Reigning ACU champ Paul Holmes tightened his grip on the 2016 ATVS Only British Championship at Fatcat Moto Park on Sunday with a faultless maximum and had more to celebrate when his teenage protégée Domantas Vaznys took his maiden win in the Under 21 class.
The previous week Holmes spent three days in France coaching the 19-year-old Lithuanian in the fine art of deep sand riding, and Vaznys responded with a season-best ride, including runner-up in the second race.
However no one could match Holmes’ race-pace around the rough Yorkshire track, which was a big test of fitness over three 25-minute races. In the opening heat he won by almost six seconds, the second by 42 seconds, then almost 18 seconds in the final outing.
He arrived at Fatcat, the halfway stage in the six round series, tied on 127 points with Northern Ireland’s Mark McLernon, but left 21 points ahead of his rival after McLernon battled to third overall after wrestling with a rear shock which he could never quite get working how he wanted.
McLernon had raw speed, as he showed by topping qualifying and, with £50 per heat holeshot money up for grabs from Datum Monitoring, getting two of the three awards. However in race one he got away in the pack, and instead it was Dean Colhoun got the holeshot, just ahead of British Championship debutant, George Day.
As Day faded back to 11
th in his first proper sand track race, it was left to Colhoun, Holmes, Justin Reid and Leon Rogers to stage a fine battle at the front, with Rogers just dropping off the group, despite setting the fastest lap of the race.
Holmes made his move with a few laps to go and once ahead eased away, with Reid taking second after Colhoun jarred his back. Such was the force of the impact on Colhoun’s spine he had to taken to hospital after the race suffering the effects of severe concussion and missed the remainder of the meeting.
In race two McLernon got the holeshot, closely followed in the early laps by Holmes and Rogers, before McLernon slipped to third on the fifth lap. However Rogers' pursuit of Holmes ended within a few laps when a pipe came off the oil cooler, forcing him out.
From then Holmes pulled away with ease, but the focus was on the battle for the minor places as Vaznys mounted a fine late charge from sixth to pass first Carl Bunce, then McLernon and finally Reid with just over a lap to go.
In the final race McLernon again got the holeshot and had a good five-lap battle with Holmes before Holmes chose a quicker line on banked left-hander and moved ahead.
Once again most of the action was in the closing laps with McLernon initially losing his second spot to Reid at around two thirds distance. However, they both eventually lost out to a late run from beach-race specialist Bunce, reveling as always in the increasingly rough going.
McLernon retook Reid in the closing laps to secure third, as Reid’s mount began to misfire late in the race for the third moto running.
Rogers’ hopes were dashed at the first corner when he and Sheldon Seal were involved a big crash. Seal was ruled out with an injured hand, but a battered Rogers remounted last and staged an impressive fight back to ninth.
In the Under 21 Championship Vasznys was a clear winner, however Rogers’ tenacity helped him secure second overall and, with Colhoun absent, he was able to stretch out a 28-point lead in the series.
Bailey Edward produced his most consistent performance of the year, with a best finish of 10
th in race three, to secure third overall in the Under 21s.
PICTURE: Paul Ervine
Results: ATVS Only British Championship Overall: 1 Paul Holmes (Yamaha), 2 Justin Reid (Can-Amasaki), 3 Mark McLernon (Honda), 4 Carl Bunce (Suzuki), 5 Domantas Vaznys (Yamaha), 6 George Callaway (Yamaha)
Race One: 1 Holmes, 2 Reid, 3 Dean Colhoun (WSP Husky), 4 Leon Rogers (Kawasaki), 5 McLernon, 6 David Cowan (Yamaha).
Race two: 1 Holmes, 2 Vaznys, 3 Reid, 4 McLernon, 5 Bunce, 6 Callaway.
Race three: 1 Holmes, 2 Bunce, 3 McLernon, 4 Reid, 5 Vaznys, 6 Luke Cooper (KTM).
Championship: Holmes 202, McLernon 181, Reid 156, Bunce 150, Callaway 115, Rogers 113.
Willcock Holeformers Under 21: 1 Vaznys, 2 Rogers, 3 Bailey Edwards (Yamaha), 4 Cooper, 5 Harry Walker (Yamaha), 6 Harry Miller (Yamaha)
Championship: Rogers 186, Vaznys 158, Colhoun 157, Cooper 142, Walker 124, Davies 119.
Komfort Services Rookie Cup: 1 Vaznys, 2 Dafydd Davies (KTM), 3 Jamie Morgan (Honda)
Komfort Services Vet Cup: 1 Reid, 2 Bunce, 3 Lindsey Duke (KTM).