Portsmouth MXC - Another Wet Meon
March 11, 2008
With strong winds and driving rain during the night threatening to cancel Portsmouth Motocross Clubs second round of their Summer series, riders still arrived in their masses to a soggy West Meon track recently. 220 competitors were eager to tackle the slippery circuit, and all bravely put on a great show for the watching spectators.
With nearly 50 Inter Open riders signed in, the double line up procedure was put into force. Enduring knee-deep mud in the final block, Rob Muscat made it look easy and took full control to snap up three wins, and overall victory. James Rutter stayed in close contention, and with improving results throughout the day, he finished second overall, a second in the last race his best result. Mathew Bayliss secured third overall, consistent high finishes ensuring he passed the chequered flag just behind the leaders.
Closing his first race with a win, Lloyd Pettett remained well in contention with the front runners, finishing second in his second race to finish fourth overall. Gareth Padgett remained consistent and tackled the course with ease, two fifths and a fourth rewarding him with fifth overall. A brilliant opening race saw Jack Bachelor passing the finish line in second place and with two further top ten placings, sixth overall was finally rewarded.
Snatching the last race win rewarded Billy Hare with the overall victory in the Inter 85 class. Battling hard throughout the day at the front of the pack ensured him high placings. A welcome return to Oliver Osmaston, who after having to sit out for so long due to injury, came back with a vengeance and executed a great first race to finish in first. Two top three results added to his win awarded him second overall. Fraser Viner stayed hot on the pace, closing down the leaders, finishing in second twice to secure him third overall.
Christopher Bayliss fought constantly throughout the meeting with Jordan Bachelor, both riders achieving the equal results, a fourth, fifth and sixth, but Bayliss grabbed the higher fourth overall due to his fourth in the final moto. A feisty and impressive performance from Jordan Bachelor resulted in him finishing in fifth overall, passing the flag in fourth in moto two just behind the leaders. David Roberts closed the top six, with three consistent top ten results, and an impressive, stylish ride rewarded him sixth overall.
Joshua Coleman returned to the top of the tree in the Junior class, resuming first place in the final moto to take the overall lead, two second places adding extra valuable championship points to his tally. Jake Deacon rode another set of impressive races, taking over top spot in race two to finish second overall. Jamie Carpenter continued his remarkable run of high scores and remained at the front of the pack throughout the meeting, two fourths and a third awarding him third overall.
Remaining high up the leader board, Taylor Smith continued his dominance in the class, finishing fourth overall, a great fourth in race two upping his points tally immensely. Pushing himself to the limit in each race, Lewis Dowdeswell steered his way into fifth overall, passing the chequers just narrowly behind smith in race two. In his quest to reign supreme within the Junior class, Josh Bunter rode consistently throughout the meeting to finish well inside the top ten in all motos, finishing in sixth overall on the day.
The Autos were next to race, and only having to endure the first hill Olivier Cook sped extra fast past lapscoring to secure three straight wins and the overall victory. Jay Ellis remained a contender for Auto Champion, again scoring top three positions, two second places rewarding him with second overall. A brilliant second in race one ensured Ben Richards a high placing, a third in the final moto secured him third overall.
As the track dried out later in the day, Charlie Cole rode the track with ease, and with two fourth positions, finished the day in fourth overall. Visiting rider Troy Jones strove on through the muddy conditions, finishing in a commendable fourth in race one to take fifth overall. A great performance by Charlie Sturgess awarded him sixth overall, passing the majority of the field in race three to pass the finish line in sixth.
An awesome 40 AMX riders lined up to decimate the track, with Wes Hallawell once again taking charge at the front of the pack. Securing the first race win, he finished overall victor, two hard-fought second places ensuring victory was his. Battling through the front of the pack, Justin Robinson rode a hard and powerful second race to snatch the win, and took second overall. Race three winner Luke Blanchard had a fight on his hands to stay at the front, battling hard with his rivals, but with a third added to his points tally, Blanchard finished third overall.
Paul Watts made a warm welcome return to his old schoolboy club to carry on where he left off. Remaining dominant at the front of the pack, two third placings steered him into fourth overall. A great second in race one bode well for Chris Southcott but stiff competition at the front of the field pushed him further down the field. Still managing to reel in two top further top ten positions left Southcott in fifth overall. A great sight to see Nicky Watts return to the Club after his horrific injury at Tonymoto last year. Watts achieved his highest position, replacing his 125 in the final moto for a 250, and passed the line in sixth, taking sixth overall position on the day.
A great line-up of Veterans saw Shaun Brooker reign supreme throughout the meeting, three straight, convincing wins secured him overall victory. After a first corner crash, an even more unfortunate collision in race one saw Paul Williams thrown over the finish line but he picked himself up and pushed hard for a win in the remaining motos. Two second places ensured he finished in second overall. Even with a very rare off, Alan Scott still managed to finish third overall, clawing his way back to the front of the pack, finishing third, third and fourth to end the day in the top three. Consistent finishes for the riders in fourth, fifth and sixth overall saw Shaun Skeates, Dave Lopez and Andy Watts all ride past the chequered flag in the same position throughout the meeting. Skeates finished in fourth with three fifth places, Lopez secured fifth with three sixth places and Watts, donning the more prominent banana-coloured kit, secured three seventh positions to finish in sixth overall.
A full line-up of Seniors made for some exciting and bar-bashing action, and resulted in three different winners throughout the day. Jackson Evans rode impressively again throughout and snatched the first race win, and with a second and fifth he finished overall victor. Taking over the winners spot in race two, Oliver Rusby kept hard on the pace throughout the races, battling hard with Reeves and managed to secure second overall. Elliot was so close to a win, and two gallant second places rewarded him with third overall.
Chris Bick must have been doing a rain dance all meeting, as even though his first two race scores were respectable, he saved the best for last in the horrendous hail/wind/rain-soaked third moto. The King of Mud proved the soggy stuff is his forte, and stormed past the chequered flag in first position, to secure fourth overall. Jake Hassell high on his success from round one, continued in convincing style, two fourth positions and impressive riding resulting in fifth overall being awarded. An impressive and dominant return by George Gough, three top ten positions proving this riders true ability, and third in race two the pinnacle of his day, an outstanding sixth overall his reward at the end of the day.
Results:
VMX: 1 Shaun Brooker, 2 Paul Williams, 3 Alan Scott, 4 Shaun Skeates, 5 Dave Lopez, 6 Andy “B1” Watts.
AMX: 1 Wes Hallawell, 2 Justin Robinson, 3 Luke Blanchard, 4 Paul Watts, 5 Chris Southcott, 6 Nicky Watts.
Seniors: 1 Jackson Evans, 2 Oliver Rusby, 3 Elliot Reeves, 4 Chris Bick, 5 Jake Hassell, 6 George Gough.
Inter Open: 1 Rob Muscat, 2 James Rutter, 3 Mathew Bayliss, 4 Lloyd Pettett, 5 Gareth Padgett, 6 Jack Bachelor.
Inter 85: 1 Billy Hare, 2 Oliver Osmaston, 3 Fraser Viner, 4 Christopher Bayliss, 5 Jordan Bachelor, 6 David Roberts.
Juniors: 1 Joshua Coleman, 2 Jake Deacon, 3 Jamie Carpenter, 4 Taylor Smith, 5 Lewis Dowdeswell, 6 Josh Bunter.
Autos: 1 Olivier Cook, 2 Jay Ellis, 3 Ben Richards, 4 Charlie Cole, 5 Troy Jones, 6 Charlie Sturgess.
Report by MOTO Magazine web Contributor Kay Turner - more info from Portsmouth MXC can be found here
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