Llantrisant MXC at Cwms Farm

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

The AMCA Wessex and South Wales season roared back into life on Sunday, after the previous week’s racing was cancelled due to bad weather. The Llantrisant club hosted the meeting at the Cwms Farm track in Merthyr for the first time, and the day provided some very close racing action. The surface was wet for practice, but this soon started to dry out for the racing, leaving near perfect track conditions as all three blocks of racing were completed without any incidents.

The Experts classes were dominated by the Clintons – Barrs in the MX1 and Thomas in the MX2. No-one could get close to Barrs all day, as he raced to the front of the pack each time and then controlled the pace from there to take all three wins. Andrew Watkins was on the podium each moto to take second overall, with Christian Dicks taking third. The only other rider to mount the podium in the MX1 class was Robert Lewis in race two. In the MX2 class, Thomas didn’t bother to back off once in front, and won races one and two by huge margins, only seeming to relax in little bit in race three. Lee Chiswell recovered from a poor first race which saw him never really recover from a bad start, to take second in the other races for second overall. Leigh Martin clinched third overall after posting top three finishes all day.

It was situation normal in the Inter Junior class, as Zak Watkins once again took all three race wins with no-one putting him under any sort of pressure at all. Grant Jones placed second in each race and Joshua Gethin was third each time out. It will be very interesting to see how these three riders develop once they move up into the under 18 Junior class and how quickly they dominate that class.

The final perfect score of the day went to Luke Jones in the MX2 Juniors over 18 class, posting lap times that would have placed him at the sharp end of the MX2 Seniors class. There were some fierce battles behind him for the rest of the places, with race one seeing Adam Fowler and Lee Thomas just holding off Jamie Fennel and Chris Power for second and third, with only 4 seconds splitting this riders at the flag. Power recovered to take second in races two and three for second overall with Lee Thomas finishing third each time for third on the day.

In the MX2 Juniors under 18’s, Benjamin Prosser looked set for an overall podium finish after posting a third and sixth in the previous races, however he took a nasty looking tumble towards the end of the final moto whilst fighting with his younger brother Chad. Thankfully he was able to walk away from the crash, but his chance of the podium was gone. Billy Johnson won the class, winning races one and three but was denied a clean sweep by Sam Mumford, who just beat him across the line in race two and clinched second overall from Joshua Jones in third.

The MX1 Juniors had some very close racing, with five riders fighting for the overall podium. Jonathan Williams, Jonathon Evans, Nigel Birkett, Daniel Vernall Smith and James Price were the riders in contention. Race one saw Williams take the win from Vernall Smith in second and Price in third with only eight seconds covering the top five. Race two saw Evans just win from Williams in second and Price in third, with Vernall Smith unable to match his earlier pace and finishing sixth. Race three and Price dropped out of the running on lap five whilst holding third place, ruining his chance of an overall podium. Williams got his revenge on Evans, beating him across the line to take the win and giving him the overall victory, although second in this moto was enough to give Evans second overall. Vernall Smith again struggled, only managing to come home fifth which gave him 142 points which looked like it would be enough for third overall, but Birkett had been improving all day, placing fifth in race one, fourth in race two and third in race three – which also gave him 142 points and thanks to his higher race three finish, gave him third overall.

Scott Carter pulled off a great win in the first race of the MX1 Seniors, but was not able to match this performance again for the rest of the day. His victory denied Ryan Jones a clean sweep, as Jones took the wins in motos two and three to win the class. Sam Nichols posted a very consistent third, second, second to take second overall. Gareth Stevens had a strong finish to the day, grabbing a brace of third places, but was just short of third overall by a single point – this went to Carter, who thanks to that great start, was able to get the final podium spot.

It was a frustrating day for Ryan Davies in the MX2 Seniors class. In the first race, he won a thrilling battle with Jordan Davies to take victory – but was very unlucky for the rest of day, as he crashed out of the lead in both races at the same corner, losing the front end on a tight right hander heading back towards the main spectator area. Lewis Allen was the man who was putting the pressure on Ryan in race two to force the error and went on to take victory in races two and three and the overall win. Jordan Davies built on his first race result and racked up a solid set of podium finishes to take second overall. Michael Croudace bounced back from an unusually low eighth in race one, to get a fourth in race two and second in the final moto. This left him tied on points with Ryan Davies for third, but Croudace got the verdict thanks to his higher final race placing.

Many thanks to Lindsay Hanley and the rest of the Llantrisant MXC, who put a fantastic meeting together, with the event running like clockwork, even though it was their first time at the Cwms Farm circuit.

David Richards (www.mxdave.com)

Results