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Stuart Edmonds Racing Diary - British Masters Rd 4 - Foxhill (Jun 7, 2010)
The legendary Foxhill Moto Park played host to the fourth round of the British Masters Championship this past weekend where Irish ace Stuart Edmonds contested both of the Pro classes, riding his TM 450 MX in the MX1 class and TM Racings all new 250Fi machine in the MX2 class.
Qualifying began on a rather claggy track for the MX1 class after overnight watering had broken the concrete like surface from the previous days action. Stuart got to work and managed to post a time on his practice bike that would see him sat in twelfth position as the timer counted down to zero. In MX2 class qualifying Stuart set tongues wagging about TM's new 250Fi machine, setting a lap time that would see him sat in fourth position on the timing sheet at the sessions conclusion, an incredible achievement for an absolute stock out of the crate machine.
The gate dropping for the first MX2 race saw Stuart and the new TM get a flying start, running in the top 3 exiting the first turn and on full gas Stuart was pushing on. Staying with the leading group Stuart was determined to make ground after losing a couple of places mid race, with sixth placed rider, Carless, closing in Stuart pulled out the stops and began to pull away and reel in the fourth placed rider Bradshaw. Now on his back wheel a battle with Bradshaw ensued which saw Stuart set his fastest lap of the race on the last lap and pass the chequered flag less only 0.8 seconds behind Bradshaw for a well earned fifth.
Race two in the MX2 class again saw Stuart get a tidy jump from the gate, running top10 into the run to turn two Stuart then got to work passing riders on the big uphill drags and out manoeuvring them in the many turns in and out of the valley. With the top four now out of reach as the race wound down to its end Stuart kept pace and settled into fifth, nursing a nasty cut to his knuckle from an errant stone he then found himself under pressure from Carless once more, however a change in pace again saw Stuart pull well clear and another fifth place finish was his reward and this was enough to give him fourth position overall, an incredible result for both Stuart and for the capabilities of a stock production machine.
The start of the first MX1 race saw Stuart lying outside of the top 10, there was work to be done and Stuart was well aware of that and responded, as the race unfolded Stuart disposed of Garrett, Skuse, May, Snow and then began a battle with Crockard that would continue for numerous laps. With a couple of little mistakes from Stuart and a very exuberant manoeuvre from Crockard a pass was made and Stuart was relegated to ninth place, the position he would hold until the flag with Noble in tenth only a couple of seconds in arrears.
The last race of the day for the Pro riders was MX1 race two and the clouds were looming over the Foxhill circuit. As the gate dropped for the final race Stuart got a good jump, however the usual first turn bunching left Stuart boxed out slightly and work had to be done once more. Again, Garrett, Snow, May and co' were disposed off allowing Stuart into the top ten and on with his charge, as the rain began to fall the hard track became slippery in places and making ground now became increasingly more difficult. With little time to catch the seventh placed rider and with a comfortable margin over ninth place Stuart rounded out the day with an eighth place, seventh overall in the highly contested MX1 class.
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Picture: Courtesy of Sophie Whiting.