Former British champion Justin Reid (number 14, above) recorded his first overall victory in the series since 2003 when he won at Cusses Gorse in Wiltshire on Sunday, and in doing so moved himself into second in this year’s series behind Paul Holmes.
The 38-year-old Ulsterman became the fourth man in four rounds to take overall victory in this year’s highly-competitive ACU Willcock Holeformers championship that once again saw three different race winners – though Reid was not one of them!
Victories instead went to Dean Colhoun, Luke Cooper and George Callaway, though bad luck in at least one race for all of them meant their hopes of overall victory were ruined.
Reid was one of several Irish riders who had competed in an Ulster Championship round the day before and driven through the night to make Sunday’s meeting and at the end he admitted he was feeling it.
“After six hard races in two days and some heavy driving in between I’m officially on empty – but very pleased to get the win,” he said.
In qualifying it had been Callaway who was quickest and when he holsehot the first race and pulled out a big early lead he looked the odds-on favourite for the day. However, a tangle with a backmarker at two-thirds distance handed the lead and ultimately victory to Colhoun.
By the end Colhoun had stretched out a nine second gap over Reid, who in turn was 1.5 seconds ahead of Bunce with Callaway recovering for fourth, just ahead of Holmes.
Luke Cooper had almost got the holeshot but got tangled up at the first turn with Ireland’s Jack Raeburn. The pair then staged a charge back through the field from last to 11th and 14
th respectively.
However, in race two Cooper had more luck. First he holeshot the race and then led most of the way to the flag. In the closing laps he came under immense pressure from Reid, who led briefly, but who dropped back to a close second after a mistake on the whoops.
For much of the race Reid was involved in tremendous scrap involving Bunce, Holmes, Colhoun and Callaway, which ebbed and flowed throughout the race. It was only in the closing laps that Reid and Colhoun managed to break away, with Holmes eventually getting the best of the rest.
The final race was full of drama with Cooper hitting turn one first but drifting wide to allow Bunce to tuck inside to lead on lap one. However, a flying Colhoun soon took the lead and looked a sure bet to win before a flint got stuck in the front wheel and ripped the A-arm out of the ball joint, ending his race. Bunce, in turn, had to pit to replace a punctured rear tyre and eventually recovered to seventh.
At the front Holmes and Callaway conducted a great battle until Holmes’ Yamaha cut out briefly entering a corner allowing Callaway to move ahead and take a 16 second win. Holmes though stretched his championship lead with two rounds to go to 40 points.
Reid was with the battle briefly, but after a hairy moment over double when his foot was caught in the nerf bar netting he eased off to secure the overall.
Race two winner Cooper was ruled out early one with a broken swing arm bolt.
Callaway’s win and Colhoun’s misfortune meant the pair swapped places in the Under 21 Championship, with Callaway now leading the series by 24 points.
Reigning British Champion Paul Winrow chose to focus on the Masters class instead and won overall by three points from Ed Davies, who had won the first race before Winrow won the next two. Three thirds gave Gary Aldington third overall.
Gary McKenna continued his domination of the Master B Group with three class wins.
Davies’ son, Dafydd, again bossed the Clubman class with three wins, however at the beginning of the day it looked as if it would be different. Davies topped qualifying from Belgian, Davino Bruneel, and in race one Davies only managed to win by a third of a second after his rival slashed his early lead.
However in the remaining races Davies opened up big winning margins, each time from Bruneel. Mark Hadden ended the day third overall after two thirds and a fourth. Mark Mulholland was the only other rider on the podium, in race three.
Two wins and second in class secured Bradley Cockrem overall victory in the Clubman B class.
In the 250 youth group Lorne Sinclair celebrated the monster drive down from Oban with an impressive maximum. Each time he was harassed by Aryton Knowles, with the closest Knowles coming to him being a second in race one. Jack Norris was third overall thanks to two thirds and a fifth.
Josh Birch won the 150 class, which was good enough to give him sixth overall in the 250 group, while Harry Carmicheal won the Modified class, despite a first turn crash in the last race which meant he had to come through the field from dead last.
Daniel Hares who only lost one race, that to Bradley Lightfoot in the second, won the 250 Standard classes.
In the 100 Group Marcus Sprason was on dominant form, winning all three races by over 30 seconds. Alfie Walker, who lost his seat in race one and ended sixth, just nicked second overall from Tom Fitzgerald after the pair tied on points but Walker got the better result – a second – in the final race.
Lewis Humphris scored a maximum in the Raptor class, as did Jago Jackson in the 50s.
RESULTS
BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP: Overall: 1 Justin Reid, 2 George Callaway, 3 Paul Holmes, 4 Carl Bunce, 5 David Cowan, 6 Oli Sansom.
Under 21 Overall: 1 George Callaway, 2 Josh Waring, 3 Luke Davies, 4 James Bevan, 5 Harry Miller, 6 Callum Bates.
NORA CHAMPIONSHIP: Clubman: 1 Dafydd Davies, 2 Davino Bruneel, 3 Mark Hadden, 4 Mark Mulholland, 5 Mat Burroughs, 6 Gary Atkinson.
Clubman B: 1 Bradley Cockrem, 2 Marco Zaffino, 3 Harry Grant, 4 Dean Porter, 5 Ryan Johnson, 6 Sam Holmes.
Masters: 1 Paul Winrow, 2 Ed Davies, 3 Gary Aldington, 4 Darren Bridge, 5 Greg Fisher, 6 Darren Jukes.
Masters B: 1 Gary McKenna, 2 Rick Jones, 3 Simon Pritchard, 4 Dave Lickfold, 5 Simon Naylor, 6 Tony Atkinson.
250 Group: 1 Lorne Sinclair, 2 Ayrton Knowles, 3 Jack Norris, 4 Harry Carmichael, 5 Connor Paxton, 6 Josh Birch
250 Open: 1 Lorne Sinclair, 2 Ayrton Knowles, 3 Jack Norris, 4 Kieran Taylor, 5 Connor Paxton, 6 Oli Martin.
250 Mod: 1 Harry Carmichael, 2 William Booth, 3 Catrin Davies, 4 Bradley Watson, 5 Scott Berlyn, 6 Iestyn Rowlands.
250 Standard: 1 Daniel Hares, 2 Bradley Lightfoot, 3 Joseph Jukes, 4 Shanice Mott, 5 Vassna Willcock, 6 Miles Mott.
150 Open: 1 Joshua Birch, 2 Shelley Smart, 3 Terence Palin. No other finishers.
100 Group: 1 Marcus Sprason, 2 Alfie Walker, 3 Tom Fitzgerald, 4 Luke Berlyn, 5 Reece Swann, 6 Woody Jackson.
100 Geared: 1 Marcus Sprason, 2 Alfie Walker, 3 Tom Fitzgerald, 4 Luke Berlyn, 5 Reece Swann, 6 Woody Jackson.
100 Mod: 1 Aled Davies. No other finisher
Raptor: 1 Lewis Humphris, 2 Tom Bainbridge, 3 Callum Lockett. No other finishers.
50: 1. Jago Jackson, 2 Logan Paxton, 3 Nadine Barnes. No other finishers.