Charnock kicks back to life after weeks of cancellations
April 22, 2008
The North West group finally spluttered into life, following numerous cancellations due to waterlogged tracks and paddocks, with Leigh taking the biggest brunt of the damage. With this in mind, it doesn't take much to figure out why Charnock had such a huge turnout, with the MX2 Juniors being split into three groups, all with full gates!
The anticipation and excitement was palpable, and an awful lot of new faces indicative of a healthily growing sport. I was also surprised at the number of new riders from the fairer sex, quite a sharp increase from last year.
At 0830hrs, the ground was firm and the track dry, almost to the point of dust being a possible concern. With this in mind, the stewards decided to run the practice and reassess the track before the racing. With such a huge Junior contingent, practice took a little longer than expected, but with the Charnock club members keeping the ball moving, no time was wasted between practice group. As the last rider left the track, the next group roared into life.
Although the track proved dusty, the first race went ahead without watering the track. Someone at Charnock has influence, because at the start of the second race it began to lightly rain. Not enough to make bibs or require heavy waterproofs, but enough to dampen the track down. In fact the track became what most of the riders termed mint. The rain lasted the first block, but the track remained pretty much perfect for the remainder of the day.
Aaron Crowder on his long standing Sandiford's Honda, battled long and hard with Robert Clitheroe who this year made the switch to the Rocket Centre Yamaha and clutched at Aaron's coat tails throughout all three races. With such close battles in the first meeting of the season, 2008 looks to be very interesting indeed.
Report and images by Michael Sewell
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