Hot cross Nunn Bull-dozes
By TMX Archives on 12th Jun 09
FOLLOWING on from the success of the first combined Red Bull Pro Nationals and Elite Youth Cup championship at Landrake just over a month ago, the two series got together again at Whitby for another awesome weekend of racing.
Even 24 hours of constant heavy rain couldn't dampen the spirits of the 300 riders as the superb Skelder Bank circuit was worked into prime condition by the newly MC Federation affiliated Whitby MX club.
The edge was taken off the bitter winds coming off the North Sea for the crowds and they were warmed by some brilliant racing in all the classes.
Even the atmosphere at the Red Bull Party on Saturday night was buzzing after the MCF linked the TV screens to live on-line coverage of the AMA Nationals.
The Junior 65cc class was full of talent, particularly Conrad Mewse. Once again he dominated the weekend with five out of five convincing race wins as he hardly put a foot wrong on the technical, rutted circuit. However he was pushed early on in every race by the likes of Henry Williams, Jake Deacon and Sid Evans but in the end his constant lap times helped him edge away.
Williams rode a consistent weekend with a few second places to finish second overall, whilst Jake Deacon took third overall after finishing third in every race.
The hard luck story went to Sid Evans who ended up sixth. He was the rider that pushed Mewse the most but a couple of mistakes and derailed chain cost him.
Just like Conrad, Ben Watson in the Small-wheel 85cc continues to dominate his class and has also only lost one race so far this year.
At Whitby he once again showed his talent with another maximum points haul. With Watson long gone at the front, the battle for second place was another belter.
Eventually it went to Tom Neal, but only after a tie-break decision with Connor Clark in the final moto to edge Connor down a step on the podium.
Once again the boys of the Big-wheeled class banged their way around the track all weekend! Picking a winner in this class isn't easy but it was Sunny Thompson that carved out another overall victory.
After winning the first two motos he had couldn't match Nathan Watson who then went on a three-moto winning streak for the second overall after two fifth place finishes early on. James Dunn bagged himself a second and a couple of thirds on his way to the final step of the podium for the weekend.
Behind the front three Ben Howell and Jake Millward had their own private battle and as much as Millward pushed on in the last race, just pipping Howell, it wasn't enough to beat him overall.
However it was enough to earn him one of the three coveted spots over the weekend on the Fox Boot camp. Best wishes to Aaron Pipon who had to be air lifted to hospital with a badly broken fibia and tibia early in race three.
Luke Hawkins finally put it all together in the Rookies for his first overall win in the series with three wins.
But he was kept busy all weekend by Christian Taylor in second overall. The battle from third to sixth was anyone's with only 19 points covering them in the end. That private battle was won by Arron Jenner who took the final podium spot.
With most of the Open riders getting the opportunity to mix it with the pros for Sunday, they took advantage of getting up to speed on the Saturday and it was Lewis Tombs that put a consistent run together for the overall win.
Josh Waterman didn't win a race but got himself a couple of seconds and a fourth for second overall. Series leader Alex Rockwell couldn't get it together and had to settle for third overall.
Clearly the combined MX1 and MX2 format is the way to go as yet again the pros were dicing all the way down the field for both of their races.
MX1 and overall series leader Carl Nunn came into Whitby hot on the back of being the best British rider at the Mallory GP the week prior and it showed.
His team-mate and local hero James Noble started as favourite but it was Nunny who came out on top after the pair of the then shared moto wins, but Carl edged the victory with the better second moto.
Elliot Banks-Browne proved he's now getting to grips with the bigger bike with two solid third place moto finishes as he continues to improve.
Battling away amongst the bigger 450cc machines was an intense fight for MX2 supremacy between Nev Bradshaw and Wayne Smith - and what a battle it was!
In the end Nev managed to break Smith and claim a double race win but he certainly had to work for it as they constantly went bar to bar all weekend, it really was the race within a race. Dave Willet had nothing for them but used his nimble two-stroke to great effect to just edge out Graeme Irwin for the final podium spot. James Noble was looking to repeat his proppa.com Van Slam win at Landrake in front of his home town fans but it wasn't to be.
Scott Columb grabbed the holeshot in the mad two-lap dash for a brand new VW transporter van courtesy of Proppa.com and kept it lit.
The next round of the Red Bull Elite Youth Cup is at Cusses Gorse on July 4/ 5 and the next Red Bull Pro Nationals is at Canada Heights on July 18/19 incorporated with round five of the British Two-stroke Championship.
ELITE YOUTH CUP MX CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 3 – Skelder Bank, nr Whitby (MC Federation)
YOUTH OPEN CLASS
1 Lewis Tombs 39 + 45 + 39 = 123
2 Josh Waterman 42 + 42 + 36 = 120
3 Alex Rockwell 33 + 39 + 45 = 117
4 Matthew Moffat 45 + 30 + 42 = 117
5 Jack Rowland 26 + 36 + 30 = 92
6 Alfie Smith 28 + 33 + 28 = 89
7 Jamie Jackson 36 + 28 + 24 = 88
8 Will Worden 30 + 24 + 33 = 87
9 Daniel Mccanney 22 + 26 + 26 = 74
10 Warwick French 20 + 20 + 20 = 60
BIG-WHEEL 85cc CLASS
1 Sunny Thompson 45 + 45 + 39 + 36 + 42 = 207
2 Nathan Watson 33 + 33 + 45 + 45 + 45 = 201
3 James Dunn 39 + 42 + 36 + 28 + 39 = 184
4 Ben Howell 36 + 36 + 30 + 33 + 28 = 163
5 Jake Millward 30 + 26 + 33 + 42 + 30 = 161
6 Rob Muscat 28 + 30 + 42 + 39 + 0 = 139
7 James Harrison 26 + 24 + 22 + 10 + 36 = 118
8 Luke Newman 22 + 22 + 19 + 22 + 26 = 111
9 Jordan Godwin 16 + 20 + 20 + 30 + 24 = 110
10 Alex Meadows 24 + 28 + 24 + 26 + 0 = 102
SMALL-WHEEL 85cc CLASS
1 Ben Watson 45 + 45 + 45 + 45 + 45 = 225
2 Tom Neal 39 + 39 + 39 + 42 + 42 = 201
3 Connor Clark 42 + 42 + 42 + 39 + 36 = 201
4 Chubbie Hammond 36 + 22 + 36 + 26 + 33 = 153
5 Liam Knight 26 + 30 + 30 + 36 + 28 = 150
6 Corie Southwood 28 + 33 + 28 + 30 + 26 = 145
7 Mathew Callaghan 33 + 36 + 33 + 0 + 39 = 141
8 Robert Davidson 24 + 24 + 24 + 22 + 24 = 118
9 Ben Green 30 + 28 + 9 + 28 + 20 = 115
10 Danny Lanfear 22 + 20 + 0 + 33 + 30 = 105
JUNIOR 65cc CLASS
1 Conrad Mewse 45 + 45 + 45 + 45 + 45 = 225
2 Henry Williams 42 + 42 + 36 + 42 + 36 = 198
3 Jake Deacon 39 + 39 + 39 + 39 + 39 = 195
4 Jay Hague 36 + 36 + 33 + 36 + 33 = 174
5 David Keet 33 + 30 + 30 + 28 + 28 = 149
6 Sid Evans 24 + 16 + 42 + 9 + 42 = 133
7 Callum Bircher 30 + 24 + 20 + 26 + 30 = 130
8 Jack Camwell 20 + 26 + 28 + 30 + 22 = 126
9 Michael Ellis 28 + 33 + 26 + 20 + 16 = 123
10 Brett Pocock 26 + 28 + 24 + 10 + 18 = 106
NEXT ROUND: July 4/5 – Cusses Gorse, nr Winterbourne Gunner, Wilts (MCF)
RED BULL PRO NATIONAL MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 – Skelder Bank, nr Whitby (MC Federation)
PRO MX1 CLASS
1 Carl Nunn 42 + 45 = 87
2 James Noble 45 + 42 = 87
3 Elliot Banks-Browne 39 + 39 = 78
4 Scott Columb 33 + 36 = 69
5 Alex Snow 28 + 33 = 61
6 Jamie Law 26 + 30 = 56
7 Jamie Smith 30 + 26 = 56
8 Nathan Parker 22 + 28 = 50
9 Alfie Smith 24 + 22 = 46
10 Danny Smyth 20 + 24 = 44
PRO MX2 CLASS
1 Neville Bradshaw 45 + 45 = 90
2 Wayne Smith 42 + 42 = 84
3 David Willet 36 + 39 = 75
4 Graeme Irwin 39 + 36 = 75
5 Josh Waterman 33 + 30 = 63
6 Matthew Moffat 30 + 26 = 56
7 Dan Arnold 19 + 33 = 52
8 Alan Keet 22 + 28 = 50
9 Jack Rowland 26 + 24 = 50
10 Will Worden 18 + 22 = 40
ROOKIES CLASS
1 Luke Hawkins 42 + 45 + 45 + 42 + 45 = 219
2 Christian Taylor 45 + 8 + 42 + 45 + 42 = 182
3 Arron Jenner 36 + 36 + 39 + 30 + 30 = 171
4 George Baldwin 33 + 30 + 36 + 33 + 33 = 165
5 Anthony Reville 30 + 33 + 33 + 39 + 28 = 163
6 Kelvin Townsend 28 + 42 + 30 + 28 + 24 = 152
7 Connor Walkley 39 + 39 + 28 + 0 + 39 = 145
8 Brett Pearce 24 + 24 + 20 + 26 + 22 = 116
9 Jamie Tranckle 20 + 22 + 24 + 22 + 20 = 108
10 Ty Kellett 0 + 28 + 26 + 24 + 26 = 104
NEXT ROUND: July 19 – Canada Heights, Swanley, Kent (MC Federation)
Fast-improving Elliot Banks-Browne powers to third place overall in the Pro MX1 class at Skelder Bank.