The Frome club organised the National Championships for Sidecars and Quads at Asham Woods Frome on Monday May 6th with full line ups in both classes, the weather was sunny and the track extremely fast. The British Quad championship incorporates a series of races for the countries best 34 Quad riders and is run over two tough legs of 25 minutes plus two laps at each venue.
The first Quad Championship race nearly became a famous win for one of the sports most charismatic characters as Lindsey Duke tore away from the start to take the lead and most importantly to grab the clean air that the position gave. The sunny day meant the moisture was being sucked out of the soil after the morning track waterering and the dust was swirling as the chasing pack hammered up and down the Asham Woods hills, it would take a few laps for this to settle down and it meant the leading riders were never going to be caught if somebody had made a poor start.
After the first lap Lindsey Duke was in the lead followed by Stefan Murphy but the British Champion Paul Holmes was chasing them down followed by Carl Bunce and Connor Smith. Back down the field other leading contenders George Callaway and Luke Cooper were edging forward lap after lap.
Murphy dropped of the leading group as Duke pushed on for what would have been an unusual win at this level in recent years, and Paul Holmes was going to have to work hard to maintain his number one ranking. Carl Bunce had moved into third by lap four a position he would keep to the flag chased by Oliver Sansom who would also retain the fourth slot to the end. George Callaway was making up positions and had moved from the back of the field up to fifth before disaster struck and a tumbling crash on a fast downhill section left him seriously damaged. George was still in hospital having tests the following day and sponsor Duncan Irons later explained that he was very badly bruised all over with no further news at this stage.
Chris Murphy was sneaking into the points and Bradley John made up considerable ground as the race progresses but back at the front Paul Holmes took the lead from Duke on lap 12 of the 17 laps run, Duke held onto second as Bunce and Sansom crossed the line in third and fourth. Luke Cooper the leading Under 21 contender and a race winner here at Frome last year finished in fifth place after a very tough 30 plus minutes of racing.
Race two lined up after some track watering had taken place and once again a very motivated Lindsey Duke raced into the lead followed by Cooper, Connor Smith and Champion Holmes. Bunce was settled in fifth place and of the leading contenders Stefan Murphy was missing circulating in the bottom twenty after lap one but moving forward as the race progressed. Holmes made his move for the lead earlier in this race and after eight laps went to the front, Cooper pushed on from third to eventually take second place from a weary Duke who must have been very pleased with third place at the flag. Bunce crossed the line in fourth and Sansom fifth, Murphy made up the most positions and came ninth. The results were then amended as Luke Cooper failed the post race sound testing and the one minute penalty added to his total race time resulting in a drop to eighth place.
The overall points on the day meant Holmes holds onto his number one British Quad rider slot followed by Duke and Bunce, the Under 21s saw Luke Cooper with most points despite the penalty with Jake Smith second and Bradley John in third.
The next round of the Championship takes place at Wooley Grange, Co Durham on 30th June
For information contact Sonia Goggin at the ACU MX Department
Images by Chris Helm