AMCA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP ROCKS AT SHOBDON
October 31, 2007
During a year in which we sadly lost that great AMCA stalwart Lionel Beck,it was therefore rather fitting that his ‘home’ East group should win the 2007 Inter Group team motocross title at Shobdon on Sunday.With a team boasting David Campbell and Brad O’Leary the two 2007 AMCA motocross champions,the East thanks to solid backing from Matt Porter,Shaun Frayne,Paul Burn and Jack Taylor eventually took the crown by just eight points.Their closest rivals the Wessex/South Wales group produced the top two performers of the day though in Ben Saunders and Clinton Barrs.Whilst Barrs won two of his three outings,Saunders aboard a new Kawasaki machine went through the card unbeaten. Whilst the East and Wessex/South Wales groups rather dominated the race for the team title,last years runners-up the North Midlands group were again on the podium with a hard earned 3rd place.Defending champions the North West group only included Paul Coward from their 2006 title winning team and had to settle for 8th place at Shobdon this time around.
Despite overnight and early morning rain,the sun eventually decided to put in an appearance right on cue for the first race of the day on the superb Shobdon circuit.Although the team event produces numerous 250F v 450F Unlimited battles,it was to be the 250cc two-stroke of fast starting Paul Burn who led moto one much to the delight of his East group teamates.Eventually Paul was to be pushed back to 6th as Clinton Barrs took the first win of the day ahead of David Campbell,Dan Hill,Shaun Pearce and Lance Parry.Riding for the South Shropshire group,Jamie Powell moved smartly through early traffic to take the moto two win.
In an impressive moto for the 250F boys,Lee Dunham had a storming ride to earn 2nd at the flag whilst Scott Mathia,James Lane,Owen Delaney and Jack Taylor all finished inside the top ten.In the final race of block one,Brad O’Leary the three times AMCA 125cc champion having his first outing aboard a 450F machine grabbed the moto three holeshot.Only having climbed aboard his Direct CCTV/AMS KTM for the very first time just two days earlier,Brad held on for a couple of laps before being passed by Ben Saunders and Rick Du-Feu.Also having a debut ride on his Kawasaki,Saunders certainly looked very comfortable on the green machine.Already with the first block of team action completed a clear pattern was developing as Wessex/South Wales led the way on 23 points with East just a further 4 points in arrears.
Moto four and Burn,Barrs and finally Powell all took turns to lead another exciting clash.In this race though the Wessex/South Wales group extended their lead with Barrs taking 2nd at the flag just one place ahead of teamate Shaun Sabin.For the East group,Burn had another great ride in 4th whilst Shaun Frayne was 8th,just behind Aran Agius,Paul Coward and Delaney.Showing great team comradery,the East group’s reserve Brian Staples came to the rescue of his colleagues in moto five,loaning Matt Porter his bike.Keeping the East group’s title hopes alive,Porter finished in 3rd spot while his teamate Campbell displayed his true class to take the win ahead of a very determined Du-Feu.
For the Wessex/South Wales,James and Simon Lane took 4th and 5th respectively whilst Dan Hill produced another impressive ride aboard his 250F to earn 6th at the flag for the West Midlands group.Proving that he has already learned how to grab the holeshot on his 450F,O’Leary was again first to the opening turn of moto six.As per race three though Brad was soon to be relieved of his lead by Saunders.Upholding the pride of the North Avon/South Glos group,Dunham on the 250F was right in at the thick end of the action taking 3rd at the flag ahead of Mathia,Stephen Tillotson,James Shaw,Taylor,Pearce and Ray Syson.
So with just the final block remaining it was definitely a two team battle for the title with a slender two points separating leaders Wessex/South Wales and the East group.In moto seven the pendulum swung firmly in favour of the East group as Campbell took another win with Porter again on Staples borrowed bike earning a great 4th.For the Wessex/South Wales whilst James Lane was a strong 3rd,his teamate Sabin was stranded down in 22nd.Showing though just how quickly fortunes can change in motocross,it was remarkably again advantage Wessex/South Wales after moto eight as Barrs took the win with teamate Simon Lane in 4th.
With Powell finishing as the moto runner-up,the East group represented by O’Leary and Taylor posted 3rd and 20th places respectively.Going into the last team clash of the day,the leading two teams were now incredibly locked together on a total of 81 points each.Whilst fast starting Burn and Frayne were representing the East,the immaculate Saunders and Clinton Thomas were ready to do battle for the Wessex/South Wales team.Although Craig Chamberlain led the early exchanges,Saunders moved through to take the win.Vitally though Frayne and Burn were 3rd and 4th respectively whilst Thomas fought hard to finish in 14th.
By just eight points the East group were crowned the 2007 AMCA Inter group champions.Well done to the organising West Midlands and South Shropshire groups for a cracking finale to the season.
RESULTS
OVERALL TEAM POSITIONS
1 EAST 88 points (Jack Taylor,Paul Burn,Shaun Frayne,Matt Porter,Brad O’Leary,David Campbell)
2 Wessex/South Wales 96 points (Shaun Sabin,Lance Parry,Simon Lane,Clinton Thomas,James Lane,Clinton Barrs,Ben Saunders)
3 North Midlands 184 points (Michael Du-Feu,Martyn Perkins,James Shaw,David Wall,Scott Mathia,Rick Du-Feu)
4 West Midlands 191 points (David Livesey,Owen Delaney,Dan Hill,Joshua Williams,Sam Callow,Craig Chamberlain).
5 North Wales/North Shrops 194 points (Gavin Rizzi,Gary Jones,Wesley Egan,Aled Bellis,Shaun Pearce,Stephen Tillotson).
6 South Shropshire 229 points (Kevin Rogers,Anthony Bennett,Patrick Crump,Darren Bennett,Justin Bolton,Sean Tranter,Duncan Powell,Jamie Powell).
7 North Avon/South Glos 282 points (Kris Ayres,Trevor Sheppard,Darren Marklove,Paul Neal,Aran Agius,Lee Dunham).
8 North West 295 points (Sean Eckersley,Michael Smith,Lee Buck,Michael Reynolds,Robert Carter,Stephen Meikle,Paul Coward).
9 Yorkshire 308 points (Stephen Radcliffe,Nicki Ellis,Danny Kelly,Lee Harris,Ashley Tate,Luke Hawkins,Danny Blakeley).
10 Trent Valley 317 points (Ian Brownson,John Stokes,Scott Poulter,Colin Conduit,Ray Syson,Steve Patterson).
11 South Staffs 319 points (Jason Nock,Edward Reynolds,Marc Spruce,Harry Lawerence,Dale Halls,Andy Marchant).
12 Warwickshire 361 points (Derek Read,Tom Smith,Sam Robinson,Joseph Del-Busso,Jonathan Slesser,Jamie Wilson,Phil Pearsall).
13 South West 417 points (Gary Chappell,David Hopkins,Ricky Fenton,Eddie Carr,Carl Dezis,Gavin Flagg).
Champs...
MOTO ONE 1 Clinton Barrs(W/SW) 2 David Campbell(E) 3 Dan Hill(WM) 4 Shaun Pearce(NW/NS) 5 Lane Parry(W/SW) 6 Paul Burn(E) 7 David Wall(NM) 8 Joshua Williams(WM) 9 Darren Bennett(SS) 10 Steve Patterson(TV).
MOTO TWO 1 Jamie Powell(SS) 2 Lee Dunham(NA/SG) 3 Shaun Frayne(E) 4 Shaun Sabin(W/SW) 5 Scott Mathia(NM) 6 James Lane(W/SW) 7 Owen Delaney(WM) 8 Paul Coward(NW) 9 Jack Taylor(E) 10 Wesley Egan(NW/NS).
MOTO THREE 1 Ben Saunders(W/SW) 2 Rick Du-Feu(NM) 3 Brad O’Leary(E) 4 Matt Porter(E) 5 Craig Chamberlain(WM) 6 Simon Lane(W/SW) 7 Stephen Tillotson(NW/NS) 8 Michael Reynolds(NW) 9 Justin Bolton(SS) 10 Ashley Tate(Y).
MOTO FOUR 1 Powell 2 Barrs 3 Sabin 4 Burn 5 Aran Aguis(NA/SG) 6 Coward 7 Delaney 8 Frayne 9Danny Blakeley(Y) 10 Wall.
MOTO FIVE 1 Campbell 2 R Du-Feu 3 Porter 4 J Lane 5 S Lane 6 Hill 7 Bolton 8 Sam Callow(WM) 9 Tate 10 Scott Poulter(TV).
MOTO SIX 1 Saunders 2 O’Leary 3 Dunham 4 Mathia 5 Tillotson 6 Chamberlain 7 James Shaw(NM) 8 Taylor 9 Pearce 10 Ray Syson(TV).
MOTO SEVEN 1 Campbell 2 R Du-Feu 3 J Lane 4 Porter 5 Blakeley 6 Egan 7 Callow 8 Gavin Flagg(SW) 9 Williams 10 Harry Lawerence(SS).
MOTO EIGHT 1 Barrs 2 Powell 3 O’Leary 4 S Lane 5 Mathia 6 Tillotson 7 Gary Jones(NW/NS) 8 Kevin Rogers(SS) 9 Wall 10 M Reynolds.
MOTO NINE 1 Saunders 2 Chamberlain 3 Frayne 4 Burn 5 Agius 6 Pearce 7 Coward 8 Andy Marchant (SS) 9 Bolton 10 Shaw.
Runners up...
Third place...
TEAM RESERVES OVERALL
1 Phillip Lloyd 39 points 2 Josh Williams 33 3 Lewis Bagnall 31 4 Dean Hodgkins 23 5 John Downes 13 6 Barry James 12 7 Ricky Chamberlain 12 8 Jack Weston 10 9 Ryan Marshall 10 10 Edward Jones 9 11 Chris Matthews 2 12 Gareth Williams 1.
Report and Images from MOTO WEB CONTRIBUTOR - MIKE WOOD - More images from this event can be found at http://www.moto-action.co.uk/
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