Whitby Warriors - Rd5 Red Bull Pro and 2 Stroke Championships  (Jun 28, 2010)

Round 5 of the highly contested Red Bull Pro National and 125cc/Open 2 Stroke Championship took place this past weekend at the incredible Skelder Bank circuit in Whitby, Yorkshire.

This two day event which saw Team TM UK travel north on Friday was to be a weekend of mixed fortunes for the TM UK riders of Stuart Edmonds, Jim Davies and Ryan Pottenger, who is still suffering from an injury sustained the weekend previously and decided to sit out of Saturday's Open 2 stroke races and concentrate his efforts on Sunday's 125cc event.

The weather was glorious but the track was not appreciating the heat or the sea breeze, attempts to water the track did little albeit, keeping the dust down slightly and making conditions difficult for the 125cc machines as they took to the track for qualification on Sunday.

Saturday's Open 2 Stroke championship saw the TM pairing of Stuart and Jim set qualification times that would put them in 5th and 10th respectively on their 250cc machines. With a dry, dusty and slippery track the two TM UK riders battled the conditions to finish the day with Stuart, just missing out on the podium after a bad start in his last heat race left him work to do, in 4th and Jim ending the day in 8th overall. The conclusion of the day's action leaves the overall championship standings with Stuart in 4th and Jim in 9th, only one point of his opponent in 8th place and with 5th overall in his grasp.

Sunday's hectic schedule saw the 125cc machines go out on the claggy track first for their qualification heat, with the heavy conditions making the track extremely difficult, and the machinery gaining more than a few pounds in weight, it was Jim on his 125cc TM that managed to put in a blistering lap late on in the session that would see him be the only rider to break under the 2:08.00 time barrier, setting a time of 2:07.725 and taking the pole. Ryan on his 125cc TM managed to fight his way around the demanding circuit and posted a time that would see him sat in 8th place as the timing session ended. The three race heats saw Jim unable to capitalise on his gate position and from all three starts he left himself with work to do in the early laps, ending the day with a 4 - 3 - 2 scorecard Jim finished the day on the podium once more in 3rd position and now sits 3rd in the championship standings with little in the way of points between the top three riders. Ryan, who looked to be in some discomfort, also put in three solid rides on his 125cc TM machine to take 5th overall after the three heats and now sits in 8th place in the overall championship standings.

In the Red Bull Pro National Championship, which see MX1 and MX2 riders compete in the same race, Stuart on his 250cc TM machine qualified in 19th position overall, 9th in the MX2 class and only 0.3 seconds off MX2 rivals Kristian Whatley and Scott Elderfield. The start of race one saw Stuart mid-pack and settled nicely between his fellow MX2 competitors, as the race unfolded Stuart began to find his lines and as the race progressed so did his pace, battling with Whatley for a number of laps Stuart then made the pass stick and started making ground, pushing continuously for the remainder of the 25 minute plus one lap race he was constantly gaining on his competitors, with 3rd place in his sights as the timer ran down a solid 4th place finish was his. Race two was not such a happy affair for Stuart, after a re-start caused by a gate problem Stuart did not start too well, however first turn bunching allowed Stuart to capitalise and he managed to work his TM into the crowd, with fellow MX2 rivals also succumbing to the mighty 450cc MX1 machines on the start straight his position in the race was not as bad as it appeared through the immense cloud of dust and he was running top eight in his class and gaining. His charge through the field however was short lived as he picked up a rear wheel puncture, with the hard surface and huge jumps trying to continue would have been a fruitless and dangerous affair and a dejected Stuart retired from the race, a possible podium position lost. Stuart now sits 5th overall in the Championship standings and is looking to be on the podium soon.

The 6th round of this series takes place at Pontrilas in two weeks time.

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