Round two of the Jurby MRSports pitbike season was held in dry and windy conditions at the JCK Kart Track on Sunday.
In the C90/110 Plops, history repeated itself as Tom ‘Tweeks’ Dawson stole the show again. In great form, he rode clear of the 17-strong field to take three wins in the 110 class. His only error was a small tumble in the warm-up in heat one, but quickly remounted.
Charles ‘Chuck’ Bregazzi tried hard to match him but was four seconds behind in the first heat. Phil Gunnell also took the fight to the runaway leader and was runner-up in both heat two and the final.
David Fayle was top scorer in the C90 class. Nearest challenger Juan Callister scored two second places and Paul Moorby was the other points scorer in heat one.
The C90s/Plops were as ever a great spectacle with some fantastic engineering modifications on show on these essentially step-through commuter bikes. At the conclusion of the racing, round two turned out almost a carbon copy of the season’s opener.
In the senior pitbikes, it was as you were with Freddie Craine dominating events with three comfortable victories in the open class to take his haul to a maximum of 160 points.
Once again, newcomer Jack Meechan equipped himself well with three solid performances as runner-up, lapping consistently in under 57 seconds with a fastest lap of 55.726s in heat one.
Alex Galloway was the lead rider in the 140 class, finishing third overall in all three events. In heat one, promising newcomer Patrick Venus stalled on the line but eventually got going to finish two laps down on the leaders.
Heat two was full of drama on the second lap as Galloway and Mason Hotchkiss had a coming together at the top end of the circuit.
Both riders remounted to continue but approaching the banked the ‘Bomb Hole’ section with a sticking throttle and damaged steering. Hotchkiss ploughed straight over the banking into the adjacent field - a real George Formby moment! Although unable to continue racing, thankfully he escaped unscathed.
Galloway fought his way up the field passing Venus on the final circuit. The latter put in two strong performances with a brace of fourth places after his fluffed start in heat one.
Four junior pitbike riders took to the track. No.77 Sean Crone carried on where he left off in round one with a masterful display, taking two heat wins and the final in style.
Billy Kneen, the reigning champion, fought out some good on-track battles with newcomers Connor Percival and Toby Melvin but it seemed Sean Crone was in a class of his own.
He showed great race skill when, after a tumble at ‘Curly’s Hairpin’ in heat two relegated him to last, he clawed his way back to the front pushing his handlebars on and charging on in relentless style to victory.
Once again David Pearce Jr was in a class of his own in the supermoto class on his growling 450cc Husaberg, winning heats one and two comfortably while lapping at times within fractions of his absolute course record.
After a crash in qualifying, Peter Houghton was ruled out which reduced the field to three riders.
Beau Challis had an eventful day. In heat one he failed to get off the line, then in heat two he borrowed Pearce Sr’s bike and finishing a lap down on Pearce Jr.
In the final, it was Pearce Jr’s turn to step aside and loan his bike to Challis. After a tremendous scrap for the full 12 laps, Pearce Sr managed to keep his nose in front to take victory by 0.4 secs, with Challis having the consolation of setting the fastest lap of the race in 52.796s.
- The next round takes place on Sunday, May 12 - practice gets underway at 10am, free admission, full race commentary and catering van on site.
PAUL COPPARELLI AND PETER MYLCHREEST