Round 8 Blaxhall Pits

Blaxhall Pits Suffolk

The Woodbridge club had worked hard to make sure this round of the DEP was going to be one of the best this year, they watered, rotavated and graded the track to perfection. With heavy rain forecast we all prepared for the worst, but we were lucky as we only had a couple of very light showers which did not affect the track at all.

The qualifying sessions were great to watch as the track developed lines all over this sandy circuit and it was that man Pettitt, pushing his TM to top slot in the first group with a 1.51.05, group 2 was headed by Jack Brunell with a 1.52.35 and the last session was taken by the flying KTM of Steve Bixby with a lap of 1.51.77. Fastest junior on the day was Championship leader Adam ‘Rocket’ Reynolds, Adam has consistently mixed it with the experts and has steered his KTM to the front of the chasing pack, nice one Rocket!

Junior action is always hot and unpredictable, these guys get in all shapes and all give 100% that’s why the DEP is so good to watch, a bunch of screaming 125’s battling it out. Today was no different and there were some news riders in the mix too. Young Lewis Tombs fresh out of British Championship Schoolboy racing came to try his luck and really enjoyed himself today. First race action was hectic and a few riders went down in the 1^st corner, but it was the hauling Reynolds that had his KTM up front and set about get as big a lead as he could, these top juniors can hold their own with our experts and Reynolds hooked onto Bixby for a tow! that worked as he had over 20 seconds on the chasing pack which was lead by Paul Shires who was making amends for that B group from Marshfield, he was passed by ‘new kid’ Tombs who was wide open everywhere, then with one lap left Reynolds KTM stopped approaching the flag, he pushed it over but had dropped to 2^nd as Tombs nipped passed. Sean Stevens, George Winn, Steve Birkinshaw and John Butler had finished in that order after swapping places the whole race with Stevens just getting his Honda in front at the flag.

A little further back saw some brilliant racing as these 125’s were stuck together the whole race, you get some weird and wonderful race lines from these guys as they are so committed, none as strange as Mark McDonells as he used all the track and more, just behind him Scott Webb, Billy Mitchell and Ben Lilley were queuing up as they just did not know where to pass, that allowed Keith Pattison Simon Collins, Adrian Jessop, Matt Hopkins, Keiran Porter and Steve Wright to join in the fun and these riders banged bars swapping places all the time, but no one could make the pass on McDonell. That was the best 10-rider battle ever.

Race 2 was just as special, Reynolds sure does fire out of the start as did young Tombs who had got over the gate well and could taste his second adult win, Shires was clawing at his back mudguard and Warren Field was in touch this race as was Stevens and local rider Sam Arbon, Sam is just coming back from an injury which kept him out for most of last year, so it was good to see him up there and on the road to a full recovery. Stevens had been down and was working hard to get back, Reynolds put on a master class and broke away from everyone, Tombs had company with Shires eager to pass him for those all important Championship points,Arron Wakefield had worked hard and was moving through the pack, his Kawasaki looked good around this track and he rides real smooth, Lee Holland,John Butler and Anthony Misslebrook had a battle royal and there was paint swapped there for sure with Daniel Ward not getting his ‘normal’ starts he had to push and barge his way through, he went down 2 or 3 times and had to settle were he was and try to regroup for the next race, Justin Penty had his Yamaha wide open and with some ‘interesting’ passes entertaining the crowd, race two was full of incidents and accidents and that’s when Dan Whitworth collected a ‘tree’ with his Suzuki wound wide open, he cross rutted he left the stage and entered the woods at speed ! As did Steve ‘holiday’ Whapshot launching his Honda into orbit. Get well soon lads

Race 3 could not live up to that could it ?

With Reynolds chasing the Championship he gated up front again, with Tombs all over him. Penty was up there with company from Birkinshaw,Butler, Field, Holloway and Wakefield. Reynolds had let Tombs pass as he did not want to get messed up with him as Tombs wont effect the Championship, clever thinking from Reynolds there, but he followed the lad and they put in some brilliant lap times, a few seconds behind them came Shires who was having a good day and just out of his roost was Sean Stevens who broke away from that squabbling pack. Daniel Ward must of gone down again in the woods as I missed him for a while, Jared Pickford, Ady Peedle, Luke Dowsing and Bradley Howlett went at it for most of the race and were never more than a metre or two apart. Nick Banks had messed his start up and came around last, but set about one of his best rides as he moved through the pack, he must have had the ‘red mist’ come down? Ben Evans collected 2 holeshot prizes I’m sure as his KTM wheelied most of the start straight every time !!

Junior Overall

Lewis Tombs

Adam Reynolds

Paul Shires

Sean Stevens

John Butler

Warren Field

Justin Penty

Arron Wakefeild

Sam Arbon

Sam Holloway

Heat winners

Tombs Reynolds Tombs

Pickford Healey Pickford

Glover Crossley Glover

The expert class is always good viewing and their always spectacular, Blaxhall was going to be good as the Woodbridge club had reversed the direction and no one had the upper had, all new for everyone. Dave Willet leads the series going into round 8 and hot on his heels are the TM’s of Pettitt and Edmonds, the Relentless Suzuki’s of Ridgeway and Davies and a gaggle of other riders never to far away.

First race action saw Matt Ridgeway and Steve Bixby battling for the lead, after a few corners Bixby shot out front and his KTM was pulling away fast, Ridgeway had company with Brunell trying everywhere to slide his Yamaha past, Matt got on it for sure and put a gap in but could do nothing about Bixby. Was this going to be Bixby’s day as he has suffered bad luck at every round so far, he looked like he wanted it today for sure and got a decent gap and settled just keeping an eye on the chasing pack, which had that Man Willet coming through like a raging Bull, Willet had gone down hard at the first corner and could see his Championship lead dwindling, I can only say that Willet performed miracles in this race and he pulled right back to 5^th place, albeit helped buy an official mix up that see the last lap flag stay out for 2 laps in which Willet passed three riders, Pettitt had passed a few riders on route to 4^th but a bad start from team mate Edmonds made sure he had to work hard in this one, Davies had also been working hard and made his way to the tail of the leading pack, his Relentless Suzuki was looking good around the Blaxhall circuit, travelling from Devon James Kensington was ‘on it’ today, he had good starts all day and obviously likes the Blaxhall layout as he had his best DEP round this year. Steve Collins, Brett Wheeler, James Potter and Michael Deeley had been lock together for 4 or 5 laps with Collins just keeping in front of the rest. With so many lines to choose from it was great to see racers using the entire track. Richard Brown had jumped off the track and his Redline KTM lost its gear lever on a post or tree, so he was stuck in 3^rd gear, Luke Kennett had a hard time with Jamie Wilson all over him with Jamie just piping him at the finish.

The second race was held with fine drizzle blowing across the venue, as the gate dropped it was Bixby all the way, he wanted to take this round and put to rest all of his bad luck, just behind was Brunell, Pettitt, Ridgeway and Kensington. Willet was just in the top 10 as was Davies. The TM’s just did not seem to have their normal flying starts and Edmonds again had to work for every point. Bixby was in a class of his own pulling out a couple of seconds every lap, that was until the 4^th lap when Brunell looked to have closed him down and Willet was on the back of Brunell just waiting for a gap. Willet passed him and was now on the back of Bixby who had a rear wheel puncture! That’s why the gap closed. Bixby was not going to have a trouble free round as gremlins struck again, but determined not to pull out he battled with Willet only to go down hard on top of the hill, he remounted but was now holding off Brunell, Pettitt and Edmonds, one by one they found away passed as now they tyre was leaving the rim and he had to get to the finish so he backed off a little and crossed the line just in front of Ridgeway who had clutch problems himself. Steve Collins had a big crash but was up and away quite quickly, but that had taken him to the back of the pack and he looked to be suffering, Luke Kennet had got the better of Highway Oliver.

The 3^rd race saw Pettitt take the holeshot with Edmonds, Willet, Brunell and Ridgeway just missing it, but it was that close, four wide they attacked the track for the 1^st lap, Davies had gone down hard, cartwheeling the Suzuki off the track, Davies scrambled to his bike straighten out a few bits and took off after the pack. Bixby had come round in 7^th place and was moving forward well, Willet Passed Brunell and Edmonds and set about Pettitt, Pettitt was hauling and was trying to get away and that TM was making all sorts of shapes as he just smashed his way around each lap, Willett just could not catch Pettitt and held station in 2^nd a safe distance from Edmonds who had now passed Brunell, Bixby was up in 5^th place and looked to have settled for that and Ridgeway and Collins had their own battle finishing in that order, nice to see Steve back out after that 2^nd race crash. Kensington had company the whole race from Wheeler, Oilver, Kennett and Potter only to get passed by Wheeler. Ryan Hamblin disappeared mid race as did the Kawasaki with Deeley on board, Jim Davies made it back to 13^th this moto and after that crash, that was a good result for him.