July 23 2014.

Sunday 20th July, Milton Melsor
Report and photography: John Cook

Thanks to the efforts of Nora-MX, the Milton track was in brilliant condition, the racing and team spirit was tremendous and the spectator viewing, superb.




Race 1
With 22 riders lined up, it promised to be a hectic start and so it was, Ed Davies (16) leapt off the start line and grabbed the holeshot, closely followed by Ant Barrett (55), Mark Stepney (3), Lee Waring (34), Robert Swann (4) Trevor Humphris (64), Matt James (8), Darran Bridge and Clint Eagle (2). Davies, in a category of his own, led from start to finish with no-one able to live with his challenge. He put in the fastest lap of the race on lap two with a time of 1:54.244. Barrett finished in second place some 52.544 seconds behind and the tussle for third, fourth and fifth was hard fought, with Waring, Stepney, Humphris, Swann, Bridge and Eagle all vying for places. Bridge doggedly moved through the pack and achieved third, followed seven seconds later by Eagle in fourth, then Stepney fifth, Waring sixth, Swann seventh, Darren Jukes eighth, James ninth and Richard Clark 10th, with A. Willcock, C. Thompson, D. Lickfold, S. Pritchard, R. Jones, P. Carr, M. Night, T.Atkinson, R. Hopkins, D. Lightfoot, T Humphris and M. Smith all followed.




Race 2
Davies again raced away from the start. He got the holeshot with Bridge very close on his tail followed by Eagle, Waring, Humphris, Barrett and Stepney. Davies went on to win the race, whilst the ever-patient Barrett made his way through the front riders, remaining behind Bridge for many laps before finally making a pass stick and going on to finish in second place, 30 seconds behind Davies. The finishing order was Bridge third, Eagle fourth, Swann fifth, Waring sixth, Jukes seventh, James eighth, Smith ninth, Humphris 10th, followed by Hopkins, Clark, Thompson, Willcock, Knight, Jones, Atkinson, Carr, Lickfold, Pritchard, Lightfoot, and Smith.




Race 3
The final outing of the day started out a little like race one Davies and Barrett racing away to finish first and second. Bridge again had a lousy start and reached the first corner in ninth position. He clawed his way back to finish in third place, 53 seconds in front of Eagle fourth, Waring fifth, Swann sixth, Humphris seventh, Jukes eighth, James ninth and Smith 10th, followed by Clark, Hopkins, Willcock, Thompson, Jones, Knight, Pritchard, Carr, Lickfold, Lightfoot and Atkinson.




Of note; Darren Jukes, who had a very nasty "off" where he smashed his helmet and broke his neck brace but suffered no serious injury only two weeks earlier, was among the riders and finished an impressive seventh overall.

Mark Stepney had a bad off during lap six in which he cut his face, suffered from disorientation, and was unable to continue but still finished 21st overall.