August 3rd, 2020.
Nora-MX Championship Round 2, 2nd August 2020, Cusses Gorse, Salisbury
Images: John Cook
The Nora-MX quad club welcomed another packed line-up of riders to the second round of its 2020 championship, held at Cusses Gorse yesterday, the 2nd of August.
The challenging but superbly-prepared track 1.65km track produced some close racing across the classes. The day was unfortunately cut short due to the second Pro race being red-flagged, while all medics attended injured riders on the track, and a passing air ambulance landed to offer assistance. Latest news is that although the riders concerned are battered and bruised, they are on the mend.
Harry Walker set the fastest time in qualifying, but it was a back-on-form Ayrton Knowles who grabbed the first race holeshot. He was passed by Walker and George Day who both held their first and second positions to the chequered flag. Tom Day recovered well to finish a close third, followed by James Bevan, while Carl Bunce, Simon Hammersley and Dafydd Davies enjoyed a race long battle behind them.
The chaotic race two was stopped at around half-race distance and a result declared after five laps were completed. The shortened-moto was headed by brothers the Day brothers with Tom emerging victorious. Bevan was third, while race one’s winner Walker picked up a puncture and lost shape across the whoops. Tom Chell and Iestyn Rees were both injured in separate incidents.
Alfie Walker was on a mission in the Clubman class setting a blistering pace with two wins ahead of Robbie Wood and Danny Smith; the order of the day in both races.
Ed Davies once again dominated the combined Masters A and B group, even though he was made to work from the back of the field in the second race. Jonathan McKnight lost his seat and top placing in race one but salvaged the day with a second position in race two. Multi-British Quad Champ Paul Winrow made his first return to competitive racing after knee injury; he took two third-place finishes.
Catrin Davies led the boys across the line in the first Intermediates/Novice race with Tom Bainbridge taking second and Georgia Lent third. Bainbridge romped home in first in the second race to secure the overall win.
In the youth ranks, the 250 category saw Chad Beevers, Luke Berlyn and Josh McKnight take the top three positions in both motos. The increasingly popular 100cc and 50cc group witnessed great battles throughout the positions and with almost half the grid made up of girl power, the boys needed to keep their wits about them. Ellie Stott made her mark with a pair of second positions in the geared class, while 50cc-mounted Harriett Mewse put on a sterling and gritty performance to take two fifth place finishes ahead of many bigger machines.
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Commenting on the weekend, Nora-MX organiser Richard Shaw said. “Despite the unfortunate incidents which called for the meeting to be cut short, it was a great all-round weekend with good racing on a technically-challenging track. To see the youngsters riding the full track was impressive. Obviously, it affects everyone when accidents happen, and we are truly grateful to all competitors and supports for their understanding of the measures we needed to put in place. The medics were amazing and reacted quickly. We wish all injured riders a speedy recovery and look forward to returning to Grittenham in a couple of weeks.”
RESULTS
Pros
Race 1: 1. Harry Walker #7, 2. George Day #29, 3. Tom Day #39, 4. James Bevan #222, 5. Carl Bunce #585, 6. Simon Hammersley #47, 7. Dafydd Davies #15, 8. Zak Orchard #201, 9. David Hammersley #18, 10. Harry Miller #5.
Race 2: 1. Day (T), 2. Day (G), 3. Bevan, 4. Davies, 5. Hammersley (S) #47, 6. Hammersley (D), 7. Bunce, 8. Oli Sansom #3, 9. Orchard, 10. Miller.
Clubman
Race 1: 1. Alfie Walker #7, 2. Robbie Wood #6, 3. Danny Smith #84, 4. Ryan Hickman #4, 5. Jordan Hickman #49, 6. Michael Hodges #36, 7. Laurence Stopps #16, 8. Josh Talent #125, 9. Reece Swann #114, 10. Harry Grant #21.
Race 2: 1. Walker, 2. Wood, 3. Smith, 4. Swann, 5. Hickman (R), 6. Hickman (J), 7. Stopps, 8. Talent, 9. Daniel Scott Evans #50, 10. Cameron Thompson #59.
Masters
Race 1: Ed Davies #16, 2. Darren Bridge #22, 3. Paul Winrow #13, 4. Chris Keitch #7, 5. Keith Harden #39, 6. Robert Swann #4, 7. Clint Eagle #2, 8. Mark Stepney #3, 9. Matthew Kirk #6811 (Masters B), 10. Mark Smith #44 (Masters B).
Race 2: 1. Davies, 2. Jonathan McKnight #99, 3. Winrow, 4. Keitch, 5. Eagle, 6. Swann, 7. Harden, 8. Stepney, 9. Kirk, 10. Smith.
Intermediate/Ladies/Novice
Race 1: Catrin Davies #69, 2. Tom Bainbridge #150, 3. Georgia Lent #14, 4. Gavin Roach #25, 5. Mike Skinner #2, 6. Lewis Painter #11, 7. Harry Walker #169, 8. Nicole Lowry #18, 9. Dillon Stepney #3, 10. Myles Mott #213 (Novice).
Race 2: 1. Bainbridge, 2. Painter, 3. Davies, 4. Skinner, 5. Roach, 6. Lent, 7. Stepney, 8. Mott, 9. Will Mead #212 (Novice), 10. Walker.
250s
Race 1: 1. Chad Beevers #538, 2. Luke Berlyn #40, 3. Josh McKnight #2, 4. Lewis Humphris #23, 5. Aled Davies #16, 6. Ross Dillon #36, 7. Andrew Black #14, 8. Kieran Marriott #168, 9. Alfie North #21, 10. Stephan Bakkenes #90.
Race 2: 1. Beevers, 2. Berlyn, 3. McKnight, 4. Davies, 5. Dillon, 6. Marriott, 7. Riley Honor #6, 8. Black, 9. North, 10. Humphris.
100s/50s
Race 1: 1. Frank Marston #4, 2. Ellie Stott #7, 3. Olly McDonald #62, 4. Seth Balaam #888 (Auto), 5. Harriett Mewse #426 (50s), 6. Finnley Bedding #11 (Auto), 7. Jay Sams #177 (Auto), 8. Ethan Legg #172 (Auto), 9. Beatrix Drinkwater #20 (50s), 10. Luca Shaw #33 (Auto).
Race 2: 1. Marston, 2. Stott, 3. Sams, 4. Bedding, 5. Mewse, 6. Amelia Talent #125, 7. Drinkwater, 8. Shaw, 9. McDonald, 10. Ella Robe #14 (Auto).
Individual class overalls and championship positions will be published later this week.
To make things interesting, double points will be awarded at the third round of the Nora-MX 2020 Championship when it returns to Grittenham, Wiltshire, on Sunday the 16th of August.
www.nora-mx.co.uk