Reports Stourbridge MXC Moto-Duro
Written by MIKE WOOD Friday, 04 March 2011 00:00
Sunday 27th February saw the Stourbridge MX club hold the first of a six round Moto-Duro championship in calaboration with the BlackHeath club. The two clubs will promote three rounds each,and praise must go to the handful of Stour faithful who had to work overtime to stage the opening round after being forced at midweek to make a very late change of venues from Menith Wood to Iron Bridge Off road centre, this round was sponsored by Yamaha Schools.
The decision to lay out a simple but challenging course due to the really wet claggy conditions and heavy rain on the morning, turned out to be a wise move. At 10.55am,riders made their way up to the start, engines were warmed. Mr starter ( Paul Hipkin) told the riders to cut the engines and five seconds later,out went the shout ,up went the flag, riders kicked their machines into life and the action was underway.One man who didnt need his electric start button was number 130 Lee Kelly taking off like a scalded cat followed by Steve Ferney, Tom Crump and Yamaha Schools rider Craig Chamberlain, followed by the rest of the chasing pack. Next lap around and Crump was the leader followed by Kelly, Chamberlain, but it wasn’t going to be Lee Kelly`s day with a cylinder head actually breaking in half!!. As the race wore on things got interesting with Crump and Chamberlain swapping places although the leaderboard was to change again as Pete Simmons charged through to take the win with Crump in 2nd and Chamberlain having to settle for 3rd.
In the second Experts race,new rider Alex Green got a stonking start on his immaculate KTM only to be quickly passed by Jamie Dobson.Unfortunately, Jamie was to then crash out,hitting a tree when his front wheel tucked under him. Yamaha Schools Chamberlain saw his chance and took full advantage to not only earn the race win but also the overall verdict with 80`s AMCA star Garry Skelding in 2nd,Moto-duro Supremo Steve Ferney 3rd and Alex Green 4th.
In the Seniors Jonathon Gaunt, Nigel Thompson and David ( Teme Valley) Morris were fighting for top spot, with Steve Westwood also showing a wheel or two in the mix.The overall win was to go to went to Jonathon Gaunt ahead of Nigel Thomas 2nd and David Morris 3rd.
The Clubman class were next which saw the largest entry of the day. Adam Saunders was flying with a win in both legs and sure to be a big favourite to take the Clubman Championship.Second overall Thomas Hibberd was chasing really hard and took 2nd overall with Richard Williams 3rd.In his first race,Williams recorded a great 3rd place finish after earlier suffering from a fouled spark plug.Iin race two,despite feeling the effects of his earlier great comeback,Richard still finished a brave 4th,thats determination for you!!.
Thanks goes to the Saint Johns Ambulance, Iron Bridge Off Road Centre and (Barry Johnson) Yamaha Schools for sponsoring this round.Anyone interested in sponsoring any of the remaining five rounds are asked to please contact Lee Kelly on 07724796746, email
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thanks to friends and family who have put a lot of time and effort into staging this event.
Report by Steve Hipkin Photo supplied by Kirstyne Wooldridge
