Auld Lang' time...
By TMX Archives on 26th Mar 09
FACTORY KTM pilot, German, Max Nagl used the second round of the Maxxis British MX1 Motocross Championship at the historic Manor Farm, at Langrish, on Sunday, to get his beleaguered career up and running again when he swept to a double race victory, and it was the Scots AGAIN in the MX2 class, where NOT, as expected, Shaun Simpson continued to run riot over the rest of the MX2 hordes, but it was a very fit looking and returning to his devastatingly quick best Stephen Sword with a double top score.
Frenchman Pascal Leuret decided to show what he is undoubtedly capable of at last by claiming overall runner-up in the MX2 class with a last race second spot helping his cause at his MAR Honda squad.
The unfortunate Simpson, however, had to be happy with third overall after being hounded into submission by a ‘cold virus', the incessant attacks by fellow Scot Stephen Sword and a very annoying chain slippage, which cost him the lead in the second race. This Swordsman-like performance blasted the soon ‘dad to be' just two points behind Simpson in the series.
MX1's ever-friendly American, U-Tag Yamaha's Zach Osborne stayed consistent with two third spots on the day as current MX1 series leader and red plate holder, PAR Homes' Brad Anderson whipped his way to two fourth spots and therefore third place on the day to open up an 11-point gap over second placed Carl Nunn in the Championship after two rounds.
The Youths made their first appearance for the opening round of their 2009 MXY2 Championship with Brad Anderson's PAR Homes team-mate Luke Hawkins finishing on the same points as runner-up, Danger UK's Josh Waterman but snatched the overall honours by virtue of a devastating last race win. Team Green Kawasaki's Connor Walkley got better as the day went on to claim third spot on the podium.
WITH the renowned Langrish track looking like a typical French track – hard, fast and built on a hillside – the Langrish MCRC members had to water the circuit early on Sunday morning last week (in March!) as the early season sunshine in the south and the chalky soil made things a little ‘firm'.
Swordy, gaining speed "...just at the right time!” swept to pole position over his championship rival, Simpson, by just over half-a-second with Leuret under a second behind Sword's KTM UK machine. Then it was nearly 2.5-seconds to World Junior champ, Matiss Karro, with fourth choice of gate.
As race time dawned the serious business of getting to the front at the start and away was claimed by Ulsterman Martin Barr on his Relentless Suzuki.
He was followed up the short start straight hill by Wayne Smith, James Hutchison, Karro with Sword and Simpson, all side-by-side going into the first corner.
Karro slipped through the inside for the lead as Jake Nicholls lost his KTM UK's seat! He re-started dead last after having to run back to collect it and then whack it back into place!
Barr hit the deck leaving Karro at the front with Sword on his tail pipe and the rest of the pack howling at his. Sword went through for a short-lived lead before the end of the lap as Simpson sat and watched the live performance of door slamming and attack mode passes between the Scot and the Latvian at the front. As Sword made a pass stick, his trainer, four times world champ Dave Thorpe raised his hands in celebration, ‘I work with Swordy, don't you know,' he answered, proudly.
Simpson watched carefully and he too made a pass stick on both Karro and Sword to try for his, by now, customary early race blast-off to try for an early gap, but to no avail.Sword is now back to his ‘force to be reckoned with' best and a gap between him and Sword DIDN'T open up and showed he can now run at Simpson's speed again.
Karro locked into fourth place for the duration of the race, fended off attacks from Smith, also on his road to full fitness, and then the slow starting Leuret. However, at the front things were seriously hotting up by the final laps.
Sword was all over the back of Simpson's machine, putting on incessant pressure and as the last lap came into play, it looked like Simpson at times was on the ragged edge of control.
Round a tight right-hander Simpson's front wheel washed out as Sword pushed his way through and down went the reigning champ leaving Sword a straight forward canter to the finish line. Simpson kept the KTM's motor running and was up and away in second spot. A great race and it all augurs well for the rest of the season. Karro, Leuret, Neville Bradshaw and Wayne Smith all finished in the same minute as the leaders, the rest were over a minute down on Sword. From dead last Nicholls finished 14th.
Race two had Pascal Leuret at the front and Simpson and Sword and Karro for company, Nicholls had no seat problems this time and slotted in to the chasing pack in sixth at the end of the opening lap.
Simpson led the way after an early pass on Leuret as his nemesis Sword slipped in behind him. After Simpson did have a go at opening a slight gap on Sword he looked comfortable and charging hard with sword chasing just as hard. However, on lap six things were about to change in the Simpson luck stakes once again. "I went to gas it out of a corner and there was nothing but loads of revs, the chain had come off.”
Sword grabbed the chance and went through and by the time Simpson had kicked the locked chain out of the sprocket and got going, he was down in 13th position. Swordy led Leuret all the way to the finish flag, with the jubilant Jake Nicholls in third.
Simpson's luck still didn't change as he ended up through the fencing at the back of the track after a slight coming together with Martin Barr, losing two places to Graeme Irwin and Neville Bradshaw initially. The Scot drove like a man possessed to an eventual fourth place.
"My speed is coming back just at the right time for next week,” added Swordy, a week before the opening GP in Italy. "It was always going to be hard work but it's coming and I'd like to think I'd be winning a lot more in the future.”
FOR FULL STORY, SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2009
MAXXIS BRITISH MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 – Manor Farm, Langrish, Petersfield, Hants (Langrish MCRC)
1 Stephen Sword (Red Bull KTM UK) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Pascal Leuret (MAR Honda) 18 + 22 = 40
3 Shaun Simpson (Red Bull KTM UK) 22 + 18 = 40
4 Neville Bradshaw (DB Honda) 16 + 16 = 32
5 Michael Phillips (DB Honda) 14 + 15 = 29
6 Matiss Karro (MVR-D Suzuki) 20 + 9 = 29
7 Jake Nicholls (KTM UK) 7 + 20 = 27
8 Wayne Smith (Samsung Yamaha) 15 + 12 = 27
9 Martin Barr (Relentless Suzuki) 11 + 14 = 25
10 Graeme Irwin (KTM UK) 12 + 13 = 25
11 Shane Carless (Moto1 KTM) 9 + 11 = 20
12 Scott Elderfield (PAR Honda) 10 + 7 = 17
13 David Goosen (Dyer & Butler Suzuki) 13 + 4 = 17
14 Phil Mercer (Delkevic Kawasaki) 8 + 5 = 13
15 James Hutchinson (Moto1 KTM) 0 + 10 = 10
16 Rickard Sandberg (Twisted 7 Honda) 6+3=9, 17 James Dodd (MotoXtreme Kawasaki) 0+8=8, 18 Alan Keet (ProSeal KTM UK)) 0+6=6, 19 Tommy Fenwick (JAR Honda) 4+1=5, 20 Lewis Tombs (Yamaha) 5+0=5, 21 Tony Craig (TWMA Kawasaki) 3+0=3, 22 Daniel Arnold (LPE Kawasaki) 0+2=2, 23 Lewis King (Nigel Arnold KTM) 2+0=2, 24 Brad Cavill (Stevens (Devizes) Yamaha) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Sword, 2 Simpson, 3 Karro, 4 Leuret, 5 Bradshaw, 6 Smith, 7 Phillips, 8 Goosen, 9 Irwin, 10 Barr, 11 Elderfield, 12 Carless, 13 Mercer, 14 Nicholls, 15 Sandberg, 16 Tombs, 17 Fenwick, 18 Craig, 19 King, 20 Cavill.
RACE TWO: 1 Sword, 2 Leuret, 3 Nicholls, 4 Simpson, 5 Bradshaw, 6 Phillips, 7 Barr, 8 Irwin, 9 Smith, 10 Carless, 11 Hutchinson, 12 Karro, 13 Dodd, 14 Elderfield, 15 Keet, 16 Mercer, 17 Goosen, 18 Sandberg, 19 Arnold, 20 Fenwick.
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 8) rounds: 1 Simpson 90 points, 2 Sword 88, 3 Bradshaw 72, 4 Leuret 69, 5 Karro 64, 6 Nicholls 57, 7 Smith 52, 8 Irwin 52, 9 Elderfield 44, 10 Barr 41, 11 Phillips 40, 12 Carless 39, 13 Keet 22, 14 Goosen 19, 15 Triest 17,...
NEXT ROUND: May 3 – Low Gelt Farm, Brampton, nr Carlisle (East Cumbria MCC).
MAXXIS BRITISH MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 – Manor Farm, Langrish, Petersfield, Hants (Langrish MCRC)
1 Max Nagl (Red Bull KTM) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Zach Osborne (Utag Yamaha) 20 + 20 = 40
3 Brad Anderson (PAR Honda) 18 + 18 = 36
4 Gareth Swanepoel (KRTE Kawasaki) 10 + 22 = 32
5 Carl Nunn (MVR-D Suzuki) 15 + 15 = 30
6 James Noble (MVR-D Suzuki) 16 + 14 = 30
7 Billy MacKenzie (CAS Honda) 9 + 16 = 25
8 Scott Columb (Relentless Suzuki) 12 + 12 = 24
9 Tom Church (Buildbase CCM) 13 + 11 = 24
10 Cedric Melotte (CAS Honda) 22 + 0 = 22
11 Dorren Coutts (Yamaha) 6 + 10 = 16
12 David Willet (Bladez Yamaha) 7 + 8 = 15
13 Danny Smyth (Eastwood Honda) 8 + 7 = 15
14 Lewis Gregory (MotoXtreme Kawasaki) 14 + 0 = 14
15 Kristian Whatley (Hanson Kawasaki) 0 + 13 = 13
16 Jordan Rose (Proppa STR Honda) 11+0=11, 17 Alex Snow (KTM UK) 0+9=9, 18 John May (Meredith Suzuki) 4+5=9, 19 Jason Dougan (Phoenix Tools CCM) 0+6=6, 20 Wayne Garrett (TSR KTM) 3+2=5, 21 Lloyd Vercueil (Kawasaki) 5+0=5, 22 Alex Butler (Corby Kawasaki) 0+4=4, 23 Nathan Parker (Proppa STR Honda) 0+3=3, 24 Glen Phillips (JCS Commercials KTM) 2+0=2, 25 Seb Osbourne (Ride MX Yamaha) 0+1=1, 26 Stuart Edmonds (Electraction TM UK) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Nagl, 2 Melotte, 3 Osborne, 4 Brad Anderson, 5 Noble, 6 Nunn, 7 Gregory, 8 Church, 9 Columb, 10 Rose, 11 Swanepoel, 12 Billy MacKenzie, 13 Smyth, 14 Willet, 15 Coutts, 16 Vercueil, 17 May, 18 Garrett, 19 Phillips, 20 Edmonds.
RACE TWO: 1 Nagl, 2 Swanepoel, 3 Osborne, 4 Brad Anderson, 5 Billy MacKenzie, 6 Nunn, 7 Noble, 8 Whatley, 9 Columb, 10 Church, 11 Coutts, 12 Snow, 13 Willet, 14 Smyth, 15 Dougan, 16 May, 17 Butler, 18 Parker, 19 Garrett, 20 Osbourne.
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 8) rounds: 1 Brad Anderson 81 points, 2 Nunn 70, 3 Noble 64, 4 Church 62, 5 Billy MacKenzie 58, 6 Melotte 51, 7 Nagl 50, 8 Swanepoel 44, 9 Columb 43, 10 Rose 42, 11 Osborne 40, 12 Whatley 35, 13 Smyth 32, 14 Gregory 31, 15 Coutts 26,...
NEXT ROUND: May 3 – Low Gelt Farm, Brampton, nr Carlisle (East Cumbria MCC).
MAXXIS BRITISH MXY2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Manor Farm, Langrish, Petersfield, Hants (Langrish MCRC)
1 Luke Hawkins (PAR Honda) 22 + 25 = 47
2 Josh Waterman (Danger UK KTM) 25 + 22 = 47
3 Connor Walkley (Team Green Kawasaki) 15 + 20 = 35
4 Lewis Abbott (KTM) 16 + 18 = 34
5 Alfie Smith (SPH Honda) 18 + 13 = 31
6 Michael McCammond (TSR KTM) 14 + 16 = 30
7 Steven Smyth (G Force Suspension Hon) 13 + 15 = 28
8 Jake Shipton (???) 12 + 14 = 26
9 Josh Spinks (Redline KTM UK) 20 + 6 = 26
10 George Purchase (Seal Moto KTM) 10 + 12 = 22
11 Harry Noakea (MX Moto Yamaha) 9 + 10 = 19
12 Matt Bayliss (???) 11 + 8 = 19
13 Ewan McLaren (Moto1 KTM) 5 + 11 = 16
14 Matt Burrows (Relentless Suzuki) 8 + 5 = 13
15 Kelvin Townsend (Albion KTM) 3 + 7 = 10
16 Connor Butler (MAR Suzuki) 0+9=9, 17 Rik Ruddick (Hanson Honda) 4+3=7, 18 Harry McKenna (KRM Yamaha) 7+0=7, 19 Damon Wells (???) 6+0=6, 20 Joe Bamfield (Hanson Honda) 0+4=4, 21 Gary Sharp (Spirit KTM) 2+2=4, 22 Jake Hassell (???) 0+1=1, 23 George Gough (KTM) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Waterman, 2 Hawkins, 3 Spinks, 4 Smith, 5 Abbott, 6 Walkley, 7 McCammond, 8 Smyth, 9 Shipton, 10 Bayliss, 11 Purchase, 12 Noakea, 13 Burrows, 14 McKenna, 15 Wells, 16 McLaren, 17 Ruddick, 18 Townsend, 19 Sharp, 20 Gough.
RACE TWO: 1 Hawkins, 2 Waterman, 3 Walkley, 4 Abbott, 5 McCammond, 6 Smyth, 7 Shipton, 8 Smith, 9 Purchase, 10 McLaren, 11 Noakea, 12 Butler, 13 Bayliss, 14 Townsend, 15 Spinks, 16 Burrows, 17 Bamfield, 18 Ruddick, 19 Sharp, 20 Hassell.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 8) rounds: As Overall above.
NEXT ROUND: May 3 – Low Gelt Farm, Brampton, nr Carlisle (East Cumbria MCC).
Das ist gut! Ja? Germany's Max Nagl made the long journey worthwhile with a ‘Max'imum points haul in the MX1 group.