Murch ado about something
By TMX Archives on 18th May 07
THE fourth round of the UMX Championship was held at Matchams in the New Forest, on Sunday.Despite a forecast of bad weather there was a full line-up of both Sidecar and Solo classes. Luckily, the track conditions were good in the morning and practice was held without incident.
The rain got heavier during the Junior Solo qualification heats, and as the Sidecars lined up for their first race the skies opened. This set the scene for the rest of the day, and after the next race for Expert Solos conditions had reduced the pits to a river, and some of the
larger puddles on the track were almost swallowing bikes. The club took the decision to abandon the meeting, but points for the two races still stand.
The Sidecar race was more of an endurance run than a motocross, where less than half of those on the start line made it to the flag.
As the gate dropped, Andy Eastman and Steve Kirwin blasted into an early lead followed by the Millard brothers with Andy Breacher and Adam Hillyard in third.
Within one lap four teams expired due to the worsening conditions with rain just getting heavier and the puddles getting deeper.
The most noticeable absence was team Breacher. This left Jamie Stevens and Colin Dunkley in third just ahead of Pete Batt and Dug Woods.
By half-distance another five teams were trackside including team Stevens. Scott Balsillie and Josh Chamberlain surprisingly looked as though they were enjoying themselves and were charging through the field to hold third.
When the Millard brothers went missing on the next lap, this left Balsillie second behind Eastman with Batt in third.
Eastman and passenger Kirwin looked like easy winners with just a few laps to go - but it was not to be. The problems started for Eastman when the bike sploshed through a particularly large puddle and the engine cut out. The duo stayed calm and focused on kicking the bike back to life with the rather wet crowd of supporters expecting to see Balsillie blast ahead, However, Balsillie had his own problems with his bike stopping just one bend further back along the circuit.
The next team expected was Batt and Woods, but the biggest surprise of the day was when Tony and John Murch took the lead after being left behind on the start.
Batt hung on to claim second with Michael Hodges and new Dutch passenger Theo Brienesse pulled through to third.
Eastman restarted the engine and recovered well, fighting back to third spot. Hodges held fourth with Neal Gibson Barton and Paul Hutchman fighting back to take fifth after driver Neal was hit by a stone in the eye after throwing off his goggle on lap one.
With no pause in the rain, the Expert Solo race got under way. Jack Brunell took the early lead with Ryan Towells behind.
Towels hit problems on lap one leaving Scott Robinson to move through to second with his brother, Justin, close behind in third.
Brunell pulled out a safe lead, staying ahead at the finish flag. Behind, Zac Blackwell fought through to second ahead of Paul Cowshall with Justin Robinson taking third just ahead of brother Scott.
UMX CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 - Matchams Park, nr Ringwood
Sidecar Race: 1 Tony Murch/ John Murch, 2 Pete Batt/ Dug Woods, 3 Andy Eastman/ Steve Kirwin, 4 Michael Hodges/ Theo Brienesse, 5 Neal Gibson Barton/ Paul Hutchman, 6 Dean Hyde/ Sam Harris, 7 Ian Durston/ George Galliott, 8 Rob Foden/ Tim Breacher, 9 Scott Balsillie/ Josh Chamberlain, 10 David Short/ Gary Kinge.
Sidecar Expert Standings: 1 Eastman/ Kirwin 372 points, 2 Dan Millard/ Joe Millard 310, 3 Rob Oldfield/ Kevin Foyle 292, 4 Richard Jenkins/ Michael Hedges 270, 5 Roger Blackman/ Steve Baughan 255, 6 Andy Breacher/ Adam Hillyard 220, 7 Paul Pelling/ Craig Burt 207, 8 Jamie Stevens/ Colin Dunkley 203, 9 Nick Jarvis/ Greg Wernham 176, 10 Adam Field/ Alex Watkins 174.
Sidecar Junior Standings: 1 Rob Foden/ Tim Breacher 378 points, 2 Pete Batt/ Dug Woods 360, 3 Dean Hyde/ Sam Harris 356, 4 Chris Batt/ Mark Nisbet 328, 5 Ian Durston/ George Galliott 292, 6 Alan Sturt/ Chris Sturt 286, 7 Garry Patey/ Sue kemp 278, 8 Ian Cooper/ Scott Barrett 245, 9 Carl Kirwin/ Jamie Eastman 211, 10 Steve Parnell/ Chris Parnell 113.
Expert Solo Race: 1 Jack Brunell (Non Scorer), 2 Zac Blackwell, 3 Paul Cowshall, 4 Justin Robinson, 5 Scott Robinson, 6 Luke Lambert, 7 Paul Spacagna, 8 Alex Reitveld, 9 Adam Mitchell, 10 Mark Withers.
Expert Solo Standings: 1 Justin Robinson 461 points, 2 Paul Cowshall 458, 3 Scott Robinson 457, 4 Alex Reitveld 390, 5 Luke Lambert 383, 6 Rat Lee Foyle 364, 7 Mark Withers 338, 8 Adam Mitchell 337, 9 Paul Spacagna 327, 10 David Alderton 298.