Thursday June 2, 2011 at 9:35am
Last Sunday round 4 of the Phoenix Tools Premier Motocross Championships took place at Little Silver Moto Parc, Exeter which had attracted a huge entry and included many wildcards including the likes of Stephen Sword, Alex Snow and Kristian Whatley to name a few in the MX1 class and in the MX2 class we had wildcard entries from the likes of James Dodd and Luke Dean and making a return to racing was young Luke Hawkins after his bad crash at Hawkstone Park back in March and with many spectators in attendance they were treated to some of the best racing so far in this years series.
In the Phoenix Tools MX1 class Sword had set the quickest time in qualifying and it was he who had the best start and the early lead, but it was a disasterous opening lap for Snow who went down hard going down one of the hills and was to be taken to Hospital with a nasty elbow injury. Whatley was to move up in to 2nd on lap 4 after Luke Blanchard had dropped it, but Sword was well gone by this time and took an easy win with Championship leader John May coming through to claim an excellent 3rd. In moto 2 it was Andrew Gillett who was riding with an injured ankle who had the best start but this was short lived as both Whatley and Sword got the better of him on the opening lap. Whatley was to gain a bit of a lead in the early part of the race and was to maintain his advantage over Sword to the chequered flag with May yet again after a long hard battle with Greg Hanson coming home in 3rd. Expectations were high for the last race with a win a piece to Sword and Whatley, but this was to soon be sorted as Whatley went down with some others on the first corner which was to put an end to his race and with it Sword was to race away to take the win by a considerable margin with May finishing 2nd and with it increased his Championship lead to some 52 points.
In the St Blazey MX2 class it was Hawkins, who was quickest in qualifying, but it was Dodd who was to have the holeshot and the early lead, but Hawkins and Championship leader Jamie Skuse were not to let him get away. Hawkins was to pass Dodd on lap 3 to take the lead and Skuse was to get the better of Dodd 2 laps later, but Dodd hadn’t given up yet as he was to come on strong towards the end of the race passing Skuse on the penultimate lap then ducking inside of Hawkins on a lefthander on the final lap and taking an excellent win. In race 2 it was Dodd again with the best start with Mellows hot on his tail, but not so good for Hawkins whose bike was misfiring a bit and he was to pull out. Skuse and Wayne Shimell had a real good tussle mid race with Skuse eventually getting pass then he was to close right up on Mellows who he got pass on the final lap to claim 2nd behind Dodd. In the last race Hawkins was to have the best start and was to ease away at the front straight away. Dodd was to move up through the field on lap 2 and was to get pass Shimell and up in to 2nd and was now giving chase, closing on Hawkins all the time and as they entered the last lap there was nothing between them until Dodd went down trying to go through on the inside on a fast right hander which was to gift Hawkins the win with Dodd just holding on to take 2nd from Skuse.
In the M D Racing Over 35 class it was all about Martyn Tucker who put on a fine display of riding and was to take a hat trick of wins and with it has lifted him back to leading the Championship.
The Petersen Racing Junior Championship class saw Championship leader Bill Farleigh show what a young talent he is at just 17 with three totally dominated race wins from start to finish to increase his Championship lead to 59 points over Michael Rowe who didn’t have the best of days finishing just 4th overall.
OVERALL RESULTS
Phoenix Tools MX1 Championship
1st Stephen Sword (450f Buildbase CCM) 2nd John May (450f Meredith Mx Suzuki) 3rd Maarten Cremers (450f Phoenix Tools CCM) 4th Kristian Whatley (450f Samsung Yamaha) 5th Luke Hill (450f Maunders Racing Honda) 6th Andrew Gillett (450f Maunders Racing Honda)
St Blazey MX2 Championship
1st James Dodd (250f MotoXtreme Kawasaki) 2nd Jamie Skuse (250f DMX/MX Zone Honda) 3rd Sunny Thompson (250f Bikesport Kawasaki) 4th Luke Mellows (250f Meredith/JMT Suzuki) 5th Wayne Shimell (250f Maunders Racing Honda) 6th Dan Thornhill (250f Proppa.com/DBMX KTM)
M D Racing Over 35 Championship
1st Martyn Tucker (450f Suzuki) 2nd Chris Brown (450f Suzuki) 3rd James Williams (125 Yamaha) 4th James Trethewey (450f Suzuki) 5th Mark Roberts (250 Honda) 6th Rob Lewis (450f Maunders Racing Honda)
Petersen Racing Junior Championship
1st Bill Farleigh (250f Phoenix Tools Kawasaki) 2nd Harvie Templeton-Banks (450f Yamaha) 3rd Anthony Milliar (450f A T Motocross Kawasaki) 4th Michael Rowe (450f Tyremarks KTM) 5th Connor Campbell (????) 6th Jordan Owen (350f KTM)
Junior B
1st Rocky Lethaby 2nd Mitch Brooks 3rd Simon Gill 4th Richard Grills 5th Tom Myers 6th Ben Kiernan
Junior C
1st Jonathan Dennis 2nd Ed Lewis 3rd Matt Brewer 4th Clinton Townsend 5th Stuart Barfoot 6th Lee Scriven
Junior D
1st Stephen Rolls 2nd Andy Crane 3rd Jake Waring 4th Scott Williamson 5th Michael Ell 6th James Foden