Round 14 was held at a brand new track, built on the infield of the famous Donnington Park race circuit. I’ll be the first to admit that I was a bit sceptical at what we might find there, but it turned out to be an awesome track. Due to the amount of space on hand it looked a bit like a Supercross track, with the circuit switching back on itself in a few places and the amount of huge jumps that had been incorporated, in fact it had more jumps than any other round of the championship. The track builders brought in over 80000 tonnes of soil and managed a length of 1650m, which provided a lap time of just over 2 mins.

Frossard and Boog mid air duel

This round had a lot going for it as MX1 series leader Josh Coppins was returning from his broken shoulder injury to try and rescue his championship, which until a few weeks ago had already seemed like it was in the bag. Yamaha were also fielding newly crowned MX2 champ Toni Cairoli in the MX1 race to try and help Coppins, and also help themselves try and retain the constructor’s championship.

With Cairoli in the MX1 race and last years MX2 champ Chris Pourcel out with a broken pelvis; there was a chance for some new blood on the MX2 podium. After he got so close to the overall in Northern Ireland, all eyes would be on Tommy Searle to bring home the bacon!

Philippaerts railing it hard.

In the MX1 class it was to be the Kawasaki rider Tanel Leok who would post the fastest time, and grab himself pole for Sunday’s race, with holeshot specialist Mike Brown languishing in 16^th.

MX2 qualifies through 2 heat races with Aubin and Searle winning their respective trips out. Aubin had the quickest race time so pole went to him.

Saturday afternoon also saw the first of the seniors (40-50) races, with Britain’s 3 time world champ Dave Thorpe leading right up to the last few corners, and unfortunately ending up 2^nd. Fingers crossed for Sunday!!

10 Times champ,Stefan Everts.

Seniors Race 2

Well what can you say, Thorpe grabbed the lead right from the gate and went through to the chequered flag without being challenged, to win the Seniors World Championship.

MX1 Race 1

When the gate dropped it was Scotland’s Billy Mac who grabbed the holeshot, with the injured Coppins in 2^nd and Cairoli in 3rd with the big Belgian Ken De Dyker way back in 12^th.It wasn’t long before the demanding track started to take it’s toll on Coppins and he was passed by his nearest rival in the champs, Steve Ramon, for Josh this race could only be a case of damage limitation.

Thomas Allier heading skywards as he takes some big air.

On lap 7 Mackenzie did the unthinkable and stalled his bike while comfortably leading, allowing a stream of riders to pass him. Cairoli now had the lead with Kevin Strijbos in 2^nd. Cairoli held the lead for 2 laps before Strijbos put a pass on him and slowly put some space between them.

Meanwhile 16^th place qualifier Mike Brown was running in 3^rd, but the man on the move was De Dyker who passed Ramon , Leok and Browne within the last 2 laps to take third spot.

1. Strijbos
2. Cairoli
3. De Dyker
4. Brown
5. Leok
6. Ramon

Mike Brown rode with real style to a fourth place finish.

MX1 Race 2

This time out it was Cairoli who grabbed the holeshot, with Ramon getting into 2^nd, and previous race holeshotter Billy Mac being dead last into the 1^st corner. Ramon was quickly passed by KTM’s Jonathan Barragan with Strijbos down in 8^th and Coppins in 23^rd.

After 10 minutes of what must have been agony, the broken shoulder of Coppins proved too much and the devastated Kiwi was forced to pull out, meaning that Ramon could make up some serious points and grab the championship lead.

Barragan appeared to be going backwards as Brown, Strijbos, Ramon, Leok, De Dyker and Philippaerts all passed him.

Aubin in explosive action

With Cairoli, Ramon and Brown in 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd the battle behind them was raging. De Dyker and Brown both passed Ramon, and then Seb Pourcel and Leok joined the fray. This spurred Strijbos into action and he started picking them off one by one until he was battling Ramon for 4^th.

With 7 mins and 2 laps to go it was Cairoli, De Dyker, and Pourcell, but that was about to change. Whilst throwing it into a left hand turn Pourcel lost the front end and went down, Strijbos was past in a flash and then proceeded to chase down and pass De Dyker for 2^nd with just 1 ½ mins left. What a race!!

1. Cairoli
2. Strijbos
3. De Dyker
4. Ramon
5. Leok
6. Brown

Overall Results MX1

1. Cairoli
2. Strijbos
3. De Dyker
4. Ramon
5. Brown

With just one round remaining Ramon leads Coppins by 14 points and any one of 4 people could take the title.

Tommy Searle on his way to the race win

MX2 Race 1

It was Aubin who took the holeshot with Britain’s Tommy Searle following him through turn 1 and KTM’s Jeremy Tarroux in third. Tarroux soon passed Searle but then bogged down in one of the deep ruts and Tommy was through. With Swanepoel in fourth the order stayed the same right through to the finish line.

1. .Aubin
2. Searle
3. Tarroux
4. Swanepoel
5. Boog

MX2 Race 2

Bonini took the early lead with Searle quickly moving up from 3^rd to 2^nd on the first lap, whilst Swanepoel had a nightmare and came off. Tarroux again got off well slotting into 3^rd. Searle was all over Bonini and put a pass on him at the start of lap3 but Bonini wasn’t giving up without a fight. He put huge pressure on Searle, managing to draw level at times but not being able to make the pass. Meanwhile Tarroux started to close in on Bonini, which played into Searle’s hands as he was able to put a small gap on them both at the front.

Whilst entering a right hander Bonini left the door wide open, allowing Tarroux through for 2^nd and Tarroux slowly started to gap him.

Philippaerts sat, but hardly taking it easy!

At half race distance race 1 winner Aubin was only up to 6^th, 15 seconds behind the leaders, and leaving Searle with his first Overall in sight. Tommy wasn’t able to relax though, with Tarroux keeping him honest right to the end.

An awesome ride from the young Brit, taking the honours at his home GP, and putting himself in second in the MX2 standings.

1. Searle
2. Tarroux
3. Bonini
4. Verbruggen
5. Aubin

MX2 Overall Results

1. Searle
2. Tarroux
3. Aubin
4. Bonini
5. Verbruggen