Rosy performances for ARW Yamaha at British Masters and MMX British Under 21
May 31, 2007
Weather-wise the bank holiday weekend was anything but pleasant for the majority of the country, however, the second round of the British Masters Motocross at Dean Moor in Cumbria and the fourth round of the CCM MMX Championship at Frome in Somerset survived almost unscathed. The complete team made its way to the north, after which only Lewis Rose chose to make the overnight trip down south to improve his position in the CCM MMX Under 21 Championship.
The youngest of the riders, Josh Chapman, put in a sparkling performance for the team in the Small Wheel 85 class over the weekend. Qualifying in a flat eighteenth position, his races were anything but that. A mid-field start in the first race was followed by early progress to a top ten position, and a quick move on Sam Winterburn two laps from the finish ensured a good ninth place. Race two improved on the previous race with a start in eighth. Once again, a solid performance throughout the race allowed Josh to repeat what he had done the previous race two laps from the finish, this time the victim being Jake Cowell. Race three on Sunday morning looked to be a shocker. Starting in the back of the pack in twenty-third, Josh gave it his everything and after reaching seventeenth in the second lap, continued to work his way past his competitors to end in eleventh in the last lap. His overall position for the day was a well-earned fifth place.
ARW Yamaha's Youth 125 rider Peter Wainwright returned to racing too after an injury. After qualifying in twenty-first on Saturday, he hoped to ready himself for the second round of the MXY2 Championship at Langrish next weekend. A start in twenty-fifth ended in a seventeenth after a rocky ride up the field. The second race unfortunately did not go so well. A get-together with another rider left Peter with an injured thumb and made it very difficult to make any headway. He ended in twenty-sixth. A night's rest turned the same into a much better performance the next day. A start in second-last was turned into a good twenty-first place for a twenty-first overall for the round.
Lewis Rose and Aaron Smith continue to represent the team in the Pro 125 class. Both qualified in the mid-twenties on Sunday morning, Lewis just outside the top twenty in twenty-first, and Aaron four spots down from Lewis. Aaron struggled after his move to fifteenth in the first three laps of his first race. Progressively pushed backwards, he had to make do with ending where he started, in twentieth. His second race ended a mere few minutes after starting. A crash put him out of contention in the first lap, and he ended twenty-fifth overall on the day.
Lewis put in two good starts inside the top fifteen, on which he improved in the first race by clashing with Lee Dunham, Andrew Wilson and Lewis King for a ninth place. His second race turned out to be a good result too, his fall around the halfway point putting the brakes on his progress only briefly. Moves on Dominic Foreman and Ashley Thomas in the latter half put Lewis into the top ten again for a tenth overall.
After an over-night drive from one end of the country to the other, Lewis was able to put in a good qualifying position in the Under 21 class at Frome on Monday morning. His races also continued to show an upward trend in the class. His first race ended where he originally started, in eighth, after he was able to capitalise on a mistake by Luke Hill to undo his fall back to ninth after pressure from Alan Keet. His second race put Lewis mid-pack, but he worked his way back to the top fifteen by the third lap, and then gained another position to end in twelfth, for a top ten overall in ninth.
The team returns to the next Maxxis British Motocross Championship round at Langrish in Hampshire this coming weekend.
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