Round 2, Foxhill Moto Parc 26th May, 2014 Cromwell Trucks ACU British Quad Championship leader David Cowan heads to round two at Foxhill this Bank Holiday Monday (May 26) determined to defend his narrow series lead despite admitting he has never even seen the former GP track - unlike many of his closest rivals.
The 23-year-old from Banbridge in Northern Ireland arrives at the spectacular Wiltshire venue leading by just two points despite not winning any of the three heats at the opening round at Pontrilas.
However, Yamaha mounted Cowan is keen to maintain the momentum of his season.
“ It’s been a pretty good start to the year. I won the British round by being consistent, then a week later I was runner-up in the second round of the Ulster championship.”
He admits to having dual objectives this year. Having won the Ulster series for the last two years he’s keen to make it a hat trick. However, his good start in the British means he’s committed to doing every round this year after only doing one round last year.
“The year before that I got fourth overall in the British championship, which is my best finish in the to date. Before that I never really had a good run in the championship with DNFs and bad races.”
He’s aiming to give himself a fighting chance at Foxhill by entering the NORA MX club championship round a day before to learn the track.
His main opposition will come from the three race winners at the opening round –Englishman Paul Winrow (Honda), Ulsterman Mark McLernon (Honda) and Welshman Luke Cooper (KTM).
The trio all suffered misfortune in at least one race at Pontrilas, which effectively scuppered their chances of winning overall, but each also showed impressive speed in the races they won.
McLernon however did enough to secure second in the Connor Smith Six Sixty British Under 21 Championship. He trails fellow countryman Dean Colhoun (Can-Am) by eight points.
Other riders capable of race wins include Stefan Murphy (Yamaha), Carl Bunce (Suzuki), Lindsey Duke (KTM), Justin Reid (Can-Am), Oli Sansom (Yamaha), George Callaway (Yamaha) and Sheldon Seal (KTM).
Adding extra spice to the event is the newly introduced Nations Cup whereby the points scored by the two leading riders from each home nation count in this inter-country contest. After round one the Irish lead with 252 points from England 236, Wales 175 and Scotland 125. Meanwhile Yamaha lead the Manufacturer’s Championship by four points from KTM.
In addition to the three 20 minute plus two lap championship races there will be a full programme of youth and adult support races in the form of the NORA-MX Quad Championships.
Foxhill can be found at SN4 0DR a couple of miles south of the M4 near Swindon. Qualifying will start at 10am, with racing starting straight after around 11am.