MMX report
Published: 23rd February 2009
Author: JP O'Connell
It’s hard to believe that the new season is upon us already but upon us already it is! After nearly five months of scratching about trying to think of things to write about, the racing season finally kicked off with the first round of the MMX championship at Little Silver in Devon. With the track in excellent condition and the weather doing its bit to help, the fans enjoyed an excellent days racing as the Open, U21s and ladies kicked off their campaigns in style.
A quick glance at the entry list confirmed that nobody would be having it easy with several of the Brit-based GP teams taking the opportunity to have a run out before their season gets started, including CCM in their first competitive rides since Dave Thorpe took on the role as Sporting Director.
TC wins on the CCM
In the Open
class, CCM’s Jason Dougan put himself at the pointy end in race one until a
crash further back in the pack resulted in the race being red flagged after
about four laps. In the resulting restart it’s
MVR-D Suzuki’s Carl Nunn who was round turn one in first with polesetter
Brad Anderson getting tangled up, going down and joining the race dead last.
Nunn started to check out while Bryan MacKenzie and Stephen Sword had a dice up
for a couple of laps before Red Bull KTM UK’s Sword put in a pass for second
and started trying to reel in the fast departing Nunn. By the end of the third
lap MacKenzie dropped back to fifth while CCM’s
In the
second race there was drama as soon as the gate dropped as Nunn and Sword touched
on the uphill drag to the first corner, dropping them both back in the pack as
PAR Honda’s Brad Anderson grabbed the holeshot with MotoXtreme Kawasaki’s Lewis
Gregory sitting in second. At the end of the first lap Sword was way back in 12th
but with the bit between his teeth started putting in some awesome laps on his
250F. At the front
Jake Nicholls goes 1-1 in the U21s
At the end
of the first lap of U21 action it was Moto One KTM’s Shane Carless heading the
pack but it wasn’t long before GP runner Jake Nicholls put his Red Bull KTM UK
machine at the front and started to pull out a small gap on the rest of the
field. Rather than have it all his own way Nicholls soon had PAR Homes Honda’s
Scott Elderfield breathing down his neck and the two of them pulled out a gap
on the rest of the pack. As the race wound down Nicholls pulled out a
one-second buffer which he maintained to the flag to take the win ahead of
Elderfield in second and Graeme Irwin in third.
In the
second race lady luck smiled on Nicholls and by the end of the first lap he was
sitting pretty in first with Elderfield way back in ninth. Nicholls put in a
run of super-smooth laps and pulled out a huge gap on the rest of the field
with MVR-D Suzuki’s Mattis Karro being the only person keeping him honest.
Further back in the pack both Elderfield and KTM
Nat Kane's the clear favourite in the ladies' division
A quick
glance at the qualifying times and it was pretty obvious who was favourite in
the ladies’ championship as MVR-D Suzuki’s Natalie Kane was a full 10.4
seconds-a-lap quicker than second fastest qualifier Kerry Wilson. This proved
to be no fluke as Kane checked out from the start in both races, the only
question being how much she would win by! In race one it was by a mere 1 min 42
seconds, then along came race two where she really pulled the trigger and
finished an incredible 2 mins and 18 seconds ahead of CCM Racing’s newest
signing Alix Dunlop. With a qualifying time that would have put Kane within the
top 30 of the U21s, the future is bright for this young lady.
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