For possibly the first weekend in 2016, the weather was neither too wet nor too dry for the annual SMC Summer National with NMCC. The event returned to Culham Park for the first time in a number of years and was greeted by a glorious sunny day. Despite lots of midweek rain, it was still necessary to water the track intermittently during the day. The result was near perfect track conditions which led to some very fast and competitive racing. This popular meeting attracted full lineups in nearly all classes, as well as hosting a round of the Over 30’s Eastern Centre NGR Series.
The Expert class saw Ryan Morris put on a dominant display, winning all three races by some distance. James Russell took second overall with consistent top five finishes. Thomas Moore took third overall by a single point from Michael McClurg, who got faster as the day went on. Tom Grimshaw came through the pack to a brilliant second in race one, but an unfortunate crash in race two saw him out for the rest of the day.
Jason Wells took first in the Junior A class with a win and a second. Connor Halligan took second overall after winning race two. Adam Hayward finished a close third overall.
Jamie Aitken and Benjamin Hayward finished on equal points in the Junior B class with a win and a second each. First overall went to Jamie as a result of his win in the final leg. Jon-Jo Werts finished third overall, just in front of Layton Billson.
William Raffle was not in the mood for taking prisoners in the NGR class, three straight wins took him to first overall. Three second places secured Liam Clarke the second step on the podium, with Aaron Hopkins narrowly beating Tim Clarke into third overall.
As he has a habit of doing, Tony Leishman took all three wins in the Premier Over 40 class. He battled closely with Paul Willis all day as the all three Overs classes ran together, but each class was scored separately overall. Adam Collins rode well to consistent second place finishes, with Robert Hollis taking third each time out.
Three wins gave Paul Willis the overall in the Elite Over 50 class. Fraser Law took second each time out from Greg Cox.
Nigel Miller once again dominated the Super class with a hat-trick of wins. Reg Willis came out on top of a close tussle with Richard Jochacy for second overall.
In the Abingdon Off-Road sponsored Open class it Dylan Hodgkins who put on a show. Three straight wins gave him the overall in style from George Turner in second, Riley Lowe coming in third.
Report: Fraser Law
Photos:
www.motoxphotos.co.uk Results Expert: 1 Ryan Morris, 2 James Russell, 3 Thomas Moore, 4 Michael McClurg, 5 Paul Burn, 6 Kristian Hutchings
Junior A: 1 Jason Wells, 2 Connor Halligan, 3 Adam Hayward, 4 Arthur Williams, 5 Harry Fletcher, 6 Cameron Harris
Junior B: 1 Jamie Aitken, 2 Benjamin Hayward, 3 Jon-Jo Werts, 4 Layton Billson, 5 Aaron Read, 6 Jacob Wills
NGR: 1 William Raffle, 2 Liam Walker, 3 Timothy Clark, 4 Paul Hubbard, 5 Aaron Hopkins, 6 Jamie Darnell
Premier O40: 1 Tony Leishman, 2 Adam Collins, 3 Robert Hollis, 4 Shaun Brooker, 5 Darren Williams, 6 Tony Fricker
Elite O50: 1 Paul Willis, 2 Fraser Law, 3 Greg Cox, 4 Steve Gilbey, 5 Bruce Garside, 6 Barry Burbidge
Super O60: 1 Nigel Miller, 2 Reg Willis, 3 Richard Jochacy, 4 Trevor Roberts, 5 Roger Knibbs
Open: 1 Dylan Hodgkins, 2 George Turner, 3 Riley Lowe, 4 Jamie Cox, 5 John Barnes, 6 Jason Atherton