Report: Andrew James

The second round of the PAR Homes/Bache’s Bargains evening motocross series at Cwmythig Hill, Rhayader once again provided an action packed evening of motocross action. With recent evening meetings at Cwmythig Hill falling victim to poor weather, it was a refreshing change to see the Rhayader and District Club’s efforts being met by sunny weather, leaving the track dry and in superb condition. A total of 1,400 spectators enjoyed the Mid Wales sunshine, and were treated to some great on-track action.

In the Expert class, all eyes were on PAR Homes Honda rider Brad Anderson who had dominated the first round with a clean sweep of wins, and was looking to move towards claiming a record fourth title. As the gate dropped for the first Expert race, it was NA Racing KTM’s Jamie Lewis who grabbed the holeshot; however Anderson soon grabbed the lead, closely followed by Relentless Suzuki rider Scott Columb. With Anderson leading the pack, it appeared he would be unchallenged at the front; however as the pack headed into the renowned ‘wall of death’ corner for the first time, Anderson slipped from his machine, allowing Columb to inherit the lead. From there the New Zealander was able to control the race from the front, to take a comfortable win from holeshot man Lewis. However all eyes were on Anderson, who went on a remarkable charge from last to third at the flag.

Race two saw Anderson in a no-nonsense mood as he took a clear holeshot, leading from start to finish. However Columb was able to match Anderson’s pace, and shadowed the PAR Homes rider for most of the race. Columb appeared to be quicker on the final third of the lap than Anderson, and with a couple of laps left it appeared Columb would challenge Anderson for the lead, but it was not to be as Anderson took his first race win of the night, with Columb second and fellow Relentless Suzuki rider Martin Barr taking third.

Whilst the opening race had worked in Columb’s favour, the final Expert race saw the championship swing back towards Anderson as Columb endured a difficult race. Fast starting Jamie Lewis once again grabbed the holeshot, but Anderson followed closely in second and snatched the lead within the opening lap as Columb languished in sixth place. Anderson led a train of four riders to the flag, being closely followed by Lewis, along with Martin Barr and KTM UK’s Alex Snow, the two riders battling for third in an entertaining contest with Barr eventually taking third with Snow being pipped for fourth on the penultimate lap by Columb.

The combined Senior/Junior race saw two entertaining battles at the front between Senior Luke Davies and Junior Matt Burrows. Although the two riders were scored separately, both battled hard for the glory of finishing first on the track with some entertaining close-quarters racing. After fast-starting Senior rider Gareth Davies fell early in the opening race, Davies snatched the lead on his MEM Off Road Honda with Burrows, riding for the Relentless Suzuki team, on his tail throughout the race. Davies and Burrows once again battled to the front in the second race, with a similar outcome. Burrows on the smaller 250cc Suzuki was able to match Davies’s 450 for pace, but could not make a pass on Davies, who managed to hold off the leading Junior for his second race win of the night. However Burrows took the final race win as Davies battled back from a poor start, to take the Senior class win and finish second on the track.

Such was Davies’s dominance in the Senior class that nearest rival Simon Williams was a distant second in all three races; however it was a consistent showing nonetheless. Taking third overall was John Caine with two third places, and a fourth in the final race following a close battle with Scott Isherwood, who eventually took fourth overall. The Junior class saw a good showing from PAR Honda’s Jason Rowlands, who has enjoyed a good season so far on the larger 450cc machine and took second overall in the Junior category. Rowlands took third in the opening two races and briefly led the final race before the hard-charging Burrows managed to get past. Despite this, Rowlands held onto second, snatching second overall from Barry rider John Hawkins. Hawkins took second in the opening two races, but was hampered by a poor start in the final race, only managing fourth.

The largest field of the night was the Novice/Local Beginner race, with virtually a full gate of riders, and with some of the more cynical amongst the crowd wondering how much of a ‘novice’ some of the leading riders are!

Taking the overall victory in a very competitive Novice class was Cory McShane with a clean sweep of wins. Although McShane had to work hard for his wins, consistency was the order of the day, with his key rivals all suffering a poor race and dropping points on McShane. Second overall rider Ryan Jones suffered from a fall in the opening race, but challenged McShane in race two before taking fourth in the final race, whilst third overall Elfyn Evans lost momentum in the final race, only managing eleventh after finishing third and fifth in the opening two races. The final race was one of the closest of the night for the winner McShane, with Ryan Williams making a late charge for the lead. Whilst Williams eventually finished second to McShane, a no-score in the opening race meant he could progress no higher than eighth overall.

The Local Beginner class saw Newtown’s Roger Lovatt take the overall win with wins in the first and third races, along with third in the second race. Going into the final race, Lovatt was second to Spencer Eve, who took second in the opening race and won the second. However Eve failed to finish the third race dropping him to fourth overall as Powell James took second, with Ben Powell finishing third, moving them up to second and third overall respectively.

Due to a false start in the second Novice/Local Beginner race, and a couple of delays due to accidents (from which there were no serious injuries), the big money ‘Dash for Cash’ took place with daylight starting to fade. Despite this, a full line up of Experts took to the gate for the final race of the evening.

Scott Columb took his first holeshot of the evening but Anderson was in a determined mood and snatched the lead within the opening lap. In the previous round, a poor start had denied Anderson the chance of victory and on this occasion he was sure not to repeat his bad luck as he pulled away from Columb to take the big cash prize. With Columb second, there was a close battle for third place between Alex Snow and Jamie Lewis, Snow eventually getting the verdict, whilst Martin Barr finished fifth, and had the honour of being the first placed 250cc machine, ahead of Graham Irwin. There were notable finishes further down the pack, Junior Matt Burrows contested the Dash for Cash and finished an impressive eighth, also being the third placed 250cc rider, whilst Llangollen’s Ryan Pottenger bravely continued to the flag after a nasty looking fall when his front wheel washed away at high speed which saw him headbutting a trackside post in the process.

The event was a reminder of why the series is so popular, with good weather, good organisation and plenty of short, action-packed races. The final event of the series takes place on Wednesday, 8th July at Cwmythig Hill, with the event also featuring the traditional firework display courtesy of sponsors Bache’s Bargains. However, with all championship classes up for grabs, there promises to be plenty of on-track fireworks, and it is an event not to be missed.