No Payne no gain

During the round three action, at Pontrilas, on Sunday, in a meeting expertly promoted by the Gloucester MXC, Jack Cox became the third different pace-setter in the race for MX2 honours while Clinton Barrs slightly increased his advantage in the MX1 title bash by a further two points, as Lee Payne topped the podium on the day. 

 

Other notable happenings at Pontrilas was a third overall for reigning MX2 Champ Shane Holmes as the Jones boys, Martin and Ryan, bagged impressive MX2 top ten overall slots while over in MX1, Luke Dean earned his maiden AMCA MX Championship race win.

 

Once again though it was a difficult start for the AMCA Championship lads as thunderstorms from the previous day had meant that conditions during qualifying were particularly sticky. Gradually though, the track dried out leaving riders with an absolute maze of ruts but choosing the right ones for the fastest lines was the challenge. 

 

When the gate dropped for moto one it was Jack Cox, looking to follow up on his recent win at Brookthorpe who led with Joseph Del-Busso, Carl Benjamin, Martin Jones,  Ryan Crowder, Paul Neale and Brandon Benjamin in tow. 

 

Drama on the very first lap saw current MX2 series leader Ben Saunders forced out with mechanical problems while reigning Champion Shane Holmes was down in 12th.

 

Just one lap later Carl Benjamin had moved up to second as Neale zoomed past Jones and Crowder for fourth as Ryan Morris worked hard to slot impressively into sixth only to disappear from the proceedings! 

 

Up front, Cox dictated all the way to the chequered flag to bag the first race win of the day as Neale expertly passed Benjamin on the final lap to earn a richly deserved second.

 

So with one down and two to go, the heat was on as Cox moved to the top of the title standings courtesy of his moto win and the unfortunate Saunders DNF!

 

Would Saunders bounce back? Well, after gating fifth, Ben quickly passed Del-Busso and Martin Jones but that's as good as it got for the KTM ace. Again leading from gate to flag, it was another victory for that man Cox. 

 

Returning to the circuit where he had bagged a British Masters win, Crowder moved through from an early seventh to replace second placed Ryan Morris as the unlucky Cradley Kawasaki rider dropped back to 15th. 

 

AMCA MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

Rd 3 – Howton Court, Pontrilas (Gloucester MXC)

 1 Lee Payne (Rocket Centre KTM) 50 + 54 + 60 = 164

 2 Clinton Barrs (DK Off-Road Kawasaki) 60 + 50 + 47 = 157

 3 Lee Dunham (Maxxis Henderson Kaw) 54 + 47 + 54 = 155

 4 Shaun Pearce (Peter Jones Honda) 45 + 45 + 45 = 135

 5 Luke Dean (Transporterland Honda) 47 + 60 + 25 = 132

 6 Elliot Barrs (LRT Honda) 39 + 37 + 50 = 126

 7 Stephen Tillotson (450F Honda) 43 + 43 + 39 = 125

 8 Lewis Belfield (250 Hazsport KTM) 33 + 41 + 43 = 117

 9 Jamie Smith (450F Honda) 41 + 35 + 35 = 111

10 Robert Lewis (Transporterland Honda) 37 + 39 + 29 = 105

11 Jamie Dobson (MTR KTM) 31+26+37=94, 12 Scott Bates (450F IDS Trans KTM) 26+29+31=86, 13 Michael Reynolds (450F KTM) 35+31+20=86, 14 Aran Agius (450F Kawasaki) 25+21+33=79, 15 Tye Barrs (450F Kawasaki) 20+2 5+26=71, 16 Chad Yarranton (Passion Kawasaki) 22+24+22=68, 17 Kristofer Ayres (250 KTM) 24+19+23=66, 18 Tim Burrows (450F KTM) 23+15+27=65, 19 Michael Smith (Auto Repairs Honda) 17+23+24=64, 20 Craig Chamberlain (???) 27+22+14=63, 21 Luke Meredith (Kawasaki) 27+22+14=63, 22 Simon Lane (LRT Honda) 15+17+21=53, 23 Joshua Williams (450F Kawasaki) 13+18+19=50, 24 Darren Marklove (450F Kawasaki) 18+20+10=48, 25 Sam Nicholls (???) 11+12+18=41,...

RACE ONE: 1 Clinton Barrs, 2 Dunham, 3 Payne, 4 Dean, 5 Pearce, 6 Tillotson, 7 Jamie Smith, 8 Elliot Barrs, 9 Lewis, 10 Reynolds, 11 Belfield, 12 Dobson, 13 Craig Chamberlain, 14 Meredith, 15 Bates, 16 Agius, 17 Ayres, 18 Burrows, 19 Yarranton, 20 Tye Barrs.

RACE TWO: 1 Dean, 2 Payne, 3 Clinton Barrs, 4 Dunham, 5 Pearce, 6 Tillotson, 7 Belfield, 8 Lewis, 9 Elliot Barrs, 10 Jamie Smith, 11 Reynolds, 12 Bates, 13 Dobson, 14 Tye Barrs, 15 Yarranton, 16 Michael Smith, 17 Craig Chamberlain, 18 Meredith, 19 Agius, 20 Marklove.

RACE THREE: 1 Payne, 2 Dunham, 3 Elliot Barrs, 4 Clinton Barrs, 5 Pearce, 6 Belfield, 7 Tillotson, 8 Dobson, 9 Jamie Smith, 10 Agius, 11 Bates, 12 Lewis, 13 Burrows, 14 Tye Barrs, 15 Dean, 16 Michael Smith, 17 Craig Chamberlain, 18 Meredith, 19 Agius, 20 Marklove.

SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 7) rounds: 1 Clinton Barrs 474 points, 2 Dunham 463, 3 Payne 439, 4 Pearce 381, 5 Belfield 337, 6 Elliot Barrs 333, 7 Dean 323, 8 Tillotson 312, 9 Yarranton 276, 10 Burrows 274, 11 Bates 273, 12 Reynolds 263, 13 Lewis 254, 14 Jamie Smith 254, 15 Michael Smith 252, 16 Dobson 244, 17 Agius 228, 18 Tye Barrs 223, 19 Bond 159, 20 Ayres 145,...

NEXT ROUND: September 2 – Canada Heights, Swanley, Kent (Eastbourne MXC).

 

AMCA MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

Rd 3 – Howton Court, Pontrilas (Gloucester MXC)

 1 Jack Cox (Cox Hire Yamaha) 60 + 60 + 45 = 165

 2 Paul Neale (RaceSpec Kawasaki) 54 + 45 + 54 = 153

 3 Shane Holmes (IDS Transport KTM) 45 + 50 + 50 = 145

 4 Ryan Crowder (Rocket Centre Honda) 47 + 54 + 43 = 144

 5 Carl Benjamin (Thornbury Red11 Kaw) 50 + 41 + 47 = 138

 6 Martin Jones (250F Kawasaki) 37 + 43 + 39 = 119

 7 Ryan Jones (250F KTM) 35 + 39 + 41 = 115

 8 Sean Frayne (SPS Honda) 41 + 37 + 31 = 109

 9 Ben Saunders (150 AJP KTM)  0 + 47 + 60 = 107

10 James Lane (LRT Honda) 43 + 33 + 23 = 99

11 Adam Wells (Underdog Honda) 33+25+33=91, 12 Joseph Del-Busso (250F Honda) 17+35+35=87, 13 Scott Williams (250F Suzuki) 31+24+27=82, 14 Edward Briscoe (250F Suzuki) 29+29+24=82, 15 Scott Mathia (Wulfsport Honda) 27+16+37=80, 16 Brandon Benjamin (Thornbury Red11 Kaw) 39+31+0=70, 17 Stuart Owen (250F Yamaha) 24+19+26=69, 18 Richard Gray (250F Kawasaki) 21+23+21=65, 19 Luke Smith (???) 26+21+14=61, 20 Dean Swift (???) 19+20+20=59, 21 Joe Russell (250F Kawasaki) 20+17+19=56, 22 Matthew Nash (???) 23+15+16=54, 23 Jack Forrest (250F Honda) 18+27+9=54, 24 Daniel Hill (250F Yamaha) 16+18+18=52, 25 Christopher Hill (???) 12+14+25=51,...

RACE ONE: 1 Cox, 2 Neale, 3 Carl Benjamin, 4 Crowder, 5 Holmes, 6 Lane, 7 Frayne, 8 Brandon Benjamin, 9 Martin Jones, 10 Ryan Jones, 11 Wells, 12 Scott Williams, 13 Edward Briscoe, 14 Mathia, 15 Luke Smith, 16 McShane, 17 Stuart Owen, 18 Nash, 19 Roe, 20 Gray.

RACE TWO: 1 Cox, 2 Crowder, 3 Holmes, 4 Saunders, 5 Neale, 6 Martin Jones, 7 Carl Benjamin, 8 Ryan Jones, 9 Frayne, 10 Del-Busso, 11 Lane, 12 Brandon Benjamin, 13 Edward Briscoe, 14 Forrest, 15 Morris, 16 Wells, 17 Scott Williams, 18 Gray, 19 Thomas, 20 Luke Smith.

RACE THREE: 1 Saunders, 2 Neale, 3 Holmes, 4 Carl Benjamin, 5 Cox, 6 Crowder, 7 Ryan Jones, 8 Martin Jones, 9 Mathia, 10 Del-Busso, 11 Wells, 12 Frayne, 13 Bath, 14 Scott Williams, 15 Stuart Owen, 16 Wells, 17 Scott Williams, 18 Gray, 19 Thomas, 20 Luke Smith.

SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 7) rounds: 1 Cox 463 points, 2 Neale 434, 3 Saunders 423, 4 Carl Benjamin 388, 5 Crowder 373, 6 Mathia 370, 7 Holmes 366, 8 Frayne 310, 9 Martin Jones 284, 10 Scott Williams 280, 11 Ryan Jones 274, 12 Lane 263, 13 Brandon Benjamin 252, 14 Christopher Hill 203, 15 Del-Busso 202, 16 Edward Briscoe 198, 17 Swift 186, 18 Luke Smith 184, 19 Bath 167, 20 Gray 164,...

NEXT ROUND: September 2 – Canada Heights, Swanley, Kent (Eastbourne MXC).

SUPPORT CLASSES

Expert: 1 Richard Williams, 2 Jordan Davies, 3 Thomas Card, 4 Matthew Rudd, 5 Philip Delaney, 6 Richard Lloyd.

Non-Qualifiers: 1 Jordan Barrs, 2 Thomas James, 3 Stephen Elford, 4 Richard Hathaway, 5 Matthew Bath, 6 Matthew Jones.

Senior: 1 Shane Davis, 2 Lee Peck, 3 Samuel Mumford, 4 Joshua Bishop, 5 Allan Biggs, 6 Ben Newby.

Junior: 1 Benjamin Prosser, 2 Grant Jones, 3 Joel Curtis, 4 Christopher West, 5 Harvey Powell, 6 John Collins.

Inter Junior: 1 Kyle Hall, 2 Thomas Watson, 3 Conor Brookes, 4 Tom Mumford, 5 Rhys James, 6 Elena Church.