was in action as Teme Valley welcomed the South Shropshire group. The fast, undulating circuit is popular with both riders and spectators, and Sunday was no exception with full gates in many classes and a packed car park.

Despite the dry, sunny weather there was remarkably little watering carried out prior to the event, although an innovative sprinkler system kept dust at bay in the twisty woodland sections. Despite the circuit ending up quite dusty it was by no means dangerous, with the club having a water bowser on hand to tackle the worst of the dust.

There was a new addition to the programme on Sunday, as Teme Valley staged a Veterans race. The class was well received with a full gate of riders, and some spectacular racing on offer, none more so than from David Livesey and Graham Nickin. The AMCA Veterans championship aces battled for the lead across the three races, with little separating the two riders. The opening two races saw Nicklin get better starts than his rival Livesey, but Livesey looked the stronger rider, and was able to pass Nicklin to secure the opening two race wins, en route to overall victory. However Livesey was denied a clean sweep of wins as Nicklin, who currently leads the Veterans championship, managed to snatch the final race win as he secured second overall. Whilst KTM mounted Robin Davies rarely challenged at the front, some fast starts set him apart from the rest of the pack, with a comfortable third overall, following the leading duo home in each of the three races.

As usual Expert action was fast and furious, with the day's racing being opened by the MX2 Experts. Wrekin's Brad Tranter is currently the in-form rider in the South Shropshire region, and after taking a comfortable win from Burntwood's Dean Swift in the opening encounter, it seemed Tranter would have things all his own way. However Swift fought back in the second race, taking the win as Tranter battled back from a poor start, the highlight of which was an exciting scrap with Bradley Tranter and Steven Owen, Owen holding Tranter off for much of the race until Tranter made a late pass to secure second and tie on points with Swift going into the final race. The third race saw Tranter show his form to take another win from Swift and secure the overall, Swift taking a deserved second. Lewis Bagnall rode well all afternoon, with three third places giving the Bridgnorth rider third overall.

MX1 Expert action began with a close battle between Sam Hyde and Shaun Pearce, with the two championship riders having a close battle for the lead. Hyde managed to hold Pearce off for the opening win, but that was as good as it got for Hyde, mixed results later in the day meaning he had to settle for fifth overall. Pearce moved things up a notch later in the day, the Cressage rider taking two wins to secure the overall win. AMCA championship stalwart James Lane followed him home in the final two races to secure second overall, whilst two third places for Nathan Phillips in the last two races meant he snatched third overall.

There was some exciting action in the MX1 Seniors, with a full gate of riders, and the overall in doubt right until the end of the final race. Ray Lewis and Anthony Halpin took the first and second race wins respectively, but inconsistent finishes in other races meant neither made the top 10 overall. Druids Mark Lello made a late dash for the overall, after only managing 12th in the first race, he took a brilliant final race win, which coupled with a second in race two, gave him a comfortable overall win. Second place Paul Mitchell and third Sam Weatherstone could manage no better than a third over their three races, but as rivals fell by the wayside, their consistency paid dividends over the three races.

MX2 Seniors saw form rider Roger Lovatt take two race wins in the final two races, however a poor result in the opening race handed the initiave to fellow Druids rider Rory Jones. Sporting the Travis Pastrana trademark number '199', Jones took a superb opening race win, and despite following Lovatt home in the next two races, he was able to secure the overall win Lovatt taking second. Shrewsbury's Will Harrison continues to improve, two thirds and a fourth meant he added to his trophy collection with third overall.

Juniors were split into two unlimited groups, and in a very rare occurrence, two riders shared the spoils across both groups. Teme Valley's Mitch Gray was unstoppable in both classes, taking an incredible clean sheet of six wins to win both groups one and two. His wins however were by no means easy as Wrekin's Jack Tompkins pushed Gray very hard throughout the afternoon, with at times some close finishes. Tompkins took two second place finishes in both Group One and Group Two as he took a brace of second overall finishes. Third overall in Group One was Liam Chilston, whilst Matthew Foster took third overall in Group Two.

The Inter Junior class was very clear cut, with the same three riders finishing in the same one-two-three order across the three races. Daniel Earle was unstoppable, showing some very impressive speed to take a clean sweep of wins en route to the overall. Rob Keightley chased hard on his way to second overall, whilst Harry Pritchard took three third en route to third overall. Continuing the theme of consistency was Jameal Stancer, despite only managing fifth in all three races, the consistent finishes meant he snatched fourth overall.

Report by Chris Czora and images by Basil Lello

Basil Lello (www.druidsmotox.co.uk)

Results