The latest round in the British Mxxis Championship;
Maxxis British Motocross Championship Round 5 Desertmartin, Northern Ireland June 24th
The fifth round of the Maxxis series at Desertmartin organised by the Cookstown club at its Porters Pit Circuit gave the Maxxis Championship a boost as major development work at the circuit including new sections of track, new concrete start area, GP standard wash bay and purpose built toilet and shower blocks showed the influence of the MXGP circus at this popular venue.
The ACU track team had bannered the circuit with it’s normal precision placement ready for the fans and the Greenlight TV production crew to show the circuit at it’s best, the series sponsors Maxxis given prime placement with their bright orange banners complimenting the many series partners and organising clubs banners erected around the track.
Qualification groups for both classes MX1 and MX2 saw Josh Coppins and Ken de Dycker swop positions with De Dycker eventually gaining the edge for pole position. In the MX2 class Tommy Searle came out tops with George Strik coming a close second.
The first Maxxis MX2 championship race picked up where it left off at Landrake in May, the main contenders Billy Mackenzie - Bike It Yamaha, Carl Nunn - EA KTM and Tommy Searle - Molson Kawasaki went into battle again. Mackenzie led the race with Nunn chasing hard. Searle was fighting his way back into contention, Sean Simpson -Wulfsport Honda was in third followed by fast starter Wayne Garrett – KTM, Elliott Banks Brown – RWJ Honda and Tom Church – Molson Kawasaki were chasing the leaders but the gap was getting bigger by the lap.
Mid race and Searle was lapping the quickest having taken Sean Simpson and trying to make the long haul back into contention with new leader Nunn closely followed by Championship leader Mackenzie. Searle brought the gap down to two seconds from Mackenzie who in turn was only 1.5 seconds behind Nunn. As the race came to its final conclusion Nunn looked strong and held on to win from Mackenzie followed home at a reasonable distance by Searle.
The first race of the Maxxis MX1 class welcomed back the 2005 Champion Josh Coppins from Injury. The CAS Honda GP star didn’t fail to impress and won the race comfortably from CAS teammate and 06 series leader Ken de Dycker. Coppins lead from the start followed by James Noble - RWJ Honda, Julian Bill – Bike It Yamaha and Mark Jones – PAR Homes Honda. Coppins stretched out the lead as De Dycker scythed through the field from a slow start, by the time De Dycker made it into second place Coppins was ten seconds clear. De Dycker put the pressure on and posted fastest consecutive lap times pulling back the Coppins lead to just over five seconds, in third place Bill and Jones were having a tremendous battle as Noble dropped back. Gordon Crockard – Wulfsport Honda gave the Irish fans some home cheer as he fought his way up the field into sixth place a far cry from his past victories at the Porters Pit Circuit.
Although De Dycker pushed hard for a while Coppins was looking confident and rode on to win by a considerable distance, back in third however the race was on as Mark Jones and Julian Bill raced wheel to wheel with Jones getting the verdict and a big cheer for his efforts. James Noble seemed out of sorts but finished in fifth place maintaining his championship challenge.
The second leg of the Maxxis MX2 championship race was prematurely halted following a first corner accident involving Lewis Rose, the restart saw Mackenzie lead from Nunn followed by Simpson, Ray Rowson – Molson Kawasaki and George Strik EA Dirt Bike Store.
Mackenzie lost it over the far side of the track and didn’t continue in the race, this left the way clear for Nunn to dominate. Tommy Searle tried to get on terms but although he tried hard this was going to be Carl Nunn’s day and a double victory that takes him to the top of the table on 260 points from Tommy Searle’s 255. Sean Simpson crashed out on the final lap when in third place and in sight of his first rostrum, he went to hospital for a check up, this left the way clear for George Strik to take third in the race and third overall on the day. Jason Dougan rode well to take fourth place followed by Brad Anderson – Pioneer Yamaha.
The final race of the day the Maxxis MX1 gave the crowd a treat as they were given the old CAS one two from the start as Ken De Dycker and Josh Coppins took off from the rest of the field and gave a display of high speed formation motocross riding. Back in third place James Noble stuck to the task on a track that was getting increasingly bumpy and rutting into deep channels, behind him Julian Bill, Mark Jones and the Irish riders Gordon Crockard and Martin Barr trying hard in front of the home fans. At two-thirds distance Coppins made his move and took the lead, perhaps emphasizing his position as the current British number one, De Dycker consolidated his championship lead with James Noble catching him fast at the flag. Irish eyes were smiling as Gordon Crockard came home in fourth place and a deserved fifth place overall, Martin Barr unfortunately suffered a sound penalty which dropped him back from eighth to eleventh.
The Maxxis support race winners overall were 1 Adrian Weatherhead, 2 Steven McCaughhey, 3 Conor Bradley. The winners all received Maxxis tyres.
Full results can be obtained by visiting www.mylaps.com
Team reports will be posted on www.mxgb.com as they arrive. The next round of the series will be at Skelder Bank, Whitby on 23rd July 2006.
(this article was taken from insidebikes.com)
