Round 2 of the British Supermoto Championship took place at the windswept, but dry Lydd International Raceway near Ashford in Kent and what a magnificent weekend of action packed racing it was. The 28 permanent riders in the British Championship were slightly down on numbers as Phil Smithson (Husaberg 650), Shane Parkin (Suzuki 450) and Gennaro Dichello (Pope KTM 450) were all unfortunate non-starters at Round 2. The remaining regulars were joined however, by three wildcard riders for this meeting in the form of ex British Motocross legend Rob Herring (Halsion Aprilia SXV 450), 2006 Moto GB star and ex-World Motocross competitor Jochen Jasinski from Germany (Husaberg 650) plus 2006 Thai National Supermoto Champion, expatriate Australian Shane Stratton (Halsion Aprilia SXV 450).
The Supermoto Circuit at Lydd International Raceway has a very demanding off-road section, whilst the tarmac itself is notoriously both slippy and difficult to pass on, as there are almost no straights. Consequently, front row grid positions were much coveted and a very tense qualifying session saw Christian Iddon (Factory Aprilia SXV550) just claim the overnight pole position from a back on form Matt Pope (KTM 560) and SR Off-road rider Sam Warren (Aprilia UK SXV 550). All three championship races were very, very closely contested with a different winner each time and both the 450 & Open British Championship classes were fought over, inch by inch around the Kent countryside.
Open ClassIddon claimed the Open Class win for the meeting with a 2nd place in race 1, a win in race 2 and another 2nd place in race 3. Warren claimed second place with a win, a 2nd and a 3rd and his various duels with Iddon throughout the day were one of the highlights of the weekend for sure. Matt Winstanley (Robinsons of Rochdale KTM 610) was third in the Open Class with a 6th, a 3rd and a win.
Winstanley’s first race position was particularly impressive as he fell on the opening lap and remounted with a very impressive charge through the field from all but dead last place. Other Open Class notable performances were scored by Andy Mitchell (DCR Husaberg 650) who led race 1 for a short while and Wild Card Jochen Jasinski, who rode brilliantly all weekend, especially in race 3 when he fought back to 8th place, after giving the whole pack at least 10 seconds start by stalling his machine on the grid. Finally, South African Craig Venske had a stellar weekend, especially on the off-road section; to claim 4th place overall, the Michelin ‘Rider of the day’ award and a £250 KTM contingency voucher – not a bad start to his first serious British Championship title assault.
Open Class Championship Positions after 2 rounds: Iddon - 183 points,
Winstanley - 170 points,
Warren - 145 points,
Ady Smith (KTM UK 660) - 145 points,
Venske - 136 points
450 ClassIn the smaller engined, but just as exciting 450 class further down the overall race order, Lee Jones (SM Racing Rocket Centre Aprilia SXV450) proved he has recovered from his Round 1 big crash with a popular overall class win, just ahead of team mate Keith Farmer (SM Racing Rocket Centre Aprilia UK SXV450) and 3rd placed Richard Darlington (Robinsons of Rochdale KTM450). Wild Card rider Rob Herring took to the demanding off-road section like a duck to water and certainly made the best of his day out with a fine 7th place in the 450 class, end of day standings and a high point of 12th overall in race 1. With the exception of Jones himself, the Lydd 450 class podium (pictured above) didn’t resemble the Round 1 podium from Three Sisters at all, which leaves a very interesting championship points situation after Lydd.
450 Class Championship Positions after 2 rounds:Jones - 135 points,
Chris Hodgson - Robinsons of Rochdale KTM450 - 132 points,
David McKee - TAS Suzuki 450 - 128 points,
Farmer - 127 Points,
Ricky Higgs - Aprilia UK 450 - 110 points.
Other awards at Lydd included:Aprilia Contingency Awards1st - Lee Jones
2nd - Scott Woodacre
3rd - David Jackson
KTM Contingency Awards1st - Craig Venske
2nd - Matthew Pope
3rd - Richard Darlington
Michelin “Rider of the day” Award: Craig Venske
Michelin “Ouch that hurts award”: Paul McNamara
Comprehensive results provided by HS Sports Timing Ltd will be available very shortly on <a href="http://www.motogb.net" class="copperlink">www.motogb.net</a> together with race images, a full weekend’s report on the National Championship racing and an RSS feed for updates.
Images: Strictly Copyright SMedir
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