The original 125cc website

This years Championship will mark an end to one personal mission of mine and that is to see a full 2 stroke only event again here in the UK, and for that event to be a British Championship just makes it special. Any way enough of my ramblings let’s get into the events.

 

Championship Round 1

Canada Heights

 

The build up to the 1^st round of the 2007 DEP 2 stroke Championship was perfect, with plenty of hype and anticipation the riders had waited a long while for this series to kick off and finally the day had arrived, hundreds of riders at a properly prepared venue, beautiful sunny weather and the place was packed with spectators, this round was going to be perfect.

 

Practice was a sight not seen for quite some time, row after row of screaming 2 strokes left the start line to go battle the circuit and each other, as this year for the first time qualifying was done on times and not an eliminator race, so that perfect lap had to be sought, we had some fine battles taking place in the session with most riders trying to stamp their authority on proceedings. Hampshire’s Nicky Watts who was the 2005 Junior 125 Champion claimed fastest 125, and the 250cc+ class was taken by local ex GP rider Mark Eastwood

 

The 125 C class was a show case for Steve Garrett who pulled 3 top starts to ease ahead of the chasing pack who were at times climbing all over each other, had was followed home by young Josh Silver and Brett Smith who had Kieran Porter snapping at his rear mudguard. B group was another story with 3 different race winners this class was hectic, Dan Haswell travelled down from ‘’up norf’’ to take a fine win as did James Berril and taking the other win was Readings Lee Baggs, this class saw the first of a few crashes that took riders out for the day and in Adrian Hoskins case the season, get well mate we miss you already. The A group was the barn burner we was expecting, circuit expert Dave Willet looked real good on a 125 for the 1^st time in many years, as did Ryan Hamblin, pole sitter Nicky Watts, the flying Irishman Stuart Edmonds on the team TM and the Relentless team Suzuki riders Ridgeway and Davies and a whole host of super fast riders, Willet did not get one top start but stayed out of trouble and rode real well taking 2 wins and a second for the overall, Edmonds TM has got to be the sweetest sounding 125 out there, and has no problem pulling top 3 starts ‘every time!’ Young flyer Matt Ridgeway had been forced down in the first corner of the first race only to remount with the red mist definitely down only to have one of the biggest cartwheels I have ever seen, on the down hill section, man that was big!  Bruised and battered he remounted and came back well, detuned but at least racing Matt was happy to have got away with that. Steve Bixby had what can only be described as a nightmare of an event, his new KTM had the fuel hose blasted off by a rock in the first race, it then munched up a gearbox in the second and he was forced to race the last race with 2^nd and 3^rd gear only?  Jim Davies put in a workman like performance taking a fine 4^th overall, keeping out of all trouble and riding with the series in mind Jim showed he will be a force to be reckoned with as the year goes on.

 

 

Ryan Hamblin rips his Suzuki infront of #26 Nicky Watts, chased by Dave Willet

 

Round 2 Mildenhall

 

 

After the opening round would things seem to have cooled down in the series?  You would have thought so but in fact the vibe was even hotter, the pits seemed a total buzz. Riders were either going to repeat their great performance of the 1^st round or as others had stated they were going to put things right after a bad 1^st round. Look out Mildenhall here they come!

 

This time it was Dave Willets Honda taking the pole position by a fraction of a second so closely followed by Ridgeway’s Relentless Suzuki and a screaming TM of Stuart Edmonds. Practice saw some entertaining race lines around this popular sand circuit, non more so that David Fords last corner manoeuvre of an in, out,in,out,in and finally out side line which ended up spreading his RM all over the finish line area. Dave was fine apart from his pride!

 

The track was changing as they day progressed and there were some real nice berms developing and the 125’s were using them to the full, in the C group we were treated to some real classic bar banging with Broc Gale taking his first race win only to follow that up with another race winning performance, nice one Broc’ He was brought back to earth with a last race blitz by Michael Randall, who rode so well he would have been top 5 in the B group with those times!  There were fine performance’s from riders in this group, one being new farther Rich Allen by finally getting over the gate and around the 1^st corner intact, see Rich you can do it.

B group was the usual cut and thrust with riders trying to claw as many points as they can, this group has already become the ‘mad axe mans class’  We saw 3 separate winners aging today with Local Sam Arbon, Ashley Crossley and Luke Dowsing all taking a win a piece, Sam has just come back from a year off due to an injury and is finding his way steadily where as Young Ash Crossley rides every race with his heart on his sleeve and goes wide open everywhere, sometimes he just needs to knock it off a touch and keep it rubber side down but one things for sure there’s nothing like it when he’s throwing the TeeBee Yamaha around, then there the cool and calm Luke Dowsing, Lukes been with me from the start (as have many) and has always put in good solid races, he just looks like he’s cruising but rest assured when he’s back at the van he’s in a mess like the rest of us. Other riders who shone were mini bike dude John Mayer, he’s technique over the big tabletop was perfect every single lap, Anthony McGladery had some battling to do as his starts were not perfect, if Anthony gets out the start good every time he will take some catching.

 

A group was a good with Nicky Watts firing his Pope MX KTM to 3 fine holeshots, he was on fire today and wanted to take it to the other 125 experts, this track seemed to suit everyone and it was so close all day, the rapid TM of Stu Edmonds was blasting the berms away and at times looked like it had a mind of its own wheeling just a little higher than was safe ‘everywhere’!, Jimmy Davies and Matt Ridgeway had the RM’s sounding sweet and they looked impressive all day, Jim having to battle a little to hard sometimes ? Steve Bixby thought he had cured his 1^st round mechanical problems as he simply went out and bought another bike, alas his wow continued with the new bike wrecking the whole top end in qualifying, Steve had taken a spare motor from an old 03 bike, which was shoved in during the racing, he then went out and had an almighty endo on the start line tabletop which he said he knew nothing about?   Top Junior rider Adam Reynolds not only made A group, battled and shoved his way right through to the top riders in this group, he was a little wild at times but fair play to him beating many of the experts. Willet took the overall followed by Watts, Ridgeway and Stu Edmonds who too took a big hit in the last race and did extremely well to finish.

 

 

Steve Bixby in Qualifying

 

Round 3 Landrake

 

This round looked like it could be the first wet event of the season, rain had poured for days before the event and showed little chance of stopping!  But we were real lucky when the sun came out Saturday with a fresh southerly wind blowing down the valley and the circuit was drying out, and fast. Buy Saturday evening the surface was just perfect, venue owner Phil ‘the Dirt’ Congdon had prepared for the worst and groomed the track to perfection, even showing up in the early hours of Sunday morning to spread a little water over the few area’s that may of needed help staying nice.

 

The 125’s again echoed around the place and I know I go on about it, it really is music to my ears, these long uphills had the 125’s on the gas and it was going to be a fast bike needed for a Landrake uphill holeshot. GP rider Jason Dougan rolled out for his first DEP125 event and was happy to of set fastest time in qualifying, closely followed by that man Stu Edmonds on that mental TM. There were a few riders new to the series at Landrake and this was possible due to a few regular riders being off injured, we were happy to see the return of 2005 Expert winner Jonathon Pettit.

 

I watched young Yamaha mounted Paul Shires ride the best I’ve seen him yet at a DEP round, Paul seemed to be on a mission today and had some ding dong battles with the top junior’s on the day, Leader Adam Reynolds had his work cut out all day with Paul and fellow contender Sean Stevens all over each other, It was a last race decider between Reynolds and Shires, with Paul needing to take the win over Reynolds, and that’s exactly what was happening, Shires hunted down the KTM rider and passed him on the 2 lap board, but fate dealt him a blow went they raced down the last hill Shires lost the front end and washed out, Reynolds could not believe his day and took a fine overall with Stevens claiming 2^nd on the day, Mark Wakerley and Seeded Qualifier Sam Holloway were never that far from the top 3 and showed how deep the quality is in the juniors, hard pack rider Dan Groves showed that he can perform well when the soil suits, Whitby will be good for you Dan. That man Michael Randall popped in another moto win and just needs to qualify better.

 

A group did us proud and the first holeshot went to Glen Bixby who rode his best race of the series staying with the front runners all race and getting the taste of life up front, Stu Edmonds slotted his TM into the lead on that tricky downhill after the whoops, he was followed by team mate Pettit who’s smile was showing from inside that crash helmet, being back on a 125 is FUN   Willet was working his way through after a poor start and at one point his CR was sounding rough, a dropped plug tip was at fault he said afterwards, Dougans speed and fitness see him come to the front and take the win, Jim Davies looked like a man on a mission all day and a holeshot in race 2 helped him earn a fine 5^th overall, not far away was team mate Matty Ridgeway who just lacked that bit of luck in each race to earn a top 3 place taking 4^th, If Matt gets a clean race he will be a contender no doubt. Edmonds took the last race of the day beating Dougan fair and square, he pulled a nice gap and just kept a watch over the chasing pack, Bixby crashed out of moto 2 after getting a little ‘love tap’ on the sweeper before the whoops (which he actually made in that 360 machine Friday). We have had a few rumours bounding about 144cc machines so we sprung a surprise check to 6 riders, those being, Bixby, Ridgeway, Davies, Edmonds, Willet, Watts and junior front runner Sean Stevens, I’m happy to say that all past and we found no ‘big bore’ bikes out there, that said now we have the equipment we shall test 5 or 6 at each round just to keep an eye on things. The one thing I’m passionate about is fair racing and that’s what a 125 class should be. Another rider who put in an excellent round was Daniel Haswell, riding the wheels off that new KTM Dan rode hard and consistent all day, as did Danny Whitworth from Essex. Danny is normally electric out of the start and is a top junior runner, although Landrake see him struggle out of the gate he stuck to it and earned some decent junior Championship points, from what could have been a 'bad day at the office'.

 

At this round Karen had more time for photo's, so enjoy

 

 

Stuart Edmonds on that sweet TM

 

There's only a FEW Kawasakis at the DEP and here's James Potter onboard one 

 

Here's young Adam Houseman having a chat with Daniel Lunt

 

Jim Davies holeshots on his Relentless Suzuki

 

Parc ferme

 

Proud new parents Rich & Emma

 

Tabletop action from the uphill section

 

3rd corner action

 

Matty Ridgeway feet up style gassing out of a Landrake corner

 

A Group action 2nd race

 

Expert Lee Baggs take a look up the inside

 

Hectic B Group

 

Some KTM owners discuss how to keep engine parts inside the cases !

 

 

Jim Davies drops into one of the ruts

 

 

 

 

 

DEP125 Qualifying Championship Round 2 Wakes Colne

The Berik Boots supported round of the DEP125 Qualifying Championship arrived at the Wakes Colne circuit for a rather special event, for the first time the DEP crew had included classes for schoolboys.The venue had seen some changes made to the track and the Halstead club had rotivated most of the surface, with some watering on Saturday just in case the promised rain didn’t arrive.

 

Practice was bang on time and with a 10 minute free session followed by 15 minutes of timed, it was young Lewis Abbott who set fastest time overall and closely followed by Sean Stevens. The BW85’s was taken by Tom Bennett and the SW class by Bradley Banks.

 

As the first 125 race was about to start we had some drizzle but nothing heavy enough to effect the racing, as the gate dropped it was Lee Holland and George Winn out front closely followed by a charging pack of riders, the rain persisted and the track was proving technical, about halfway through we see Winn in control with Sean Stevens and Kieran Porter slicing his way through riders, with riders numbers almost unreadable the electronic timing system was a saviour, with the track now getting very greasy it was Jak Bonett who performed a near perfect ‘seat grab’ over the big tabletop only to slide down the ramp without his bike. Sean Stevens had taken the lead closely followed by George Winn and an impressive Lee Holland and Steve Birkinshaw taking fourth at the flag.

 

The second race saw Stevens and Winn out front with Bradley and Terry Howlett, Porter, Scott Webb and Michael Greenfield all battling for and sometimes 4 wide around the Wakes Colne track, Tom Holland went down and took a while to get going again, fastest man on the track was Lewis Abbott, he had been down twice already and with the bike looking rather sad with panels missing and bits flapping around, it was just after halfway Abbotts bike came to a halt in a cloud of steam and he was done, Steven Sapsford had shown some good speed but after removing his goggles he could not find a way past any more and had to ride safe, Stevens had increased his lead at the 15minute mark and was comfortable with Winn who had nailed second place, Birkinshaw had rode real well to come through to third followed by Lee Holland.   

 

The 85 class was going to be manic and a good start was key here, with the classes mixed it was good to see the SW riders battling hard. In the BW class Aaron Pipon was on fire, he was passing riders only to fall, remount and come back again but such was the conditions it was going to be a case of stay on and finish! That was done very well by Jake Shipton who kept out of trouble and took two race wins and a third to take the overall win, second overall was Pipon with two seconds and a third, and rounding out the top three was Tommy Bennett taking a win, second and a fifth. The SW class was just as close with many of these battling and beating their older rival’s, with the track almost daunting for these young racers it was a pleasure to see how competitive and stylish some of these young kids are, many were GP’ed up with pieces of towel hanging from their waist !  5 of these riders stood out and actually finished near the front of the combined group and as high as 3^rd place !   Taking the overall was Bradley Banks with a second and two fine wins, followed by Oliver Paine who had a win and 2 seconds, chased hard by Bradley Ward in third and Oliver Townsend and Simon Booth in close attention.

 

Young Lewis Abbott put on a great show 

 

1st corner action as the riders prepare for the dowhill

 

Local rider Nick Banks rails a Wakes corner

 

The 85's exit the 1st corner