Thursday March 31, 2011 at 9:16am
NORA-MX SILVERSTONE, MARCH 20TH 2011
Former British and European champion John Mitchell fired a warning to his 2011 rivals with a masterful overall win in the Expert class at the Nora-MX club’s opening championship round at bright and breezy Silverstone on Sunday 20th March.
With the start of the British championship at the same venue in four weeks time many of Britain’s leading quad racers chose the Oxford Energy Centre-backed event to get a sneak look at the redesigned track, which was only finished the day before.
But only 11-time British champion Paul Winrow posed any serious threat to Mitchell all day, which fired his new ATV World Laeger Yamaha to three straight wins.
“It’s the first time I’ve ridden it competitively, and its run superbly. I’ve been a really pleased how well its all gone,” said Mitchell, of the new Yamaha which marries the YFZ’s latest fuel-injected engine with a purpose built steel tube chassis from Laeger instead of Yamaha’s aluminium spar frame.
“It’s actually lighter now, and we’ve found more power. Now I won’t race again until the British championship round here”, added the 30-year-old Scot who set off on Thursday from his home in Isle of Lewis to get to the meeting.
The opening race had been a close fought affair with one and half seconds splitting the Mitchell and Winrow at the flag. The second Mitchell won handsomely by over 20 seconds. But the third encounter produced the race of the day.
With the pair languishing mid-pack after poor starts, plus an uncharacteristic mistake from Mitchell mid-race, the duo were left to scrap their way through a packed and highly-competitive field, hitting the front with just a few laps to go.
The pair had played cat and mouse during much of the day taking it turns to sandbag and watch each other’s lines – but this time it was no holds barred to the flag.
Mitchell eventually got the verdict in an entertaining clash which had the sizeable crowd enthralled and which produced big smiles and handshakes from the pair at the end.
On form Winrow, who won last week’s Margate Beach race, could be excused for not having enough in the tank to overhaul his rival. As well as the Expert class, the venerable veteran also rode in all three ‘Masters’ races for the over 35s.
Not surprisingly he won them all relatively easily, each time beating the class reigning champion Ed Davies, but the extra races took their toll.
“It was a mistake to do it really,” said Winrow, Honda mounted again after a season on KTM. “There was only one race between the Experts and Masters, so there was just time to refuel and I was back out. There was no time to recover.”
“Plus, I’ve got some blisters, but that was more to do with the bars being in the wrong place and loose track rod earlier in the day.”
Winrow, who plans to focus on moto cross this year, will now skip the opening round of the British Cross Country championship in Gloucestershire on Sunday 27th March to compete the NETT clubs opening championship round at Dean Moor which is a Memorial meeting for his late father Brian.
Only two other riders consistently showed enough speed to be a threat to the leading pair. Fast starting Giles Davies showed some impressive speed in all three races and used his British Supercross championship winning experience to good use on Silverstone’s big, tricky jumps, but was unable to carry his pace all the way to the finish.
His best chance came in the final race, which he led impressively until he was finally overhauled by Winrow and Mitchell. Two thirds and fourth eventually gave Davis third spot overall.
Oxfordshire youngster Stefan Murphy, now largely recovered from the broken scaphoid which marred his 2010 season, was the only other rider to score a podium all day, with a battling third in race one. He took fourth in the final race, but his overall finish was wrecked on race two when he was embroiled in a 12-quad pile up just after the start.
“The track was blocked with nowhere to go, then people started piling into the back us,” said Murphy, who eventually fought back to tenth.
With last year’s Clubman champion Ashley McConnell switching the Experts class the way was open for a new winner, and club newcomer Tom Grant filled the role with the most dominant overall win of the day. Grant’s smallest winning margin in all three races was 27 seconds!
In the seven well-supported Youth classes George Oliver in the 50cc Standard, Dafydd Davies in the 100cc Modified and Elysha Crane 100cc Standard were all in a class of their own stringing together three races wins each.
The championship now moves to Wroxton, Oxon on April 3.
RESULTS:
Expert: 1 John Mitchell (Yamaha), 2 Paul Winrow (Honda), 3 Giles Davis (Honda), 4 Stefan Murphy (Honda), 5 Carl Bunce (Suzuki), 6 Oli Sansom (Yamaha)
Clubman: 1 Tom Grant (Honda), 2 Ben Silvey (KTM), 3 Tom Claireaux (Yamaha), 4 Bradley John (Honda), 5 Ameelie Miller (Honda), 6 Ryan Turner (Suzuki).
Masters: 1 Paul Winrow (Honda), 2 Ed Davies (KTM), 3 Darren Bridge (Yamaha), 4 Antony Barrett (Suzuki), 5 Geoff Sharp (Honda), 6 Matt James (Yamaha)
250cc Open: 1 Scott Pounder (Honda), 2 Charlie Harrison (Yamaha), 3 Matt Payne (Yamaha), 4 James Swinbank (??), 5 Alexander Thompson (Honda), 6 Mark Hill (Yamaha)
250cc Modified: 1 Harry Miller (Yamaha), 2 Sam Bailey (Yamaha), 3 Jamie Morgan (Yamaha), 4 Frazer McFadden (Yamaha), 5 Elliot Downes (Yamaha), 6 Josh Coombes (Yamaha)
250cc Standard: 1 Luke Davies (Yamaha), 2 Leon Patmore (Yamaha), 3 Tommy Pittaway (CQR), 4 Harry Moore (Yamaha), 5 Callum Bates (Yamaha), 6 Jordan Hickman (Dolphin)
250cc Stock: 1 Joe Sharp (Yamaha), 2 Kieran Heath (Yamaha). No other finishers.
100cc Geared: 1 Harry Walker (KTM), 2 Bailey Edwards (KTM), 3 Ryan Spratt-Wyatt (Cobra), 4 Callum Carter (Cobra), 5 Joshua Turner (Cobra). No other finishers.
100cc Modified: 1 Dafydd Davies (Apache), 2 Connor Fitzgerald (Apache), 3 Ayrton Knowles (Cobra), 4 Declan McKenna (Pro Shark), 5 Abbie Pittaway (CQR), 6 Aled Davies (Pro Shark)
100cc Standard: 1 Elysha Crane (Pro Shark), 2 Bradley Lightfoot (Pro Shark), 3 Joshua Birch (CQR), 4 Dafydd Brown (Apache), 5 Jake Bashford (Pro Shark), 6 Laughton Spooner (??)
50cc Modified: 1 George Oliver (Cobra), 2 Shelley Smart (Pro Shark), 3 Catrin Davies (Apache), 4 Dylan McKenna (Dolphin), 5 Lewis Watts (Apache), 6 Liam Griffiths (Quadzilla)
50cc Standard: 1 Alfie Walker (??), 2 Josh Talent (Apache), 3 Woody Jackson (??), 4 Toby Boothroyd (Apache), 5 Lucas Halstead (Quadzilla). No other finishers.