Foxholes Race Report
Report by Kay Turner
Portsmouth MX Club
Round 2 Summer Championship
Images courtesy of Click466.co.uk
A bitterly cold March morning welcomed a mass of riders to the Foxholes circuit in Salisbury for Portsmouth MX Clubs second championship round, and with a few groups at full capacity, the action was sure to be non-stop from the off. The sun shone brightly and warmed up the day by lunchtime, making the day even more enjoyable.
Unbelievably, after all the rain the circuit had absorbed recently, dust was flying in the bigger groups by the second race. In the first AMX race, the “rookie” of the class, Rob Muscat stormed into the lead to bag the win with Mark Young hot in pursuit. Young couldn’t get into the lead in all three races although he tried exceptionally hard, but with other rides crashing out, he secured three second places and took home the overall win. Muscat was still in contention for another win, pushing Young, race two winner George Purchase and race three winner Jake Hassell all the way to the finish line, and with an additional two third places romped home in second overall. Even crashing hard, Hassell still managed to secure a third and fourth in the opening motos, but tasted a piece of victory in the final moto to lead from the drop of the gate, securing the win to finish in third overall. The Wildman Willis was on it from the off, once again straight into the leading pack, giving the youngsters a run for their money, finding extra speed to push even further up the leaderboard by the end of the day, he moved into sixth place to secure fourth overall. Wiping out in race one didn’t bode well for Gareth Padgett, who found himself trailing mid-pack. But come race two, he was back to his normal self, fighting his way at the front of the pack, finishing in fifth in both the remaining races to secure fifth overall. Kurt Freegard had a big off in the first race too, getting a bit too friendly with the tyres and found himself finishing just behind Padgett. But an impressive effort in the remaining races saw Freegard riding at his best, and a brilliant fourth in the last race ended his day on a high and he secured sixth overall.
Three different riders stamped their name on first place in the Senior class, but the final moto winner George Clarke did just enough to take home the overall victory. Constantly scrapping with Jordan Carrier, the two riders once again swapped places throughout the races, but Clarke was able to keep the lead in race three after Carrier crashed out. Race one winner Ross Churchill rode to victory with ease, and although he slipped down the race order in race two, he came fighting back in the final moto to move into third place to secure second place. Unable to keep hold of a win, Carrier still rode strongly, and had he not suffered a nasty crash in race three, could have easily secured the overall victory, with two second places in the opening motos. But a good battle with his fellow riders secured him third overall. A great performance from James Rutter saw him narrowly missing on a race win in the final moto, and should have placed much higher but dropping out of the top three in race two scuppered his chances of scoring highly. But a brilliant second in the final moto secured him fourth overall. Chae Jenkinson was hot on the heels of the leading trio in each race, straight to the front of the field as the gate dropped, but a mistake in race one saw him drop back to sixth place. But pushing hard in the remaining motos, he managed to storm into second place in the final moto, but getting pushed out on the final corner he had to settle for fourth place in both motos to secure fifth overall. Joshua Pitt was right in the thick of it too, straight into the top ten in race one, and gradually improved his results throughout the day until a determined effort in race three pushed him up to fifth place, finishing the day in sixth overall.
As soon as the gate dropped, Inter Open rider Josh Coleman shot straight into first place, remaining focused and making winning look too easy, he romped home to three straight victories and the overall win. Oliver McMurray made a welcome return back to his old club, and was hot in pursuit of Coleman in all three races, securing three second places to end the day in second overall. Newcomer Mitchell Miller definitely stamped his mark on the group, pushing his way into the top six from the off. A brilliant battle with Dylan Hodgkins saw Miller chasing him down in each moto, and with two brilliant fourths and a fifth secured third overall. After an awesome gate, Liam Taylor was flying high, but disappointingly dropped just outside the top ten on the final lap of the first race. But he redeemed himself in the remaining races, straight to the front of the pack, and remained determined to finish in third place in both races to secure fourth overall. Oscar Schmidt started the day off brilliantly, pushing hard at the front of the pack, and was close to snatching away fourth place, but crossed the finish line in fifth place. Never dropping out of the top ten, he remained prominent in the front runners to finish in seventh and ninth to take home fifth overall. Birthday boy Gary Dalton was impressive, a brilliant sixth in a very strong field in the second race his best result of the day, and he secured sixth overall.
An awesome two-way battle for the lead took place in the Inter 85 class between Henry Siddiqui and Michael Ellis. With Siddiqui charging straight into the lead in all three motos he was set for the overall. But leading race two until the final lap, he disappeared and Ellis took over the lead to add to his first race win, and was rewarded the overall. But Siddiqui wasn’t to be outdone and once again holeshotted the final race and remained out front to romp home passed the chequered flag as winner, second overall on the day. Christopher Nuttall had to push extra hard to keep up with the rampaging Tom Gathercole in the first race, settling for fourth place, but was on the power in the remaining motos, ensuring he finished in the top three, two third places rewarding him with third overall. A great return to the club and a faultless set of rides throughout the day left Stefan Millward a dominant figure in the leading pack. Two fifths and a fourth rewarded him with fourth overall. Tom Gathercole was riding at a blistering pace in the first moto, back to his best and securing an outstanding third place in the first race. A spill in the final moto denied him from replicating this brilliant position, but still remained high up the leaderboard, finishing just off the top six, and ended the day in fifth overall. Charlie Way rode a blinding second and third race, battling hard with Millward in each race, each rider securing a fourth and a fifth, Way narrowly missing out on a third in the final moto, but after such a long absence due to injury and in only his second meeting back, sixth overall was a just reward for his determined effort.
Junior Charlie Cole was set for another overall victory, but a nasty off in race two denied him the win. A late entry for Louis Thomas certainly paid off, and although he narrowly missed out on a win, his three top three positions rewarded him with the overall win. Gradually improving his results throughout the day, Lewis Cloud pushed hard to move high up the leaderboard, and a brilliant second in the final moto rewarded him with second overall. A bad start for Ryan Tanner in race three denied him from taking the overall victory, as he had secured a second and a brilliant race win in the second moto. But these high scores still rewarded him with three overall. Charlie Cole was once again dominant, leading the pack at full speed in the opening moto to win comfortably. Leading again in race two, he was denied a clean set of victories due to a bad crash toward the latter stages of the race, but he remounted to finish to grab some vital championship points. Race three saw him retake the lead and again won the race to take home fourth overall. George Stock was in unfamiliar territory in race one, racing mid-pack, but found his form in the remaining motos, pushing third place all the way to the finish flag, crossing the line in fourth place in both races to secure fifth overall. Harrison Shepherd rode a consistent set of races, just slipping one place outside the top six in the second moto, but pushed extra hard in race three to finish in fifth place and ended the day in sixth overall.
There was no denying the overall winner in the Auto class, Tyler Rowe storming around the circuit from the drop of the gate, and held on to the lead every lap to secure three wins and the overall. Luke Williamson made a determined effort to grab a win for himself, chasing home Rowe in each moto, finishing second in each to take home second overall. Jack Scally had a battle on his hands to keep Liam Brosnan from taking his place in third, but did just enough in the opening two motos to keep Brosnan off his tail to finish in third. He ended the day in third overall. Liam Brosnan had a fight on his hands to secure the high places he’s used to, and by the end of the day, got it spot on, pushing his way to the front of the pack to finish just behind the leading duo in third. A fourth in the first and a fifth in the second rewarded him with fourth overall. Toby Potter fought hard all day to pass Brosnan, and rode consistently well to finish in the top six throughout the day. Two fifths and a sixth secured him fifth overall ahead of Cain Marsh. Marsh was another rider who wasn’t appearing in positions where he normally does, usually first! But a couple of spills denied him finishing at the top, but he still persevered on to stay in contention of a high placing, a brilliant fourth in the second moto helping him along. He ended the day in sixth overall.
With three different race winners in the VMX/AMX Novice class, it was going to be a close call to see who would take home the overall victory. But it was to be Chairman Martin Bradbury’s day after securing the last race victory, romping into the lead with only two laps remaining, and pulled away to secure first place and the overall win. First race winner Tony Hale went head-to-head with Bradbury in the opening races, grabbing the win in the opener, and finishing runner-up in race two. He went home with second overall. Darren Noyes secured the second race win, romping well ahead of Hale and Bradbury to secure the win, but after leading the majority of race three, Bradbury sneaked past but still remained in second, whooping with delight when the last lap flag was raised. A fourth, first and second rewarded him with third overall. Powering to the front of the pack from the drop of the gate, Neil Jenkinson’s start in the first race proved invaluable to him, keeping him in contention of a good overall, and he finished the race in fifth. A disastrous first corner in the final moto seeing him lose valuable time trying to re-start his bike made him work extra hard, and he worked his way through the pack to finish in seventh place, securing fourth overall. Working hard to power his way through the field, Tony Noyes, remained high up the order in the opening motos, securing two top ten finishes. But finding an extra burst of speed in the final moto, he stormed into fifth place to secure fifth overall. An unfortunate spill in race one denied Simon White from pushing his way into the top three, and found himself trailing at the back of the pack, but two excellent finishes in the remaining motos, a fifth and then a fourth rewarded him with sixth overall.
Results:
VMX/AMX Novice: 1 Martin Bradbury, 2 Tony Hale, 3 Darren Noyes, 4 Neil Jenkinson, 5 Tony Noyes, 6 Simon White.
AMX: 1 Mark Young, 2 Rob Muscat, 3 Jake Hassell, 4 Paul “Wildman” Willis, 5 Gareth Padgett, 6 Kurt Freegard.
Seniors: 1 George Clarke, 2 Ross Churchill, 3 Jordan Carrier, 4 James Rutter, 5 Chae Jenkinson, 6 Joshua Pitt.
Inter Open: 1 Josh Coleman, 2 Oliver McMurray, 3 Mitchell Miller, 4 Liam Taylor, 5 Oscar Schmidt, 6 Gary Dalton.
Inter 85s: 1 Michael Ellis, 2 Henry Siddiqui, 3 Christopher Nuttall, 4 Stefan Millward, 5 Tom Gathercole, 6 Charlie Way.
Juniors: 1 Louis Thomas, 2 Lewis Cloud, 3 Ryan Tanner, 4 Charlie Cole, 5 George Stock, 6 Harrison Shepherd.
Autos: 1 Tyler Rowe, 2 Luke Williamson, 3 Jack Scally, 4 Liam Brosnan, 5 Toby Potter, 6 Cain Marsh.
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