Monday July 25, 2011 at 12:52pm
This weekend Round 6 of the ACU Maxxis British Championship moved to the superbly prepared Foxhill venue. Sunday’s event was held under clear sky and bright sunshine when the race action started at lunchtime. The Foxhill circuit produced some great racing and also a lot drama that will play big part in the championship tables later in the year.
After a dismal previous round in Ireland, Zach Osborne on the Bike It Cosworth Wild Wolf Yamaha took the race win in the opening moto. His Team partner and main championship rival, Arnaud Tonus crashed on the opening lap and had to fight his way through the pack to claim fifth place at the end of the 20 minute plus two lap moto. It was Elliott Banks Browne on the D B Racing Honda who claimed second ahead of Jake Nicholls on the HM Plant Red Bull KTM. Bryan MacKenzie from the Maxxis Henderson LPE Kawasaki team claimed fourth with Tonus catching fast on the final lap.
The second race of the day for the MX2 class saw Zach Osborne dramatically crashed out of the second moto and wouldn’t compete for the rest of the day, whilst his Bike It Cosworth Wild Wolf Yamaha team mate, Arnaud Tonus took another win to go further ahead in the championship. Elliott Banks Browne continued his good form on the DB Racing Honda and just managed to hold off Jake Nicholls by 200th of a second.
The final race of the day for the MX2 class saw Elliott Banks Browne again make the start until Tonus passed him for the lead. Later on in the race Jake Nicholls moved passed Elliott and took the second place. Fourth and fifth place went to Neville Bradshaw and Mattis Karro. The results gave Tonus the overall ahead of Banks Browne and Nicholls.
A large crowd of spectators witnessed possibly the best race of the season when Brad Anderson, Stephen Sword, Kristian Whatley, Tom Church, Alex Snow, Nathan Parker and Gordon Crockard put on an excellent show of furious racing. Whatley on the Samsung Yamaha was too aggressive on the opening lap when challenging for the lead and remounted in tenth. With Whatley consistently putting in the fastest laps, Sword made a move on Anderson with two laps remaining and eventually took the chequered flag just two seconds ahead of the championship leader. Whatley closed up to within three seconds of Anderson, whilst Church, making his first appearance for his new HM Plant Red Bull KTM team finished a comfortable fourth. Parker recorded his best ride of the season on his Proppa.Com KTM to finish fifth
In the second MX1 race of the saw Stephen Sword after winning the opening MX1 race, take a heavy fall and tweaked his already injured ankle and retired from the meeting. Likewise, after riding a strong opening race and being fastest on the track, Whatley injured himself in race two and also took no further part in the activities. This allowed the Proppa.COM KTM pairing of Martin Barr and Nathan Parker to take a first one two for the team. So close was the fight for the lead that Alex Snow on the Lanes Kawasaki recorded his best result of the season with third less than four seconds off of first place. Championship leader Brad Anderson finished in fourth after suffering a bike problem with the Honda on the last lap. These four finished nearly 25 seconds clear of Gert Krestinov of the Maxxis Henderson LPE Kawasaki team finished in fifth.
The final MX1 race of the day saw yet more drama in the early laps as Nathan Parker crashed out of second place and in the progress Brad Anderson crashed into the fallen bike. This opened the door for Martin Barr to take his second win of the day and his first overall in the MX1 class of his career. Second place went to Gert Krestinov ahead of Tom Church in third, while Alex Snow and Gordon Crockard rounded up the top 5. Brad Anderson took second overall on the day and increased his points lead in the championship, while Tom Church took third overall on his debut for the HM PLANT RED BULL KTM UK team.