Slip, sliding away!

Report by Kay Turner

Portsmouth MX Club

Winter Series Round 5

29^th January 2012 – Swanmore

Image courtesy of click466.co.uk

Portsmouth Motocross Club held the final round of their Winter Series recently at the Swanmore circuit near Corhampton, and as temperatures dropped to near freezing, riders struggled to hold onto their handlebars as their fingers froze, and with the track turning into an ice rink during the day, the circuit looked like a battle ground as riders were strewn across many parts of the track.  But all riders battled on to provide the brave spectators some exciting racing.

The bigger wheeled 85 riders were first to take centre stage, and not putting a wheel wrong, Michael Ellis stormed to victory with ease, three wins a piece of cake for the talented rider.  A battle pursued between Jake Deacon, Conner Allison and Tallon Aspden, but Deacons unfortunate early dismissal in race two saw him out of the running for a great position, but Tallon Aspden was once again on fire as he romped past the chequered flag at a rapid pace, securing two thirds and a brilliant second to finish runner-up.  Pushing Aspden to the finish line in race two, Allison secured himself a third place to add to his fourth and fifth places and ended the day in third overall.

Henry Siddiqui once again reigned supreme in the smaller wheeled 85 group, but didn’t have it all his own, unable to secure his usual clear set of wins, although his opening moto wins were extremely impressive. In the restart of the final race, Siddiqui rode a sensible race to ensure he stayed put on his bike as the track became very slippery, and still ended the moto in third to take home the overall.  Harry Pritchard and Olivier Cook fought neck-and-neck to grab the runner-up spot, both riders securing a second, third and fourth throughout the day, but Pritchard pushed the hardest on the treacherous surface in moto three to bag second spot, and finished in second overall with Cook ending the day in third overall.

A great turnout of Junior riders took to the track next with Cain Marsh dominating the field.  A number of early front runners were caught up in mass pile ups on the corners, but Marsh took it all in his stride to secure three perfect race wins and the overall victory.  Luke Williamson wasn’t too far behind, and pushing his way into second spot in the last two races, he cruised into second spot overall.  Xavier Cook took full advantage of the crashes around the circuit and kept his nose clean to stay ahead of the carnage, a brilliant second place in the opening moto rewarding him with third overall.

The Autos once again were faced with the whole track and were falling like flies at each corner, too much throttle spinning them off their machines at regular intervals, but Toby Potter was unphased by the icy conditions, and sped to victory in all three motos to bag another first overall.  Alfie Rickwood and Vinnie Guthrie battled it out behind Potter both riders desperate for the runners up spot, but Rickwood did enough to hold back Guthrie in the opening motos, to secure two seconds, only succumbing to Guthrie’s pressure in the final moto, but still finished in second overall, Guthrie finishing in third.

A thunderous roar erupted as the VMX and AMX riders joined forces for the next race, the noise quite deafening as almost forty riders battled to squeeze around the first corner.  Zac Blackwell in the AMX totally annihilated the rest of the field looking for his first series title in a number of years, and despite excruciating painful arm pump he stormed into the lead at such a rate, no other rider was in sight in the opening motos, rewarding Blackwell with two wins and the overall victory.   As the flags waved for stricken riders, Liam Garland sped into the lead in the final race, flying past Luke Blanchard out of the bombhole, even finding the time to give him a cheeky look-back as he shot past, catching Blackwell around the top corner of the track to take the lead. With his win and two seconds he finished the day as runner-up.  A welcome return to the club by Luke Blanchard saw him vying for a top spot, but in race one he was trailing in eighth spot but worked hard to move into third place in the remaining motos to secure third overall.

          Shaun Hayles narrowly missed pushing his way into the top ten in the combined class, but a brilliant opening moto saw him finish first in the VMX class, and remained dominant in the next two races showing the youngsters how it’s done, to end the day as the winner of his group.  After a nasty spill in race one Mark Morris persevered to finish the race, but pushed his way through the pain barrier in the remaining motos to grab first place to close his day in second overall.  Phil Blunt kept his sights on the front two and enjoyed a good scrap with his fellow class riders, and securing a second in race one, he ended the day in third overall.

          The AMX Novice had a race of their own with a couple of EVO riders thrown into the mix, Steve Lyons taking charge of his class to win with three straight first places.  Scott Sanders was the Novice winner at the end of the day with some outstanding starts, he pushed into the lead in race one to storm past the chequered flag in first, adding a second and a fourth to secure the overall win.  James White enjoyed a win too, ending the day on a high to secure the race victory, and battled hard during the day to end up in second overall.  Ensuring he made the most of one of his favourite tracks, Tom Barrington proved he could ride well in the sticky and icy conditions as he sped to victory in race two, narrowly missing out on second spot in the final moto but was still rewarded with third overall.

The Green machines proved to be the machine to win on in the Senior class, both Dan Maxey and Jordan Carrier winning races on their Kawasaki’s, but with Carriers early retirement after two race wins, Maxey took over at the front to secure the final race win and the overall victory.  Daniel Lawler was determined to finish high up to possibly secure the Senior Winter Series championship, and a brilliant ride in all three motos saw him riding at his best, two thirds and a second rewarding him with the runner-up spot.  Luke Coker stayed firmly put on the Yamaha on his second outing to the track, and pushed Lawler all the way to the finish flag in each race, two fourths and a third rewarding him with third overall.

Results:

EVO: 1 Steve Lyons, 2 Kev Randell, 3 Martin Turner.

VMX: 1 Shaun Hayles, 2 Mark Morris, 3 Phil Blunt, 4 Marcello Cantafio, 5 Alan Turner, 6 Paul Luton.

AMX Novice: 1 Scott Sanders, 2 James White, 3 Tom Barrington, 4 Robert Grant, 5 Andy Fifield, 6 Jordan Talmage.

AMX: 1 Zac Blackwell, 2 Liam Garland, 3 Luke Blanchard, 4 Luke Kennett, 5 Jordan Owen, 6 Fred Heath.

Seniors: 1 Dan Maxey, 2 Dan Lawler, 3 Luke Coker, 4 Harry Colson, 5 Brad Barrett, 6 Harvey Huckstepp.

Inter Open: 1 Michael Ellis, 2 Tallon Aspden, 3 Conner Allison, 4 Harry Felton, 5 Tom Gathercole, 6 Ryan Turner.

Inter 85s: 1 Henry Siddiqui, 2 Harry Pritchard, 3 Olivier Cook, 4 Jay Muscat, 5 Liam Jones, 6 Ben Richards.

Juniors: 1 Cain Marsh, 2 Luke Williamson, 3 Xavier Cook, 4 Liam Brosnan, 5 Jesse Wren, 6 Louie Wakefield.

Autos: 1 Toby Potter, 2 Alfie Rickwood, 3 Vinnie Guthrie, 4 Vinnie Spooner, 5 Harrison Borg, 6 Rickie Lee.