British Motocross Championship - Rd 5 - Foxhill  (Jul 26, 2010)

Round 5 of the British Motocross Championships took place this past weekend at the legendary Foxhill Moto Park. With the forecasted showers over Wiltshire making little impact it was up to the organisers to place copious amounts of water onto the circuit in the days leading up to the event, this still did little to touch the concrete like surface albeit creating a tacky surface for the qualifying session.

TM UK rider Stuart Edmonds was there once again on his TM 450 MX machine to do battle in the highly competitive MX1 class against the huge crop of current and former GP riders. With only half a dozen laps to familiarise himself with the track and the conditions it was time to put the quick laps in, sitting second quickest in the early part of the session the fast laps from his competitors started to come thick and fast and with only 5 minutes remaining Stuart was relegated to 18th position. With a mere 2 seconds between 8th and 18th place the times were incredibly tight and with little between himself and a 'Superpole' placing Stuart made a quick pit stop for a goggle change and to have some of the mud scraped from his machine. Back out on track and onto his final timed lap Stuart gave it his all and was soon onto a visibly fast lap using some very clever lines, however half way through his flying lap on the 'plateau' on the opposite side of the valley Stuart found himself cross rutted and he was forced to part company with his TM, being winded in the process and struggling for breathe Stuart then had to regain his composure before remounting and slowly making his way back to the pits, sadly unable to better his position as the timer ran down.

With the first of the three scheduled race getting underway in the early afternoon the weather was doing the riders no favours and they would have to ride in some seriously hot and humid conditions with little or no breeze to ease the heat. As the gate dropped the initial jump for Stuart was not great and he was forced to relinquish a hard charge to turn one and use his experience to out manoeuvre his competitors instead, exiting the first turn in the top twenty Stuart pushed on into the pack as they disappeared out of view into the valley. For the next 20 minutes Stuart pushed hard on the fast and solid circuit, setting some good times compared to his rivals and allowing him to slowly make ground through the field and into 13th place. With only a few laps remaining Stuart was to be re-passed by Chatfield and a hard charging Noble as the repercussions of the qualifying crash began to take it's toll, feeling a little unwell Stuart concluded the first of the day's races in 15th position and set himself up for a good overall result on the day.

Race two again began in incredibly warm conditions which did nothing to improve Stuart's feeling, however, he still went to the line as determined as ever and as the gate dropped his launch this time was much better, the 450cc TM hooked up perfectly and all was looking good as he headed into the first turn. Once again the usual melee played its part and with riders falling and with others taking avoiding action Stuart's initial good start proved to be less fruitful as he made his way through the first turn chaos, running inside the top fifteen as the pack headed to turn two and into the valley. Settling down again into a consistent pace Stuart worked away and even after a collision, with first turn faller Sword, had left Stuart nursing his ribs he continued to battle on trying to reign in twelfth place rider Coutts. With little time and with too large a gap to close Stuart eased off an took a safe 13th place finish.

The last race off the day saw Stuart get another good jump from the gate and he was soon into the top fifteen as they headed to turn two. With the humidity still high and with little in the way of moving air a 'not 100%' Stuart went to work for the last time and set about trying to pass his competitors and pull himself up the field. With small battles breaking out throughout the field of riders Stuart tried to avoid 'sitting' in the pack and cleared some of the small groups and then latched onto the next. Now with only a handful of laps remaining a tiring Parker was slowly becoming the next target, but again time was not on Stuart’s side and with a battered body and with no time left to make the ground up Stuart settled into a comfortable rhythm that would see him take another 13th place result and more importantly earned himself 12th overall on the day, tied with Krestinov on points for 11th and only one point from 10th place rider Crockard.

With thanks to all our sponsors and supporters and especially to the Pottenger Family for their assistance.

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