Wet weekend ups and downs for ARW Yamaha
June 19, 2007
Torrential rains nearly ruined the weekend for not only ARW Yamaha, but everyone else at the third round of the British Motocross Masters at Hawkstone this past weekend. The rains that had flooded other parts of the country throughout the week also made an appearance at the iconic track in Shropshire on Saturday afternoon, but much to everyone's relief, held off on Sunday.
Josh Chapman, the team Small Wheel 85 rider, qualified on Saturday morning in twenty-seventh on the tough track, while Youth 125 rider Peter Wainwright qualified in eighteenth. On Sunday morning, Lewis Rose and Aaron Smith qualified in fourteenth and twenty-seventh respectively.
Josh's first and only race on Saturday looked to be a good one after a start in twenty-first became a race for a good spot in the top ten. However, after three laps the race ended with Josh in thirteenth. His first race on Sunday started in the top ten and within a lap Josh found himself in the top five. A fall cost him several positions and he restarted in ninth. A late pass relegated him to tenth. His last race of the weekend was a repeat of the first. After a start in the top twenty, Josh raced into the top fifteen a lap later, where he settled into fourteenth for much of his race. A fall two laps from the end returned him to the low teens from where he recovered to seventeenth. Overall, Josh ended in twelfth for the weekend, a good effort considering the challenges for the class on the extremely difficult track.
Peter's first race in the Youth 125 class was a solid showing in the mid-teens. Starting in seventeenth, he worked his way to fourteenth where he settled into a rhythm. He ended in fifteenth. His second race was again a mid-teen start, but a fall a lap later cost him four positions for a restart in eighteenth. The deep sand and mud made work hard and he struggled to recover positions for the remainder of the race, ending in twentieth in the end. Sunday morning was a big improvement again. Although Peter started in twenty-third, he tirelessly worked his way to fifteenth in the last lap of his race. He was seventeenth overall on the weekend.
Lewis and Aaron had varying degrees of success in the Pro 125 class on Sunday afternoon. While Lewis started well in the top fifteen, Aaron was shut out on the start. Lewis worked his way to tenth by mid-race, briefly touching ninth, but ended the race in the top ten. Aaron's race ended in lap three after making big strides in the first two laps. He smashed his radiators and had to pull out.
The second race start was similar to the first for both riders; Lewis started in the top twenty while Aaron was pushed aside and exited the first turn in thirty-second. However this time it was Lewis who had to end his race early. Well on his way to another top ten position, he overshot a berm and ended in thigh-deep mud that trapped his bike and ended his chances of finishing the race. Aaron showed his determination in his second race too. In the second lap he entered the top twenty and repeatedly flirted with a nineteenth place. A fall in the final third set him back five positions, but he nonetheless made those up again to end in nineteenth. The two riders ended in nineteenth and twenty-fourth overall for the day.
Team owner Rob Wainwright declared the weekend to have been hard work for everyone, especially Josh. However, he was generally pleased.
The team will not attend the next round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Desertmartin in Northern Ireland this coming weekend; the next round will be at Whitby in Yorkshire. However, the next race for the team will be at Torrington in Devon for the next round of the CCM British MMX Championship on July 1, 2007.
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