Clutch courage...
By TMX Archives on 1st Apr 09
TRADITIONALLY, the major AMCA Motocross Championship season opens up with the Superclass series. This is a two-round affair which offers the leading MX1 and MX2 pilots the chance to lock horns and engage in open, unlimited capacity combat. Unfortunately though, for the opening meeting of the 2009 series at Whittle Mill, near Wigan, on Sunday, the response in entry levels was rather disappointing, suggesting that the time has arrived for the AMCA to revamp the Superclass series with fresh ideas in an attempt to re-ignite the enthusiasm of the missing riders.
For those that were present though and had made the effort to travel to Whittle Mill, the going was tough both on and off the track.
In between having to be towed in and out of a very soft paddock area, they also had to contend with a circuit which quickly developed numerous deep, clutch burning, rutted sections requiring maximum concentration and very careful selection of riding lines.
During the three races, reigning Superclass champion Ben Saunders scored a calculated hat-trick of wins to take the overall ahead of a rejuvenated Elliot Barrs and Aaron Crowder, aboard his new 450F Husqvarna.
With one of the expected favourites, Brad O'Leary, missing due to illness, it was Saunders who led the early exchanges of moto one ahead of Elliot Barrs, Charlie Hollis, Jamie Powell, Rich Meakin and leading 250F runner Lee Dunham before a ‘red flag' halted proceedings to enable treatment to a fallen Scott Mathia.
At the point of the stoppage, leader Saunders was also in trouble having fried the first of three clutches! Jumping aboard his spare machine for the rerun, Saunders then comfortably took the first win of the day but only after pace-setter Hollis had become another victim of a burnt clutch on the tough circuit. Second spot in the opening clash was Elliot Barrs, but only after he had been forced to fend off a very determined Dunham on the 250F. Switching to 450F power for 2009, Aran Agius started in style with a strong fourth ahead of Powell, Crowder and Michael Reynolds.
AMCA SUPERCLASS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Whittle Mill, nr Charnock Richard
(AMCA Ltd)
MOTO ONE: 1 Ben Saunders (450F Delkevic Kawasaki), 2 Elliot Barrs (450F Marsh Suzuki), 3 Lee Dunham (250F MotoXtreme Kawasaki), 4 Aran Aguis (450F MotoXtreme Kawasaki), 5 Jamie Powell (450F KTM), 6 Aaron Crowder (450F Sandiford Husqvarna), 7 Michael Reynolds (450F Yamaha), 8 Rick Du-Feu (450F Delkevic Kawasaki), 9 Danny Blakeley (250 Silvester Yamaha), 10 Chris Neesam (450F Kawasaki), 11 Carl Benjamin (250F Thornbury Kawasaki), 12 Jamie Dobson (250F MTR Honda), 13 Clinton Barrs (450F Delkevic Kawasaki), 14 Paul Coward (450F Kawasaki), 15 Shaun Pearce (250F Pete Jones Honda), 16 James Lane (250F LTR Kawasaki), 17 James Shaw (250F Delkevic Kawasaki), 18 Simon Lane (250F LTR Kawasaki), 19 Tom Neesam (250F Suzuki), 20 Richard Meakin (450F Proppa Honda).
MOTO TWO: 1 Saunders, 2 E Barrs 3, Charlie Hollis (450F Proppa Honda), 4 Crowder, 5 Reynolds, 6 Blakeley, 7 Agius, 8 C Neesam, 9 C Barrs, 10 J Lane, 11 Pearce, 12 Powell, 13 Dobson, 14 Sean Eckersley (250 Kawasaki), 15 S Lane, 16 T Neesam, 17 Coward, 18 Shaw, 19 Meakin, 20 Andrew Summerton.
MOTO THREE: 1 Saunders, 2 C Barrs, 3 Hollis, 4 E Barrs, 5 Dunham, 6 Crowder, 7 Blakeley, 8 Reynolds, 9 J Lane, 10 Pearce, 11 Shaw, 12 Meakin, 13 Dobson, 14 C Neesam, 15 T Neesam, 16 Eckersley, 17 Summerton, 18 S Lane, 19 Coward, 20 Agius.
OVERALL: 1 Saunders 180 points, 2 E Barrs 155, 3 Crowder 133, 4 Reynolds 125, 5 Blakeley 121, 6 C Barrs 120, 7 Hollis 117, 8 Dunham 115, 9 Agius 109, 10 C Neesam 101,...
AMCA MX1 CHAMPS – NORTH QUALIFIER (Rd 1)
OVERALL: 1 Jason Rennie 180 points, 2 David Wright 154, 3 Robert Harries 151, 4 Michael Smith 141, 5 Adam Castledine 127, 6 Lee Spurr 119, 7 Oliver Brunskill 116, 8 Wayne Pudge 116, 9 Keith Barnes 113, 10 Luke Hawkins 101.
AMCA MX2 CHAMPS – NORTH QUALIFIER (Rd 1)
OVERALL: 1 Rob Clitheroe 180 points, 2 Luke Spence 155, 3 Marc Roe 143, 4 Shane Holmes 140, 5 Jamie Thompstone 138, 6 David Hanby 113, 7 Danny Dolan 109, 8 Dewi Ritchie 106, 9 Colin Conduit 103, 10 Scott Smith 96.
EXPERT SUPPORT: 1 Jake Preston 174, 2 David Wall 154, 3 Mike Bradshaw 142.
SENIOR: 1 Stuart Owen 161, 2 John Marsh 161, 3 William Westwell 136.
JUNIOR: 1 Adam Craggs 168, 2 Tom Smith 157, 3 Jak Dinsley 134.
INTER-JUNIOR: 1 Jack Mac 180, 2 Tom Craggs 158, 3 Timothy Gardham 148.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2009
The Lane Brothers do battle at Whittle Lane, with Simon (73) showing James (7) who's boss at the Charnock Richard circuit.