Swordy is king of the Hill
By TMX Archives on 7th May 08
DOMINATION was the order of the day at Lyng on Sunday as respective championship leaders Billy MacKenzie and Stephen Sword blitzed the opposition to record resounding double wins at the sandy, demanding Norfolk circuit, venue for round four of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship.
Much to the relief of all who have spent the early part of the season enduring rain, snow and mud, the sun made a very welcome appearance at Lyng, and with the big local TV and newspaper advertising push by the Norwich Viking club being repaid with the biggest crowd of the season so far, an encouraging number from outside of the sport, the event was easily the best of the year and produced some of the best performances of the season too.
Determined to keep up his 100 per cent record, MacKenzie was again untouchable aboard the fearsome CAS Honda and was never headed as he swept to both MX1 victories by some considerable margin to make it eight wins from eight starts in the series.
Behind the runaway leader, however, the championship battle got a whole lot more interesting as Swift Suzuki's Brad Anderson and KTM UK's James Noble both bounced back for the their recent health issues to claim second and third overall respectively courtesy of 2-3 and 5-2 finishes, jumping up to those positions in championship standings in the process too as both Mark Jones and Tom Church suffered moto two DNF's to limit their points scoring on the day and allow some new names to creep onto the leader board.
Again Mark Hucklebridge found a rich vein of form to round out the day fourth overall on the Motoxtreme Kawasaki, from the quietly impressive and improving Jim Murro on the STR Honda, while Wayne Smith piloted the Pioneer Yamaha to sixth.
In MX2, meanwhile, Sword was simply untouchable all day and ran almost all of both moto's out on his own.
Similarly to Shaun Simpson at Canada Heights, Sword was just on another level speed-wise all day and opened up big winning margins each time out, leaving his title rival Simpson unable to challenge him.
Simpson took an easy second place finish both times but behind the two stars of the field things were a lot more topsy-turvy with mechanicals and crashes playing major roles in the outcome for a number of the class big-guns including Swift Suzuki's Elliott Banks-Browne and Suso Suzuki duo Carl Nun and Jason Dougan, but one rider who looked better than ever was Relentless Suzuki's Lewis Gregory who really got his injury hit season back on track with two stellar rides for a thoroughly deserved and very popular third overall from Nunn, DB Racing Honda's Nev Bradshaw and the gutsy Martin Barr who gritted his teeth through the pain of his broken collarbone to salvage a sixth overall and keep his championship dreams alive.
THE return of James Noble to fitness and second place in qualifying behind MacKenzie, just 0.2 of a second down, gave the fans some hope that Noble would have something for the championship leader in the moto's but it wasn't to be. With his goal to record each fastest qualifying time, every holeshot, lead every racing lap, take every moto win, and set every fastest lap award very much at the front of his mind now, MacKenzie was again rampant and no-one got close in moto one.
As the pack bundled through the fast sweeping chicane at turn one he was already two bike lengths clear of cousin Bryan MacKenzie on the Twisted 7 Kawasaki and on his way. By the end of lap one MacKenzie had already opened up a couple of seconds as Brad Anderson gamely tried to keep in touch, with Bry Mac, Mark Hucklebridge, Mark Jones and Noble following him through.
As MacKenzie cleared off into the distance, setting the fastest lap of the race by some three seconds on his first full lap, Anderson and Jones quickly settled into second and third, and from the they comfortably pulled clear of the rest, aided by a nasty coming together between Noble and Hucklebridge on lap five that dropped him back to eighth and with some work to do.
With the lead trio clearly a level above the rest, Tom Church found his rhythm after a slightly slow start to move through to fourth on the fifth lap, holding the position to the flag, with Noble recovering to fifth in front of Jordan Rose, out on a new STR Honda mount after parting ways with the PAR team. Mark Eastwood put his trusty two-stroke CR250 into seventh after Wayne sixth dropped it on the last lap, with Hucklebridge, Jamie Law and Jim Murro rounding out the top ten. Both MacKenzie boys were fast out of the gate again in moto two, but it was Billy who again used the formidable power of the CAS Honda to streak into the lead, again never to be challenged.
For Tom Church though the race was over before it really began and before the first lap was even completed he was out, the Molson Kawasaki's gearbox giving up the ghost and losing him a whole pile of points.
At the end of the opening lap though it was again MacKenzie out front with Anderson, Bryan MacKenzie, Noble and Jones in close attendance.
After again falling whilst in a strong position in the opening moto, Bryan MacKenzie held onto third for nearly three laps, but Noble looked superb and moved through to go after Anderson quickly, followed by Jones, Smith and Hucklebridge the next lap, and Jones too looked like being able to mix it with anderson and Noble for second, but a big prang at the halfway mark ended the Welshman's day and like Church dropped him out of joint second in the title race.
Out front MacKenzie opened up a comfortable lead, although he was clearly not pushing as hard as in the opener and thus the gap was not anything like as big, but the man really on a charge was Noble.
Getting closer to full fitness every week, Noble got stronger and faster as the race progressed, and the pass on Anderson, who has been off the bike since Torrington, inevitably came.
Behind the lead trio, UTag Yamaha's Carlos Campano bounced back from a Moto one mechanical to register a strong fourth place from a goggleless Wayne Smith, victim of a rock on lap one that popped the lens out, Hucklebridge, Bryan MacKenzie, Murro, Michael Phillips and second ARB Kawasaki Jamie Lewis.
BRITISH MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 4 Cadders Hill, Lyng, Norfolk
(Norwich Viking MCC)
1 Billy MacKenzie (CAS Honda) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Brad Anderson (Swift Suzuki) 22 + 20 = 42
3 James Noble (KTM UK) 16 + 22 = 38
4 Mark Hucklebridge (Motoxtreme Kawasaki) 13 + 15 = 28
5 Jim Murro (STR Honda) 11 + 13 = 24
6 Wayne Smith (Pioneer Yamaha) 7 + 16 = 23
7 Mark Eastwood (Wiseco Honda) 14 + 8 = 22
8 Michael Phillips (NA Robinson KTM) 9 + 12 = 21
9 Jamie Law (Relentless Suzuki) 12 + 9 = 21
10 Mark Jones (ARB Kawasaki) 20 + 0 = 20
11 Bryan MacKenzie (Twisted7 Kawasaki) 5 + 14 = 19
12 Carlos Campano (Utag Yamaha) 0 + 18 = 18
13 Danny Smyth (Wiseco Honda) 8 + 10 = 18
14 Tom Church (Molson Kawasaki) 18 + 0 = 18
15 Aston Bird (SMX Honda) 10 + 7 = 17
16 Jordan Rose (STR Honda) 15+0=15, 17 Jamie Lewis (ARB Kawasaki) 0+11=11, 18 Richard Lawson (Twisted7 Kawasaki) 6+5=11, 19 David Willet (Yamaha) 3+6=9, 20 David Yelland (Phoenix Honda) 0+4=4, 21 Jody Smyth (Wiseco Honda) 1+3=4, 22 Alex Rockwell (Danger Honda) 2+2=4, 23 Alex Rach (Eurotek KTM) 4+0=4, 24 Gavin Foulston (???) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Billy MacKenzie, 2 Anderson, 3 Jones, 4 Church, 5 Noble, 6 Rose, 7 Eastwood, 8 Hucklebridge, 9 Law, 10 Murro, 11 Bird, 12 Michael Phillips, 13 Danny Smyth, 14 Wayne Smith, 15 Lawson, 16 Bryan MacKenzie, 17 Rach, 18 Willet, 19 Rockwell, 20 Jody Smyth.
RACE TWO: 1 Billy MacKenzie, 2 Noble, 3 Anderson, 4 Campano, 5 Wayne Smith, 6 Hucklebridge, 7 Bryan MacKenzie, 8 Murro, 9 Michael Phillips, 10 Lewis, 11 Danny Smyth, 12 Law, 13 Eastwood, 14 Bird, 15 Willet, 16 Lawson, 17 Yelland, 18 Jody Smyth, 19 Rockwell, 20 Foulston.
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 8) rounds: 1 Billy MacKenzie 200 points, 2 Noble 135, 3 Anderson 131, 4 Jones 126, 5 Church 124, 6 Wayne Smith 110, 7 Hucklebridge 98, 8 Eastwood 92, 9 Gundersen 78, 10 Michael Phillips 71, 11 Danny Smyth 68, 12 Bryan MacKenzie 61, 13 Murro 52, 14 Rose 50, 15 Lewis 41,
NEXT ROUND: Jun 22 Desertmartin, nr Cookstown, NI (Cookstown & DMCC).
BRITISH MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPS
Rd 4 Cadders Hill, Lyng, Norfolk
(Norwich Viking MCC)
1 Stephen Sword (Molson Kawasaki) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Shaun Simpson (KTM UK) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Lewis Gregory (Relentless Suzuki) 18 + 16 = 34
4 Carl Nunn (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 9 + 20 = 29
5 Neville Bradshaw (DB Honda) 15 + 13 = 28
6 Martin Barr (Utag Yamaha) 11 + 15 = 26
7 Kristian Whatley (NA Robinson KTM) 14 + 11 = 25
8 Joseph Dark (Meredith Suzuki) 12 + 12 = 24
9 Jake Nicholls (Swift Suzuki) 16 + 6 = 22
10 Mel Pocock (Utag Yamaha) 13 + 8 = 21
11 Alex Snow (KTM UK) 10 + 10 = 20
12 Jason Dougan (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 20 + 0 = 20
13 Elliott Banks-Browne (Swift Suzuki) 0 + 18 = 18
14 Marcus Norlen (Suso MVRD Suzuki) 0 + 14 = 14
15 Robert Hamilton (Pioneer Yamaha) 0 + 9 = 9
16 Shane Carless (PAR Honda) 5+4=9, 17 Alex Butler (Corby Kawasaki) 8+0=8, 18 Ashley Greedy (PAR Honda) 0+7=7, 19 Christopher Bastick (KRM Honda) 7+0=7, 20 Jonathan Pettitt (TM UK) 6+0=6, 21 Klemen Gercar (Utag Yamaha) 0+5=5, 22 Alan Keet (KTM) 2+3=5, 23 Richard Mike Jones (Servo KTM) 4+0=4, 24 Graeme Irwin (Moto One Suzuki) 3+0=3, 25 James Dodd (Sandiford Honda) 0+2=2, 26 Joe Gregory (Honda) 0+1=1, 27 Lewis King (Electraction TM) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Sword, 2 Simpson, 3 Dougan, 4 Lewis Gregory, 5 Nicholls, 6 Bradshaw, 7 Whatley, 8 Pocock, 9 Dark, 10 Barr, 11 Snow, 12 Nunn, 13 Butler, 14 Bastick, 15 Pettitt, 16 Carless, 17 Jones, 18 Irwin, 19 Keet, 20 King.
RACE TWO: 1 Sword, 2 Simpson, 3 Nunn, 4 Banks-Browne, 5 Lewis Gregory, 6 Barr, 7 Norlen, 8 Bradshaw, 9 Dark, 10 Whatley, 11 Snow, 12 Hamilton, 13 Pocock, 14 Greedy, 15 Nicholls, 16 Gercar, 17 Carless, 18 Keet, 19 Dodd, 20 Joe Gregory.
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 8) rounds: 1 Sword 179 points, 2 Simpson 157, 3 Barr 137, 4 Banks-Browne 105, 5 Bradshaw 100, 6 Dougan 90, 7 Nunn 89, 8 Norlen 74, 9 Whatley 73, 10 Leuret 67, 11 Snow 67, 12 Pocock 59, 13 Campano 55, 14 Lewis Gregory 53, 15 Brown 52,
NEXT ROUND: Jun 22 Desertmartin, nr Cookstown, NI (Cookstown & DMCC).
For full report and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, May 9, 2008