CROMWELL TRUCKS BRITISH QUAD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 3 Plus: Connor Smith Memorial Meeting organised by NETT –14-15 June, Dean Moor, Cumbria
Mark McLernon increased his lead in the Cromwell Trucks British Quad Championship with victory in round three at sunny Dean Moor in Cumbria on Sunday and with it also became the first ever winner of the Connor Smith Memorial Trophy.
The superb two-day memorial event, organised by the Nett club, was often a joyous and at times emotional affair throughout. And never more so than when Italian visitor Andrea Cesari Jnr won the opening championship race, using the late Connor’s 2014 race machine, after his own blew-up in qualifying.
At an emotional prize giving ceremony that left many, including Cesari, in tears, the youngster said he believed it was ‘destiny’ that he would win the race and felt like he was being helped “from above”.
Cesari had qualified down in 12th on his unfamiliar machine – with McLernon in pole. But after work to set up the machine better, with help from the injured British champion Paul Holmes, Cesari holeshot race one. Throughout the race he had to work hard to keep early championship leader David Cowan at bay, with the Irishman mounting constant attacks, including one three corners from the flag which nearly paid off. Their battle pulled them 15 seconds clear of the field at the finish.
The best of the rest was McLernon who was always involved in the battle for third. He was almost caught by a late charge from Stefan Murphy though who had worked diligently to make up for an average start. However, any hopes of passing McLernon were scuppered when they came cross backmarkers on the final lap. Fifth was Callaway with Lindsey Duke came in sixth.
Championship contenders Luke Cooper and Paul Winrow had disasters. Cooper lost his rear right wheel when his axle snapped one third into the race as he battled for third spot, while Winrow crashed on the opening lap following a collision with another rider. He remounted and finished14th.
Race two saw a reversal in fortunes for pace setters Cesari and Cowan. Cesari did not start as well then, riding without hand guards, his finger was dislocated by a stone. He completed the race and afterwards his mechanic popped it back in for him so he could ride in race three – but that time with hand guards!
Cowan came together with Murphy in the early laps while battling for third place which put him out of the race. Murphy came back through the field to finish an excellent sixth.
The holeshot instead went to 15-year-old Scot, Murray Graham, who led for a lap and a half seemingly riding on pure adrenaline! Then he was part of a superb scrap for second with up to seven other riders involved at its height. However, he dropped down the group after accidentally knocking out his engine cut-out lanyard.
It was former British champion Justin Reid who took the lead from Murray and the Irishman rode an impressive controlled race out front, looking smooth and quick to win by four seconds.
The battle for second though raged to the flag with at any one time Duke, Mastronardi, Winrow, Carl Bunce, Graham, George Callaway and McLernon being involved.
In the end it came down to a last corner sort out between Winrow and Mastronardi, which went the Italian’s way, with McLernon in fourth just over three seconds further back. Bunce was fifth and Murphy sixth.
Cooper was again out of luck with another snapped axle causing him to crash heavily, hurting his knee, which was to hamper him in the final race.
Going into the final race McLernon led on points and he also led for much of the race, despite a series of attacks. The first came from Murphy who caught him around half distance and looked set to take the lead before a stone holed his Yamaha’s radiator. Next up McLernon was tracked down by the race two winner Reid, and just as he was about to make a move his Can-Am’s motor went sick and he nursed it home to 16th spot.
Finally it was Winrow who caught the leader and, on the penultimate lap, he moved ahead and eventually won by five seconds. Another impressive ride from Mastronardi brought him up to third just a second behind McLernon. Callaway was fourth, Bunce fifth and Dean Colhoun sixth.
McLernon’s win also ensured he took overall victory in the Connor Smith Six Sixty British Under 21 class, with Callaway second and Graham a popular third.
In the Nett Championship class, held on the Saturday, several British championship riders rode to get some practice in for the following day. However, it was an Italian whitewash, with Cesari winning the first race and Mastronardi the second. That gave Mastronardi overall victory.
In the Adult support Paul Broomhead ran out the victor by eight points over Jack Naylor thanks to a win and two seconds. Naylor and Sean Goss were the other race winners.
Ed Davies took an assured win the Over 40s with three race wins, while in the EVOs Emma McQuaid took victory thanks to two race wins. The first race had been won by John Mitchell but he was a no-show in the other races after his Banshee developed problems.
The 250 youth races served up some tight battles with Dafydd Davies nicking it from Ayrton Knowles by three points in the Modified class thanks to victory in the final race. Harry Carmichael, who had won the first two races, slumped to sixth in the third on a freshly watered track.
Bailey Edwards won the 250 Open by three points thanks to two race wins and second in the opening race behind Lawrence Whyte. Sam Williamson won the Standards.
Victory in the 150 Geared went to Alfie Walker thanks to two race wins. Marcus Sprason holeshot every race but could not convert them into wins, but still ended second overall. Bobby Carmichael won the 100 Geared class, Lewis Tobin the Standards – with a three race maximum – and Shelley Smart won the Modified. In the 50cc group, Aled Davies won the Modifieds and Sam Bean the Standards.
In the small but quality sidecar field, it was last week’s French GP winners Stuart Brown and Josh Chamberlain who dominated, winning all three races with relative ease. More entertaining though was watching their ‘fun’ race on Saturday night against three ex-British quad champions, Paul Winrow, Justin Reid and John Mitchell, who all rode two-stroke EVO machines. The sidecar got the holeshot, but eventually finished fourth, with Reid winning on a Yamaha Banshee.
The solo support class was won by Cumbria’s own, Jamie Law, who dominated all three excellent races, which had a full entry of 40 riders.
RESULTS:
Cromwell Trucks British Championship Overall: 1 Mark McLernon, 2 Simone Mastrondardi, 3 Paul Winrow, 4 George Callaway, 5 Carl Bunce, 6 Justin Reid
Connor Smith Six Sixty British Under 21 championship: 1 Mark McLernon, 2 George Callaway, 3 Murray Graham.
Nett Championship: 1 Simone Mastronardi, 2 Murray Graham, 3 Lindsey Duke, 4 Luke Cooper, 5 Sean Goss, 6 Andrea Cesari.
Over 40s: 1 Ed Davies, 2 Darren Bridge, 3 Ian Neill, 4 Paul Davie, 5 Martin Sayer, 6 Richie Cornett
EVO: 1 Emma McQuaid, 2 Stuart Walker, 3 Trevor Humphris, 4 Ian Clark, 5 Davie Nixon, 6 Rob Willets
Adult Support: 1 Paul Broomhead, 2 Jack Naylor, 3 Jack Holmes, 4 Sean Goss, 5 Gary Atkinson, 6 Connor McKenna
250 Open: 1 Bailey Edwards, 2 Lawrence Whyte, 3 Mattia Papa, 4 Paolo Galizzi, 5 Nash Singer, 6 Stuart Kirchas
250 Modified: 1 Dafydd Davies, 2 Ayrton Knowles, 3 Harry Carmichael, 4 Connor Paxton, 5 Stephen Mulholland, 6 Tom Chell
250 Standard: 1 Sam Williamson, 2 Declan McKenna, 3 Nathan Penrose. No other finishers.
150 Geared: 1 Alfie Walker, 2 Marcus Sprason, 3 Josh Birch, 4 Catrin Davies, 5 Dylan McKenna, 6 Josh Talent
100 Geared: 1 Bobby Carmichael, 2 JJ Redman, 3 Robbie Wood. No other finishers
100 Standard: 1 Lewis Tobin, 2 Jake Best, 3 Elliot Brown, 4 Josh Woodruff, 5 Eithan Best, 6 Charlie Teale
100 Modified: 1 Shelley Smart. No other finishers.
50 Modified: 1 Aled Davies, 2 Logan Paxton. No other finishers.
50 Standard: 1 Sam Bean, 2 Mark Mulholland. No other finishers
Sidecar: 1 Stuart Brown/Josh Chamberlain, 2 Brett Wilkinson/Steve Kirwin, 3 Andy Breacher/Tim Breacher, 4 Neil Campbell/Ross Graham, 5 Neil Warrington/Steve Randall
Solo: 1 Jamie Law, 2 Joe Taylforth, 3 John Pattinson, 4 Greame Bird, 5 Anthony Pullin, 6 Jamie Wilkinson