CARL BUNCE became the third man to lead the NORA MX Pro Quad Championship in three rounds after steering his Rocketman Suzuki to victory at the hard and fast Brakehill track in Northamptonshire on Sunday.
Despite not winning any of the three 20 minute races the British Championship number two edged out 15-year-old rising star Bailey Edwards by five points, with George Callaway third.
Callaway, who had been fastest in qualifying, had won the opening race by over 44 seconds and set the day’s fastest lap on the way. His job had been easier when a collision between Bunce and Sheldon Seal had seen the latter crash out and disrupted the chasing group.
Bunce eventually recovered to take second, but only after a race long chase to overhaul fast starting young Welshman, James Bevan, who put in a sterling performance to record his best result of the year in third (pictured above).
In the second race Luke Cooper – who had retired from race one after a broken wire stopped his KTM - took the honours following tight battle to the flag with Bunce and Callaway. Two seconds split the trio at the flag.
Then in the third it was the turn of KTM-mounted Edwards to take victory, by just half a second, after he chased down the early leader Cooper and passed him in the closing stages. Bunce was third after damage from the earlier collision forced him to switch to his spare machine. Callaway retired due to electrical problems.
In the Pro B Group Josh Waring and Bevan took a win apiece and tied on 112 points, however Waring got the nod after a better last race result. Callum Bates was the other class winner.
In the Clubman class 16-year-old Dafydd Davies was once again in superb form smashing every race and setting lap times that would have made him a solid runner in the Pro Class. Davies and his EDR Racing KTM have now won eight heats on the bounce!
Behind him there was some cracking racing for the remaining podium places. Joshua Crane (2-3-3) ended up second overall, with Kyle Hawkes securing third after he produced his best ride of the day in the final race when he backed up an early fourth and sixth with a charging second place.
In the Clubman B group Sam Holmes backed up two seconds with a last race win to take overall victory from race one winner, Marco Zaffino, and race two victor Bradley Cockrem.
The Masters race saw semi-retired British Champion Paul Winrow make his 2015 quad cross debut and he duly won overall, though not before being beaten narrowly in race one by reigning Masters champion Ed Davies. However, Davies’ hopes of a sustained challenged ended with a broken tie rod end in race two which demoted him to 26
th.
Nick Whetter and Greg Fisher, who are doing the competitive Masters series to prepare for Pont de Vaux this summer, took second and third.
In the Masters B group, Gary McKenna notched up a maximum for the second round in a row.
Two wins and a second secured Ayrton Knowles victory in the 250 youth class. His only defeat came at the hands of Lorne Sinclair, but the Scot’s hopes of challenging for the overall had been ruined in race one after a first lap pile-up forced him to come through the pack to an eventual seventh.
Harry Carmichael continued his dominance of the 250 Modified group with a maximum, however in the final race he was pushed all the way by Iestyn Rowlands and only won by half a second.
While his dad was on his way to hospital after a crash in the Masters, Bradley Lightfoot was on his way to winning the 250 Standards by a solitary point from Daniel Hares.
Josh Birch took victory in the 150 group and also steered his smaller capacity machine to a very respectable eighth out of 27 overall.
In the 100 youth group Marcus Sprason was the day’s fastest rider, and won the last two races. However, in the first a stalled motor which required “outside assistance” to restart meant he eventually finished eighth in the race and second overall. Three seconds secured overall victory for Alfie Walker.
Words and pictures : Rob McDonnell RESULTS: PRO: 1 Carl Bunce, 2 Bailey Edwards, 3 George Callaway, 4 Harry Walker, 5 James Bevan, 6 Sheldon Seal.
PRO B: 1 Josh Waring, 2 James Bevan, 3 Callum Bates, 4 Lawrence Whyte, 5 Jack Naylor, 6 Aaron Pole.
CLUBMAN: 1 Dafydd Davies, 2 Joshua Crane, 3 Kyle Hawkes, 4 Tom Yates, 5 Ryan Griffin, 6 Kieran Heath.
CLUBMAN B: 1 Sam Holmes, 2 Marco Zaffino, 3 Bradley Cockrem, 4 Harry Grant, 5 Dean Porter, 6 Sam Turner.
MASTERS: 1 Paul Winrow, 2 Nick Whetter, 3 Greg Fisher, 4 Ed Davies, 5 Andrew Downes, 6 Mark Stepney.
MASTERS B: 1 Gary McKenna, 2 Clyde Thompson, 3 Marcus Knight, 4 Simon Pritchard, 5 Rick Jones, 6 Dave Lickfold.
250 GROUP: 1. Ayrton Knowles, 2 Lorne Sinclair, 3 Olly Martin, 4 Jack Norris, 5 Harry Carmichael, 6 Harry Ruby.
250 OPEN: 1 Ayrton Knowles, 2 Lorne Sinclair, 3 Olly Martin, 4 Jack Norris, 5 Harry Ruby, 6 Connor Paxton.
250 MOD: 1 Harry Carmichael, 2 Scott Berlyn, 3 Iestyn Rowlands, 4 William Booth, 5 Catrin Davies, 6 Bradley Watson.
250 STANDARD: 1 Bradley Lightfoot, 2 Daniel Hares, 3 Shanice Mott, 4 Josh Talent, 5 Vassna Willcock, 6 Maddie Martin.
150 OPEN: 1. Josh Birch, 2 Terence Palin, 3 Shelley Smart. No other finishers.
100 GROUP: 1 Alfie Walker, 2 Marcus Sprason, 3 Robbie Wood, 4 Dylan McKenna, 5 Reece Swann, 6 Lewis Humphris.
100 GEARED: 1. 1 Alfie Walker, 2 Marcus Sprason, 3 Robbie Wood, 4 Dylan McKenna, 5 Reece Swann, 6 Dillon Stepney.
RAPTOR: 1. Lewis Humphris, 2 Callum Lockett. No other finishers.
50: 1 Jago Jackson, 2 Logan Paxton. No other finishers.