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The final event of 07

BIG THANKS to all the 125 riders who raced the 07 Championship events, it has been just fantastic for me to see the great racing this year and to make so many new friends, all the hard work over the last few years has been worth it, we now have a 125 class established here in the UK and a growing 250 class thats just about to bust out like the 125's did. I'm sure I have missed many names in my reports but I just cant fit you all in as theres so many, I'm stoked that there are still riders here today that helped me get this project going way back in 2004, to all you guys there's special thanks for listening and believing in what I wanted to do as without you there would of not been this Championship. And good luck to all those 125 riders that moved or are moving to the 250 class, remember where you started ! and finaly thanks must go to my wife and family for putting up all this 2stroke stuff over the years. ROLL ON 2008 !

Rounds 9 & 10 Culham Oxfordshire

This was always going to be a great weekend, 2 days of manic 2 stroke racing and all those Championship places to be settled, the Culham venue had seem some fine work and was watered to perfection, this fast and flowing circuit offers plenty of race lines with its wide sweeping turns and those hills !

Friday night the paddock was full and there were plenty of BBQ’s going on, the year was coming to an end and everyone talked about how their season had gone and a few wager’s where placed on the final standings. We had quite a few new riders at this event, all looking to get some 2st experience as they are racing the whole series next year

Saturday morning was a little overcast as the riders prepared for the 1^st qualifying session and the screaming TM of Jon Pettitt was on fire, that bike was clearly faster than any up the long hills of Culham, Jon took this session with a fine 1.58.46 just in front of rising star Steve Clarke and then came series leader Dave Willett who looked cool and collected and was not going to throw his title away, fastest junior in this group was young Lewis Tombs. The second session was a battle in its self with GP star Brian Jorgensen getting to grips with a 125 again after quite a few years, Greg Hanson had made an appearance on a rather special Rinaldi Yamaha, Jorge’s took this session ‘just’ from the other hauling TM of Stuart Edmonds with a fine 1.58.76. Fastest junior was series leader Adam Reynolds. The last session was just as good to watch as the track now had some lines formed and berms to hit! Alex Butler took this with a 1.58.66 from an ever fast Jack Brunell and Matty Ridgeway, this session was close and there were plenty of guys crash out, the fastest junior here was Bradley Howlett.

JUNIORS

The C group had quite a few riders normally in the B as this event was full and the level high, one rider stood out from the rest and that was the Lexicon Yamaha rider, Justin Penty. With good starts and his YZ wound open Justin was a second or so faster than anyone, that said he had to battle hard with Justin Himpson, Nick Banks, Jake Hamblin, Simon Collins and Anthony Weaver. For quite a few laps Banks had to hold off the charging Keith Pattison as the pair swapped position’s, Ben Lilley seemed to faster as the track got rougher and his results showed just that, Steve Wright would of featured higher up the results but he missed race two has he did not hear the announcer calling riders to the line! Nick Banks pulled his very first ‘holeshot’ in race 2 and was pumped and vowed there’s more of them to come!

Simon crack had upped his pace this weekend and was riding well, Si you just need to get out that gate mate and you’re away.

B Group was hectic to say the least, with the mix of juniors and experts there’s always a scalp to be had and pride to up-hold, young Jason Wells had his KTM on the limiter all around the circuit, he put in a great series of rides and coming from not so great starts he battled, it was good to watch as this group is hard work, no quarter asked for or given, these are the mad axe men of the 125 class, John Mayer was back with us as he as been recovering from an injury, John was clearly on the pace but was suffering a lack of bike time and he settled for finishing top 15, well done mate good to have you back. Steve Gesner was strong all weekend and showed what has can do, next year he will be A group material, another rider showing great consistency was Anthony McGladery who had some serious attention from the experienced Ben Evans, Ben had his SXS all over Anthony in two races but could not find a way past. The TeeBee Yamaha of young Ashley Crossley was in the mix as always, Ash will always ride 100% and a fine 1^st race second place after making some ‘proper’ moves on guys shows his pace, unfortunately he took a tumble in the second race while looking for a ‘new line’ his Yamaha front end dug in and spat him off. That machine took some fixing I can tell you, but there he was again in the last race of the day, ‘de-tuned’ but racing, nice one Ash. The two Harris brother have shown an improvement at each event as the year has gone on, so Dad has started to calm down a bit ! Bad luck hit Dan Tilley as his Suzuki dropped a circlip and he lost his motor and any chance of an overall today at least, thanks to Matt Ridgeway who kindly lent Dan a bike for the rest of the weekend, Cheers Matt.

A Group

I never have enough space to write about everything that happens in this group and Culham was no exception, series leader Dave Willet just needed to finish and not get mixed up in anyone else’s battles, new lad Steve Clarke wanted to put some over the regulars as did Brian Jorgensen. First moto see all the regulars up front and those TM’s just never miss a start, Pettitt had the lead and set a wicked pace, there was a 15 rider battle for second when Jorgensen went missing with a mechanical problem, this opened the door for a few riders as some went well off line to miss the Kawasaki, then the freight train of Willet, Smyth, Ridgeway, Hanson, Davies, Edmonds and Butler was in motion, these rider had it pinned and it was a joy to watch, Clarke had come through to take second from that super fast RM of Ridgeway’s, out here and performing was junior title leader ‘Rocket’ Reynolds. Adam had had machine problems as was out on a borrowed Yamaha. (That reminds me, never lend him a bike J) Adam had that thing nailed and was upsetting quite a few experts, he too had one hand on the series title and just wanted to finish the weekend with decent rides, Sean Stevens was off the pace here at Culham and just did not perform to the norm. A couple of juniors that have improved at each event have to be Aaron Wakefield and Bradley Howlett, these two have come through from B & C group racing to the last two events making A, well done lads keep up the good work ready for the 08 season, the second moto was taken by Clarke who had a top 5 start and set about clearing off, but Jorgensen had the KX wound up and set off after him, they set the place alight and had a decent gap over Willet, the holeshot was taken by Ridgeway who went down midrace on the fast section behind the start gate, Matty remounted but had lost the front few, Alex Butler was getting to grips with a 125 after racing 250 and 450 machine for a couple of years, the smile on his face after each moto was proof, this series is fun and he and his team are back full time next year, welcome aboard. Title contender Paul Shires had one messy trip down with the transporter braking down he had to wait for a van to collect his bikes and then drive down alone, no sleep and no team would surely effect his racing ? NO not all, Shires was hauling just the same. James potter put a good ride in and had to settle for 2^nd Kawasaki home for a change.

The last race saw an effortless ride from Jorgensen who had made some adjustments to the borrowed KX and his GP experience clearly showed, he really did not put a foot wrong, Pettit again had the TM on full chat for second, Jim Davies, James Dodd, Lewis Tombs and Marc Dean had one mega race with each rider leading the group at one time, it was Davies who inched away as he see the fast approaching Oliver and Kennett. James Kensington had great starts all day and was always involved in a battle, he claimed this was one of the hardest, fastest meeting he has ever done.

Saturday had been a fantastic day with a large crowd and some awesome racing, the riders had one last chance to get things right and that was just around the corner, but no weekend event is complete without the ‘beer tent’. This was the place to be Saturday evening, with the stories and the beer flowing the atmosphere was mega, there was also the mx freestyle show to take in during this and plenty of the riders hung around until the early hours.

Fastest Qualifiers

Group 1

Expert Pettitt 1.58.46

Junior Toombs 2.06.39

Group 2

Expert Jorgensen 1.58.76

Junior Reynolds 2.03.25

Group 3

Expert Butler 1.58.66

Junior Howlett 2.06.90

Junior Overall

1^st Warren Field

2^nd Lewis Kerr

3^rd Paul Shires

4^th Adam Reynolds

5^th Sean Stevens

6^th Lewis Tombs

7^th Jamie Houghton

8^th John Butler

9^th Steve Birkinshaw

10^th Chris Glover

Expert Overall

1^st Steven Clarke

2^nd Jon Pettitt

3^rd Dave Wilett

4^th Jack Brunell

5^th Brian Jorgensen

6^th Stuart Edmonds

7^th Matt Ridgeway

8^th Alex Butler

9^th James Dodd

10^th Danny Smyth

Round 10

Sunday morning saw quite a few riders walking around with sore heads after the Saturday evening party and the 10am start was ideal, the sun was breaking through and it looked like we had a fine day ahead of us, the groups were changed and the 1^st qualifying session went out, the track had been partly graded and was watered early hours, Pettitt again took the honours a clear 4 seconds ahead of Steven Clarke who was only 2 seconds faster than top junior Lewis Tombs, session 2 went to Brian Jorgensen, Stuart Edmonds and then James Dodd with that man Adam Reynolds taking the juniors, the final session was close with less than a second between first place Alex Butler, Jack Brunell and Matty Ridgeway, junior honours went to Paul Shires.

JUNIORS

The juniors had just these final 2 races to settle any bragging rights on final positions, in the B group we were treated to some good old fashioned bar banging as Warren Field, Ashley Crossley, Ryan Potenger, John Butler, Alex Finnegan and Steve Gesner all mixed it up for the days honours, Justin Penty had made B today and was hauling. Potenger did take the 1^st moto from Butler who held off the late challenge from Gesner, Daniel Ward, put in a good race having to battle all race with Anthony Healey as they moved through the field, Anthony Weaver lived up to his name as he tried to hold up Steven Sapsford, steve did swap paint on more than one occasion only for the two of them to DNF on lap 6. Daniel Tilley was again on Ridgeways spare bike and had got it set up to his liking putting in 2 real good rideds and beating some of the faster established guys, Mark McDonald had been trying hard when he got a downhill wrong and did the whole section with no feet on the pegs, it was scary watching but he seemed to like it doing the same the next lap ! hey presto Mark went missing on lap 6 as well. Another rider putting in one of his best events was Scott Webb who placed midpack each ride. Nick Banks had not had the holeshot like he said and found himself locking bars with Simon Collins and Ben Evans with those two actually shaking hands after the finish of the race.

A Group

With the Championship sealed Dave Willett took the chance to watch the racing as the absolutely flawless Brian Jorgensen ripped around the Culham circuit, now fully ‘on song’ he treated the crowd to a perfect brace of race wins, Jorge had top 3 starts both times and then set about getting to the front as quick as possible, Pettitt put up a mega battle and for 3 laps the Kawasaki rider hounded Pettitt and then put the move on and passed through the rut’s, Young Steven Clarke came out guns a blazing again today and put in a great 1^st race for a second place finish. Alex Bulter seemed to be adapting to the 125 real quick and he landed 4^th and 6^th place moto’s and that’s after having to fend of charges from Brunell and Smyth, Greg Hanson was another rider on the missing list as a Saturday crashed left him bruised and beat up, still it was good watch the old British 125 Champion albeit for one day only, see you in 08 Greg. Luckless Michael Deeley must take the ‘bad luck’ award as this season he has DNF’d more than he has finished, never mind Mike that KX looks real sweet, team mate Jamie Wilson had a spectacular crash after getting his RM’s back end swapping in the Culham uphill whoops.

The top juniors in A today were all heroes, as the track was gnarly and the experts pace fast they all got sucked along not wanting to fall behind, newcomer Lewis Tombs was wide open and enjoying the ‘tow’ from the front runners, Lewis put in some seriously fast laps and he had Adam Reynolds closing in as well, they battled the first moto with some great racing, these juniors are hauling, bad luck hit Lewis in moto 2 when his KTM let go whilst in 2^nd place and Adam had problems to only finishing 31st. Paul Shires took the second moto with a smooth ride, he was hooked into James Kensington for around two exciting laps, Aaron Wakefield had again made A and was even higher up the leader board, he needed a bagful of points to secure 6^th place in the Championship, what a ride, well deserved Aaron. Sam Holloway stuck to the task and rode hard again, if Sam could have raced the whole series he would be a title contender for sure, that’s one fast RM dude.

Fastest Qualifiers

Group 1

Expert Pettitt 2.01.36

Junior Tombs 2.08.11

Group 2

Expert Jorgensen 2.01.16

Junior Reynolds 2.07.60

Group 3

Expert Butler 2.00.25

Junior Shires 2.09.86

Junior Overall

1^st Shires