Norasport Round One Open Championship

The Spring Sunshine saw really good entries for the first round on the Gimoto National Supermoto Championship. All classes were well represented and enjoying the fine race conditions.

With a Trophy Presentation on Saturday Night it was a very enjoyable start to the race season The first C group race was hotly contended as a group of riders chased Liam Riley for the front position. Andre Craddick and Nigel Holdcroft both had hold of second spot but finally James Compton would take second over the line behind Liam Riley.

Nigel and Andre then finished third and fourth, with Gregg Whitmee and Jonathan Sigsworth very close in sixth and seventh. Grant Cunningham had the best of a mid pack battle with Stuart Green, Robert White and Christian Hoare as he finished in eleventh place. In race two Nigel Holdcroft started at the front but was quickly challenged by Gregg Whitmee who went onto win the second race. Grant Cunningham had a safe second spot following a great first race, while Paul Scott was picking his moves carefully and finished in third.

Andre Craddick was once again in fourth with Stuart Green in fifth, Stuart like Grant had put a lot of work into race one and reaped the rewards in race two. Martin Bennett led the final race in lap one but Paul Scott was determined to make best use of all his hard work today and took to the lead in lap two, and would hold that to take the winning position.

Kris Norris worked hard to move up to second place in lap six to secure a second place finish. Nigel Holdcroft was passed in the latter stages by Mark Richardson who would take the third place, both benefiting by Andre Craddick’s misfortune Jack Hannath started well in the first B group race but had to be content with a second place finish behind Steve Alford though both riders would move up to the A group.

David Auker and Anthony Long exchanged places with Anthony finishing in third with Thomas Hallam holding firmly onto the fifth place he started with. There was very close racing in the second race but even so positions at the front stayed static with Thomas Hallam taking the win and Anthony long taking second spot. Both Peter Bennett and James wood moved up slightly to take third and fourth positions, which would see them, have a front row start for the final race.

Mark Smith and Kyle Wingate managed to cross the line with only two tenths of a second between them. It was Keith Topliss however who led the final B group race followed by Steve Ellis, and these two had a clear lead from James Wood in third place. David Auker then led Stuart Sharp claiming fourth and fifth place finishes. Liam Riley had moved up from the C group and he led a good pack of riders including Ben Hallam, Peter Bennett and David Lynch, and finished in a remarkable eighth place. James Compton also benefited from a move up from the C group to finish in an admirable twelfth place.

James Addy took the first A group win convincingly as many riders struggled to hold onto their positions. Chris Walker had been in second place but slipped back down to fourth in the latter stages of the race, leaving Richard Sharp to chase the very noisy Kawasaki of Andy Mitchell who had lost part of his exhaust.

Babbitino had and excellent race and was largely unchallenged in fifth place while Carl Shield hung onto sixth spot, with Craig Richardson and Ben Kirkman in seventh and eighth. Dean Wingate unfortunately had to retire from the first race along with Graeme Norris Another convincing win from James Addy and as hard as Andy Mitchell tried Richard Sharp was holding onto second place leaving Andy in third, but unchallenged. Fourth place was taken by Babbitino who despite early battling with Carl Shield had a relatively lonely race to the line.

Over the line for fifth position was Alan Bott leaving Ben Kirkman a breath away in sixth. Chris Walker was having a day full of difficulties but still managed to fight back to seventh position, James Addy led the final race followed by Richard Sharp and Chris Walker, with Chris Babbitt holding onto fourth. Alan Bott and Ben Kirkman were battling once again, but this time the pair were in front of Carl Shield and Andy Mitchell. Andy pushed up to fourth position by lap four to start a challenge at the front, but despite his best efforts he could not catch Chris Walker.

So three wins for James Addy, with Richard Sharp in a well deserved second place and Chris Walker finishing off a difficult weekend with third place. Andy Mitchell had a second third and fourth on the day with Chris Babbitt fourth and two fifth place finishes. Alan Bott finished the in sixth but he was holding off Craig Richardson for seventh, as Ben Kirkman had to retire with a broken chain.

Carl Shield who had been unfortunate today chased Babbitino for his fifth place which he claimed on the sixth lap, but then machinery gremlins hit again and he limped over the line in ninth place as Jack Darbyshire passed him to claim eighth place at the finish line.