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British
Motocross Championship
Round 8 - Pontrilas
2007 British
MX2 Champion Mike Brown
Report & Photos:
J.P.Oconnell.
The final round of the British championships saw the MX circus move on to Howton Court, Wales. This just couldn't help but be a good day as both MX1 and MX2 titles were going to be decided, with no less than eight riders in with a chance of having a number 1 plate on their mantel piece by the end of the day.
MX2 Race 1 British
MX Champs Pontrilas 2007
After the early morning mist lifted and the temperature clawed its way above "very chilly" the MX2 class hit the hillside track for practice. Most people were looking out for championship leader Mike Brown and 2nd placed Tommy Searle, but it was Fork Rent Suzuki's Jason Dougan who was quickest of the pack and grabbed himself pole for the day's main events.
Goncalves chased by
Brown
Gundersen attacks a jump
MX 1 had GP stars Tanel Leok and Kenneth Gundersen entered as wild cards, but by the end of qualifying it was Championship leader Billy Mackenzie with pole and Honda's Ken De Dyker in 2nd.
2007 British MX1 Champion Billy Mackenzie
By the time the MX2 riders were lined up for race 1, the sun was blazing and the large crowd were eagerly waiting to see just who was going to lift the championship plate. When the gate dropped it was Rui Goncalves who grabbed the holeshot, but the real drama was back at the start line where Searle's gate was still upright, and the KTM rider was desperately trying to pull his bike backwards and go around it. By the time the riders completed one lap the red flag was out, and it was back to the starting line.
Brown in typical attack
mode.
Leok launching it.
The restart again saw
Goncalves into turn one first, but he was soon passed by the flying
Suzuki of Jason Dougan, with Mike Brown moving into second spot.
Searle completed lap 1 in about 8th spot, but with a championship to
fight for he was soon making passes and moving his way towards the
leaders. Searle eventually got up to 3rd, but was never really able to
trouble his main rival Brown for 2nd spot.
- 1st Jason Dougan
- 2nd Mike Brown
- 3rd Tommy Searle
- 4th Sean Hamblin
After Gareth Swanepoel's poor first race finish saw his chance
of the championship gone, the battle was between Searle and Brown.
Basically if Searle won, Brown only had to finish no less than eighth
in race 2 and the championship was his………what a day for Brown's
holeshot skills to desert him!
Ray Rowson laying it low in a deep berm.
As the pack rounded turn one, Brown was down in about 16th, after possibly his worst start of the entire season. If that wasn't bad enough for him, Searle was right up at the front. With Tommy doing his bit and leading all eyes were on the American to see what he could do. Lap after lap Brown started picking off the slower riders, eventually getting up to 7th before some mistakes from a couple of riders in front saw him elevate his position to 5th,enough to win the British MX2 Championship by 5 points from
Searle.
- 1st Searle
- 2nd Dougan
- 3rd Swanepoel
- 4th Hamblin
- 5th Brown
MX1 Race 2: Pontrilas - British MX Champs.
In MX1 there was a similar story with Scotland's Billy Mackenzie leading Belgium's Ken De Dyker by only 8 points going into the first race of the day. In race 1 "guest" rider, Kawasaki's Tanel Leok, certainly helped out his GP team mate Mackenzie. Leok had a great battle with De Dyker before edging him out and taking the win, plus points from him, as Mackenzie followed them home in third.
- 1st Leok
- 2nd De Dyker
- 3rd Mackenzie
- 4th Noble
- 5th Anderson
In the second race Mackenzie got the holeshot and took off, while De Dyker
had a poor, start leaving himself an uphill battle. With Mackenzie and Leok upfront, the crowd were further entertained by Brits James Noble and Brad Anderson taking lumps out of each other in their battle to secure third in the Championships.
Brown styled it all day to take the overall Brit
MX2 Championship
After Anderson went down a couple of times it allowed De Dyker to slip past into 4th behind Noble. Meanwhile Leok must have got the nod that the Championship was in the bag and passed Mackenzie to take a well deserved race win. It was obvious to see that Billy Mac was absolutely ecstatic to have won the title as he allowed himself a fist pump over the big tabletop, before crossing the finish line into a spray of champagne.
- 1st Leok
- 2nd Mackenzie
- 3rd Noble
- 4th De Dyker
- 5th Anderson
MX2 Overall winner Jason Dougan
MX1 Overall winner Tanel Leok
MX1 Overall winner - Tanel Leok
MX2 Overall winner - Jason Dougan
2007 British MX1 Champion Billy Mackenzie
2007 British MX2 Champion Mike Brown
Report & Photos: by J.P.
Oconnell
More of JP's excellent race photos can be viewed on his website HERE
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