CARL BUNCE is the new ACU British Quad X-Country champion following another totally dominant display at round five of the series on Sunday at the challenging new Hounslow Hall Estate venue near Milton Keynes.
In his debut enduro season the 25-year old plasterer from Reading tied up the title with a round to spare after taking his fourth win out of five. His only blip was a second place at round two!
Arrow Self Drive Suzuki-mounted Bunce was never headed on a 7.6-mile course which married fast open sections over recently harvested fields, with wooded sections full of technical hazards from the Estate’s “Experience the Country” 4x4 course. He had turned up the screw early, setting a fastest lap of 12m 44s on the third of 14 laps, before controlling the race from the front to win by 1m 47s.
“The only problem was overheating” said a quietly satisfied Bunce. “The light kept coming on, then I would go through the water splash and it would cool down again. Other than that, no problems.” Ironically though it was the 4x4 water splash (which was more like sloppy mud) that was actually causing the problem, with many machines struggling, as the mud dried solid in the radiators.
By the closing stages of the race several makeshift radiator washing devices had been rigged up in the pit area ranging from pressure washers sucking up bowls of water hurriedly carried from motorhomes, to bottles of water bought from the delighted burger van man!
Multiple British champion Paul Winrow was one affected. He had held second on the early laps, but soon had to pit. “It wasn’t pulling right from the beginning. And the mud didn’t help.” said Winrow, who has now ditched the standard Can-Am shocks in favour of factory PEPs.
This gave Bunce’s only serious title rival Chris Cooper second spot and he gave a lonely chase until the later stages when a collapsed front wheel bearing forced him in to replace a wheel hub. “I noticed it go about three quarters of the way through. I was having to pump the front brake, “ he said. “We changed the hub, but the brake still wasn’t working as the caliper had been damaged”.
Cooper’s misfortune handed the ever-consistent Paul Hannam second spot on his overheating Suzuki, for his best result of the season. With attrition high several riders from other classes where able to notch up season best overall finishes, with the third overall going to Expert winner Ant Barrett and fourth overall going to best Clubman Jack Price-Draper, despite both struggling with overheating machines in the closing stages.
Fifth overall went to the leading Utility rider Simon Lang, who has been undefeated since a mid-season switch from an uncompetitive Yamaha Grizzly to the all-conquering Can-Am.
Price-Draper now heads the Clubman championship for the first time this year after series leader Danny Lloyd crashed heavily and was taken to hospital, though he has escaped serious injury.
It was a day of contrasting fortunes for the Murphy clan with veteran NORA-MX club chairman Chris posting a personal best sixth overall and second in class after he managed to get away with just one pit stop all day.
However son Stefan, who finished second overall at the opening round in his only appearance in the series to date, was left ruing his late decision to enter to get some endurance training for Pont du Vaux. His Honda snapped a chain after two corners and terminally damaged the crankcase as it wrapped round the selector shaft! In the Youth race 14-year-old Luke Davies, from Stourport, Worcs clinched the 250 Standard championship with another masterful victory; a ride that gave him seventh overall ahead of several faster 250 Modified machines.
Davies has won four of the five rounds so far, his only defeat coming in round three at the hands Jordan Hickman, who was his only remaining title rival at the start of the day.
But despite chasing Davies for much of the race Hickman’s slim title chances expired with a rear puncture in the last quarter of the two-hour race. He pitted for a replacement, eventually finishing fifth, leaving Davies to win by over a minute from Guy Keenan, who posted his best result of the series.
The top six places overall in the youth race were occupied by the top six from the 250 Modified class, with Harry Miller taking victory by over a lap, though in reality the race was closer with Miller just passing the timing beam before the end of the two hours forcing him to complete nine laps to his rival’s eight.
He had taken the race lead from championship leader Jamie Morgan, who was forced to pit within a lap after taking the holeshot to repair a broken steering damper. Miller then started to establish a healthy lead, but this was wiped out shortly before half distance when several back markers became stuck in a bog in the woods and he was delayed, allowing round two-winner Sam Bailey on the sole Honda in the race, to catch-up.
Once the traveling marshal had cleared the track the pair resumed, but Bailey’s challenged ended shortly after when his mount died; a broken wire was later spotted by a helpful marshal and he battled back to tenth once fixed. Miller was lucky to remain out front though after picking up a slow puncture three laps from the end.
“They are supposed to be puncture proof tyres, but obviously not!” said Miller, who now moves up to third in the series as he atones for a poor start to the season. The battle for the championship though raged behind him, with Morgan fighting back from his stop and then a second to try and fix a stone damaged front brake pipe. “We couldn’t fix it so the lever was coming back to bars,” said Morgan. “So, I rode just using the back brake, which kept stalling the engine.”
Undeterred he eventually caught second place Elliot Downes on the final lap, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process at 14m 26s. Even Downes admitted it was impressive. “The way he came past me was awesome. It was on a big whoop type section they use for the 4x4s. He just had it pinned!” Morgan beat Downes by seven seconds, but crucially kept him a respectable distance behind in the championship.
Of the other previous round winners, Jack Godfrey finished 13th after the water splash killed his Yamaha’s spark and he lost three laps. In the Stock class, Joe Sharp had his first ride in the series and won by almost three minutes from Marloe Magee, who had previously wrapped up the title. Shannon McKenna was third two laps adrift after breaking a track rod.
RESULTS:
Adult overall: 1 Carl Bunce (Suzuki), 2 Paul Hannam (Suzuki), 3 Ant Barrett (Suzuki), 4 Jack Price-Draper (Suzuki), 5 Simon Lang (Can-Am), 6 Chris Murphy (Yamaha).
Championship: 1 Carl Bunce (Suzuki), 2 Paul Hannam (Suzuki), 3 Chris Cooper (Suzuki), 4 Paul Winrow (Can-Am), 5 John Wilding (Can-Am). No other finishers. Points: Bunce 122, Cooper 99, Hannam 96. Expert: 1 Ant Barrett (Suzuki), 2 Chris Murphy (Yamaha), 3 Chris Keitch (Suzuki), 4 Aaron Pole (Honda), 5 Barrie Dennis (Yamaha), 6 Andy Downes (Yamaha). Points: Barrett 111, Keitch 103, Scott Linley 77
Clubman: 1 Jack Price-Draper (Suzuki), 2 Luke Forrester (Honda), 3 Ameelie Miller (Honda), 4 Lawrence Stopps (Suzuki), 5 Scott Woodhead (??), 6 Trever Humphris (Honda). Points: Price-Draper 112, Danny Lloyd 95, Forrester 83. Utility: 1 Simon Lang (Can-Am), 2 Jon Morgan (Can-Am), 3 Simon Webb (Can-Am), 4 Stuart Jones (Can-Am), 5 Adam Wykes (Can-Am), 6 Dave Pinniger (Can-Am). Points: Jones 103, Morgan 97, Lane 86,
250 Youth overall: 1 Harry Miller (Yamaha), 2 Jamie Morgan (Yamaha), 3 Elliot Downes (Yamaha), 4 Dexter Langford (Yamaha), 5 Jack Pierce (Yamaha), 6 Jordan Turnock (Yamaha). 250 Modified: 1 Harry Miller (Yamaha), 2 Jamie Morgan (Yamaha), 3 Elliot Downes (Yamaha), 4 Dexter Langford (Yamaha), 5 Jack Pierce (Yamaha), 6 Jordan Turnock (Yamaha). Points: Morgan 108, Downes 91, Miller 79
250 Standard: 1 Luke Davies (Yamaha), 2 Guy Keenan (Yamaha), 3 Connor Taylor (Yamaha), 4 Jordan Harris (Yamaha), 5 Jordan Hickman (Yamaha), 6 Miles Woodward (Yamaha). Points: Davies 122, Hickman 107, Keenan 84 250 Stock: 1 Joe Sharp (Yamaha), 2 Marloe Magee (Yamaha), 3 Shannon McKenna (Yamaha). No other finishers. Points: Magee 114, Connor McKenna 67, Shannon McKenna 67.