Minimoto Racing SEMRC round 3

Minimoto Racing
SEMRC Round 3
Whilton Mill,
Northamptonshire 5th/6th May 2007

The Whilton Mill circuit, set in the rolling countryside of Nothamptonshire, is always one of the riders favourites, as any visitor could see from the busy paddock area. The racing here is always good, and this round lived up to expectations.

The junior classes seem to have expanded by the round since Ellough Park, and this was the best yet, the A group saw Bradley Ray do his usual runner, but the battle behind was what kept spectators attention, Ben Joseph was once again runner up to Ray, enough to retain his title lead, with Jake Archer bagging third, despite valiant attempts by Michael Corderoy, who’s podium aspirations were wrecked by a lowly position in race one. The B’s saw the return, and domination of Wayne Ryan, in the meantime, paint was being swapped behind Ryan for the final positions. Josh Daley was looking good in race one and 2, but a DNF in race three was enough to drop him the 4th, main benefactor was new boy, Chester Buckle, who with some other good peformances, scooped 2nd in race 2 and second overall, snapping at Buckle’s heals, in fact beating him in race one, was Adam Copland, who had to settle for 3rd overall by the end of the day. The ever growing Academy class saw a new race winner, in the shape of Bradley Hughes, this time Jake Bayford, series leader having to settle for 2nd overall, followed by Kieran Hagger in third.

The 4.2hp Senior class is one of the most fun to watch, and again, seems to be growing once again, the A group saw Sam Cherry take 3 x clear wins, leaving Adam Panther and Will Shuckford to scrap it out for the final two places, who finished in that order with Shuckford only getting the bette of Panther once all day. The B’s continued to be about Lewis Taylor, leaving 2006 Champion, Bernie Hook and northerner, Paul Garrett to scrap it out for 2nd and 3rd, on this occasion, Garret getting the better of Hook after a poor result in race 2.

The Air-Cooled A + B class were combined as always and poduced Drama a-plenty, The A’s saw Alex Olsen and Luke Shelley swapping paint, with Olsen coming out on top, third belonging to a very consistent Jack Keen. The B’s saw Andy Weedon continue his domination of the class, with only Bernie Hook beating Weedon all day in race two, following Hook into third was Darren Norton, who was gifted the 3rd overall after a DNF fom Thomas Wright in race 2, wrights 2 x 3rd places were not enough to get him on the podium.

Production A was another Bradley Ray mugging, with Fraser Harris coming home 2nd, with 3 x 2nd places, but not robbing valuable points as he is not a regular. Third was Josh Daley, making up for his bad day in the Junior class. The Production super-lights also run in this class, and Michael Corderoy once again dominated with 3 x straight wins, however, all the drama was behind him, with no other rider managing 2 x 2nd places, it was all very close, Scott Gullen rode the wheels of his bike to come in 2nd overall, with Michael Sipka third, despite race top three finishes from Phil Cannessa, Matt Stainer, they didn’t do enough in the other races to be top of the pile.

The Poduction B class was huge, and despite this, Luke Shelley still managed an impressive 3 x 1st places, with a very consistent Max Madero coming in 2nd, despite only posting 3 x 3rd places. 3rd place was Alex Olsen, who despite 2 x 2nd places, a DNF in race one conspired to keep him down the order. The Production C class was again, very big, and it was expected to be a whitewash from British Champion, Chris Martin, however, Grant Villette had other idea’s, and fresh from injury, took his first win overall of the year, followed by Stephen French and winner from round 1, and occasional visitor when not racing his R6, Luke Arter in 3rd. Production D was all about Andy Weeden once again, followed home by Kyle Burgess and Steve Wade, our resident photographer!

The Supers class was a little better attended than of late, and the A class was almost anybody’s! Michael Corderoy two race wins secured him 1st overall, and a win in race two was enough to get Luke Holness runner up spot from Lee Williams. The B class was about total domination from British Champion, Chris Matin, with series leader, Stephen French having to settle for second overall and Lewis Taylor 3rd, despite the best efforts of Jamie French.

The Conti Cup South saw series leader of both the southern and national series missing most of Saturday through illness, Wayne Ryan seized his chance to take 1st overall with 2 rrace wins and 1 x 2nd from James White, the first time White has been beaten this year. Kieran Sturley, who came home 3rd, could’n’t quite keep the leaders close enough to really get stuck in, as White and Ryan exchanged the lead, sometimes, several times a lap! Connor Wade took another 1st overall in the GP50 Auto class, benefiting from yet another non-finish in race one for little Jake Archer.

The Pit Bike class was huge and verging on having to be almost split up, the Cat A, 125cc machines, which strangeley, seem to have the performance edge at the moment from the Cat B 140cc machines, was biggest. Jake Gowing bagged 3 x straight wins with Rik Lewenden coming home 2nd, despite being beaten in race 1 by previous champion, Andy Cowey, who had to settle for 3rd overall. The B’s saw Lydd race winner, Dave Perry repeat his performance, with George Whitton also repeating his Lydd performance with another 2nd overall, with James McNiece bagging 3rd overall, having a great day was James Mac Farran, who bagged a 2nd in race 3, but came home 4th overall. The Modified’s saw Ben Turner make up for machine problems at the previous round, with 2 x race wins and a second, enough for 1st overall, Jim Lovell, his team mate and the only person to beat Turner all day, came home 2nd overall, with the ever hard Charging Tim Dance 3rd.

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