After what seemed to be a years worth of rain in April there was doubts as to the running of the third round of the Maxxis championship, but despite the heaviest rainfall on record for April the track was presented in prime condition, shame the same couldn't have been said for the bitter temperatures that struggled to rise above 4 degrees all day! Good ol British summertime, hey!!!
With the usual format of the MX2 championship riders first out on track several riders reported very slick conditions before the track gained the formidable bumps and berms so accustomed to the sandy going. It didn't take long before multiple lines were appearing and things had started to chop up. Fastest man on the track in qualification was to be Frenchman Nico Aubin aboard his Buildbase Honda
but only by the narrowest of margins as hot on his heels was HM Plant KTM's Elliot Banks-Browne a mere tenth slower! The top 12 went through to the superpole where Aubin pulled out all the stops to go fastest by nearly a second from EBB then Samsung RFX Yamaha mounted Irishman Graeme Irwin with Bryan Mackenzie edging out Monster Energy Bike-it Yamaha man Mel Pocock and surprise package Alan Keet on the Dyer Butler Suzuki posting 5th quickest.
Race one saw EBB on the GP prepared HM Plant KTM lead from start to finish with his main rival crashing out on lap 2 and not featuring from then on, this left the door open for Frenchman Steven Lenoir, Samsung RFX Yamaha to occupy second place as he tried to pick up the faster Banks-Browne's lines, this for the Frenchman his first visit to Lyng. His team mate Irwin was pushing to come up through from a top 5 placing in lap 1, by lap 7 it was all change as Irwin leapfrogged the Frenchman and Mackenzie in the same lap to bring it home in second with Pocock coming through late in the race to oust Lenoir for 3rd.
With his recent GP form helping him out Pocock gated in moto 2 and held it for another start to finish race win with Irwin keeping him honest and coming home for another second place only 2 seconds adrift. EBB had binned it in the early going and discarded his goggles and the latter impaired his progress back through the field eventually finishing 5th. Mackenzie on the Rockstar KTM had a race long duel with South African Neville Bradshaw with Bradshaw just managing to put his Evotech Stevens Honda in front for 3rd at the flag.
Hooking up his Pirelli's in the final moto saw Samsungs RFX pilot Lenoir roost the competition for nearly 3 laps before being ground down by the formidable force of EBB, another rider benefiting from his GP experience, his GP results not doing him justice due to having many mechanical problems. But no such bad luck in this moto as once in the lead he stretched out a good gap. Pocock got past Lenoir at just past the half way mark and set about trying to wear EBB down but to no avail. Irwin had gone down challenging another rider in the early going and had thrown away the opportunity of an overall victory finishing 5th. Mackenzie again had a solid ride finishing 4th on his Rockstar KTM and fastest qualifier Aubin finished his highest with a mere 8th!!!
MX1 was again looking likey to be dominated by the international riders, predominately the Dutch, being Strijbos and De Reuver as the sandy circuit was bound to suit there riding styles. However doubt was cast over De Reuver as he was riding injured with a spine compression! Superpole was no surprise to see Strijbos setting pole but what was a surprise was seeing Stephen Sword sitting in second on his Tyco Suzuki and Route77 MVD-R Honda man Jason Dougan up in third. De Reuver managed 11th with Monster Energy Bike-it Yamaha rider Shaun Simpson 5th being edged out by Matiss Karro on his STR KTM.
The gate dropped for moto 1 and it looked to be a good race as all the hard hitters where away clean, Strijbos had his HM Plant KTM out front with Simpson in close pursuit, both riders regular GP campaigners and use to each others riding style. Sword and Dougan where both in the mix with De reuver in 7th looking menacing. De Reuver went missing soon after and although he managed to climb back into the points wasn't to be a factor in the race. It was Strijbos who was dominating but he just couldn't shake off the shadow od Simpson who was there waiting for a mistake to gain advantage. Karro was hounding the 2 Englishmen, Sword and Dougan but couldn't muster that extra speed to displace either with Krestinov coming good halfway through the moto picking off a few places to cross the line 6th.
Sword got the jump in moto 2 but it was short lived as an express train of GP riders came past in the first few laps showing the ex British champion their pace, first to go through was Simpson on the Monster Bike-it machine and he was pushing hard to try to break the tow of Strijbos. In a reverse of moto 1 Simpson had the pressure of having a shadow but this time Strijbos had carefully planned his move and with only minutes remaining made a pass and really put the hammer down to gap Simpson at the flag by nearly 7 seconds! De Reuver had a faultless ride and quite a lonely in finishing a solid third.
Final race of the day saw another great start by Sword and Strijbos with the latter getting the jump this time going on to the flag unchallenged for another maximum points score! Maybe the hard pack track of the next round will show a different side to the sand ace? Sword held firm for two more laps until falling prey to Karro and Simpson before Simpson run into problems and promoted Sword back up a place. It was only short lived though as De Reuver was on the move again and moved into third which he held to the flag only headed by Karro and Strijbos. Sword now had his hands full with Simpson again with the added company of Krestinov on the Route77 MVD-R Honda and both got past in the remaining laps demoting Sword and his immaculate Tyco Suzuki down to 6th but then Sword went missing gifting 6th to Nathan Parker on his STR KTM.
As the terrain changes dramatically for round 4 at Milton Maisor the standings look like this.
MX1
1) STRIJBOS 206
2) SIMPSON 175
3) KARRO 173
4) SWORD 136
5) KRESTINOV 136
6) DE REUVER 117
7) PARKER 102
BARR 98
9) LAW 98
10) WHATLEY 94
MX2
1) POCOCK 185
2) BANKS-BROWNE 170
3) BRADSHAW 137
4) LENOIR 137
5) MACKENZIE 130
6) IRWIN 111
7) AUBIN 107
BOOKER 97
9) TOOMBS 77
10) EDMONDS 74
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