Charlie Leads the Way
Report by Kay Turner
Marshfield – 27th March 2011
Portsmouth MX Club
Rd 4 Summer Series
Images courtesy of Click466.co.uk
Good numbers turned out to the fourth round of Portsmouth Motocross Club’s Summer Championship at a well-watered Marshfield circuit near Chippenham. With the sun poking its head out of the clouds by lunchtime, everyone enjoyed another great day of racing.
With only a handful of small-wheeled 85 riders present, they joined the big-wheeled riders to pack the start-gate with the larger bikes dominating the front of the field. An awesome head-to-head battle between Loui Harris and Cam MacDonald for supremacy of their class, with Harris grabbing the first race win. But MacDonald fought back in the next two races, to take the lead all the way to the chequered flag, and took the overall victory in fine style, with Harris close behind in second, just two points off first place, thanks to his first race win. Liam Taylor had a job on his hands to keep off a rampaging Michael Denton, but pushed hard to maintain his third places in the opening motos to secure third overall.
Charlie Way was the sole small-wheel representative in the top ten throughout the day, a brilliant performance put on by him, and just narrowly missed out on securing three top ten positions in the combined group. But in his own class and in a class of his own, he powered his way to three first places and the overall. Stefan Millward made a last gasp effort in the final moto to try to move into first and chased Way all the way home to finished close behind him to secure his third second place. Tom Gathercole was once again on top-form just a spill denying him from pushing into second overall but a convincing ride rewarded him with third overall on the day.
Another impressive performance by Junior rider Charlie Cole who breezed his way into the lead from the ping of the elastic, and remained dominant throughout all three motos. Perfect racing rewarded Cole with three easy wins and the overall victory. Archie Hicks kept Cole in his sights throughout the day, chasing him hard to try to snatch a win, but settled for three second places and took home second overall. An amazing battle pursued the leading duo between George Stock and Charlie Razzell, the “42”s at the same pace throughout each race. Stock edged his way ahead of Razzell in the first and last motos to finish in third to secure third overall, with Razzell finishing in fourth.
Cutting out some of the trickier hills, the Autos flew past the finish line at lightning speed, with Ben White and Ollie Cole battling out for the lead. White managed to keep ahead in the opening motos to win both races and secured the overall win. But Cole wasn’t to be outdone and copied older brother Charlie to mark his name as winner on the score sheets. A great last race win rewarded him with second overall. An inspirational performance from Harry White proved nothing stops a rider who wants to race! After a crash in race one left him wincing in pain, he carried on to cross the line in third. Struggling in the closing races, he still pushed on to finish in third in both, despite a broken hand discovered after the meeting! A brilliant third overall for the gallant White.
A near full line up of VMX and AMX Novice riders crammed onto the start line with the older guys taking over at the front of the field. Darren Noyes pulled away in the lead to secure the first two race wins and the overall victory, as a battle ensured behind between Martin Bradbury and Tony Hale. Noyes had to settle for third in moto three as Bradbury, determined to redeem his bad start in race two, powered into the lead and remained ahead of the chasing pack as the chequered flag waved him through. Securing the maximum points in the last race rewarded him with second overall. Hale put in a great performance, keeping on Bradbury’s mudguard to grab the opportunity to pass him, shooting up the inside at the first corner, but unable to keep the place he finished in third, second and second to finish the day in third overall.
Simon White was the leading Novice in the combined class, storming into fourth place in amongst the VMX riders. Keeping the lead in his class he led the rest of the field and secured three wins to finish overall winner on the day. Louise Powell was determined to celebrate her birthday in style, and although she didn’t have the best of starts to the day, she soon powered her was into second place, well ahead of her rivals and with a third in race two, she finished the day in second overall. Marc Pearce was on a rampage as he pushed his way through the field in the opening races, securing two third places. But getting nudged back down the field he had to settle for fifth place, but still secured third overall.
With a few more EVO and Twinshock riders coming out of the woodwork, the riders were treated to their own race. Always managing to get out the gate at the front, Louis Reid didn’t disappoint this meeting, although a crash in the first race denied him a straight set of wins. But two victories in the remaining races rewarded him with the overall. Simon Hart took over the lead in race one, and remained up the leaderboard to finish in third and second to secure second overall ahead of Jason Hopgood. Hopgood battled hard to stay in contention of a win, narrowly missing out in the first two races, crossing the finish line in second place, adding a third in race three to finish up in third overall.
A reduced AMX field didn’t reduce the amount of action on the track, with spectators hooked watching the battle for the lead between Zac Blackwell and George Purchase. Purchase secured the holeshots and the lead but Blackwell came from behind to move into first place after just a couple of laps, securing the wins in the first and last motos. With only a lap to go in race two, mechanical problems stopped Blackwell in his tracks, but still had enough of an advantage over the remaining pack to finish in second, and secured the overall win. Purchase didn’t let Blackwell pull away from him, keeping right on his back wheel and roared into the lead in moto two to secure the win. With the victory and two seconds Purchase finished second overall. A good ride by Lee Wharton saw him riding on form and in the thick of the action at the front of the pack, riding consistently to secure three fourth places, and with the two riders ahead of him retiring and crashing, he was awarded third overall on the day.
With only two spaces left on the start line, there was guaranteed to be non-stop action in the Senior class, from the front-runners to the back of the pack, the racing was thrilling. Jordan Carrier started his birthday celebrations early, keeping hard on the throttle, powering into first place in race one and crossed the line winner. Carrier went head-to-head with Chae Jenkinson in the remaining races, the two riders colliding before the finish line, with Carrier coming off worse, but still fought his way back into third place. A second in race three gave him the extra points to finish up the day in first overall. George Clarke was on a rampage until a heavy crash saw him having to work hard in race one to move up into fifth place. But races two and three saw him stay firmly planted on the bike and secured to wins to finish second overall. Chae Jenkinson was straight out the gate into the lead and had a great battle at the front of the pack with Carrier. Narrowly missing out on three second places, he finished the day in third overall with two seconds and a third.
Results:
EVO: 1 Louis Reid, 2 Simon Hart, 3 Jason Hopgood, 4 William Ell, 5 Ian Proudfoot, 6 Simon Potter.
VMX: 1 Darren Noyes, 2 Martin Bradbury, 3 Tony Hale, 4 Kevin Plumley, 5 Tony Noyes, 6 Jason Cooke.
AMX Novice: 1 Simon White, 2 Louise Powell, 3 Marc Pearce, 4 Lewis Lee, 5 Paul Keet, 6 Rob Grant.
AMX: 1 Zac Blackwell, 2 George Purchase, 3 Lee Wharton, 4 Brad Aspden, 5 Ben Anstie, 6 Mitch Brooks.
Seniors: 1 Jordan Carrier, 2 George Clarke, 3 Chae Jenkinson, 4 Harry Hinson, 5 Aaron O’Mahony, 6 David Roberts.
Inter Open: 1 Cam MacDonald, 2 Loui Harris, 3 Liam Taylor, 4 Gary Dalton, 5 Beth Farmer, 6 Michael Denton.
Inter 85s: 1 Charlie Way, 2 Stefan Millward, 3 Tom Gathercole, 4 Jamie-Lee Burges, 5 Jay Muscat, 6 Oakland Poulter.
Juniors: 1 Charlie Cole, 2 Archie Hicks, 3 George Stock, 4 Charlie Razzell, 5 Jamie Griggs, 6 Ben Richards.
Autos: 1 Ben White, 2 Ollie Cole, 3 Harry White, 4 Austin Wild, 5 Louie Wakefield, 6 Robbie Morgan.
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