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MMX British Quad Championship

Round eight of the MMX British Quad Championship visited the traditional circuit of Blaxhall Pits on Sunday 16th August, hosted by the enthusiastic Woodbridge Club. The club was blessed with glorious sunshine which made the tough going even harder for the competitors.

Qualifying saw the early riders set some fast times before the soft surface started to deteriorate. Paul Winrow on the Winrow racing Honda just mistimed his first run and crossed the line two seconds ahead of the qualifying session beginning. His first recorded time was good enough for fifth place.

Mark Watson on the Anderson ATV Suzuki was pole setter with a time of 1min 54.677secs just 0.2 of a second ahead of Leon Beda on the first of the ATV World Yamaha. Fellow Scot and ATV World team-mate John Mitchell was third just a further 0.1 seconds adrift. 19 of the 25 riders all set their quickest lap on lap one of the session with David Wray and David Cowan having machine issues leaving them unable to set a lap time.

Scott Murray was the fastest in the Qualifying Quad class having set a time of 2min 3.261secs ahead of Ben Richmond with youngster Sheldon Seal in third. Andy Britton was the quickest of the Masters Class riders setting fifth fastest time overall.

Paul Holmes on the KTM UK machine got the holeshot in heat one ahead of Winrow and proppa.com Hondas Jason MacBeth. The three could have been covered by a blanket for a full six laps with Winrow taking over the lead on lap five. Holmes tried to re-pass Winrow on the outside of a corner and got himself hung up on a stake, luckily the Clerk of the Course was on hand to assist and Holmes rejoined the race back down the field in 23rd place. Macbeth took over the challenge on Winrow and took the lead a lap later but at no time did Winrow look like settling for second place.

The riders exchanged first position a couple of times before Winrow hit the front and stayed there with two laps to go. Whilst all of the drama was going on at the front, SMR Honda rider Stefan Murphy was making progress through the field from an early eighth place to take third position at the flag. Holmes made good progress after his spill and picked up nine points for a credible twelfth place finish. The final results of the race were only ratified later in the day following a protest and appeal over an alleged rule infringement by Holmes that was rejected by the officials.

Having suffered engine failure in race one, John Mitchell was out to prove that he is recovered from his injury and set off at the head of the field. Holmes held an early fourth position but Winrow was mired down the order in 10th place. With Winrow knowing that he could wrap up the Championship in this race he started to make progress through the field and moved in front of rival Holmes on lap six, Holmes eventually finishing back in ninth. With Mitchell away at the front, Winrow's team-mate Giles Davis was holding second from a determined Murphy. Murphy made the move for second only to lose it again to a hard charging Winrow. MacBeth had gated in eighth and was pushing hard but failed to be able to pass Murphy in the closing stages. With Holmes demise, second spot was good enough for Winrow to clinch the 2009 title, now holding a 53 point cushion with only 50 points still to play for.

Ben Richmond was the first of the Qualifying riders out of the gate ahead of Tom Silvey and with tough track conditions the places didn't change throughout the 15 minute plus two lap race. Kieran Power held an early third but it was youngster Seal that moved up to take the place at the finish. Scott Murray showed that qualifying wasn't luck and led the qualifying riders from start to finish in race two. Silvey held an early second but slipped to fourth by the flag. David Coatsworth who had gated sixth pulled through to second and Masters series rider Andy Britton had a good ride coming through the field to take third.

The final round of the Qualifying Championship along with the youth classes will be at Culham on the 19th September. The British Championship will draw to a close along with the British Open and PAR Homes under 21's at the same event on Sunday 20th September.