Flying the Flag

Report and photos kindly provided by Diane Casement

There was a large group of local riders that went to Brampton last Sunday. It's a track that is used for the BYMX championships so it was an ideal practice for those who are taking part in the BYMX this year.

It was a freezing cold day and at the start of the day the ground was still white and frozen, but once the sun came through it was great - not so much for the riders being blinded by it.

First out was the Juniors (65's). In that group we had Callan Cooper & Kyle Casement, who had never been to this track before. It was nip and tuck all race with the two of them exchanging places in both of the first two races to finish only bike lengths between each other at the line, In the first and second races it was Cal 7th & 4th, Kyle 8th & 5th. In the last race Kyle fell off and struggled to get back on so lost a lot of time, but the overall placing was Cal 5th & Kyle 9th. The event was won by Jack Kelly who was unbelievable, and over half a lap ahead of our 2.

Next out were the 85SW and in that group we had Jamie McCanney, Owen Hawthorn and Tanya Dentith. Well it wasn't a good start for the later as she binned it half way up the start straight and looked a bit second-hand with three broken teeth and a broken finger, but she went out for the 2nd & 3rd race. And what can we say about Jamie McCanney: unbelievable, he was out of the start and gone in his first ever MX on the 85, so needless to say he won the first race from some top national riders. In the second race he won after fighting his way to the front, only to be told that there was a hitch with the flags and they went back two laps which meant he was 2nd. So the 3rd race was exciting, with the bit between his teeth because of the previous race, Jamie knew he had to win but the others didn't see which way he went! He won by a good margin, so that was him 1st overall. Owen had some good rides finished 9th in one race, and he had to go out on a new bike not set-up for him for the last race (due to him lending his race bike to Danny McCanney) and he finished 10th overall.

The 85BW class we had Danny McCanney and just like his brother he was unstoppable, winning the first two races by a mile. In the later stages of the second race he started having bike problems, so he was offered Owen's bike for the last race. He was mid field at the start but worked really hard on a different bike to get up to second at the flag, and won the event overall.

Next out were the 125's in which Alex Rockwell shone again, winning every race and looking in fine form for the start of the season.

We also had some adult riders: Matty & Mark Lund, and Mark Cringle in the Adult A group. They all rode well and had some good finishes: Matty was 7th overall, Mark Cringle (who had to ride in the Adult group, as his usual 125 group was full) finished a really good 12th, and Mark Lund was just outside the top 20. In the Adult B group was Paul Smyth, who was riding really well to finish 5th overall.

And of course, Lee Dentith in the Auto's. His track was way away from the main track, but he rode really well and came home with a trophy.

September 2007

Hi everyone

Just a quick update: Following my big off at Brampton at the Maxxis MXY2 I have been having intensive physio for my injuries and hope to be back on my bike this weekend all being well. As I have not been able to ride for the last 4 weeks due to my injuries, and still don’t know whether I will be ready to ride, I have decided not to ride in the last round of the MXY2 this weekend. I started training hard again last week and hope to regain my fitness for the last round of the British Youth MX first weekend in October.

Alex

August 2007

The last three weeks have not been the best of my season so far, I have been very lucky to walk away from three big tumbles. It started well at Leuchars in Scotland for the penultimate round of the British Youth Championship. After setting the quickest lap in qualifying by nearly 2 seconds I went on to win 2 of the four motos, backed up with a 2nd and a 9th after having a bizarre crash, whilst I was pushing hard at the front I made an error coming into what was called the ‘wall of death’ corner at the end of a very fast straight. On entry to the corner, I somehow got my foot pulled of the footrest, which then made me hold the throttle wide open, I took off the top of the wall (about 15ft high!!) only to clip the chestnut paling on top of the wall, which flipped me some distance into the air and land on the opposite side of the track! But managed to remount and come from last to 9th for some valuable points in the Championship and towards the Overall win on the weekend. Also in the process extending my lead in the Championship further with one round to go.

The weekend after I was in Sweden at the Nations Cup riding for Team England. I qualified 10th out of 180 of the best European riders, unfortunately in the 1st race I DNF’d as I took a tumble which snapped my handle bars and then I went on to get a disappointing 13th & 15th in the following races not helped by poor starts and a bit battered and bruised after the 1st race tumble, but scored some good points for team England. The Team was 2nd overall in the Nations cup.

This last weekend at the Maxxis (MXY2) I had yet another big crash, I came off the big hill at Brampton in moto 2 and landed in one of the breaking bumps and was chucked off the bike big style and got clattered by the bike as me and the bike were cart wheeling down the hill! I spent Sunday night in Hospital as I couldn’t weight bear, but following x-rays there was no obvious fracture, just appear to have torn muscle and cartilage off my hip bone and boy is it painful! Anyway just getting some physio and plan to be fit and back on the bike in a few weeks for the final rounds of the Championships.

Alex

JULY 2007

Hi everyone

Just returned from a successful couple of weeks in Belgium/Holland and France getting loads of practice on some great circuits. I was disappointed that the World Mini Trophy meeting was cancelled in Belgium due to “Urban” issues, but I managed to get an entry in a Belgium Championship event in Lille which I won overall. I moved onto Lommel in Belgium for another meeting which I also won. I headed back to the UK for the 5th round of the British Youth Championship at Haverigg, Cumbria this last weekend, which saw me extend my championship lead further and win the event overall. I qualified in pole position and went on to win two of the four motos, unfortunately a big off whilst leading moto 3 put me back to a 4th place and then a 2nd place finish in my last moto secured by overall victory.

I’m heading off later this month for round 6 of the British Youth Nationals in Leuchars, Scotland and then over to Sweden to compete for the Great Britain Team in Kristianstaad in Sweden on my return I will be heading to Brampton in Cumbria for Round 3 of the Maxxis MXY. Will update you again in mid August. Alex

JUNE 2007

Hi Everyone

I competed over the weekend at the 4th round of the British Youth Championships at Pontrillas in South Wales. Several bad starts on day one in motos 1 & 2 left me boxed in at the first corner and having to play catch up throughout the field but managed two 5th places. After torrential overnight rain the course was left extremely muddy for day 2 making riding conditions difficult, I managed a 3rd in moto 3 despite having to take my goggles of on the first lap and went on to a 10th place in moto 4 after coming off in the slippy conditions. Despite this I finished the meeting in a 3rd place podium position. With three rounds remaining I am still leading the championship from my nearest rival Lewis King.

Alex

4th JUNE 2007

I have just returned from the long journey to Langrish for round 2 of the British Maxxis Championships. Not my best meeting this year … I had a few problems in practice leaving me to qualify in 7th and a bad start in moto 1 left me a bit of work to do, but managed to finished 3rd. I went into Moto 2 full of hope and whilst I was holding 3rd I had a puncture with two laps to go, I managed to finish the race but obviously had to pull back on my speed and dropped down to 6th. This left me 4th overall at the end of the meeting but despite this I still extended my lead in the overall Maxxis Championship by nine points.

MAY 2007

Hi everyone

I have just returned from a successful weekend at the British Youth Championships at Brampton in Cumbria. I won the event overall and extended my lead further in the championship.

The course was in pretty good condition, although as expected cut up quite bad as the racing went on. Racing was pretty aggressive throughout the field in Moto 1 and I hit the deck hard when I collided with another rider but managed to recover and pull through to finish 4th. With only 1 of my motos held on Saturday due to delays and accidents in the racing programme I went into Sunday with 3 motos ahead of me. Moto 2 - I didn’t get a good start and I came through the field but the guy out front by then had got a good lead and I managed to finish 2nd. Motos 3 & 4 came together for me and I got into a good rhythm and really enjoyed my racing, and won both motos, the track was pretty rough by this time and there were plenty of mechanical and rider casualties by the end of racing.

I will be racing on the Isle of Man this coming weekend and the following weekend I have the Maxxis 1 Youth event at Langrish, down in the South of England.

Thanks for your ongoing support.

Alex

ELITE YOUTH CUP SEPTEMBER 2007

The final round of the Elite Youth Cup Series took place at Culham, Oxford last weekend. The series is expected to take over as the UK Premier MX Youth Series ahead off the ACU BYMX in popularity and has had a really top class field of riders. The Organisers MC Events Federation have put on a very well thought out and professionally run Series and is also organising a riding holiday to Tenerife for its riders and next year are planning more events in the series.

In the BW 85 class Daniel McCanney had problems with the bike seizing just as qualifying was about to commence so after he ran back to the pits for the standard and not set up spare bike he managed to get a couple of laps in to qualify in 6th. He had some really close and exciting racing throughout the weekend to finish 6th and 3 Third places with and exciting 3rd race with plenty of cleaver and impressive riding. In the Series Overall results Daniel finished an excellent 3rd in a very tough class. Out in the same class was David Curtis with some nice steady racing throughout the weekend to finish 28th and an well done 33rd out of over 50 in the series.

In the SW 85 class Jamie McCanney had a safe lead of over 60 points in the Series so all that was needed was some nice steady rides. Out he came for qualifying and just blew the rest of the field apart by lapping at over 4 seconds faster than his next rival. In race 1 he lost 30 of lead points when the bike kept stopping and he ended up finishing in 15th place, not wanting to chance losing any more of his lead he took out his Spare bike for the other races and rode steady and concentrated on the Championship with a 3rd, 2nd and all that was need in the last race was a top 15 finish and he settled for a 6th place which left him 5th on the day but most of all he was the Elite Youth Champion winning the series by 20 points, another major series to add to the BYMX, British Masters and Champions of Champions which he won in 2005 which makes him by far the most Successful Manx Youth Motocross rider ever.

The last Group out was the Junior 65 group and there were no surprises there with this season being dominated by the younger and impressive Ben Watson, yet again he won everything in a top class field, and won the Series by 214 points. Kyle Casement had his best ride to date in the Series with a 11th, 12th 13th and a good 9th to finish 11th on the weekend and 12th in the series. Report by Diane Casement.

ELITE YOUTH August 2007

JAMIE McCanney scorched to five great wins at the third round of the Elite Youth Cup championship at Mildenhall, Suffolk, at the weekend.

Fresh from his overall victory in Scotland at the sixth round of the British small wheel 85cc motocross championship series, the Douglas youngster was simply too hot to handle on the sun baked sand track.

He won each race by a handsome margin and was in blistering form. The series has one more outdoor meeting to go before it culminates with four supercross events later this year. However, the final outdoor event clashes with the British youth teams fixture, but with MX racing suspended, it's unclear what will happen to the Elite racing.

The series is run by the MC Federation, not the ACU, who have cancelled all off-road activities because of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

Jamie's brother Danny was also on song and took fourth place overall after a good five-race run. A hefty crash detuned him temporarily in one race, but Danny hung in well to go 2-8-5-4-4 and keep himself well up in the overall pecking order.

After two good second places in the junior class on day one, Callan Cooper went home empty handed after a series of problems on day two. Two crashes, one a spectacular off when the KTM's throttle stuck open on a big table top while dicing for the lead with British champion-elect Ben Watson, left him in third overall.

The fastest qualifier, he again struck engine problems in the final race and he DNF'd, leaving him way down in ninth overall.

In the Open class, Rory Parker got the Husky home in 18th overall, while Ian Skillicorn finished 23rd on the KTM in the Senior category.

David Curtis was sidelined with a shoulder injury after a crash in practice on Sunday in the big wheel 85 class and had to sit out Sunday's three races.

Tanya Dentith enjoyed the meeting and plugged away gamely in the small wheel 85 class, finishing 34th .

Kyle Casement was 16th overall in the junior class, posting a best finish of 10th in the final moto.

Report by Lionel Cowin

BYMX

ISLE OF MAN RIDERS RULE THE ROOST IN YOUTH CHAMPS

Weekend of 28th and 29th July 2007

The Isle of Man ruled in Scotland at the weekend with Manx motocross riders creating a significant piece of history at the penultimate round of the British youth championship series .

After four blisteringly fast races on a deeply rutted 1.5km track, the best in Britain had to bow down to Jamie McCanney, his elder brother Danny and Alex Rockwell who powered their way to overall victory in their respective classes – the first time it's happened at the same meeting in the history of Manx involvement in the championship

And Callan Cooper added his weight to the celebrations by taking third place overall in the junior 65cc class, making it the first time four riders from the Island had made it to the top three at the same round.

On a circuit that nestles alongside the RAF fighter station at Leuchars, near St Andrews, Alex took the Premier class, Jamie the small wheel 85 category and Danny triumphed in the big wheel 85s.

Danny scored his first ever championship race win in the final moto of the penultimate round and in doing so he also secured his first overall victory after some terrifically gutsy riding, particularly in Sunday's two races.

Having promised a great deal, especially at the previous round in Cumbria, the likeable Douglas schoolboy's success was welcomed by the paddock and victory came after a spirited second place in the third race in which he battled with championship leader Sam Davis.

Yamaha-mounted Danny, who was fourth and fifth on Saturday in a fiendishly competitive class, was gutted at losing but then turned the tables on Davis and the rest of a star-studded field in the final outing,charging round the track like a man possessed to come home with 11 seconds to spare. He now lies fifth in the title hunt and has a realistic chance of improving on that.

Danny's delighted dad, John, many times IoM champion, even cracked a broad smile at the outcome, especially as his youngest son, Jamie, had just completed a hat-trick of race wins and taken the overall in the small wheels.

Jamie, also on a Yamaha and by far the fastest in timed qualification, only allowed the second moto to get away from him when local hero and championship leader Matthew Flemming put in a storming ride to ease his way into victory lane.

Having also won overall at the fourth round in Wales, Jamie's title hopes took a severe denting when he missed the third round in Cumbria after he suffered facial injuries when he fell off his mountain bike. But for that, he would have been in the mix to add to the junior title he won two years ago..

Alex, 18, currently riding for Great Britain in the mini GP des Nations meeting in Sweden, survived what he described as the worst crash of his career to triumph in the Premier class for 125 two-stroke and 250cc four-stroke machines.

Having taken the opening race and then a second place on Saturday, Sunday's race three hostilities saw him come to grief spectacularly on a 'wall of death' corner at the end of a fast straight when the throttle jammed opened on the Tommy Leonard Honda.

Rider and machine were catapulted over the lip of the turn when the front wheel caught the pailing fence. Miraculously, Alex and bike were left virtually unscathed and he remounted to finish ninth, but the result ended his chances of securing the title ahead of the final round at Hawkstone Park, Shrops, in October.

Stiff and sore, he won the final race easily, which gave him the verdict for the weekend, but only by virtue of a better last race result.

Callan's championship aspirations took a severe denting at the previous round when he hit engine problems and his luck was out again in the first race when the KTM went sick again.

He got home in 15th and used his well worn spare engine for the rest of the meeting, digging deep and securing a third and two second placings which brought him to within a whisker of second overall with four races to go.

Report by Lionel Cowin