Report

“A Ship^ton the River Thames”

Report by Kay Turner

Culham – 12^th September 2004

Portsmouth Motocross Club held the 11^th round of their Summer Club Championships at the popular Culham circuit near Abingdon.  The forecast rain held off and perfect track conditions awaited nearly 240 riders, all eager to perform as well as the girls the day before at the Girls National.

 

The Juniors led the way and it was young Rob Muscat who took control of the pack, winning races one and three, and took a 2^nd in race two to finish overall winner.  Lloyd Pettett in his usual domineering way easily took second overall, with a 3^rd, a fine second race win, ending with a 2^nd.  Third overall went to Tom Ellwood, whose confidence has been boosted by his involvement in last weeks BSMA Team Event.  He blasted into 2^nd place in race one, followed by a 3^rd and finished the day lower down the order in 6^th.  Once again Liam Garland continued his good run of high positions, finishing fourth overall.  Race one saw the gifted rider finish in 6^th, but pushed himself to finish in 5^th, then excelled in race three by finishing 3^rd.  James Rutter returned to the club to regain his top six status, finishing in fifth overall.  Two 5ths and a 4^th gave him equal points as Garland.  To close the top 6 comes Kyle Webster.  His steady riding style was rewarded with a 9^th, 7^th and 8^th.

 

Displaying some of the most exciting racing of the day, the VMX roared into action up the steep start straight, with three riders dominating each moto.  Visitor Warren Berthiaume was the inevitable winner although Martin Bradbury tried his utmost to keep Berthiaume behind him – but it wasn’t to be.  Berthiaume is awarded the overall victory with three outstanding wins (for such an oldie!!)  Fighting along with those two comes Chad Sait, as usual in the top 3.  Unable to notch a win under his belt, Chad settled for 2^nd in races one and three, keeping Bradbury chomping at the bit, eventually giving in, in race two, where Sait settled for 3^rd.  He finished in second overall.  A determined Bradbury followed Sait and Berthiaume to finish 3^rd in race one, but not happy with the result, he stepped up a gear to finish 2^nd in race two.  With Championship status continually on his mind and with his new boots crippling him, his concentration lapsed and he found himself hitting the deck in race three, but he managed to scramble back to finish 7^th.  Victory will come again when he keeps his mind on his racing, not an easy task with all the work involved in running the club.  Stay focused, keep your trousers on and you could be the VMX Champion, Mr Vice Chairman!  Narrowly missing out on appearing in the top three, Jason Skinner rode consistently all day, and was rewarded with fourth overall, finishing 4^th and 5^th twice.  Another consistent ride came from Alan Scott who continues to display the perfect riding style and ends up in fifth overall.  Scott had two 7^th positions, but saved the best for last by finishing in 4^th in moto three.  Another visitor closes the top six.  With three consistent 6^th places, Garry Pottinger finishes just two points behind Scott to finish sixth overall.

 

The peace of the countryside continued to be shattered as the AMX lads and lasses impressed the spectators with some hum-dinging battles.  A return visit to the club by visitor Henryck Cameron saw him snatch victory away from the brilliant Paul Watts.  Cameron managed to keep Watts at bay in races one and two, finishing 3^rd and 2^nd, but had to settle for 2^nd again in race three as Watts blasted his way to the top.  Watts, suffering from a bad burn on his leg, struggled in race one to finish 4^th, but crept back to 3^rd in race two, and by lapping a “back marker” four times in race three, Paul secured a win.  Second overall goes to Watts for all his hard work.  Fellow Team Event team member Brett Wheeler had a topsy-turvy day, copying the layout of the track – he was up, then down, then back up again.  He finished in a brilliant 2^nd, then dropped right down to 8^th, but then back up again to 3^rd, giving him third overall.  Providing some hilarious entertainment on the day, Rob Barney completely dominated the first two motos by finishing 1^st in both.  Barney decided to take up the role of “back marker” for race three, and chose an alternative style and size of bike.  Rob got lapped once or twice after stalling in spectacular style on the start, and managed to make it up the start straight just in time to see the remainder of the field finish lap one.  Even with Rob being lapped by the leader four times, he still didn’t finish last, but second-to-last in 23^rd place, much to the delight of the crowd.  Steve Turvey returned to his home club to finish just behind Barney in fifth overall.  With an accident in race one slowing down proceedings, Turvey had to settle for 9^th, but roared into 5^th spot in race two, and finished the day off with a 6^th.  Battling all day with Turvey comes sixth place rider Tom Bidder.  Finishing just behind Steve in 10^th in race one, he had to settle for 7^th in race two, but was able to beat him in race three to finish 5^th.

 

Out next were the Seniors.  Still removing chestnut fencing from his chest from the Team Event, Luke Blanchard always seems oblivious to injury and battled his way through the field to victory.  Settling for 2^nd in race one, Blanchard dominated the remaining two motos, winning both, even finishing first on borrowed machinery in the last race.  Second overall goes to Nicky Watts, celebrating his 16^th birthday last week, whose season just seems to have improved since returning from injury.  Unfortunately Nicky could not triplicate his brilliant win in race one, but followed up with a 3^rd and 2^nd, continuous in battle with Blanchard and Sean Barnsdale.  Barnsdale finished behind Watts in third overall.  The friendship off the track was replaced by pure competitiveness as Barnsdale finished 3^rd in race one, but managed to pass Watts in race two to finish 2^nd, but had to settle back behind his fellow rider in 3^rd in race three.  Mr Consistency Allen Waring finished close behind in fourth overall.  The top 3 riders kept Waring out of the podium positions but he stayed in contention all day and finished 4^th in all three motos.  Donning an attractive blue perm, Carl Chandlers wig obviously added too much extra weight as he only managed to finish in 10^th in race one.  But once the wig came off, 5^th place was awarded to Carl in the two remaining motos, enough to give him fifth overall.  Continuing to improve with every race meeting, Harvey MacDonald slides into sixth overall.  Being beaten by only one point MacDonald rode smoothly all day, finishing 5^th, 8^th and 7^th.

 

With a large number of visitors in the group, the Inter Open class had a variety of new riders to keep the racing interesting.  The top six riders, five being Portsmouth members, all finished in such close proximity of one another.  Ross Hill led the way by being overall victor, leading by just two points.  Working up to his win in race three, Hill started with a 3^rd, then followed it with a 2^nd, then led the field in race three to win.  Tying on points in second and third overall comes James Cole and Thomas Speer respectively.  Cole, still revelling in his win from the Team Event, where he led PMXCs Inter Open class to victory, he led the way in races one and two, completely thrashing the opposition, but a 5^th in race three saw James finish in second overall.  One of the most impressive and most improved riders of the season, Thomas Speer comes in third overall, on 127 points.  No win at this meeting but two 2nds and a 3^rd rewarded him with a well deserved top three position.  In his last race before moving into the Senior class, Max Tranah leaves the Open class with a fourth overall.  Gradually improving throughout the day, Max finished race one in 5^th, then 4^th and ending the day in a brilliant 3^rd, closely behind Speer.  The ever popular Jamie Tempest finishes in fifth position overall riding a steady race in one and three to finish 4^th, but a disastrous 8^th in race two meant Tempest would not catch Tranah to gain the higher position.  To close the top six comes visitor Warren Field whose main challenge was to beat Tranah.  But it wasn’t to be and in both races one and two, he came in behind to finish 6^th and 5^th, and had to settle for a 7^th in the final moto.

 

With nearly a full line up of Autos, the miniature riders battled hard on the deeply rutted circuit, with many parts of the track catching out a number of riders.  The lumps and bumps didn’t deter Fraser Viner to yet another overall victory, although race one saw Viner having to settle for 2^nd until the last lap where he took over the lead, giving him the first of three victories on the day.  Joe Collier was set to spoil Viners run of victories, but had to settle for second overall with three consecutive 2^nd placings.  With Oli Osmaston out of the running due to a bad crash in race three, it was down to Michael Denton to take up third overall position.  A 4^th and 5^th in races one and two only inspired this brilliant young rider to push that bit harder and finished 3^rd in race three.  Another top 6 regular, Joshua Broadway continues to race well and finished in fourth overall.  Two 6ths and a 4^th gave him those all important points to finish ahead of Bethany Farmer. Farmer, after finishing a brilliant second overall in the Girls National the day before, just missed out on fourth spot, and finished fifth overall, coming in 5^th, 8^th and 6^th.  Finally, Harvey Clements again closes the top 6 with a 10^th in race one, followed by two 7ths constantly battling all day with Broadway and Farmer.

 

To close the meeting, the Small Wheeled 85 riders fought their way around the track, with most of the top riders having varied levels of luck throughout the day.  With the regular winner Sebastian Osborne out of luck in race one with bike problems, it was the turn of Lewis Trickett to show what an outstanding rider he is.  Two brilliant wins and a 2^nd place in race three rewarded Trickett with the overall victory.  Well done, Lewis!  Ashley Bailey had a brilliant day finishing in second overall.  Finishing in his best position of 2^nd just behind Trickett in race one, Bailey had to settle for 4^th in the remaining motos.  After a slow start in race one, Charlie Hughes steamed his way into third overall with two additional 3^rd places.  There was opposite luck for Oliver Rusby who after finishing a brilliant 3^rd in race one, could only manage two 6ths in motos two and three.  Danny Urry finishes in fifth overall with three steady races, finishing 6^th then improving to 5^th in the two final races.  And finally, the rider of the day finishes his first meeting in the Inter 85 class in sixth overall.  Jake Shipton rode his heart out to prove that he can ride any bike to its full potential.  After upgrading from the Juniors this week, Jake finished in a brilliant 4^th in race one, and rode consistently to finish 7^th in races two and three.  A brilliant achievement for a brilliant rider. Well done, Jake!!