Brilliant sunshine, high temperatures and hard racing were the order of the day at Round 4 of the Moto GB British Supermotard Championship held at Ingliston Showground near Edinburgh. The Moto GB series regulars were joined on this occasion by Matt Winstanley, the Robinsons of Rochdale / KTM UK rider making his Moto GB series debut and thanks to a combination of his superb riding and all kinds of unexpected problems in the Aprilia camp for arch rivals Sam Warren (Aprilia UK) and Christian Iddon (Aprilia UK), Winstanley emerged with three straight wins and the admiration of the massed Scottish spectators. The event itself was unusual in that it was a feature of the outside entertainment package at the Fast and Modified Car Show and many first-time Supermoto spectators were enthralled by the high speed “backing in” antics of Britain’s fastest Supermoto racers.
SM1: The three Grand Prix riders in the entry list were devastatingly fast in qualifying with Iddon just claiming Pole Position ahead of Warren and Winstanley, all three riders covered by just one tenth of a second at the send of the session. Warren elbowed his way to the front at the start of race one and the two Aprilia’s pulled out a slight lead from Winstanley. All this came to nought however as Iddon by his own admission attempted a “very optimistic” pass on Warren resulting in the two Aprilia’s colliding and effectively gifting the win to Winstanley. Warren recovered to second after yet another off-track excursion as he took avoiding action when a backmarker crashed in front of him. Greg Kinsella (SD Racing Husaberg 650) took advantage of the Aprilia incident and finish a fine 3rd place just ahead of a recovering Iddon who set the fastest lap in the process. The second SM1 race saw Winstanley claim the holeshot, but the two Aprilia’s were only inches behind him for the first couple of laps as they sized up where to pass. The streak of Aprilia bad luck came into play again however as Iddon and Warren attempted to outbrake each other and Winstanley into the tight left at the end of the main straight. This time there was no contact between the Aprilia team mates but once again, Winstanley was gifted a sizable lead which he capitalized on and he proceeded to coolly convert this into another superb race win and the SM1 overall honours. Back in the paddock meanwhile, Iddon discovered that in the excitement of the now infamous outbraking manoeuvre, he had broken a finger as he clipped one of the course markers and he sat with an ice pack debating whether he could ride in the Superfinal.
SM2:Although bereft of the glamour of the Grand Prix riders in SM1, the 450 class provided some excellent racing with Ricky Higgs (Honda CRF) claiming two authoritative wins ahead of Jochen Jasinski (Moto-Supplies Husqvarna), young French rider Mickeal Zammit (MW Racing CRF) and George Clements (TRM Honda). Clements had actually claimed his first Pole Position in Saturday’s qualifying sessions, but Higg’s race pace was just too much for the other three riders who never the less provided bar banging action for the spectators in both races. Clements tied with Zammit for the final podium spot but lost out thanks to his poorer result in race 2. Championship contender James Addy (Appleyard KTM 450) was sidelined at Ingliston with a broken collar bone, sustained whilst training on his motocross bike, which left Chris Hodgson (Robinsons KTM450), Justin Carter (450 Honda) and last but not least; Rob McNealy to provide even more great racing in the lower places.
SM3 & Challenge: Scott Woodacre (Aprilia 450) continued his regular exciting duel with Kevin Ridley (KTM 450) during both races in the Challenge class and eked ahead to lead Ridley for the first time by just 6 points in the title chase after Ingliston. Paul Rhodes (Aprilia 450) claimed a fine pair of third positions, just ahead of Matt Edwards who made the long drive from Sudbury worthwhile with his best ever Moto GB finishing record.
In SM3:Colin Spink (Suzuki 250) lost the lead in the Championship standings for the first time as Lee Cunliffe (KTM 250) claimed a pair of superb race wins and Namibian Ex-Pat Raoul Spangenberg stole second place behind Cunliffe in each race. 10 points now covers 1st to 3rd in the SM3 title race and proves that the smaller engined bikes are just as entertaining as the SM1 monsters.
SuperfinalSam Warren took no part in the Superfinal as an amazing freak incident resulted in his Aprilia 550 bursting into flames in the assembly area. The Belper based rider was “…shaken, not burned….” however thanks to lightning reactions of an MRO marshal with a fire extinguisher. A subsequent technical inspection revealed a faulty fuel hose. Iddon was no doubt wondering how long the Aprilia bad luck would continue as he watched the conflagration in disbelief and his subsequent Superfinal race pace was blighted by the injured finger sustained in the second SM1 race. Winstanley & Iddon held close station from the start, but the events of the day obviously affected the High Peak rider’s concentration and he succumbed early in the race to another outstanding race performance from Winstanley. MW Racing claimed their second podium of the weekend as the ever improving French youngster Mikael Zammit steered his way around the many battles raging during the Superfinal to claim 3rd place.
Highlights from Round 4 of the Moto GB British Supermotard Championship at Lydden Hill will be first shown on Motors TV at 8.00pm on Friday July 28th. Further details of broadcasts (including broadcast repeats) may be found on the motorstv.com link below.
The next round of the 2006 Moto GB British Supermotard Championship takes place on Bank Holiday Monday, August 28th at Pembrey Circuit in South Wales. For details please visit the link provided below.
Related Linkswww.motogb.net www.motorstv.com
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