- Foxhill was hard-pack and slick, as you would expect, but the promoters did attempt to combat that problem. Prior to the opening MX2 moto the track was drenched in water, which made the first few laps of the race a bit of a survival test. It soon dried out and Foxhill was again back to fulfilling the stereotypes.
- With this being the only hard-pack track that the series visits, there were certain riders that thrived and posted season best moto finishes. Steven Clarke (second), Robert Davidson (sixth), Jordan Divall (seventh), James Dunn (ninth), Todd Kellett (tenth) and Gradie Featherstone (eighteenth) all achieved this feat in MX2.
- Speaking of Divall, he was arguably the revelation in MX2. Already he had made a statement in qualifying, after posting the tenth fastest time, and then backed that up with a respectable twelfth in moto one. The second moto didn’t exactly go to plan, however, as his goggle strap snapped on the line. In an attempt to have the problem resurrected before the gate dropped, he left his bike and ran towards the mechanics area. He unfortunately missed the start, but still charged back to twentieth. All of that hard work went to waste, however, as he was later disqualified for “abandoning his bike on a live track”.
- The best was yet to come from Jordan though, as he started fourth in the final encounter and held off the advances of Sterry for a couple of laps. He then sat comfortably in fifth for a majority of the race, before Bryan Mackenzie and Steven Clarke stormed through in the closing stages. A seventh was still a drastic improvement on his previous best finish, a seventeenth at Hawkstone Park.
- Neville Bradshaw returned to racing with the Heads & All Threads Suzuki team, acting as Harri Kullas’ replacement, and posted a sixth overall. An eighth, ninth and twelfth were his results on the day so he was perhaps a little lucky to end up in that spot – most guys were seemingly inconsistent!
- Bradshaw managed to just edge out Bryan Mackenzie in the overall classification, after Bryan crashed out of the second moto. He was running a strong second and actually pushing for the lead when he made a mistake, which also saw him drop to fifth in the championship.
- Robert Davidson’s overall result doesn’t look exceptional on paper, because of a DNF in the final moto, but he actually had a great day. He ran comfortably inside of the top ten in each moto, even posting a sixth in the second race! It was certainly positive…
- Graeme Irwin finally performed as we all expected him to, posting a third and second in the opening two motos for third overall on the day. An eleventh in the final moto restricted him in the overall classification, but a crash and poor shock spring choice hindered him.
- That second was a season best moto finish for Irwin. Elliott Banks-Browne (second), Jamie Law (sixth), Ross Hill (twelfth), Ross Rutherford (thirteenth), Gavin Stevenson (sixteenth), Shaun Springer (seventeenth), Shaun Southgate (eighteenth) and Junior Thomas (nineteenth) all posted their best moto finishes of 2015 also.
- James Harrison made the step up to MX1 this week, after a mediocre start to the season in MX2. It proved to be a very good choice for the Phoenix Tools IFly Husqvarna rider, as 13-9-9 after posting a fifth in qualifying. It’ll be interesting to see him develop over the next few seasons, as he will only get better from this point onwards.
- Harrison beat his more experienced teammate, Alex Snow, in his first ride on the 350. A consistent pair of results, seventh and ninth, made for a solid start to Alex’s day. However, a crash at the start of the final moto meant he had to push forward to fifteenth. That was actually a respectable effort, given how one-lined the track was. It was a turbulent weekend for the other Phoenix Tools IFly Husqvarna riders, as both Alfie Smith and Micky Eccles returned to racing but didn’t make it to the end of the day after picking up small injuries.
- Ashley Wilde saw his consistent streak of good finishes come to an end at Foxhill, as he crashed pretty hard in race two and had to miss the final moto. He still posted an eighth in moto one, which helped him stay in that spot in the championship.
Words; Lewis Phillips | Image: Sean Ogden
