2011 British Motocross Championship Rd1 - Little Silver  (Mar 7, 2011)

The first round of the 2011 Maxxis British Motocross Championship series took place this past weekend at the Little Silver circuit situated on the outskirts of Exeter, Devon and the TM UK Team were there to compete in this seasons big opening event.

Despite the terrible weather in the weeks leading up to the event the track was in near perfect condition, albeit a tad on the cold side, and it was Stuart Edmonds in the MX2 class riding his TM 250Fi machine that was first onto the circuit for his free practice and qualifying session. Stuart , who has changed classes this year form MX1 to MX2, immediately showed that all his hard work and training through the winter off-season was paying dividends as he set the 7th fastest time in the highly competitive MX2 class. This put Stuart into the 'Superpole' session where the top 12 fastest qualifying riders go for a one lap make or break dash to improve their time or, unluckily for Stuart who dropped down to 10th place after managing to clip a post on his 'fast lap', lose some time and lower their qualifying ranking and gate pick.

The first MX2 race saw Stuart get a reasonable start and within several laps he was comfortably inside the top ten and doing battle with some of his seriously quick rivals, sadly for Stuart his charge was to come to a sudden halt on lap 7 of the 12 lap race due to an electrical problem stalling his engine which he was unable to restart, however with over 50% of the race distance completed Stuart was still awarded a finish and credited with 35th place.

Race two was too be a bad for Stuart after his machine lurched forward hitting the start gate and trapping his front wheel, Stuart was then forced to pull his machine back and restart it before setting off giving himself the whole start straight distance as an immediate disadvantage to overcome prior to chasing down his rivals. However, an unfased Stuart charged onto the back of the pack in no time and began eating through the field at an incredible pace, by the end of the first lap he had moved from 40th place to 26th place and was still scything his TM through yet more of his competitors as the laps counted up, by lap 5 he had passed another ten riders and was now 16th, by lap number 8 he was twelfth and still pushing on. As the race wound down to its conclusion he would pass yet another 2 riders in the dying laps to finish in 10th place with the ninth place finisher only one second ahead at the chequered flag, a remarkable race from Stuart and a very well earned result.

The last MX2 race of the day saw Stuart get an average start but a clever first turn allowed him to make up some valuable places immediately and he was inside the top thirteen within the first lap, with some work to do to take another top ten finish Stuart settled into a good rhythm and began to etch his way past his rivals. In the next few laps Stuart would make more ground and was now running in 9th place and about to take another position, now running 8th and on full charge Stuart gave it his all and has 7th place in his sights as the chequered flag was waved.

Stuart took 13th place overall for the day after the unfortunate problem of race one looks to have cost him a top 8 overall finish.

In the MX1 Class it was the TM UK team-mates of Jim Davies and Ryan Pottenger who competed on TM Racing 450cc machinery and did battle in the 'big bike' class at this first round of the 2011 series, however as the days events unfolded it was to become clear that luck was not on either Jim or Ryan's side today.

In the MX1 qualifying session Jim, who is more accustomed to doing battle on his 125cc machine, put himself nearly bang in the middle of the field setting the 22nd fastest time by the end of the timed session. Ryan was unfortunate and a clutch problem early in free practice forced him to withdraw his race-bike from the session and to switch to a spare machine which he was not comfortable on, this change of machinery forced Ryan to miss out on some valuable track time which was reflected in his qualifying position.

The first MX1 race of the day saw Jim get off to a flying start and he was inside the top ten on lap number one, unfortunately luck was not on Ryan's side and yet again he was forced to withdraw again with a small technical problem, however due to the number of laps completed Ryan was classified as a finisher. Jim's fortune's were also about to change as a small crash and the subsequent remounting and restarting of his machine saw him drop from 15th place to 32nd place and with a mountain to climb. Jim managed to make some ground on his rivals and he clawed his way into 26th position by the end of the race.

Race two of the MX1 class was to realistically be the day done for the TM UK MX1 class riders of Jim and Ryan, Ryan had an amazing start from the outside where he swept in on the pack only to be T-boned by an errant rider which subsequently ruined what was a good start to the race, battered, Ryan cruised on to finish the race. Jim was also in the wars as a rock hit him clean, square in the centre of the face, cutting his nose and creating massive swelling and a huge blood blister inside his top lip which later required medical treatment. Jim, as tough as always, battled on through the pain to finish the race and take the chequered flag.

The last race of the day again saw Ryan take a good start only for it to be ruined by someone else's mistake and, although Jim's start was not so bad and he was running inside the top twenty after the first lap, bad luck decided to strike again. Not only was Jim contending with a battered, bruised and painful face but now his goggles had decided that enough was enough and they began to disassemble themselves around the Devonshire circuit leaving Jim with little in the way of clear vision and in an extremely uncomfortable position with his already wounded face only coming under more ammunition from being further exposed. Jim eased off and finished the race in 26th place and Ryan followed Jim home on ten laps completed to finish 31st.

A very up and down day for the TM UK Team who definitely, for the most, did not have luck on their side, still...we look forward to round 2 of the series in a few weeks time at the well known Canada Heights circuit just off the M25 near Swanley in Kent.

Team TM UK would like to thank all of its sponsors and supporters.

Picture courtesy of MNJ Photograhy

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