Not only was the weather hot, but the racing at Sundays British Dirt Track Championships at Rye House was certainly scorching with some tremendous battles, spectacular crashes and plenty of talking points.
Before the event the talk in the pits was that Danny Smith could be the one to watch in the QUADZILLA QRA British Quad Oval Championships and judging by his final four races victory could have been his if it wasn’t for his bike failing to start at the line in his opening outfit. His upset was clear to see and he went on to inflict the only defeat of the afternoon on event winner and series leader Ben Richmond who extended his championship lead by a further 3 points over Lee Hazelwood who managed to gain third place overall. Boston’s Nick Wright was another in great form, only losing out to the flying Smith, and his all action style has seen him become a real championships contender.
Veteran John Elliot made up for his Swindon disappointment by coming in fifth position, just ahead of young James Walker, and the unlucky Rob Heath who could have finished further up the order if he hadn’t spun out in his third race.
As always the racing was close, fast and eventful in the Welsh Pitbikes British Dirt Track Mini Bike Championships with 14 riders on the line, things did get pretty darn close, especially when Wayne Johnstone collided with the fence and crashing in front of the following pack, which caused carnage. All riders were up and back in the re run though.
It was a TEAM Stomp one two though with Gary Phelps continuing his strong form by taking the overall victory over his team mate and series leader Luke Coker.
Whilst the Stomp riders took the first two places it was Trevor Heath who was the quickest rider of the day taking 4 wins, but have an engine failure in race one which cost him.
Mathew Cole is getting quicker with every event and two third places in the last two races awarded him with a 4th overall ahead of Johnstone and Billy Coles in fifth and sixth respectively.
Heath also went 10 races unbeaten in the Dirt Track Solo class series by winning all five of his races at Rye House following on from his faultless maximum in Round 3 in Swindon.
The action behind Heath, in the M & S Truck Rentals sponsored Dirt Track Solo class was frantic with many falls, battles and engine failures meaning the runners up spot was wide open, eventually going to Scott Creswell who after a fall in practice looked good on the speedway circuit. Former Wimbledon Dons Speedway rider Jon Stevens took third overall, favouring the tight line and riding fast and smooth throughout the day, with Eric Pike taking third overall. One rider who was very unlucky was young Adam Shepherd who recorded 3 wins but had an engine failure and a fall which hindered his scoring. Tom Meakins also looked better than his 8 point tally suggested and deserved more points for his efforts.
Gary Phelps, had a successful day winning the Boretech sponsored MX class on top of his mini Bike victory, with four wins from 5 ahead of Martyn Hobbs. This doesn’t tell the whole story as the battles between these two were out of the top drawer as neither gave an inch as they raced for the win.
Yet again a great day of racing was had by all. Good fun had in the pits, a sunny day, and a great race track. The series now heads onto round 5 at Stoke on Sunday 5th August. With the event being only two weeks away riders are urged to get their entries in soon. By entering online on www.britishdirttrack.co.uk or you can enter by texting or calling Gaynor 07718 208640 or emailing entries@allterrainevents.eu
British Dirt Track Championships – Round 4 results
QUADZILLA QRA BRITISH QUAD OVAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
1st Ben Richmond
2nd Nick Wright
3rd Lee Hazelwood
4th Danny Smith
5th John Elliot
6th James Walker
7th Rob Heath
8th James Fletcher
9th Nick Goode
10th Geoff Glover
11th Neil Duffy
12th= Lee Baxter
12th= Elliot Shallow
14th Andy Hobbs
15th Richard Shaw
16th Mick Hall
17th Sheila Downton
18th Chris Lavery
19th Alex Reed
20th Kevin Dixon
Welsh Pitbikes British Dirt Track Mini Bike Championships
1st Gary Phelps
2nd Luke Coker
3rd Trevor Heath
4th Matthew Cole
5th Wayne Johnstone
6th Billy Coles
7th Shane Jordon
8th Andrew walker
9th Scott Cresswell
10th Ryan Jeffries
11th Andrew Pepler
12th Nick Przyboro
13th Craig Swales
14th Colin Perkins
M & S British Dirt Track Solo Championships
1st Trevor Heath
2nd Scott Cresswell
3rd Jon Stevens
4th Eric Pike
5th Adam Shepherd
6th Tom Meakins
7th Paul Havill
8th Geoff Wiltshire
Boretech British Dirt Track MX Championships
1st Gary Phelps
2nd Martyn Hobbs
3rd Ali Davies
QRA Elite Youth Quads
1st George Hill