Worcester MXC at Tirley

Written by MIKE WOOD Wednesday, 31 August 2011 00:00

It was the final race of the season for the Worcester motocross club at their Tirley track, and with many of the surrounding areas not running on Sunday, all the groups were bolstered with a good selection of out of centre riders. As an extra incentive, Rhino Goo were on hand offering holeshot prizes for each race.

Once the practice sessions had been run, the MX1 Juniors kicked off the racing. Race one saw a fantastic scrap develop between Edward Date, Wayne Vance and Allan Biggs which took a couple of laps to get going, but then ran for the rest of the race – and saw only three seconds cover them as they crossed the line. Race two saw Justin Brooks make up for a disastrous race one, as he lead from start to finish – although Biggs was there to keep pressure on him all race long and only just missed the win by a fraction of a second, with Date coming home a distant third. Race three saw Date set the early pace, but Brooks soon fought his way passed taking Biggs with him, and these two then broke away from the rest of the field. Despite trying his hardest, Biggs could not find his way past, again crossing the line less than a second behind Brook. Date finished third again, but this was just enough to give him the overall by two points from Biggs, with Brooks taking third thanks to his fantastic recovery.

The MX2 Seniors saw Simon Aldridge dominate, taking all three race wins and being one of only two people who had perfect scores on the day. Danny Finch and Gavin Hickman kept him honest during each of the races, but neither could get close enough to mount a serious threat. Finch was best of the rest, being on the podium for each race giving him second overall. Ryan Davies took third on the day, recovering from a seventh in race one, to post a fourth and a third. The other perfect score went to Daniel Ward in the Juniors unlimited, who romped to three easy wins, taking each race with a comfortable margin over the rest of the field. Ben Newby and Jason Davies locked out the rest of the podium all day between them, each having a second and a third going into the final moto. Newby got the better start, meaning that by the time Davies had made his way into third the gap was too big to close, giving Newby the higher finish and second overall.

The Inter Juniors saw the closest finish of the day, with only 14 points splitting John Collins, Ross Jones and Aaron Hardiman going into the final race. Collins took the lead from the start and set about trying to put a gap between himself and the rest of the field. Jones started second, but was soon under attack from Hardiman, with Hardiman getting past on lap three and then setting off after Collins. Starting the final lap, Collins seemed to have just enough of a gap over Hardiman to control the pace, but coming into the final chicane they caught a back marker, causing them both to stop and turning the end of the race into a drag to the line. Collins just got the better line through the rhythm section, giving him the win and the overall over Hardiman, with Jones finishing third.

The MX1 Experts saw home rider Simon Lane take the overall, with two wins and a second. It looked like it was going to be a Lane 1-2, with brother James having already posted a win and a second, but a puncture in the final race whilst running at the front put paid to any chance of an overall podium. Christian Dicks put together a solid set of results to bag second overall, with Darren Marklove just beating Mark Bayliss in the final moto to take third.

There were four riders in with a chance of taking the MX1 Seniors going into race three, with Ryan Thomas and John Card tied on points, with Mark Dudley and Lewis Stokes not far behind. However, Thomas had a disaster and was unable to complete a single lap. Card got past early race leader Colin Smith, but was then himself passed by home rider Stokes, who held the lead until lap six, when Dudley fought his way past and started to build up a buffer. Behind him, Stokes was under pressure from Card and managed to hold him off until two laps from the end when Card finally found a way through and set off after the leader. As the flag dropped, it was Dudley from Card from Stokes, and this is how the overall looked.

Will Abrams took the opening win in the Junior MX2 Class, with Harry James in second, but this was reversed in the following two motos. The rest of the field struggled to find consistent results, as Stephen Guest, Sam Taylor and Joshua Bishop all took a third place finishes but failed to match those scores across all three races. Karl Gaulder had already taken a couple of fourth places in the opening races and did just enough in the final leg with a ninth to give him third overall.

The MX2 Experts class saw some stunning racing as Ben Saunders and Paul Neale slugged it out. Saunders took the opening win with a comfortable margin over Neale in second place – who had left it until the last lap to find a way past Robert Clark. Race two saw Neale turn the tables on Saunders, getting the holeshot on the restarted race and just holding him at arms length for the whole of the race, both riders running a blistering pace that saw third place go to Clark again, over thirty seconds behind them. Race three saw another start to finish win for Neale, but this time he was able to put some space between himself and Saunders, with Clark again coming home a distant third.

Worcester finished their season off in style, with the many spectators that turned up to watch treated to some very close racing across some very full grids. Donna Kilpatrick and the rest of the Worcester MX club hosted a very well organised day and gave the riders a track that was perfectly prepared.

David Richards (www.mxdave.com)

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