The fifth round of the ACU British MMX Motocross Championship headed north of the border to make it the first adult British Championship to be contested on Scottish soil for well over 10 years. The Glenrothes Youth club supplied a superbly presented circuit, along with the help of Johnny Douglas Hamilton, to host the British Open, PAR Under 21 and Quad Championship classes.
OPEN CLASS
The Open class was first out on circuit on the stroke of 10:00 and it was LPE Kawasaki rider and championship leader Kristian Whatley who set the pace with a 1:43.918 lap on his fifth attempt. Only slightly off his pace was MVR-D Suzuki rider Carl Nunn just 0.092 seconds behind. Championship contender Brad Anderson on the PAR Honda was a further 0.2 seconds adrift. Whatley's LPE team mate Elliot Banks-Browne was fourth with Team KTM UK's Alex Snow in fifth.
Race one saw Anderson lead the pack away closely chased by Banks-Browne and Whatley with Snow and Nunn not far behind. On lap four it became apparent that Anderson was in trouble with a noisy sounding exhaust and he pitted on lap seven, rejoining the race down in seventh place. Banks-Browne took over the lead for two laps until Nunn, who was surging through the pack, made the move for the front spot. At midway it was Nunn leading Banks Browne from Whatley and Snow, with a second stop seeing Anderson down in 16th. Lap nine and the gremlins were to hit Nunn when his silencer blew apart, he had to have it repaired in the work area having been shown the noise board by the officials. This left Banks-Browne to go on to take his first race win of the series with Whatley consolidating his series lead in second and Buildbase CCM rider Ray Rowson pulling through to take third. Anderson eventually came home in 11th with Nunn back in 16th.
It was Anderson who again lead the field in race two and despite some early pressure from both Rowson and Nunn, went on to take a gate to flag win by a comfortable 20 seconds. Banks-Browns joined the battle as Rowson began to fade having just returned from injury. Second spot was being traded between both Nunn and Banks-Browne until Whatley recovered from a sixth place start to get as high as third only to lose out on the last lap and drop back to fifth. Nunn who had slipped back to fourth with two laps to go somehow managed to regain second on the last lap to finish ahead of Banks-Browne, a hard charging Gordon Crockard on another PAR Honda and Whatley.
Overall first and second on the day went to the LPE Kawasaki team with Banks-Brown and Whatley with Anderson in third. There is now everything to play for at the last round in September with nine points separating Whatley and Anderson with Nunn just a further 17 adrift.
PAR HOMES UNDER 21 CLASS
PAR Homes Honda mounted Scott Elderfield set the pace in the PAR Homes sponsored Under 21 Championship and surprisingly it was as the circuit roughed up that the fastest times were set. A Slim 0.468 seconds was the size of the margin over second placed qualifier Graeme Irwin on the Team KTM UK machine. Pro Seal KTM’s Alan Keet was the only other rider within a second of the fastest time.
Race one saw Elderfield in dominant form winning the race by a margin of 23 seconds having never been headed. The battle for second was between Irwin and Motone KTM mounted Shane Carless who hadn’t finished outside the top three in the last six races of the championship. The battle raged until Irwin suddenly went missing on lap 12 coming round in tenth place. Twisted 7 Hondas Scandinavian signing Richard Sandberg was now up to third and showing a good pace. The top three stayed the same until the flag with Isle of Man rider Alex Rockwell on the Road and Track Yamaha in fourth and Matthew Moffat in fifth. Irwin was to cross the line back in eighth place.
Carless headed the field in the second moto with Elderfield and Moffat in his wake. Elderfield made the dive for the front on lap three and again went on to a convincing victory. The early pace of the front two had taken them away from the field that were battling it out for third spot behind. Moffat began to fade with the side panel hanging from the Kawasaki, and it was Irwin defending the position from Sandberg. With the track getting rougher, Sandberg was trying every line to put the pass on Irwin which eventually came on lap 10. That was the order they took the flag, with Moffat making a late charge to regain fifth spot.
Elderfield headed the rostrum with a double win ahead of Carless and Sandberg. This is another Championship far from over with one round remaining, Elderfield has a slender six point lead over Carless with Irwin at their heels just a further 13 points back.
QUAD CLASS
Paul WInrow on the Winrow Racing Honda came to Scotland heading the Championship but was struggling to get a good qualifying lap under his belt and finishing with the twelfth fastest time. Paul Holmes on the Team KTM UK machine, fresh from another overall victory in Europe, set a difficult target early on finishing an astonishing 2.4 seconds ahead on closest rival John Mitchell on the ATV World Yamaha. Young Stefan Murphy on the SMR Honda posted an excellent two minute lap for third place.
Holmes gated first in race one and was building a comfortable lead when he suddenly pitted on lap four. He rejoined the race back in 27th spot only to retire two laps later. Mitchell took over at the front with proppa.com Honda mounted Jason Macbeth in second and Winrow in third. Winrow passed Macbeth for second on lap six but could make no real impression on race leader Mitchell who took the win by seven seconds. Macbeth held on to third with local rider Leon Beda, riding with a heavily strapped injured hand, to taking fourth ahead of Murphy.
There were no gremlins for Holmes in race two and he left the rest of the field eating his roost as he disappeared in to the distance and a comfortable victory. Winrow was holding an early second place but having jarred his wrist in race one was soon fading back through the field eventually finishing seventh and picking up valuable championship points. Once again Mitchell and Macbeth were doing battle with Mitchell eventually taking second with Macbeth third and Carl Bunce on the Anderson Suzuki and Murphy following them home.
First and second on the day gave Mitchell the overall win from Macbeth with Winrow scraping in for the final podium position. Scoring no points in race one has damaged Holmes title challenge but with two rounds, four races, remaining the 38 point differential is not beyond his grasp. Macbeth is also not out of the fight just eight points behind Holmes.
NEXT ROUND
The next and penultimate round for the Quad Championship will be at Blaxhall Pits, hosted by the Woodbridge club on August 16th. All three Championships will culminate at the riverside venue at Culham, near Abingdon in Oxfordshire on Sunday September 20th where NORA MX will play host following the final round of the Quad Youth and Qualifying Championships on the Saturday.