2010 ACU British
Quad Racing
Round 1 - Desertmartin MX
Desertmartin, United Kingdom
May 8, 2010 - By:
Kieran Quinn
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John Mitchell Perfect
at British Quad Championship Season Opener
ACU British
QuadCross Championship Series - Rounds 1 - ATV
MX Race Report
ACU
British Quad Racing
Round 1 Links
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Ireland -
This past weekend Saturday the 8th and Sunday the
9th of May saw British Championship Quad Racing
once again make the annual trip across the Irish
Sea, Quad Racing Ireland promoting Rounds 1 and
2 of the 2010 GOLDSPEED ACU British Quad Championships
at the fantastic Desertmartin Grand Prix Motocross
Circuit.
With the elite of British and European Quad Racing
converging on the challenging sand based Porters
Pit venue eager to get their 2010 Championship
campaigns of to a good start, the two days of
racing provided some excellent close fought battles
and plenty of drama.
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With
a picture perfect weekend for ATV racing,
a large crowd of racers & spectators
came out for the opening rounds of the British
Quad Racing Championship & ATV racing
legend, Richard Cole (above left), can almost
always be found track side supporting his
race team |
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Paul Holmes
grabbed the Moto One holeshot followed
by Justin Reid & John Mitchell
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Bright sunshine and clear blue skies was the order
of the day as Saturdays racing got underway on the
beautifully prepped Porters Pit circuit, and as
the gates dropped for the first of three twenty
minute plus two lap motos it was reigning European
Champion Paul Holmes who lead the field out on the
opening lap, closely followed by John Mitchell,
Giles Davis and local rider Justin Reid.
With a third of the race gone Mitchell passed
Holmes for the lead with Reid moving up to 4th
and Mark Watson joining the leaders after passing
Davis with current British Champion Paul Winrow
in 7th, and this remained the status quo until
the halfway point when a freak incident took Holmes
and Reid out of the running, Holmes’ nerf
bar bending down and jamming his back wheel causing
the KTM to stall on the downslope of a table top
with an already airborne Reid running in to the
back of him, Holmes eventually getting underway
in 17th but for Reid it was game over, the incident
leaving him with a broken wrist and a cracked
bone in the other.
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#14
Justwin Racing's Justin Reid was running
strong in 4th place before an accident with
#1 Paul Holmes, which took the pair out
& left Reid with a broken ATV &
wrist |
At the front Mitchell set a blistering pace and
gradually pulled away from Macbeth with Watson closing
in and Winrow coming under pressure from local rider
David Wray, but at two-thirds distance Watson took
a tumble and dropped back to 10th as he dusted himself
off, Carl Bunce now moving in to the top five. Wray
got the better of Winrow for 3rd a lap later with
a large gap to Macbeth, but in a cruel blow with
three laps remaining Macbeth suffered the same problem
as Holmes, his nerf ripping away from the front
and trailing from the rear and dropping him back
through the field.
After twenty five action packed minutes it was
Mitchell who took a convincing win, Winrow taking
2nd with a delighted Wray taking his first ever
British podium and the first of the Under 21 class
riders home, Bunce following closely behind in
4th with Stefan Murphy rounding out the top five.
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