The bright sunshine at Lydden Hill for rounds 2 & 3 of the Moto GB British Supermotard Championship was a welcome contrast to the previous round’s monsoon-like conditions and the very agreeable weather certainly allowed riders to demonstrate the art of ‘backing it in’ in fine style at several corners around the fast and demanding Kent circuit.
SM1: Sam Warren (Aprilia UK 550) was the class of the field in SM1 with double wins on both Saturday and Sunday, although German rider Jochen Jasinski (Moto Supplies Husqvarna 610) was very definitely up to challenge before an error in Saturday’s second race followed by mechanical problems in that day’s Superfinal relegated him to SM2-only racing on Sunday. Ex-Enduro Champion Ady Smith on his KTM UK was easily the best of the rest and was really enjoying the high corner speed layout used over the weekend. The luck of the Irish deserted the Emerald Isle’s Greg Kinsella (SD Racing Husaberg 650) who failed to finish twice with mechanical mishaps on Sunday after two solid third places on Saturday whilst Andy Mitchell (DCR Husaberg UK 650) claimed victory from the jaws of defeat after crashing heavily on Saturday but then returning to claim overall 3rd on Sunday.
SM2: The 450 class provided some excellent racing with the SM2 race resembling the World Cup at one stage with Germany leading Belgium, just ahead of France with England bringing up the rear!
Ex-European Champion and Mettet Superbiker winner Belgian Thierry Godfroid (Kawasaki) proved that age is no barrier to performance as the veteran rider battled hard with Jochen Jasinski (Moto Supplies Husqvarna 450), young French rider Mickeal Zammit (MW Racing 450) and a horde of fast English riders including; James Addy (Appleyard KTM 450), Chris Hodgson (Robinsons KTM450), George Clements (TRM Honda 450) and last but not least; Ricky Higgs (Honda) whose form around Lydden Hill’s energy sapping high speed curves was his best ever, resulting in him claiming the overall win on Saturday and leading the SM2 championship outright by 7 points after 3 rounds. Jasinski claimed the overall win on Sunday and was consistently fast, smooth and exciting to watch over the whole weekend.
SM3 & Challenge: Scott Woodacre switched to an Aprilia 450 to continue his assault on the Challenge class and the decision appeared to be a good one as he had the perfect weekend with 4 individual race wins. Kevin Ridley (KTM 450) the overall Challenge class points leader after 3 rounds defended well, but goes to the next round in Scotland with Woodacre snapping right at his heels. Both Paul Rhodes (Aprilia 450) and Stuart Jones (KTM 450) swapped positions all weekend both on the podium and on track and are ready to pick up the pieces if either Woodacre or Ridley make an error.
In SM3, Colin Spink (Suzuki 250) just clung onto his points lead after SM3 newcomer Lee Cunliffe (KTM 250) put the cat amongst the pigeons at Lydden Hill winning 3 out of the 4 races leaving both Raoul Spangenberg (Kawasaki 250) and Spink with plenty to think about before the next race.
Superfinals:Once again Sam Warren demonstrated his mastery of all types of Supermoto circuit layouts, from the slippery, tight off-road sections at Cadwell Park to the high corner speed layout at Lydden Hill, Warren appeared to calmly and professionally have the answer. Ady Smith never gave up for one second over the weekend, but ultimately his pace was just short of that of the Aprilia UK rider’s seemingly unassailable advantage. Andy Mitchell, Greg Kinsella, Chris Hodgson, Nigel Scott (SM Racing Aprilia 450), Jochen Jasinski and Theirry Godfroid all starred in the arduous Superfinals, but ultimately nobody had an answer for Warren, which leaves the Derbyshire based rider with a healthy lead in both the SM1 and the Overall title chases and no doubt; a rather large grin on his face!
Highlights from Round 2 (Saturday) of the Moto GB British Supermotard Championship at Lydden Hill will be first shown on Motors TV at 7.30pm on Friday July 7th.
Highlights from Round 3 (Sunday) of the Moto GB British Supermotard Championship at Lydden Hill will be first shown on Motors TV at 7.30pm on Friday July 14th.
Further details of broadcasts (including broadcast repeats) may be found on the Motogb link below.
The next round of the 2006 Moto GB British Supermotard Championship takes place on Sunday July 16th at the Fast & Modified Car Show at the Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston near Edinburgh.
Related Linkswww.motogb.net www.motorstv.comwww.fastandmodified.com
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