Reports Dursley MXC at Nympsfield
Written by MIKE WOOD Thursday, 12 May 2011 00:00
The DursleyMXC opened there 2011 season on Sunday,8th May with a truly bumper entry.The super Nympsfield circuit was the venue and Mark Hicks was on hand to cover the action for us whilst Dave Richards produced the report!!.To view more of Mark's images,go to www.motoxphotos.net.
Any worries the riders had about Nympsfield being dusty where washed away with the downpours of rain we had during Saturday, and as the Experts lined up to kick off the first practice session of the day, the track conditions were perfect. This event had proven very popular, with all the blocks being full (the meeting was actually oversubscribed) and those lucky enough to have made the entry list enjoyed a fantastic days racing, providing some thrilling action for the spectators that lined the circuit.
The Experts Group One started the days racing, and it was Matthew Chaplin that had the early pace. However, he was soon caught and passed by Gary Brown and Zeb Rhodes and these two pulled away from the chasing pack which was led by a hard charging Mike Woolf, who had shot from 10th to 3rd in two laps. Matthew Hitchman recovered from a first lap position of 9th to make his way to 4th with three laps to go, but was unable to close the gap to the top three – so at the flag it was Brown, from Rhodes from Woolf. Race two was another victory for Gary Brown, but it took him half the race to fight his way passed Scott Brown to get to the front. Zeb Rhodes’ challenge ended on lap three when he was forced to retire from the race whilst running in 3rd, leaving Mike Woolf to take the place and set about attacking Scott. On lap five, Woolf found his way through and as the race finished it was Gary Brown, from Woolf from Scott Brown with Hitchman in 4th again. Race three, and it was a start to finish win for Gary Brown to give him a hat trick and overall victory on the day. There was a real battle behind him, as Woolf and Hitchman fought it out for 2nd place. Matthew held the advantage for the early laps, but he was closed down and then passed by Mike, but the gap between them was close all the way to the finish. As the race ended it was Gary Brown first across the line, with Mike Woolf second and Matthew Hitchman third – which was also how the overall results on the day stood as well.
The MX2 Seniors were next group out, and this was a group that was blown wide open with a very erratic set of results. Scott Thompson won the first race and grabbed 3rd in race two, but he was caught in a first corner pile up in race three which broke his clutch lever, leaving him in no position to go for the overall win – although his earlier strong rides still got him 3rd overall. Mark Tooth had won race two after placing 5th in race one, but a crash in the final race also robbed him of the chance of the overall win, leaving him in 4th at the end of the day. So it was Curtis Mears who came through to the win, recovering from a 9th in race one, getting second in race two and winning the final MX2 Seniors race of the day. Second overall went to Nathaniel Morton, who scored a 4th, 5th and 7th to just hold off Thompson for 2nd on the day.
The Inter Juniors class was dominated by two riders – Zak Watkins won all three races to take the overall, with Aaron Hardiman following him home in each race for 2nd in class. The real fight was for the final podium spot, and this was between John Collins and Elliot Woodward. After the first two races, each rider had scored a 3rd and a 4th – so it all came down to who had the better result in the final race. Elliot had his work cut out for him, after leaving line right at the back of the field, but by the end of the first lap he had already carved his way through half of the riders to be in 14th place. John had moved from 5th on lap one to 3rd by lap three, whilst Elliot was now just two places behind him. Going into the final lap, and Elliot was now in 4th and closing in on John, but Elliot responded with his fastest lap of the race, and was just able to hold Collins off as they crossed the line – meaning John Collins grabbed the last podium spot by just three points.
The closest racing of the day was provided by two of the Junior classes, with the winners being tied on points and having to be decided by the highest score in the final moto. In the MX1 Juniors, only five points separated the top four riders. Ian Griffiths was 4th in class, despite having won the 1st race and then placing 6th and 4th. Sean Mckenzie just held Ian off for 3rd overall by one point, with a very consistent 2nd, 4th and 3rd. The tie-break was between Daniel Clarke and Ross Maraffi, with both riders scoring 155 points after three hard battles. Ross had scored a 2nd in race one, was the winner in race two but could only manage a 5th in race three – which meant Clarke took the overall without winning a race by scoring a 4th, 2nd and a 2nd in the final session. The MX2 Juniors were the other tied Group, with Ashley Rymer and Dean Partridge both on 164 points after getting a win, a 2nd and a 3rd each – however it was Rymer’s final race win which gave him the victory over Partridge. The fight for the 3rd podium place was almost as tight, with just one point splitting the next three riders – and although Martin Boseley crossed the line behind Michael Nunn and Adam Fowler in the final race, he had done just enough to secure 3rd overall.
In the MX2 under 18 Juniors, Luke Smith made a great start to his day by just beating Jack Hawkins to win the first race, but a problem at the start of the final race left him at the back of the field and he was never able to mount a challenge to get into the bigger points. Michael Chapman recovered from a 4th in race one, to win motos two and three, which was enough to clinch the overall for him. There was a real battle between Jack, Connor Poole and Jon Hoppner for the other two spots on the podium. Both Connor and Jon upped their game in the final race, but they couldn’t quite close the points gap on Jack, who took advantage of his stronger earlier race results to just hold onto the second step of the podium, with Connor placing 3rd.
There were two more perfect scores on the day – Robert Lewis was untouchable in the Experts Group Two races, as no one could get anywhere near his pace and he romped to three apparently easy wins. Andrew Watkins took 2nd overall, with a couple of 2nd place finishes and a 4th. Adam Savage was 3rd, but he did it the hard way with a couple of very impressive rides through the pack in the first two races. The last perfect 180 score was from MX1 Senior rider Glyn Thomas, who was also in a league of his own on the day. Richard Collins looked like he could have challenged Glyn, but his racing for the day was over after a DNF in race two. Matthew Evens bounced back from a 6th in race one to get two 2nd places which clinched 2nd overall with Mark Dudley taking a hard fought 3rd overall with some great rides through the field
Congratulations must go to Betty Sams and the Dursley MX Club for putting on such a great meeting. Everything ran very smoothly and all three blocks of racing were completed. A special thanks must go to Lawson Benjamin who spent many hours working on grading the track over the last couple of weeks, which resulted in a fantastic surface and gave so many riders one of the best days racing they have had in a while on one of the best circuits in the North Avon / South Gloucestershire group.
Report by Dave Richards and images by Mark Hicks
Results
