The third round of the British Motocross Masters series invited ARB Tuning Kawasaki and its rivals to Landrake in Cornwall this past weekend, where summery temperatures greeted riders and teams alike. The team was at full strength at this round, and was expecting to do well, and there was little disappointment.
Vytautas Bucas, the team's youth rider, qualified in third on Saturday morning, and followed up on this with two fantastic races later in the afternoon. The first race started off in the top four, but Vytautas soon set his sights on the leader, Scott Elderfield. After ending the race in second, Vytautas followed up with a consistent solid ride in the second race. Here he was second into the first lap, and remained second throughout.
On Sunday, Vytautas started his first race just inside the top ten, but made massive strides in the first lap to end in second behind Elderfield again. The final race of the weekend became a cat and mouse game between himself and Elderfield, coming close to beating his Suzuki-mounted rival, but time ran out.
Four second places made a second overall on the weekend a done deal, and put him firmly in the lead of the class.
While Mark Jones opted for both Pro classes and took pole in both in qualifying, Jamie Lewis was still suffering from blistered hands after the Maxxis British Motocross Championship round at Lyng the weekend previous. With this in mind, Jamie opted to race the Pro Open class only and qualified mid-pack in fourteenth.
Mark had his hands full in the Pro 125 class; he had tough competition in the shape of Lewis Gregory, Neville Bradshaw and Kristian Whatley. After gating in third and slipping a few places, Mark set his sights back on the man in the lead and was close to achieving his goal when a pass gone wrong washed his front end out and cost him two places. His second race was quite the reverse; immediate action in the first lap gave Mark the lead and earned him a third place overall. Mark retains his lead in the Pro 125 class.
The Pro Open class was a battle from mid-pack in both races. In the first Mark made massive strides in the early stages, entering the top five after only three laps. For the remainder of the race, Mark had to work hard to pass rivals Wayne Smith and Mark Hucklebridge before latching onto the leader Xavier Hernandez. In the second race Mark was quicker off the mark, entering the top five after two laps. After running a solid race behind Smith and Jordan Rose, Mark passed both and again set his sights on Hucklebridge in first. Two second places secured the win overall on the day by a point, and keeps Mark in the class lead as well.
Jamie struggled with his blistered hands in both races, mostly holding his position after making initial gains. Nonetheless, Jamie earned a ninth place overall on the day, keeping his seventh place in the championship.
Mark Bishop, team owner, declared himself happy with the results: "I'm very pleased with Mark. I'm pleased with Vytautas especially after four seconds and a near win. Jamie unfortunately suffered from blisters today, but overall, a very good day."
The team now takes a month's break before returning to the fourth round of the British Masters Motocross series at Pontrilas on June 14th.
