The Frome and District Club hosted a very successful fifth round of the ACU British MMX Championship at its Asham Woods circuit in Somerset. The event ran over two days, Sunday 24th May and Bank Holiday Monday 25th May.
The Dirt Bike Bitch UK British Ladies Championship kicked off proceedings with Natalie Kane continuing her domination of the series with a double victory extending her lead to 22 points. The battle is now on for second position with Kerry Wilson taking second overall on the day to maintain second in the series ahead of Stacy Fisher. The Ladies Championship is running over three rounds with the final shoot out taking place at Landrake alongside the Maxxis ACU British MX1 and MX2 Championships.
Sheena Baker of Dirt Bike Bitch UK commented: "It’s been another good day for the Ladies Championship and we would like to thank everybody for their support in promoting the Ladies within Motocross.”
On the Quad front it was Paul verses Paul, with Paul Holmes closing the gap on series leader Paul Winrow by achieving the Overall win at Frome. Holmes posted a second and first place finish to land himself 47 points, just two more than Winrow who now leads the series by just 21 points from Holmes. Jason MacBeth finished on the third step of the podium to consolidate his third place in the series standings. All three riders were involved in a tremendous battle for the win in race two with just two seconds separating the top three at the flag.
The dry weather at Frome was short lived with a light drizzle falling on the circuit on Monday morning just in time for the Open Qualifying. Moto One KTM rider Shane Carless kept his run of good form going by setting pole in the PAR Homes Under 21 Championship posting a time of 2mins 9.232secs. Irishman Graeme Irwin was just over a second behind in second place with Alan Keet a further second back in third. Championship leader Scott Elderfield was down in 11th nearly four seconds off the pace of Carless.
With race one out of the way it was a convincing win for PAR Homes' Brad Anderson in the Open class race. Whatley moved through from fifth place to take second place on the podium. Alex Snow held third for a number of laps before slipping back behind Martin Barr and Carl Nunn. Brad Anderson set the fastest time with a 2min 6.446secs, over two seconds faster than his closest rival.
Shane Carless backed up his pole with a race one win with Irwin putting him under pressure from gate to flag. Josh Waterman and James Dodd were having a tremendous battle for third that was won by ACU Academy rider Waterman by the end of the race An epic battle ensued at the beginning of the second Open class race between Brad Anderson and Scott Columb with the pair trading places for the lead but Anderson inevitably wore Columb down to go on and take his second race win of the day.
Whatley once again came through to take second place and second overall with Carl Nunn rounding off the podium. Shane Carless took off at the front of the second PAR Homes under 21 race leaving a six way battle in his wake. First to lose touch was Rickard Sandberg leaving Joe Dark, Graeme Irwin, Josh Waterman and Scott Elderfield. Places were traded every lap until Elderfield went down. Irwin made a move up to second while Waterman and Dark fought over third. Waterman eventually got the better of Dark and set off after Irwin but time ran out leaving Carless, Irwin and Waterman first, second and third on the podium.
The next round will be at Wroxton in Oxfordshire on the 21st June for Quads and Youth Quads. A week later on the 28th June the Open and Under 21 classes will be in action at Blaxhall in Suffolk. Information can be found on the Championship website www.mmx.org.uk or by contacting the ACU on 01788 566400.