June 26th, 2017.

Round 4, Sunday June 25th, Foxhill, Swindon

HOLMES AND MCLERNON CONTINUE CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE

The well prepared, natural terrain track at Foxhill was the setting for the fourth round of the 2017 Cromwell Trucks British Quad Championship and, with just two points separating the main protagonists of Paul Holmes and Mark McLernon, the bumper crowd was looking forward to a thrilling day’s racing.



Mark McLernon (1) and Paul Holmes (2) were this close most of the day

The Irish contingent of McLernon and Leon Rogers were flying in qualifying with McLernon setting the fastest pace with a lap of 1m:56.5s, followed by Rogers with 1m:57.2s.

In the opening moto, Welshman Dafydd Davies grabbed the holeshot, closely chased by McLernon and Holmes. Davies held his lines for three laps before the championship-leading duo raced past with McLernon a fraction of a second ahead of Holmes. Providing spectators with a master class in quad racing, they battled lap by lap, with McLernon holding on to win the race by just 0.8 seconds. Justin Reid worked his way through the pack to take third place behind Holmes.



Leon Rogers - 12-year-old chassis, five-year-old motor, third place overall

In race two, Rogers set the early pace ahead of McLernon and Holmes. The order changed as McLernon took Rogers during lap four and, after a tussle, Holmes did the same on the next lap. The McLernon and Holmes show was on again but, this time, it was Holmes’s turn to shine as he passed McLernon with three laps to go and then stormed ahead to cruise to a 12 second win. Rogers held on for third.

The third race went to the wire. A win for either Holmes or McLernon would give them the win on the day and, more importantly, the Championship lead going in to round five in Cumbria on 23rd July. Proving that the championship isn’t about just two riders, Scotland’s Murray Graham stormed away from the start line to take the holeshot but, by the end of lap two, Rogers and Holmes had taken over out front with McLernon way down the pack after a poor start. Holmes reeled in Rogers and kept him at bay to take the win by 1.5 seconds. McLernon put in an impressive performance and came through the pack to grab third.



Carl Bunce (585) and Harry Walker (7) get ready to dodge Murray Graham's flying seat

Holmes won on the day and increased his championship lead to seven points over McLernon.

1st Paul Holmes (2,1,1), 2nd Mark McLernon (1,2,3), 3rd Leon Rogers (8,2,3)

British Championship standings after four rounds;
1. Paul Holmes 269,
2. Mark McLernon 262
3. David Cowan 182
4. Carl Bunce 167
5. Leon Rogers 161



Championship Rookie Blake McCormick squints ahead, minus goggles

In the U21’s sub group Dafydd Davies took the overall after an impressive fourth place in the first race set him up for the day. Harry Walker was also on fire with two strong sixth place finishes in races two and three. Things hadn’t quite gone according to plan for Walker in the first race as, after a collision with his ‘boss’ Stef Murphy in a first turn incident, he was left to climb though to a 14th place finish from absolute last – he set the second fastest time of the day in the process.

Consistent good finishes for James Bevan gave him a well-earned third place.

1st Dafydd Davies (4,7,7), 2nd Harry Walker (14,6,6), 3rd James Bevan (10,11,10)



Alex Bethell leads Jack Holmes and Jake Smith

The Quad Support class also provided some interesting racing with the ‘out the gate’ master Ed Davies showing the youthful talent how it’s done in all three motos. He had Ayrton Knowles and Dean Dillon on 250 machines for company though.

Overall on the day;
1. Davies 74
2. Dillon 64
3. Knowles 62
4. Owen 52



Ben Richmond leaps out of the valley in the Support race



Ed Davies holeshots head of Aaron Pole (88) and Ayrton Knowles (126)



Kyle Orr in Support race action

Report: Pete Chell. Images: Rob McDonnell