Holmes Moves To 3rd As Series Heads East

Paul Holmes moved to 3^rd in the 2009 ACU British MMX Quad Championship at the weekend, after an action packed and eventful meeting at the tough Blaxhall Pit circuit near Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Promoted by the hard-working Woodbridge & District MCC at the challenging sand based venue on Sunday the 16^th of August, the penultimate round of the series proved to be yet another hotly contested affair with both Holmes and team-mate James Hellewell delivering solid results despite two incident filled motos.

Campaigning the 2010 KTM 505 SX at the event, Holmes was clearly on the pace despite riding with a wrist injury sustained the previous weekend in Latvia.  Posting 4^th fastest time in qualifying and taking the holeshot in the opening moto, Holmes’ day got off to a flying start, but getting pushed off the circuit and tangled in the marker ropes in the first race, and a slight spill while challenging for 3^rd in the early stages of the closing race made for a frustrating day, Holmes 12-9 scorecard for 10^th overall a superb result in the circumstances, Holmes also setting fastest lap in the opening moto as he charged through from 23^rd to 12^th in just eight laps. “It’s definitely not the result that I wanted or felt that I deserved as the 2010 KTM is really fast and handled really well around the circuit” commented a disappointed Holmes after the race, “but getting pushed through the ropes in the first race and making a mistake in the last moto left me a lot of work to do on a circuit that is difficult to pass on.  My wrist still hasn’t recovered fully from Latvia so I couldn’t push as hard as I’d have liked after that, but I was able to work my way back up to salvage some decent points so that’s a bonus.  With one round remaining I can still finish 2^nd in the series, so I’ll be aiming for the top step in Culham on the 20^th of September.”

Spurred on by his outstanding 5^th overall in Latvia the previous weekend, Hellewell’s amazing progress in only his first year’s racing at this level continued with a fantastic 13^th overall, Hellewell making the most of his front row start to battle through the tough conditions for a superb 10-16 scorecard and strengthening his grip on a top-twenty finish in the series.  Speaking after a hot and hectic days racing, Hellewell said “overall it’s been a good result and I’m really happy with the way the day has gone.  This is a really tough circuit which got unbelievably bumpy as the day progressed, but the KTM worked really well and I was able to maintain a good pace in both races for some solid points and get closer to my goal of finishing in the top twenty.”

All attention now turns to the legendary Maxxis 12 hours of Pont De Vaux endurance race near Macon, France from the 21^st to the 23^rd of August.

Results

Race One

1^st – Paul Winrow

2^nd – Jason Macbeth

3^rd – Stefan Murphy