Monday September 21, 2009 at 1:27pm
NORA MX hosted the final round of the series on 20th September at a sun baked Culham circuit alongside the river Thames near Oxford.
Following on from Saturday’s Youth Quad finals the track had been put back to perfect condition for the start of Sunday’s qualifying. By the end of the day three 2009 British Champions would be crowned.
The Open Championship class was first out on course and Championship leader Kristian Whatley aboard the LPE Kawasaki laid down the gauntlet early on with a 1:50.25 lap time. Try as they might the rest of the field could not get to within a second, leaving MVR-D Suzuki’s Carl Nunn second and fellow LPE rider Elliott Banks Brown in third.
Race one was stopped after a few laps when Nunn went down after a jump and was collected by a close following Neville Bradshaw on the DB Racing Honda and a few more riders to boot. The restart of the race unfortunately saw Nunn and Wayne Garrett missing from the line up following the incident and it was Whatley who stamped his authority on the race from the gate. Banks Brown was giving chase but a mishap on lap five saw him lose ground and temporarily second place. Wayne Smith’s return on the Samsung 450 Yamaha was looking back to his usual pace and picked off John May on the Meredith Suzuki for third with Bradshaw coming through the field to fourth. With Nunn out Whatley was now almost assured of the open Crown for 2009.
Race two saw Banks Brown hit the front and had to fend off the close challenge of Bradshaw for the whole race. Whatley was trading places with both May and Danny Smyth on the Wiseco Honda until securing third for the flag. Overall on the day went to Banks Brown with Whatley second and Bradshaw third. Unfortunately only Whatley out of the top three was available to collect their Championship awards.
The Under 21 Championship was next out and there would be a three way battle for the Championship honours. However, none of the three in question were to top qualifying when Team KTM rider Jake Nicholls set a time that would be give him a 1.7 second gap at the top of the list. Contender Graeme Irwin set the second quickest time with PAR Honda rider Scott Elderfield in fifth and Moto 1 KTM’s Shane Carless back in eighth.
Elderfield got away at the front of race one but was soon overhauled by Nicholls who went on to take an emphatic win. Carless closed down Elderfield and made a move to take second place only to later be disqualified as the move was made under waved yellow flags where medics were attending to a stricken James Dodd. Irwin had been running fourth until his KTM expired leaving Elderfield pretty well assured of the Championship title.
Nicholls got the holeshot in race two and continued to dominate to the flag. Luke Hawkins on the PAR Honda followed Nicholls until Proseal KTM’s Alan Keet took second place away and the three remained in those positions until the end. Elderfield, Carless and Irwin and were battling out amongst themselves and finished in fifth, sixth and seventh respectively. Overall on the day was obviously claimed by Nicholls with Alan Keet second and Luke Hawkins third. Elderfield climbed the podium to collect his Championship trophy with Carless second and Irwin third.
Paul Winrow on his Winrow Racing Honda had already been confirmed as British Quad Champion but second place was still up for grabs between recently crowned European Champion Paul Holmes on the Team KTM machine and Jason Macbeth on the Fourtech Honda. Qualifying was a tight affair with five riders within a second of Paul Holmes’ 1:56.7. Leon Beda came the closest just 0.3 seconds adrift.
Winrow took the lead in race one but was passed by Holmes on lap four who went on to take the win. Winrow came under pressure from Beda who moved in to second on lap seven. Winrow held on to third and a fast charging Stefan Murphy on the SMR Honda came through the field to take fourth.
Race two saw Macbeth get away at the front and build a comfortable lead over Holmes and Murphy. ATV World Yamaha rider John Mitchell found a turn of speed and passed Murphy and started pressurising Holmes. Macbeth started to suffer from arm pump and eventually lost out first to Mitchell and then Holmes within the space of one lap but held on to take third ahead of Murphy.
Overall on the day went to Holmes from Mitchell and Murphy. Winrow stepped up to take his Championship trophy with Holmes securing second from Macbeth, all three will now be off to Germany to contest the inaugural Quadcross of European Nations with a good chance of topping that podium.