Like A Rat Up A Drainpipe! Portsmouth MXC Round 3 - Report & Results

Finally the weather played fair, and after a blistering hot week, the lengthy thunderstorm and rain overnight Saturday was a welcome natural source of water, and with the popular circuit looking prime Sunday morning, 300 riders cascaded into Cusses Gorse for the third round of Portsmouth MX Club’s summer championship.

A number of accidents meant that only two blocks could be run, but as always rider safety is paramount.

It was a pleasure to see every group full to capacity, with the Small Wheels crammed solid on the start gate racing first.  It was a close call at the front of the field, head-to-head racing between Max Brazier and Larry Harper, with both riders sharing the spoils with a first and second each, but Harper managed to grab the overall as he pipped Brazier to the post in race two.  A handful of riders fought for third spot, with Aidan Brooks riding hard and staying consistent to finish up going 3-4 to take the spot.

Even the bigger wheeled machine were out in their masses, with it being anyone’s win at the front of the field. Robert Storer came out all guns blazing in race one to comfortably grab the win, but just couldn’t keep a rampaging Alfie Rickwood from stealing his thunder, Rickwood storming into lead in race two to take the overall.  Storer finished in second, going 1-3.  Tobias Sammut had his work cut out in race one but still ploughed through the field to work his way into fourth, but a great start in race two saw him narrowly miss taking the chequered flag, and going 4-2 he finished in third overall.

The MX1 boys were out next and certainly drew in the crowds! Josh Coleman went no holds barred, totally dominating the field with some huge whips over the jumps and super-quick speed to impress the spectators!! There was no question of the overall winner as he stole both wins to claim the victory.  Liam Garland and Jordan Carrier went head-to-head in each race, not giving each other an inch on the track.  Both riders grabbed a second and third but Garland claimed the last race win by a whisker to take home second overall ahead of Carrier in third.

In the MX2 class, some amazing racing came courtesy of Luke Kennett and Lee Rat Foyle who went head-to-head, after race one winner Mitch Young had a disastrous second race.  Kennett remained consistent and just missed out on a race win going 2-2, with Rat liking his chances to take the overall, grabbing the second race win away from Kennett, and took the overall with Luke finishing in second.  Great to see Todd Leadbitter back on the bike after sustaining an injury a few weeks back, brilliant results going 4-4 secured him third overall, just ahead of Young, who managed to battle his way from dead last to eighth in race two.

With the unfortunate demise of Wildman Willis, crashing hard in the VMX practice, it was left to Darren Hansford to take over at the front.  Despite Martin Bradbury’s outstanding start, he couldn’t stay off the floor, and Hansford took over the lead, making it look easy to take the win in both races and the overall.  Daniel Cavanagh and Tony Hale battled it out for the runner-up spot, Cavanagh with his eye on the prize after an impressive second spot in race one.  But Hale opened the throttled wide and stormed into second in race two, finishing the day in second overall ahead of Cavanagh in third.

The Rookies went all guns blazing, super-impressive speed and skill throughout the pack, a brilliant battle between Preston Williams, Ryan Tanner, Daniel Sultana and Ollie Cole wowing the crowds! Williams was close to scoring two straight wins but Tanner grabbed the win away with a couple of laps to go.  Williams didn’t give up the fight and took second spot.  A disastrous start in race two for Tanner left Williams in the driving seat despite an outstanding performance from an old favourite of the club, Daniel Sultana.  Sultana took charge of race two, but Williams settled back to his winning ways to finish in first and took the overall.  Sultana’s great performance rewarded him with second overall, with Tanner grabbing the last podium spot with an impressive ride, going 1-3 for third overall.

With only one or two spare gates, the Auto race was a great sight to see, some super-quick boys going faster than some of the more mature riders!!  Jake Webb had only one place in mind and that was first, and despite narrowly missing out in the first race, he stormed into the lead on the final lap in race two to go 2-1 to take the overall.  Archie Edwards was hot on Webb’s back wheel, and unfortunately missed out on a win, despite leading all the second race, but a brilliant performance rewarded him with second overall.  Arash Deering started his day off so well, leading from start to finish, he stole the show with a brilliant first place.  Having to work his way through the pack in race two, he still secured a fourth place, and ended the day in third overall.

Patiently waiting, last out were the Juniors, and Charlie Richmond looked set for another good day at the office, totally dominating race one to take a comfortable win. Getting caught up with another rider at the start of race two saw Charlie produce the race of the day, working his way up from last place to finish in third spot.  But it was Mitchell Woodward who took the overall win, with the top three all scoring the same points, but Woodward had a clear path ahead of him in race two to secure the race win and first place.  Noel Brooks had the ride of his life, not putting a wheel wrong and two consistent second places rewarded his efforts with second overall, ahead of Richmond in third overall.

Results:

VMX: 1 Darren Hansford, 2 Tony Hale, 3 Daniel Cavanagh, 4 Matt Lewis, 5 Paul Spacagna, 6 Martin Bradbury.

MX2: 1 Lee Rat Foyle, 2 Luke Kennett, 3 Todd Leadbitter, 4 Mitch Young, 5 Cam MacDonald, 6 Olivier Cook.

MX1: 1 Josh Coleman, 2 Liam Garland, 3 Jordan Carrier, 4 Ashley Watts, 5 Darren King, 6 Josh House.

Rookies: 1 Preston Williams, 2 Ryan Tanner, 3 Daniel Sultana, 4 Ollie Cole, 5 Thomas Casbeard, 6 Calum Allison.

BW85: 1 Alfie Rickwood, 2 Robert Storer, 3 Tobias Sammut, 4 Charlie Nightingale, 5 Domonic Newbury, 6 James O’Mara.

SW85: 1 Larry Harper, 2 Max Brazier, 3 Aidan Brooks, 4 Jake Cappa, 5 Tyler Kirby, 6 Luke Richardson.

Juniors: 1 Mitchell Woodward, 2 Noel Brooks, 3 Charlie Richmond, 4 Scott Harris, 5 Kieran Paget, 6 Lewis Collins.

Autos: 1 Jake Webb, 2 Archie Edwards, 3 Arash Deering, 4 Fabian Junior Morrison, 5 Troy Kennett, 6 Marley Alder.

 

Report by Kay Kennedy

Picture by Click466