Round 3 of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship went to its most Easterly point at the weekend to the sleepy village of Lyng in Norfolk where the sandy circuit was to prove a physically demanding challenge to man and machine!
The MX 2 class would be first out on the circuit and as in the previous 2 rounds Yamaha where to top the qualification with this week Zach Osbourne starting out on top in qualification 1, but Superpole was to change the order somewhat. Superpole pits the fastest 12 qualifiers to each do one rolling lap to establish pecking order for gate choice on the all important start. So Osbourne was relegated to 3rd with team mate Tonus coming out on top and Samsung Yamaha pilot Ray Rowson dropping down one place, despite posting a faster superpole time to 6th but closing the time difference up on the leaders.
As the gate dropped for race 1 the Samsung rider was just outside the top 10 into turn 1 but on the gas and up to 8th by the time they came round to complete the opening lap chasing Cottrell and Elderfield hard.By lap 6 he had disposed of both riders. Lap 9 saw title contender Tonus experience bike trouble and drop out of the points boosting Rowson's Samsung Yamaha up to 4th and sensing a podium finish he crossed the line smelling the sweat of 3rd place finisher Mackenzie a mere second splitting them. Second Samsung rider Jackson Evans having proved his ability at round 1 was still struggling to lay down a qualification time to reflect this ability with a lowly 34th. So poor gate pick left the Yamaha rookie with plenty to do as he completed the first few laps settling down to a new track and started to move forward up the lapcharts moving into 28th by lap 8 and crossed the line 7 places higher than qualification by the flag.
MX1 saw Yamaha once more topping qualification with Dougan the only rider to get under 2.02, a time not to be beaten all day. Superpole however saw Dougan slip to 12th after his chain de-railed while Samsung Yamaha mounted Kristian Whatley moved up from 7th to 5th in Superpole looking good to continue his great form since changing to the Roy Emberson Samsung squad. The gate dropped for moto 1 and Whatley was in contention with the CCM duo of Sword and Church and Honda mounted Anderson. Church had the lead but former champ Ando split the pair and when he moved past Church to take control of the race Sword followed suit keen to claw back points in the championship and not allow Ando to get away. As the CCM duo swapped places in an attempt to stay with the former champ Whatley had his Saumsung Yamaha screaming closing down on all 3 front runners looking strong. Unfortunately despite frantically waving blue flags at riders getting lapped by the freight train of the 4 top runners Whatley lost out of 2 separate occasions to the slower traffic leaving him to cross the line a few seconds down in 4th with the knowledge that he was running the same pace as the podium finishers.
MX2 came back to the line for moto 2 and Rowson pulled a much better start racing through the first turn inside the top 5. ON lap 4 he benefited from an unusual Elliot Banks-Browne error and moved into 3rd then himself putting the Yamaha into the wrong gear allowing 2 riders through. EBB was charging hard and after suffering from 3 laps of sand blasting from the Samsung Yamaha forced his way back past Rowson and on past Mackenzie. Rowson getting stronger on the bike weekly continued to push on and caught and passed Mackenzie in the last third of the race to cross the line in 5th. Evans having suffered from armpump in moto 1 was eager to make amends for his poor start and this time out came round inside the top 20. Holding a point scoring position into half distance the youngsters reserves started to dwindle and fatigue started to get the better of him finishing just 2 spots off adding to his round 1 points haul in 22nd.
MX1 moto 2 looked to be the one the crowd wanted to see as wildcard AMA star Ben Townley was making an appearance as he took off after Sword's CCM much to the delight of the crowd. Sword's pace was such that even Townley had no answer! Sword went on to take the win while Townley had pulled out by halfway with a problem. Meanwhile Whatley once again had the Samsung Yamaha on the boil moving into 3rd by lap 2 untill a rare mistake dropped the super smooth Samsung star down 3 places behind the slow starting Ando. Whatley was fired up and had retaken Ando 2 laps later and with momentum on his side past Barr on the 350 KTM to be back behind GP runner Krestinov where he had started the race earlier. After hounding him for only a lap he was through and pulling away and catching a slowing Sword crossing the line a mere 2 seconds adrift.
Final encounter for the quarter litre boys saw a revitalised Rowson launch his Yamaha into the first turn eager to try to net the £100 'Holeshot' bonus that he has been unaware off earlier in the day!!! Narrowly missing out to similarly mounted Osbourne aboard his Yamaha. Rowson was followed by Pocock who had recorded 2nd fastest qualification time and was also the freshest rider on the track having missed the first race. Tonus, Osbourne's Yamaha team mate followed Pocock and was straight past the pair of riders as he set off after minimising the points lose on his team mate.
Pocock passed Rowson in the early stages and Rowson looked comfortably placed for another top 5 finish, but the adrenaline was kicking in and the thought of a podium spurred him on to challenge Pocock right up to the flag narrowly missing out and having to settle with a 4-5-4 score card. Had he managed to get past it would of been a Yamaha 1-2-3, something that looks very likely in coming motos. Evans suffered yet another poor start but put in a storming first 2 laps showing the speed of the Samsung Yamaha and determination of the rookie, by halfway he had climbed to 23rd but fatigue once again played a part and brought about a slow demise back down the order to eventually finish 25th, still 9 places above his qualification.
The final motos of the day saw the big bore class roar into action with the Samsung Yamaha hitting the rev limiter as Whatley took the YZ450F into the lead picking up a nice little earner in the way of the 'Holeshot' bonus. By turn 3 Whatley had a clear advantage as he stretched his advantage through the opening laps on the now treacherously rough Cadders Hill circuit. Ando disposed of the 2 CCM riders and menacingly moved into 2nd place. The bulldog started to gnaw away at Whatley large advantage, for a further 3 laps it looked possibly the Samsung pilot could hold his advantage but with only 6 minutes remaining on the time clock the former champ was on Whatley and soon found his way through. Whatley showed great maturity by not losing touch staying within striking distance should the stronger Tyneside Honda rider make a mistake.
So round 3 saw Rowson's Return and Kristians Kool Karma giving each rider 3rd overall on the day, moving Kristian up to 2nd in the 450 standings and Ray to joint 5th in the 250's.
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