Race Report - 20th July 2008 - Blaxhall

Reid Continues Moving Up Rankings At Blaxhall

This past weekend saw Team Can-Am’s Justin Reid and his crew embark on a nine hundred mile round trip from their base in Comber to the fantastic Blaxhall Pit circuit near Woodbridge, the Woodbridge & District MCC hosting the 6th round of the 2008 ACU British MMX Quad Championship at the challenging Suffolk venue on Sunday the 20th of July. With an outstanding 5th overall at Dean Moor a week prior to this meeting, Justin and Team Can-Am were focused on another good result to push Justin up the leader board, and after an action packed days racing Justin had indeed moved up in the series despite being forced to retire in the closing moto with a broken clutch cable, Justin’s superb 8th place finish in race one still good enough for an impressive 13th overall on the day.

Race One

With the hard working Woodbridge & District MCC once again providing an excellently prepared track which had seen some major modifications since he raced it last in 2007, Justin adapted to the sand based surface quickly and posted a respectable 12th fastest time and a front row start for the opening moto. As the gates dropped the DS450 hooked up well and propelled Justin around the sweeping right hand first corner and out on the opening lap in 12th. Despite the sandy surface having changed significantly since the morning’s practice session’s, many of the corners already one lined and yielding few overtaking opportunities, Justin quickly adapted to the changing circuit and using the excellent handling of the Lonestar / PEP suspension to begin making up places, Justin moving up three places to 9th on the opening lap. Running wide in to the loose dirt while challenging Willy Waggott for 8th on lap four dropped Justin back to 10th, but quickly getting back up to speed Justin passed Waggott to regain 9th two laps later. Having closed the gap at the halfway point to visiting German rider and current number four in the UEM European Quad Championship, Tobias Lenz, Justin used the excellent handling of the DS450 to experiment with different lines and put Lenz under pressure. As the race entered the closing stages, the Carlisle tyres harnessed the power from the Rotax power plant and propelled Justin past Lenz on one of the most difficult parts of the circuit, Justin comfortably pulling away from Lenz and easily holding the position to the chequered flag after fourteen gruelling laps to finish a fantastic 8th.

Race Two

Disaster struck half way down the start straight in moto two as a large rock hit the clutch lever and Justin’s clutch assembly was broken before he had even reached the first corner, which he rounded in a lowly 21st position. Adapting quickly to try and ride around the problem and getting a feel for the demanding circuit, Justin broke the timing beam at the end of the opening lap having made up an amazing four positions for 17th! Unfortunately at the beginning of lap two, Justin caught some slower riders in a tight corner and, unable to disengage the clutch, his quad stalled mid corner. Working furiously to restart his bike in gear, Justin got under way but had lost valuable time and dropped to dead last. Quickly regaining his composure and with less than five minutes gone, Justin set off and within two laps had made up an amazing five places to 27th, but struggling to prevent his machine from stalling in the numerous deep rutted corners around the challenging sandy circuit, Justin had no option but to pull in to the work area to try to rectify the problem before making the difficult but unavoidable decision to retire from the race.

This has been a frustrating day for Justin and Team Can-Am, the closing race result no doubt overshadowing the superb opening race performance which was still a good enough result for 13th overall. Now having moved up to 14th in the series, Justin will turn his attention to the 4th round of the 2008 Highland Bakery Ulster Premier Quadcross Championship on Saturday the 26th of July, Justin hoping to extend his lead in the series after a clean sweep of wins at the previous round.

Reid

‘I wasn’t very comfortable in the first moto today but I just dug in and did the best I could. The track was rough but still quite fast and I saw a few a few guys getting caught out in the deep ruts so I decided to play it safe, it was difficult to pass but I made my way past a few and kept pushing forward.

It’s a pity about what happened in the second moto but these things happen… the track was much rougher and I really enjoyed the time that I was out there – my quad works excellently in those conditions.’

Results

Race One

Winner – Paul Winrow; 2nd – John Mitchell; 3rd – Stefan Murphy; 4th – Carl Bunce; 5th – Mark Watson…8th – Justin Reid

Race Two

Winner – Paul Winrow; 2nd – John Mitchell; 3rd – Joe Maessen; 4th – Stefan Murphy; 5th – Mark Watson

Championship Standings (after 6 of 8 rounds)

1st – Paul Winrow 286; 2nd – Ricky Tordoff 181; 3rd – John Mitchell 176; 4th – Paul Holmes 165; 5th – Stefan Murphy 158…14th – Justin Reid 87

Next Race: Saturday 26th July – 2008 Highland Bakery Ulster Premier Quadcross Championship (Round 4), Tinkerhill Motocross Park, Newry

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