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Round 2: UK Cross-Country Race Series, Donington Park With a total of just over 300 riders competing in the Pro, Expert and Clubman races at the second round of the UK Cross-Country Race Series it was Kawasaki rider Ryan Voase who topped the main event with a solid performance to claim his first ever UK XC Pro class race win. Leading each and every one of the 18 laps he completed Voasy finished close to one-minute ahead of Gas Gas rider Paul Whibley with Honda's Euan McConnell in third. But as usual it was the two-hour Clubman race that got the day's proceedings underway where an epic battle between 125cc KTM mounted riders Luke Meredith and Colin James resulted in the pair swapping the lead several times each lap before James finally topped the class. At the end of the morning's two-hour race Gas Gas rider Stu Day finished as the first Clubman Open two-stroke class rider home, finishing in sixth overall. Just nine seconds behind Day was Cornish youngster Jamie Paget aboard his KTM. Third went to Peter Clark, who placed in 14th overall while David Grimshaw placed in third in the combined 125cc two-stroke/250cc four-stroke class behind both James and Meredith. Topping the Open four-stroke class was Jonathan Hayman who claimed a highly creditable ninth overall. In total 190 riders finished the two-hour Clubman race with the top 27 riders all managing to clock up 11 laps. In the Pro class race Ryan Voase gave a lesson on how to claim a text book cross-country race win by getting the holeshot, stopping mid way through the race for fuel, taking to the track still in the lead before then stopping to make a splash n' dash just before the final lap, just to be on the safe side. Despite pressure from Paul Whibley and Euan McConnell in the early laps of the race, Ryan maintained his composure and eased ahead of the competition to take the race win and the lead in the Pro class championship. Claiming second at the finish Paul Whibley spent much of the race in third behind McConnell and battling with Motocross rider Danny Smyth. Finally breaking away from Smyth in the closing stages of the race, Whibley moved into the runner-up spot after McConnell crashed after hitting a tree and then started to suffer with exhaustion. Dropping to third Euan managed to claim a podium position by just four seconds. Behind Voase, Whibley and McConnell Danny Smyth finished as the best placed 'motocross newcomer' as he finished in a well deserved fourth position. Placing ahead of fellow Honda riders Alex Rach, Jason Thomas, Greg Evans, Si Wakely and James Lassu, Scottish Yamaha rider Richard Hay rounded out the top 10. In the 125cc two-stroke/250cc four-stroke Expert class Darren Carter proved to be the rider to beat finishing one position in the overall results ahead of Expert Open two-stroke class winner, Husqvarna's Oliver Moyce. The only other Expert class rider that managed to match Carter and Moyce by finishing on 17 laps completed was 125cc/250cc class runner-up Steven Pettit. Third in the smallest capacity Expert class was Derek Bawn. In the Expert Open two-stroke class Oliver Moyce finished one-lap up on his nearest rival, Julian Harvey, who completed 16 laps. Third went to Craig Bounds. In the Expert Open four-stroke class Keith Stains finished in 37th overall in the Expert results and placed ahead of Stephen Grimshaw and Dan Hemmingway. Despite heavy overnight rain track conditions at the second round of the UK Cross-Country Race Series were close to perfect. And with the course featuring a motocross track, a high speed, open grassy paddock and two separate wooded sections most riders found the race physically demanding and provided plenty of close race action. 'RUNNER UP FOR WHIBZ' Yesterday was the second round of the Fast Eddy Race Series held at a new venue at Donnington Park. A superb course consisting of an open, fast MX track with a slow, technical woodland section made up an 8.5minute lap for the top Pro riders. Kawasakis RYAN VOASE got the hole shot with PAUL WHIBLEY (GG) and EUAN McCONNELL (HONDA) closely behind. Ryan slowly but surely pulled away with Whibz and Euan battling for second. Whibz had his usual arm pump on laps 2 and 3 which saw Euan take second place for the most part of the race. Paul actually pitted one lap too early for fuel because of soaked goggles and needing to stiffen his rear shock. He then went out and tried to close the gap on McConnell. By this stage VOASEY was gone and only a stupid mistake or machine failure would have robbed him of the win. Ryans MX experience showed and he rode a perfect and smooth race. After approx. 2 hours Whibz was catching McConnell. Not by much but it was good to see Paul not just settling for third place. He kept pushing and pushing and with Euan possibly tiring more than Paul, Euan crashed with about 30 mins to go which closed the gap to within 30 seconds. One more lap and another crash from McConnell saw Whibz snatch a well deserved second place! GAS GAS dealer supported (KB Racing) rider Andy Cripps retired early on after aggravating an ankle injury. GAS GAS rider, STU DAY won the 2 hour 250cc clubmen race on his trusty EC200 and GAS GAS employee LUKE MEREDITH finished 2nd in the 125cc clubmen race. Pauls next event is the Spanish round of the W.E.C. on 4th/5th June. Team GAS GAS rider TOM SAGAR did not ride Donnington as he was competing in his first European Enduro at the Italian Enduro Championship which he successfully achieved the following results; Saturday --- 7th in E2 class Juniors (32nd overall) Sunday ----- 5th in E2 class Juniors (23rd overall) He was actually second best Brit on Sunday behind Darryl Bolter. Tom is now looking forward to the British round (Hafren) in July.
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