Gary Moulds with passenger Steven Kirwin made the long trip over from Northern Ireland worthwhile by winning the Sidcup club’s round of the Maxxis British sidecarcross championship at a very muddy Canada Heights circuit in Kent. But with the championship leaders Brett Wilkinson and Daniel Chamberlain finishing third overall in the very testing conditions, the Moulds and Kirwin partnership still have a mathematical chance of snatching this year’s title as they go into next weekend’s final round at the re-vamped Foxhill track as the two teams are separated by 42 points with 75 up for grabs, writes Dick Law.

Paul Holmes won this round of the British Quad championship be a single point from the young Harry Walker, but Holmes’s main river in the championship chase before the event, Leon Rogers didn’t have such a good day finishing fifth overall which handed Holmes a 50 point advantage going in to the last round with new second place man Walker with, like the sidecars, 75 points to be fought over.

The first sidecar championship race was cut short as several parts on the track became blocked with stranded and stuck outfits as the deep ruts in the bottomless mud last them without grip. On count back to the last full lap before the stoppage, Moulds and Kirwin declared the winners from Paul Pelling with passenger Chris Pannell and the pairing of Neil Campbell and Craig Parmenter as Wilkinson and Chamberlain finished fifteenth.

Moulds and Kirwin got the holeshot at the start of the second race but had the lead and the win taken from them by Wilkinson and Chamberlain on lap two. The pairing of Jake Brown and Zac Snell spent all of the race in third as the track became a bit one liney.

In the third and final race and with the track in its best condition Wilkinson and Chamberlain led from start to finish with Moulds and Kirwin chasing him for half the race till getting stuck in the mud dropped them back to fifth place come the end of the race. Brown and Snell took full advantage others falling foul of the condition as they moved up from fifth at the start to second place. Michael Hodges with passenger Charlie Ide had an up and down sort of race as they started third before dropping to fifth before getting back to finishing third.

“The rain yesterday made for very tricky conditions on the track” said overall winner Moulds, “It made more like and enduro then a motocross because you had to watch your lines and all the other teams stuck on the track. We managed to keep going in the first race and battle through. In the second after we got the holeshot we got passed after losing traction and ended up second. In the least race I made a wrong decision and got stuck in a rut behind a slower rider which dropped us back from second to fifth. We have a long trip home now, but the results make it worth it”

Holmes was on top form and led the first quad race from the start to finish winning by almost six seconds. Walker didn’t get the best of starts and was in sixth at the end of the opening lap but as the two laps to go board came out he was in second and closing on the leader Holmes. Dafydd Davies spent most of the race in second till Walker pushed him down a place to third where he finished. Rogers spent most of the race in fourth place, which was where he finished.

The second quad race was the same for Holmes as he led from start to finish with Mark McLernon passing Davies at the start of lap two for second place in the race with Walker following him through to third and Davies dropped to sixth.

Walker led the third and final quad race from halfway round the first lap to the checker flag and the holeshoting Holmes got stuck in the mud trackside which dropped him to the back of the pack. McLernon passed Davies on lap two for second with Justin Reid following him for third place while Holmes, after his bad start finish, finished fourth, winning the overall by a single point from Walker.

“I defiantly made the overall win hard for myself” said a happy Holmes, “I had a cracking start, but I didn’t anticipate how deep the mud was on that side of the track as I had got away with it in the other two races and I just went in to hard. I think I hit neutral as well. But the bike ran amazing all day and I think I rode well which is the main thing as I beat myself up sometime when I don’t ride well. I would like to thank everyone that helps me, and this year’s championship is getting closer.”

Walker, who got second overall also won the under 21 side of the event and said after, “I am having a really good year this year and team and sponsors have been putting a lot in to it and the results show. We are now second in the championship with one round to go, which is good, as we have had some not so good rounds. So, it’s all looking good”

Luke Gidney won all three races in the solo support from Conner Dennis and Brett Fisher with David Williams just missing out of the podium.

Maxxis sidecar championship:

1 Gary Moulds / Steven Kirwin 25 + 22 + 16 = 63

2 Jake Brown / Zac Snell 16 + 20 + 22 = 58

3 Brett Wilkinson / Daniel Chamberlain 6 + 25 + 25 = 56

4 Neil Campbell / Craig Parmente 20 + 16 + 18 = 54

5 Michael Hodges / Charlie Ide 15 + 18 + 20 = 53

6 Paul Pelling / Chris Pannell 22 + 15 + 15 = 52

7 Scott Baisille / Josh Haynes 14 + 14 + 14 = 39

8 Rob Oldfield / Faye Barnes 18 + 7 + 9 = 34

9 James Whitt / Scott Lloyd 5 + 13 + 10 = 28

10 George Kinge / Jim Kinge 3 + 12 + 12 = 27

11 James George / Calum Mallabe 12 + 5 + 8 = 25

12 Danny Gray / Lewis Gray 9 + 8 + 7 = 24

13 Sam Osbaldiston / Nathan Cooper 7 + 2 + 14 = 23

14 David Steeds / Darren Bishop 10 + 9 + 4 = 23

15 Adam Field / Toby Hutchins 11 + 11 + 1 = 23

 

Quad championship:

1 Paul Holmes 25 + 25 + 18 = 68

2 Harry Walker 22 + 20 + 25 = 67

3 Mark McLernon 14 + 22 + 22 = 58

4 Justin Reid (15 + 18 + 20 = 53

5 Leon Rogers 18 + 16 + 16 = 50

6 Dafydd Davies 20 + 15 + 15 = 50

7 Lindsey Duke 16 + 11 + 12 = 39

8 Lorne Sinclair 13 + 14 + 8 = 35

9 Carl Bunce 5 + 12 + 13 = 30

10 Zak Orchard 7 + 9 + 11 = 27

11 Rhydian Owen 12 + 6 + 9 = 27

12 Dean Dillon 8 + 13 + 6 = 27

13 Kyle Murphy 9 + 7 + 10 = 26

14 Adam Robinson 10 + 8 + 7 = 25

15 Michael Robinson 11 + 10 + 4 = 25

 

Solo support:

1 Luke Gidney 25 + 25 + 25 = 75

2 Conner Dennis 18 + 22 + 22 = 62

3 Brett Fisher 20 + 15 + 18 = 53

4 David Williams 16 + 16 + 16 = 48

5 Edward Elliot 14 + 18 + 15 = 47

6 Shaun Springer 0 + 20 + 20 = 40

7 James Jackson 7 + 11 + 13 = 31

8 Tye Green 15 + 0 + 14 = 29

9 Ben Crane 3 + 12 + 12 = 27

10 Scott Aylmore 12 + 14 + 0 = 26

11 John Hinz 11 + 13 + 0 = 24

12 Jamie McCarthy 13 + 9 + 0 = 22

13 Ryan Nock 22 + 0 + 0 = 22

14 James Coker 10 + 0 + 11 = 21

15 Josh Bellett 6 + 4 + 7 = 17