Teesside Autodrome near Middlesbrough was the setting for round 4 of the British Supermoto Championship, the North East motor sport venue looking forward to hosting a round of one of 2007’s most hotly contested motorcycle racing series. Despite several forced alterations to the original proposed track layout just before the event, the circuit still presented a new and challenging venue for riders in this year’s series.
During Saturday afternoon’s sunny timed qualifying sessions, Christian Iddon (Factory Aprilia SXV550) led the way, but only just, as Matt Winstanley (Robinsons of Rochdale KTM 610) set a time just 7/100ths of a second behind him to claim second place on the grid. Outside the leading two riders, perhaps the performance most notable of all was Winstanley’s team mate, David Hartley (Robinsons of Rochdale KTM 550) who’s ever increasing pace allowed him to grab 3rd spot ahead of the rest of the pack.
On Sunday, race one was run in perfect conditions, but the heavens opened just before the start of race two, which required a tyre change delay. The rain continued for the rest of the afternoon and race three was run in exceptionally wet conditions with some tricky standing water patches due to the level of precipitation.
In the Open Championship title race, Sam Warren (SR Off-Road Aprilia SXV550) recovered from a slightly off-par qualifying performance and claimed the overall honours with a fantastic display of riding ability. He netted two second places (in races one and two) and the third race win to claim a very healthy 92 points for his day’s hard work.
Race two was a particularly epic battle and probably the best race British Supermoto has seen for a long time as Warren and Iddon swapped places on a number of occasions, before a touch just 300 yards from the flag resulted in Iddon wobbling but staying on whilst Warren slid off but remounted in record time, to hang on to second place. Iddon’s claim for the overall victory came to nothing however, after his Aprilia chain guard clouted something immovable on the track in race three and bent completely out of shape bringing his rear wheel to an immediate stop and his race progress to a standstill.
Meanwhile Winstanley’s day was heavily compromised as early as race one, when another rider hit him from behind in the off-road section, which stalled his machine. Over a minute of sweaty kick-starting was required before the big KTM powered back into life and Winstanley set off to salvage some points. His refusal to give in was rewarded as he very nearly claimed a win in the final race just missing out to Warren.
After his initial impressive showing, Hartley continued the form with a 3rd overall, recording third, sixth and fifth in the three races respectively. Elsewhere Greg Kinsella (DCR Husaberg 650), Andy Mitchell (DCR Husaberg 650) and super fast veteran Ady Smith (KTM UK 610) all rode brilliantly with Smith’s experience and wet weather prowess coming to the fore as he claimed 2nd place overall on the day.
Top 5 Open Class Championship Positions after 4 rounds;
- Christian Iddon 356 points
- Sam Warren 325 points
- Matt Winstanley 315 points
- Ady Smith 280 points
- Craig Venske 257 points
450 Championship Keith Farmer (SMRacing Rocket Centre Aprilia UK SXV450) was the man of the moment at Teesside as he claimed the overall 450 class win at Teesside and inched ahead of all his rivals to lead the British 450cc title chase. Farmer’s determined riding style and ever increasing confidence on his new for 2007 Aprilia made his successful weekend all the more sweeter. He didn’t have it all his own way though as Ricky Higgs (Aprilia UK SXV450) and Chris Hodgson (Robinsons of Rochdale KTM 450) made it a very exciting three way battle during the weekend.
Within the 450 class, Farmer won two of the races with Higgs claiming the third. It was also pleasing to see a new face mixing it with the established 450 stars as Shane Parkin (Suzuki 450) finished 2nd in the 450 class runners in race two whilst flying the solitary flag for Suzuki due to David McKee’s demise from the series. Also absent at Teesside was previous series leader Lee Jones (Buff Aprilia SXV450) who was injured at Lydden Hill and who’s shoulder injury is likely to make him miss round 5 of the series as well.
Top 5 450 Class Championship Positions after 4 rounds;
- Keith Farmer 278 points
- Chris Hodgson 275 Points
- Ricky Higgs 250 points
- Lee Jones 191 points
- George Clements 188 points
Round 5 of the series will be held on the 28th & 29th July at Three Sisters Circuit near Wigan.
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