Tuesday August 7, 2012 at 1:48pm
Words and Photography by Alistair Plant
Paul Holmes was heralded as “King of the Sand”, taking the race one win at round four of the ACU British Quadcross Championship. Held at FatCats Motoparc and organised by the ACU. With all classes of quad racing in action, championships were to be decided during this unique and special event. On a day packed with nonstop action, great British weather and a challenging sand based circuit, competitors faced a tough day’s competition for both man and machine.
There was also a surprise last minute entry from current quadcross champion John Mitchell who joined up with the rest of the championship riders for qualifying. Holmes was quickest but the margins were tight with Connor Smith storming into second and Carl Bunce in third. Dean Colhoun and Ricky Tordoff were also riding well taking fourth and fifth fastest times.
Packing an impressive 33 strong lineup, race one began with a long straight into the first corner. Taking the holeshot was under 21 rider Thomas Claireaux with Lindsey Duke immediately taking the lead. David Wray was in third but crashed before the second corner. “I was fourth into the first corner but pushing hard I managed to take the lead a few corners later” explained Holmes as he began carving out a lead with the battle for second and third hotly contested just behind. By lap eight it looked like Bunce had it after he managed to pass a struggling Justin Reid who had lost his seat. Behind them, under 21 rider Smith was catching back up after coming off while Mitchell (now on a borrowed quad after suffering a engine problems in practice) had done an incredible job of moving from 17th to fifth.
“I knew it would be difficult once my seat popped off and wanting to save my energy for the second race, I let Bunce go and maintained the gap with Smith in fourth” reflected Reid in the battle for second and third. Despite getting stuck with three laps to go by a back marker, Holmes dominated the race with a comfortable 22.6 second lead, making it four wins from five races in this year’s championship and the fastest lap onboard his Laeger’s Yamaha YZF450R. Bunce finished second, his seat also coming off in the last few laps, ahead of Reid. Smith had pushed hard since his off and took a superb fourth ahead of Mitchell and Oli Sansom in sixth.
With thunder and lightning closing in, the sky darkened for the final race. Holmes battled through and took the lead ahead of the on-form Smith and Bunce. The race was red flagged however when Duke came off badly during the whoop section. The rain had become a heavy downpour and because the race had not reached half distance, this would have meant a re-run. However, due to the time of day, the torrential rain and the medical services being tied up dealing with the accident the decision was made to abandon the race. With no points awarded in race two, the overall results came from race one meaning Holmes extends his overall championship lead by three points.
“My preparation coming into today hasn’t been ideal but my pace has been fast and I was happy with the win in race one. I managed to get to the front in race two and feel that I could have held on and taken the win but overall I’m pleased and hope Duke is OK.” commented Holmes.
It was a good day for the KTM riders in the under 21 championship with Smith, who looked like a main contender in race two, finishing in first ahead of Sheldon Seal and race winner from round two, Luke Cooper in third. Duke was the best of the Masters class in race one, closely followed by Anthony Barrett and Clint Eagle taking third. Anthony Canavan took a gruelling first place finish in the Clubman class in front of Michael Campbell.
Youth Quad Championships
The 2012 Youth Quad Championship was to be decided over four races throughout the day with over 47 riders battling it out for British title glory. Adam James was sublime as he won the 250cc Open class with the 250cc Modified title going to Aaron Spence and Connor Fitzgerald finishing strong to clinch the 250cc Standard Championship. With some incredible performances there were also championship titles for Bailey Edwards in the 150cc class, Ayrton Knowles in the 100cc Geared, Catrin Davies in the 100cc Modified and Joshua Birch in the 100cc Standard. Marcus Sprayson took the 50cc Modified title while the 50cc Standard championship was won by Brad Hopps.
Round five of the ACU British Quadcross Championships will take place on the 26th August at Langrish Motopark. For more information, please visit www.acuquadracing.co.uk.
RESULTS:
British Championship: 1 Paul Holmes (Yamaha) 40, 2 Carl Bunce (Suzuki) 37, 3 David Justin Reid (Can-Am) 35, 4 Connor Smith (KTM) 33, 5 John Mitchell (Suzuki) 31, 6 Oli Sansom (Yamaha) 29
British U21 Championship: 1 Connor Smith (KTM) 40, 2 Sheldon Seal (KTM) 37, 3 Luke Cooper (KTM) 35, 4 Leon Rogers (Kawasaki) 33, 5 David Cowan (Yamaha) 31, 6 Fraser McFadden (KTM) 29
British Masters Championship: 1 Lindsey Duke (KTM) 40, 2 Anthony Barrett (Suzuki) 37, 3 Clint Eagle (KTM) 35, 4 Darren Bridge (Yamaha) 33, 5 Martin Sayer (Suzuki) 31, 6 Chris Murphy (Suzuki) 29
British Clubman Championship: 1 Anthony Canavan (Honda) 40, 2 Michael Campbell 37
Youth Championship 250cc Open: 1 Adam James (KTM) 25 + 25 + 22 + 22 =94, 2 Connor McKenna (Honda) 22 + 22 + 16 + 20, 3 Harry Moore (Yamaha) 20 + 20 + 18 + 18 =76, 4 Kyle Murphy (Yamaha) 18 + -- + 25 + 25 =68, 5 Leon Pattmore 0 + 18 + 20 + 16 =54
Youth Championship 250cc Modified: 1 Aaron Spence (Yamaha) 25 + 25 + 25 + 25 =100, 2 Jack Naylor (Yamaha) 18 + 18 + 20 + 22 =78, 3 Blake McCormick (Yamaha) 13 + 20 + 22 + 20 =75, 4 Dafydd Davies (Yamaha) 20 + 16 + 16 + 16 =68, 5 Harrison Sharpe (Yamaha) 15 + 15 +18 + 18=66, 6 Jordon Harris (Yamaha) 22 + 22 + 0 =44
Youth Championship 250cc Standard: 1 Connor Fitzgerald (Yamaha) 18 + 22 + 25 + 25 =90, 2 Kieran Heath (Yamaha) 22 + 20 + 22 + 22, 3 Joshua Crane 20 + 18 + 20 + 20 =78, 4 Joe Ruby (Yamaha) 25 + 25 + 13 + 14 = 77, 5 Jay Gunning (Yamaha) 16 + 14 + 18 + 18 =66, 6 Luke Penrose (Yamaha) 13 + 16 + 16 + 15 =60
Youth Championship 250cc Overall: 1 Adam James (KTM) 25 + 25 + 22 + 18 =90, 2 Aaron Spence (Yamaha) 22 + 22 + 18 + 22 =84, 3 Jack Naylor (Yamaha) 14 + 15 + 15 + 20 =64, 4 Connor McKenna 20 + 18 + 7 + 15 =60, 5 Kyle Murphy (Yamaha) 9 + -- + 25 + 25 = 59, 6 Blake McCormick (Yamaha) 6 + 16 + 16 + 16 =54
Youth Championship 100cc Geared: 1 Ayrton Knowles (Honda) 25 + 25 + 25 + 18 =93, 2 George Oliver 22 + 22 + 18 + 22 =84, 3 Liam Griffiths (Yamaha) 20 + 20 + 16 + 20 =76, 4 James Rawlins (Suzuki) 18 + 0 + 22 + 25 =65, 5 Luke Gunning 0 + -- + 20 + -- =20
Youth Championship 100cc Modified: 1 Catrin Davies (Apache) 25 + 25 + 25 + 40 =91, 2 Thomas Chell (Quadzilla) 22 + 22 + 22 + 25 =91, 3 Thomas Fitzgerald (Apache) 20 + 20 + 20 + 22 =82, 4 Shelly Smart (Proshark) 18 + 18 + 18 + 18 =72
Youth Championship 100cc Standard: 1 Joshua Birch (Apache) 25 + 20 + 25 + 25 =95, 2 Elysha Crane (Proshark) 22 + 22 + 22 + 20 =86, 3 Vassna Wilcock (Quadzilla) 20 + 18 + 20 + 22 =80, Georgina Atkinson (Apache) 18 + 16 + 18 + 18 =70, Robert Cotton (Apache) 0 + 25 + 0 + -- =25, 6 Nathan Penrose (Proshark) 16 + -- + -- + -- =16
Youth Championship 100cc Overall: 1 Ayrton Knowles (Honda) 25 + 25 + 25 + 11 =86, 2 Catrin Davies (Apache) 22 + 22 + 18 + 16 =78, 3 Thomas Chell (Quadzilla) 20 + 20 + 15 + 20 =75, 4 George Oliver 18 + 18 + 16 + 22 =74, 5 Thomas Fitzgerald (Apache) 16 + 15 + 13 + 18 =62, 6 James Rawlins (Suzuki) 8 + 0 + 22 + 25 =55
Youth Championship 50cc Modified: 1 Marcus Sprayson (ProShark) 25 + 22 + 25 + 22 =94, 2 Mitchell Kerr (Cobra) 16 + 25 + 22 + 25 =88, 3 Woody Jackson (Cobra) 20 + 18 + 20 + 20 =78, 4 Dylan McKenna (Cobra) 22 + 20 + 16 + 18 =76, 5 Cole Kilner (Cobra) 15 + 16 + 18 + 16 =65, 6 Jay Gunning (Cobra) 18 + 15 + 15 + 15 =63
Youth Championship 50cc Standard: 1 Brad Hopps (Apache) 22 + 25 + 25 + 25 =97, 2 Kenzie Kerr (Apache) 25 + 20 + 22 + 22 =89, 3 Georgina Cotton (Apache) 20 + 22 + -- + -- =42