Red Bull Pro Nationals and 2 Stroke Championship, Round 6 - Pontrilas  (Jul 12, 2010)

Round six of the Red Bull Pro National series and the addictive 125cc and Open class 2 stroke Championships took place this past weekend at Pontrilas near Hereford.

The natural circuit with it numerous ascents, descents and sweeping cambers was baked hard from the previous few weeks of glorious sunshine and even after much watering and harrowing getting any moisture into the soil was difficult. With temperature and humidity high on Saturday it was the Open class 2 stroke Championship that witnessed the TM riders off Stuart Edmonds, Jim Davies and Ryan Pottenger in the thick of the dusty action on their 250cc TM machinery. Stuart battled hard with some of the best riders in the country to finish the day with a 6 / 5 / 5 scorecard and 5th overall for the day, this takes Stuart to 4th overall in the championship standings, only 26 points behind third place rider Nathan Parker and 17 points clear of fifth placed rider Scott Elderfield. Jim came on strong from a bad start in race one to finish 11th behind Walkley with former Championship winner Willet only 3 seconds ahead in 9th place, unfortunately for Jim race two would see him get his leg tangled in another riders rear wheel three corners into the first lap and he was immediately transferred to the local hospital. Due to the swelling that occurred instantly to his foot X-rays proved little use, Jim returned to the track with crutches on Saturday evening and is currently waiting to return to hospital for further examination.

Despite being in incredible pain and nearly unable to put a boot on his foot reigning 125cc Champion Jim Davies was not going to relinquish his crown so easily and bravely took to the track on Sunday morning for the 125 qualifying section. In huge discomfort Jim fought against the odds and set a blistering lap time that would see him sat at the top of the timing chart right up until the dying laps of the session, just being pipped at the post and relegated to third as the timer ran down. Jim however was not going to give in to the pain and he bravely competed in all three of the 125cc races where he managed to finish with a 4 / 3 / 3 scorecard, taking an incredible 3rd place podium finish on what looked to be a total loss, the gritty and determined lad from Chertsey could not even manage to stand on the podium to receive his honours after the last race of the day as the almost unbearable pain and swelling had become too much to bear as he removed his boot. Jim now sits in 2nd place in the overall Championship standing, one point clear of the 3rd placed rider Dunn, and 32 in arrears of series leader, Willet.
Fellow TM 125 rider Ryan Pottenger also managed to score good point this weekend and even after a nasty spill in the last race left him winded he rode on to finish the day with a 5 / 5 / 10 scorecard and 5th overall on the day, Ryan now sits in 6th place in the overall Championship standings and is looking set to take the top five spot very soon.

TM's Stuart Edmonds also competed in the highly competitive Red Bull Pro National Championship on Sunday riding his TM 250Fi machine, the awesome combination of 20 MX1 riders and 20 MX2 riders always creates some good racing as the two different class machines battle each other as well as their own class counterparts. Stuart was in the thick of the action once more where he finished the day with an unlucky 11th place in race one after two falls left him recovering ground that he had already made, whilst in race two luck was still not on Stuart's side as a stone damaged the clutch slave cylinder and left his TM leaking fluids, unsure to the extent of the damage caused to his machine Stuart wisely retired from the race and cruised back to the pits for it to be examined. Stuart now sits in 5th place in the overall standings as we head into the final couple of remaining rounds.

The venue for the next round is still undecided by the MC Federation but Team TM UK will be there.

With thanks to all of our sponsors and supporters.

Picture: Jim Davies TM 125 MX courtesy of Sophie Whiting.

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