Upton MXC at Longdon

Written by MIKE WOOD Tuesday, 05 July 2011 00:00

It was another clear blue sky that greeted riders and spectators alike, as we returned to the Upton club’s track at Longdon – although the gale force winds we’d had during our last visit were absent which made the huge drop-offs a little less precarious this time. The track had been graded and watered the day before, and practice soon swept any mud off the racing line leaving a near perfect surface for racing.

The MX1 Juniors were first out of the gate and Justin Brooks took all three race wins, although he was pushed hard in the first two races by Allan Biggs with just a very small gap separating them each time across the finish line. In the final race, it was Edward Date who challenged Brooks in the early stages, but then he had to defend his own position from a hard charging Jonathon Evans and settled for second place as the chequered flag dropped. This was enough to give Date third overall, behind Biggs and Brooks.

The MX2 Experts class were next out, and it was Ben Saunders and Scott Williams who dominated all three races, finishing well clear of the third place man each time and showing why they had both been chosen to represent Great Britain at the IMBA round held at Brookthorpe last week. Anthony Kahl joined them on the podium at the end of the day after posting a set of steadily improving results over the three motos to finish third behind Williams in second and Saunders in first.

Third block out were the over 18 MX2 Juniors, and it was another clean sweep for Chris Power who was victorious each time out – although he left it to the last lap of the last race to snatch his final win. There was a real battle behind him for the runner up places between Samuel Danaher and Stephen Guest. Going into the final race, Guest had the advantage with two second places, whilst Danaher had got a brace of thirds. These two were fighting for the lead when on lap three Danaher pushed Guest wide into one of the berms on the tight section of the track, causing him to stall and drop several places before he could get the bike started. Guest was able to fight his way back to fifth, but it meant that Danaher pipped him to second overall by a single point.

Other perfect scores on the day went to Zak Watkins in the Inter Junior class, and Duncan Kell in the MX2 Seniors. Watkins had to really fight for his race one victory, as it looked like John Collins had done enough to win it but Watkins found a way past with two laps left to go and was just able to hold Collins off for the win. Collins followed this up with two more podium finishes for second overall, with Lloyd Williams taking full advantage of other peoples inconsistencies to grab a second place finish in the final moto for third overall. Kell was able to keep out of trouble in his group to take the wins – but it seemed all the usual front runners in that class were tripping over each other, with no-one else able to string a consistent set of results together. In the end, Matthew Best came second overall with a seventh, fifth, third score card, with Lewis Allen third overall with a third, ninth, sixth.

Sam Mumford looked set to join the perfect score club in the under 18 MX2 Juniors, having already taken two wins in that class. However, Bradley Davis had other ideas, and was determined to make up for an error in race two which had seen him finish in eighth. Mumford and Davis fought hard in the opening couple of laps of the final moto, with the lead changing several times before Mumford seemed to settle for second, knowing this would still give him the overall. Meanwhile Joshua Jones backed up a solid couple of second places in the opening races with a fifth in race three for second overall, and Davis just got third thanks to his final race win. Get well soon Macauley Davis, who took a hard tumble in race two and broke his wrist.

Home rider Bruce Kell was flying in the MX1 Seniors class, having already taken two race wins, and was leading the final race when an error on lap two dropped him right down the leader board well outside of the top ten. Gareth Stevens took full advantage of the situation, as he had followed Kell across the line in races one and two and was just able to hold off Daniel Urbain for the win in race three. Kell was moving back up through the field, but dust was making overtaking difficult, and by the end of the moto he was only able to get up to eighth. This gave Stevens the overall, with Kell second and Urbain third.

Closest group of the day were the MX1 Experts, with just three points splitting the top three riders after all three races. Scott Donativo won the opening race and then followed this up with two second places, whilst Robert Lewis recovered from an error in the opening moto (which placed him seventh) with race wins in races two and three. However, it was Mark Bayliss who won the class, having finished second in all three races. Bayliss was consistent all day, leading for many of the laps before finally being beaten over the line each time. His score of 162 points gave him the overall, from Lewis on 161 points and Donativo with 160 points.

Congratulations go to Sarah Jane Pollock and the whole of the Upton Motosports Club, who yet again hosted a fantastic days racing. A lot of work was done on Saturday to grade and prepare the track, and with some additional watering during the day on Sunday the dust was kept to a minimum despite the dry weather we have had – with it only becoming a problem towards the end of the final block of racing.

David Richards (www.mxdave.com)

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