STUDENT Danny Lloyd rode to his third straight win in the packed Clubman class at the ACU British Quad Cross Country Championship at a sunny but windswept Pineham Farm near Milton Keynes on Sunday. And in doing so the 16-year-old from Newtown in Wales took his Yamaha to a superb sixth overall, to better his ninth and seventh overall finishes in the first two rounds.
Starting with the third wave of riders Lloyd made lightweight work of the 34 other Clubman riders round the fast 6.7 mile course set on mostly open grassy meadows, and was never headed after the first turn.
As the three-hour race progress Lloyd steadily picked off the earlier starting Experts and even some Championship riders ahead of him, to eventually finish 2m 45s ahead of Clubman runner-up Jack Price Draper and over five minutes ahead of third placed Billy Langford.
“It was a really fast track, so I had to stop twice for fuel, but apart from that everything went well,” Lloyd, who is at college studying engineering and welding.
Lloyd eventually finished just inches – literally – behind fifth overall and leading Expert Ant Barrett after catching him on the last lap.
“My gearbox broke and I was stuck in first gear for the last half a lap,” said Barrett, who stopped in front of the finish line with 18 seconds left on the clock, so he could ride over for a finish rather than do another lap.
Lloyd opted to stop right behind him rather than ride round him to take fifth (but have to do the extra lap).
“I knew I was first in my class, and I really couldn’t be arsed to do another lap for one extra place!” admitted Lloyd.
Barrett, who had gone from last to first in the Expert group after a first corner crash, held on to victory in his class by 23 seconds from Scott Linley, with Chris Keitch a further 24 seconds back.
At the head of the 69 strong adult field, Championship leader Carl Bunce was in dominant form taking the overall win by almost three minutes from Chris Cooper and Paul Hannam, in a Suzuki clean sweep.
Bunce had been part of a four man breakaway, which included Cooper, Paul Winrow and Ollie Sansom, but admitted he had taken the lead “by accident” from Can-Am mounted Winrow, after he our braked himself at the end of a fast section.
Only Cooper was able to go with Bunce, but a slicker pit stop when the two came in gave Bunce the advantage he needed to pull away.
“When we were together I think he could see my braking points, which were important here,” said Bunce. “But when we had to ride our own races I was able to pull away.”
Cooper’s only real problem was fourth gear that kept jumping out.
Hannam, from Devon, was delighted but exhausted in third after riding in the South West championship the day before (where he also finished third) and admitting he’d been dreading the open going at Pineham, preferring more technical tracks.
Sansom, making his series debut was fourth using a stock practice bike, but says he’s coming back with his race bike after enjoying the ride!
Winrow’s challenge ended after he ran out of fuel and had to be towed back to the pits, earning him a docked lap. Martin Benbow suffered a similar fate.
Series front-runners David Baldwin and Clint Eagle crashed out and suffered mechanical problems respectively. Baldwin hurt his back and was lucky to escape serious injury after he ended up in a ditch following a collision.
Stuart Jones retained his unbeaten record in the Utility class, wining by over four and half minutes!
In the Youth class, Overall and 250 Modified victory finally went to Jamie Morgan who had been the fastest rider at the opening two rounds but twice suffered misfortune while leading.
“The thumb I injured at the last round started to hurt again, but everything else went okay,” said Morgan, who was never headed.
The most impressive ride though came from second placed Elliot Downes, who at 13-years old was one of the smallest riders in the field. His size proved a problem early on with the heavier riders finding more traction on the long and still dewy grass. Then he broke his ‘rip and roll’ goggles and had to pit for another pair.
He then put in a series of fastest laps as he tore through the field to claim second with half of the two-hour race gone, eventually finishing just 15 seconds behind the winner.
Harry Miller, 14, clinched his first podium of the series in third and had a trouble free ride until the final lap when he hit a tree and was almost caught by Jack Godfrey, who has now lost his series lead to Morgan.
Of the other series front runners, Dexter Langford dropped out of the leading group when his cylinder head worked loose and he had to pit for repairs dropping him to 21st overall, and previous round winner Sam Bailey had a snagged fuel pipe on the opening lap and, once fixed, battled to 24th two laps down on Morgan.
Down the overall youth field was the best battle of the day in the 250 Standard class, with Jordan Hickman and Luke Davies locked together for most of the race.
They started the last lap together, with Hickman first snatching the lead after Davies was baulked by a backmarker. Davies, winner of opening two rounds, then retook the lead only to loose it again when the pressure from behind forced a mistake and he collided with a tree. The 30-second gap at the flag was the furthest they’d been apart all race!
RESULTS:
Adults overall: 1 Carl Bunce (Suzuki), 2 Chris Cooper (Suzuki), 3 Paul Hannam (Suzuki), 4 Ollie Sansom (Yamaha), 5 Ant Barrett (Suzuki), 6 Danny Lloyd (Yamaha).
Championship: 1 Carl Bunce (Suzuki), 2 Chris Cooper (Suzuki), 3 Paul Hannam (Suzuki), 4 Ollie Sansom (Yamaha), 5 John Wilding (Can-Am), 6 Paul Winrow (Can-Am). Points: Bunce 72, Cooper 57, Hannam 54, Eagle 47, Baldwin 46, Winrow 40
Expert: 1 Ant Barrett (Suzuki), 2 Scott Linley (Suzuki), 3 Chris Keitch (Suzuki), 4 Joe Andrews (Polaris), 5 Darran Bridge (Yamaha), 6 Peter Gallagher (Honda). Points: Barrett 75, Keitch 58, Gallagher 44, Linley 41, Jones 40, Bridge 38
Clubman: 1 Danny Lloyd (Yamaha), 2 Jack Price-Draper (Suzuki), 3 Billy Langford (Yamaha), 4 Scott Woodhead (??), 5 Jak Griffiths (Honda), 6 Ameelie Miller (Honda). Points: Lloyd 75, Price Draper 62, Langford 52, Miller 48, Griffiths 47, Forrester 46
Utility: 1 Stuart Jones (Can-Am), 2 Dave Thornton (Can-Am), 3 Graham Widdicombe (Can-Am), 4 Adam Wykes (Can-Am), 5 Simon Webb (Can-Am), 6 Clyde Thompson (Can-Am). Points: Jones 75, Morgan 57, Thompson 55, Wykes 49, Widdicombe 48, Thornton 40
Youth Overall: 1 Jamie Morgan (Yamaha), 2 Elliot Downes (Yamaha), 3 Harry Miller (Yamaha), 4 Jack Godfrey (Yamaha), 5 Kyle Hawkes (Yamaha), 6 Jack Pierce (Yamaha).
250 Modified: 1 Jamie Morgan (Yamaha), 2 Elliot Downes (Yamaha), 3 Harry Miller (Yamaha), 4 Jack Godfrey (Yamaha), 5 Kyle Hawkes (Yamaha), 6 Jack Pierce (Yamaha). Points: Morgan 61, Godfrey 59, Downes 51, Pierce 42, Hawkes 41, Ryan 41.
250 Standard: 1 Jordan Hickman (Yamaha), 2 Luke Davies (Yamaha), 3 Philip MacKenzie-Smith (Yamaha), 4 Guy Keenan (Yamaha), 5 Dean Porter (Yamaha), 6 Miles Woodward (Yamaha). Points: Davies 72, Hickman 69, MacKenzie-Smith 52, Keenan 47, Woodward43, Porter 40.
250 Stock: 1 Shannon Magee (Yamaha), 2 Connor McKenna (Yamaha), 3 Marloe Magee (Yamaha), 4 Andy Gregory (Yamaha). No other finishers. Points: M Magee 70, S McKenna 47, C McKenna 42, Gregory 18.