AMCA Superclass R1

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

In an exciting opening round of the 2011 AMCA Superclass Championship held at Enstone,Oxfordshire on Sunday,Lee Dunham,Richard Cannings and Clinton Barrs all bagged a moto win each to leave the title race wide open and guarantee a thrilling,nailbiting final meeting on April 17^th.

After three hotly contested races,Dunham and Cannings had finished level on 164 points apiece with the overall victory going to the latter,courtesy of his higher final moto placing whilst the last podium place went to Barrs.Also producing strong performances at Enstone were Jack Taylor,James Lane,Shane Holmes,Sean Frayne and Paul Neale.Although eventually finishing in 13^th spot, Neale’s final placing in round one would definitely have been much higher but for an unfortunate moment in the opening moto of the day when his fuel pipe came adrift!!.

With defending Superclass Champion Ben Saunders a surprise non-starter,it was to be Dunham who was to make a lightning holeshot in moto one and thus lead the pack away,followed by Taylor,Neale,Cannings,Rich Meakin,Barrs and J Lane.As Dunham smoothly controlled proceedings from gate to flag to thus take the first Championship win of the new season ahead of Taylor,there was plenty of excitement going on behind the front two.First Neale went out with that afore mentioned fuel pipe problem whilst Barrs after initially gating well downfield recovered to dramatically reel in Cannings in the battle for 3^rd.In a super final lap,the rapid Barrs then produced a daring mid-air pass on the Yorkshireman only for Cannings to cleverly then return the compliment and that’s the way it stayed!!.

Dunham again grabbed the holeshot in moto two,but in a frantic opening couple of laps,Cannings blasted his way through to then take control.In a super contest,Cannings and Dunham,lapping at an incredible pace,locked horns in the battle for leadership only to then also be joined at the front by a very determined Barrs.The super three way tussle for supremacy though was not the only excitement on offer as Neale,J Lane,Taylor and Frayne hotly disputed 4^th.On completion of a breathtaking contest,just a very narrow two seconds separated winner Cannings, Dunham and Barrs with Taylor moving through to earn 4^th ahead of Lane,Holmes and Frayne.Moto two proved to be a particularly painful encounter for Carl Benjamin when running over his own leg!!.

So in a tense final clash who would take the honours?.Well it was to be that man Barrs who was fastest away on this occasion followed by the very gallant Neale on his 250F Kawasaki with Cannings in 3^rd,Lane 4^th,Holmes 5^th and Dunham 6^th.Whilst Barrs stylishly stretched his advantage at the front,Neale dug deep for several laps until eventually being passed by first Cannings then Dunham.However Paul was still to take a super 4^th spot behind deserved winner Barrs,Cannings and Dunham but ahead of another tight battle featuring Holmes,Lane, Frayne and Taylor who had initially gated in 11^th.

Main supporting action for the Superclass was provided by the first leg of the 2011 AMCA MX1 Championship South qualifier with Jamie Dobson the favourite to take honours at Enstone and thus take a massive step towards booking his start place in the main AMCA series which kicks-off in May.After breaking his leg at Whitby last season,Dobson missed the remainder of the 2010 season and despite being a regular top ten finisher in the AMCA Championship was still forced to earn his place for 2011 by going through the qualifying process.However Jamie’s hopes of smooth progress were to suffer a major blow in moto one on Sunday when the battery on his 350cc KTM failed whilst leading.Bouncing back in style,Dobson did though still win both of the remaining races despite coming under pressure from eventual overall top two on the day,Dexter Marks and Joseph Barry.Indeed Barry was to produce arguably the ride of the meeting in the final moto.After crashing in a heavy collision in turn two,Barry picked himself up to brilliantly blast from last all the way back to 4^th spot!!.

In the Experts Unlimited class,victory was to go to home Faringdon MXC club member Kristofer Ayres ahead of Mike Woolf,Paul Kroner and Bradley Bird with the latter enjoying his first moto success since elevation into the Experts ranks.Damian O’Brien-Jones(2) and Thomas James took the moto wins in Seniors MX1,the overall verdict going to Jones whilst Luke Webb topped the Seniors MX2 ahead of Scott Thompson and Dave Tilling.

Two groups of Unlimited Juniors racing at Enstone resulted in overall wins for Daniel Neale and Jonathon Hoppner,the former bagging a very impressive maximum points score.Zachary Hackett won the opening two Inter Juniors moto’s but after being forced to settle for 4^th spot in the final clash of the day behind Elliot Woodward,Kyle Bullivant and Jed Stockham,he was relegated to 2^nd in the overall standings with the first place trophy going instead to a delighted Woodward.

This was the first event to be staged by the Faringdon and District MXC at Enstone,so well done to the club for getting it on and making it happen.Let’s hope there is plenty more to come of the exciting,close racing served up on Superclass Sunday!!.

Mike Wood (www.moto-action.co.uk)

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