250 x RIDERS 2,000 x SPECTATORS
June 18, 2008
The MCF crew rolled into Pontrilas for round 4 of the DEP Pipes two stroke series to find the hillside Herefordshire track in awesome condition. Scheduled to run at Pontrilas from the start of the season, a date clash meant that the event had been relocated to Langrove, just a few miles down the road, but when this former British Championship track became available again, it made perfect sense to switch back - and it worked out a treat. Nicely tilled but dry on Saturday afternoon, a heavy programme of watering overnight saw the track absolutely pristine come Sunday.
One man was absolutely in a class of his own at Pontrilas - Jonathan Pettitt faced everything the opposition put in front of him and just shot it down with a fusion of blinding speed and grinding consistency that must make the opposition despair. The first 125 A race saw Jack Brunnell get out of the gate and try desperately to gap the field, but Pettitt was soon into second and charging hard - it took him awhile to close the gap down, but by the halfway mark he was right with Brunnell, swooping past and immediately starting to build his own gap at the front, his fastest lap time a ridiculous four seconds faster than anybody else‘s on a wide-open track that was hard to make up time on. Brunnell would ride a lonely race into a clear second, his early charge and pursuit of Pettitt bringing him home almost a minute in front of everybody else, as Greg Hanson came out on top of a spectacular five-way battle for third, ahead of Christian Taylor, David Willett, Adam Reynolds and Jim Davies. For the rest of the day, however, Pettitt was untouchable, leading every lap, getting out of the gate and clearing off into the distance. Brunnell brought it home second in moto two, again some way ahead of the chasing pack and clearly the second-fastest rider out there, with Lloyd Morgan recovering from a first race DNF, after a terrifying mid-air collision with Craig English, to take an excellent third under considerable pressure from Willett. Brunnell completed his sweep of second places in moto three as well, but this time he was made to work for it when a mistake late on saw the chasing pack close right on him, a frantic battle with no less than seven riders going hammer and tongs - Morgan took another excellent third, ahead of Taylor, Davies, Willett, Hanson and Brett Wheeler, with the red flag bringing proceedings to a close a lap or two early.
Moto one of the 250 A group was epic - Matt Ridgeway led from the start, with Mark Eastwood in close
attendance and David Willett just a place or two back. Eastwood was happy to let Ridgeway make
the early running, as they started to motor away from the pack, but Ironman Willett was very quickly
into third and began to close them down. Eastwood, surely aware that Willett was on his way, made a
move for the lead but Ridgeway was enjoying being up front and passed him straight back. Willett
took the opportunity to go past Eastwood, then immediately put a move on Ridgeway, as Eastwood
followed him through and they began to edge away. Eastwood was stalking Willett, close but not
close enough to make a telling move, when Willet’s Yamaha was baulked by a lapper going through
the whoops - Easto needed no second invitation and was immediately into the lead and going flat-out
in an effort to drop the Ironman. But Willett, after a disappointing first 125 race (by his standards…
, was
in no mood to let it lie, and stuck right with Eastwood as they flew around. With barely a lap to go,
Eastwood found himself baulked by a lapper, and Willett was just as quickly through into a lead he held
to the flag - it was a scintillating battle. However, the one thing it did was inspire Eastwood - the
reigning champion just blew everyone away in moto two, pulling away from Willett and cantering into
a 40 second lead by the flag, as Willett had an incident that saw him cross the line just four seconds
ahead of Andre David in third, with Ross Hill and Alfie Smith fourth and fifth - Smith making a wildcard
appearance at the age of just fifteen, and making a great impression on a borrowed bike. It was all set
for a thrilling showdown in moto three, with Willett and Eastwood tied on a race apiece, but the red
flag incident caused the race to be cancelled with points only counting from races one and two.
Another fantastic event from the MC Events crew, and with round 5 scheduled for the
immaculately prepared Whitby race circuit in North Yorks on 13th July, all eyes are set for
another epic 2 stroke showdown.
125 JUNIOR DAY POINTS
Pos No Name Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Total
1 19 CHRISTIAN TAYLOR 45 42 42 129
2 167 JACK PLOWMAN 42 39 39 120
3 406 BRADLEY HOWLETT 39 33 33 105
4 176 LLOYD MORGAN 0 45 45 90
5 100 OLIVER RUSBY 14 36 36 86
6 45 CHARLES STATT 28 28 30 86
7 198 STEVEN GESNER 24 30 24 78
8 51 JASPER UPHILL 22 24 28 74
9 772 ADY PEEDLE 36 11 22 69
10 383 JOHN BUTLER 30 20 15 65
125 EXPERT DAY POINTS
Pos No Name Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Total
1 118 JONATHAN PETTIT 45 45 45 135
2 556 JACK BRUNELL 42 42 42 126
3 1 DAVE WILLETT 36 39 36 111
4 5 GREG HANSON 39 28 33 100
5 4 JIM DAVIES 30 30 39 99
6 250 ADAM REYNOLDS 33 33 26 92
7 41 BRETT WHEELER 26 24 30 80
8 101 LUKE KENNETT 20 26 24 70
9 166 LEWIS TOMBS 24 15 28 67
10 292 ASHLEY HARLAND 28 17 20 65
OPEN JUNIOR DAY POINTS
Pos No Name Race 1 Race 2 Total
1 851 NATHAN ROOKS 45 42 87
2 255 DAVID DIBBLE 42 36 78
3 312 JUSTIN SENTER 39 28 67
4 666 KARL JOHNSON 36 30 66
5 154 ALFIE SMITH - wc 19 45 64
6 232 ASHLEY PENNYCOOK 30 33 63
7 141 DANIEL GROVE 33 20 53
8 558 JAMIE SMITH 12 39 51
9 343 SCOTT SENTER 28 19 47
10 29 MATT NASH 20 26 46
250 EXPERT DAY POINTS
Pos No Name Race 1 Race 2 Total
1 1 MARK EASTWOOD 42 45 87
2 2 DAVE WILLETT 45 42 87
3 300 ANDRE DAVID 33 39 72
4 129 ROSS HILL 36 36 72
5 117 MATT RIDGEWAY 39 18 57
6 113 BEN MILWARD 24 30 54
7 66 LEWIS TOMBS 18 33 51
8 9 TONY CUDDY 19 28 47
9 234 ALISTAIR CLARK 26 17 43
10 284 JASON PALMER 22 20 42
Send this article to a friend
