Worcester MXC at Tirley

Written by MIKE WOOD Tuesday, 17 May 2011 00:00

The Worcester club returned to their track at Tirley for the second time this year for the latest round of the Wessex / South Wales AMCA season. A new technical section had been added to the course, giving a lap that provided a good mix of some very fast flowing sections, some tricky off-camber sections, jumps and a rhythm section – all of which provided some very close racing for the spectators that gathered to watch.

In the MX2 Experts group, Ben Saunders was untouchable all day putting together three faultless rides to give him a maximum score. The rest of the class suffered some very mixed fortunes, as no-one was able to put together a consistent string of results. Dan Young and Adrian Phelpstead grabbed 2^nd and 3^rd in the first race after a fierce battle, but those were their only finishes for the rest of the day. Race two saw Ashley Dangerfield 2nd with Jason Randall 3^rd, whilst race three had Randall move up a place to 2^nd with Nathan Smith following in 3^rd. This gave an overall finish of Saunders from Randall from Smith.

The MX1 Experts were also won with a perfect score, as Mark Bayliss took all three race wins. Rob Prosser and Paul Maile completed the first podium, with Anthony Mapp and Matthew Rudd just holding off Prosser in the 2^nd race and the final race saw Ricky Chamberlain take 2^nd from Prosser in 3^rd with Mapp in 4^th – which all meant that it was Rob Prosser and Anthony Mapp that joined Mark Bayliss on the podium at the end of the day.

The Inter Juniors group saw a fierce battle between John Collins and David Fellows. Collins took the first win after he timed getting through some back markers perfectly, giving Fellows no chance to pip him at the line. David took his revenge in race two as he finished three quarters of a lap in front of Collins, after some rain had fallen just before the start of this race and turned the surface very slippery. This gave them a 1st and 2^nd each, so race three was to be the decider. Fellows had the advantage on the early laps, but Collins was not to be denied his overall and fought his way past and made it stick with just 3 laps remaining and held on to take the final win. Kyle Hall had taken 3^rd in the first race, but Stacey Phillips recovered from a race one DNF to take 3^rd in races two and three. Kyle followed her across the line each time though, which still gave him enough points for 3^rd overall on the day.

Over in the MX1 Seniors, Scott Carter stamped his authority on the group by taking all three race wins. He had to fight for them though, as both Ryan Jones and Daniel Urbain kept him honest and both were ready to capitalise on any errors he made. These two riders locked the podium out between them, only allowing Marc Millard a 3^rd in race two and Jake Chamberlain a 3^rd in race three. In the MX2 Seniors, Ryan Flew was on track for a perfect score after winning races one and two, but he had to fight through from the back of the pack in race three and could only get to 5^th when the flag came out. Paul Bennett took full advantage of this, and added a race three win to his earlier 3^rd and 2^nd places which gave him 2^nd overall, just missing the overall win by a single point. Jonathon Randall took 3^rd overall, with a solid 2^nd, 4^th and 2^nd on the day. Unluckiest rider of the day has to go to Michael Croudace, who was leading all three races until misfortune struck in the latter stages.

The MX1 Juniors group was won by Jonathan Williams, who was denied three wins by Guy Oakley in race two. Oakley’s 4^th, 1^st and 2^nd clinched 2^nd on the day for him, just in front of Nigel Birkett who took 3^rd overall with a 3^rd, 5^th and a 3^rd. The Over 18 MX2 Junior races saw Luke Jones triumph on the day, after a race one 2^nd was followed up by two race wins. Darren Savage took 2^nd overall from Philip Mason in 3^rd – both riders having scored a couple of top three finishes plus a 4^th during the course of the day.

The closest racing of the day was over in the Under 18 MX2 class. Connor Poole started his day in style, taking a convincing victory in race one, followed by Bradley Davis and Matthew Davies. However, a poor start in race two saw him having to fight his way through the pack, and by the end of the race, he was up to 2^nd behind Joshua Morris, who took the win after a 4^th place in the earlier race, with Joshua Bishop coming home in 3^rd. This gave Connor the points lead going into the final race – could this be his first elusive overall win? It looked good at the start of the race, as an error on lap two dropped Morris behind Poole, but then on the next lap it was Poole’s turn to make an error, dropping him several places behind Morris. Over the remaining laps, Poole climbed his way back towards the front of the pack, but at the flag he was only in 4^th place. Matthew Davies had placed 3^rd, with Morris in 2^nd and Joel Curtis just hanging on to take the win. This left Poole and Morris tied on points, but the overall went to Morris by virtue of his higher placing in the final moto, with a heart broken Poole 2^nd and Matthew Davies in 3^rd. Could the race next week at Upton see Connor finally take that overall win?

Many thanks go to Stephen Maile and the rest of the Worcester club, who put on a fantastic day of racing. A lot of work had gone into preparing the track and adding the new technical section by the finish line.

Report and images by Dave Richards

David Richards (www.mxdave.com)

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