ACU Quadcross Mark Watson
Dominates Langrish Moto Park
Goldspeed ACU British
Quad Championship - Round 5 - August 28, 2011
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Mark Watson
was impressive, winning in both races
at Langrish Moto Park
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England (8/30/2011) - KTM’s
Mark Watson dominated this weekend, holding off
Paul Holmes and winning both races at round five
of the ACU Goldspeed British Quadcross Championship.
Staged during the 45th Ken Hall Trophy weekend at
the challenging Langrish circuit, the event attracted
huge crowds as 34 quads battled for glory.
With only the British Quadcross Championship
taking place, Holmes Racing’s Paul Holmes
went fastest in practice with five seconds separating
the top ten riders. Mark Watson and John Mitchell
made second and third. From the start gates, it’s
a short straight into the first corner and as
race one got underway with the roar of a full
line up of quads, it was Stefan Murphy who bravely
took the holeshot before John Mitchell took the
lead into the second corner. A couple of quads
got tangled up in the ensuing melee.
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Stefan Murphy
takes the holeshot aboard his Honda TRX450R
ATV in race one
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Hot on Mitchell’s wheels were Holmes and
Watson. They began to pull away from the rest
of the group. On lap three Mitchell lost the lead.
“I ran slightly wide, leaving a gap on the
inside where Holmes passed me” explained
Mitchell. As Holmes had gone on the inside, Watson
had taken Mitchell on the outside having already
passed Macbeth, Winrow and Murphy from a sixth
place start. Within seconds he caught Holmes and
out jumped him to take the lead.
From there the positions remained until the chequered
flag, with Watson taking the fastest lap. The
first three riders finished with a big gap ahead
of fourth placed Jason Macbeth who had a good
ride, keeping two seconds ahead of the battling
Stefan Murphy and Paul Winrow. Winrow was riding
for the last time in the British Championship
and was displaying the fighting spirit that has
made him an 11 time British Champion. The current
number one was just unable to dominate the on-form
Murphy and took sixth.
In race two it was yet another frantic dive into
the first corner with Mark Watson going wide and
Stefan Murphy again taking a fantastic line, the
two looked very close for the holeshot but Murphy
again edged it. Watson made it into first place
from the second corner and immediately took command
of the race, with Holmes and Macbeth behind him.
Current championship leader John Mitchell was
forced to stop in the middle of the track on lap
one as his kill switch had come out, leaving him
to restart the race from 16th place.
Watson was riding superbly and again took the
fastest lap as he finished in first place, ahead
of Holmes. “Once I was leading, I got my
head down, I just kept going and opened up a good
gap. Two wins and some good points – I’m
happy with that” he commented after the
race.
Holmes was also happy with his two second place
finishes as he explained; “I felt nauseous
all day, every time I pushed it didn’t feel
good so I just settled into a pace and didn’t
expect to get anything higher than top five.”
Much of the action in race two centred on Macbeth
and Winrow as they fought for position in an enthralling
encounter. “I had Winrow behind me for the
whole race. It was a constant battle to keep him
behind. I really enjoyed it, today has been a
lot of fun” explained Macbeth. Winrow kept
up the pressure right to the finish line but was
unable to pass Macbeth who had another good ride,
taking third in the race and overall on the day.
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Paul Winrow
riding in his last British Championship
race
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Paul Winrow commented after his final race in
the British Championship:
“Langrish is a very demanding track, hard
on your arms so I was happy qualifying seventh.
Finished sixth, had a good race with Stef, couldn’t
pass him. Then it was my last race - finishing
fourth in a really strong race with Macbeth. I’m
still in one piece after all the racing that I’ve
done and really I’ve enjoyed it. Good luck
to Watson, Holmes and Mitchell. It’s been
an enjoyable season, ups and downs, some crashes,
which is rare for me and I’ll be at the
final two rounds to watch, but not racing.”
In fifth and sixth were two under 21 championship
contenders with KTM’s James Hellewell finishing
just ahead of SMR-Nora MX’s Stefan Murphy.
That positioning tied the pair on points with
Hellewell taking the overall win with a higher
placed position in race two. Luke Cooper took
third as the leaderboard remains tight for the
2011 title.
The final two rounds will take place across a
two day event at Milton Park near Northampton
on the 1st and 2nd of October. All classes will
be racing in what is sure to be a superb weekend
of quad racing action. For more details please
visit www.acuquadracing.co.uk
RESULTS:
British Championship: 1 Mark Watson (KTM) 25 +
25 =50, Paul Holmes (Yamaha) 22 + 22 =44, 3 Jason
Macbeth (Honda) 18 + 20 =38, 4 John Mitchell (Yamaha)
20 + 14 =34, 5 Paul Winrow (Honda) 15 + 18 =33,
6 Stefan Murphy (Honda) 16 + 15 =31
British U21 Championship: 1 James Hellewell (KTM)
22 + 25 =47, 2 Stefan Murphy (Honda) 25 + 22 =47,
3 Luke Cooper (KTM) 20 + 18 =38, 4 George Callaway
(Yamaha) 16 + 20 =36, 5 David Cowan (Yamaha) 15
+ 16 =31, 6 Conner Smith (KTM) 18 + 0 = 18
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